Why is art especially important nowadays? Opinions please.

[Victor Osaka]

Give me some compelling reasons why art (not just AR) is especially important in today's world. In the USA, the fine arts are just about dead in our educational system. If there are no art literate or creative people in the educational loop . . . what's going to happen to humanity?

[HannahRage]

Well, for one thing, we all need something to do on our devices while commuting to the factory once the robot uprising occurs and they banish news media and the written word.

[D Akey]

We'll just have to choose who we give stem cell technology to. :rolleyes:

I think anyone looking at the world today through the internet and marketplace can see there's no shortages of Art and Humanities types a result of not having it in the schools. As much as I hate to sound negative about streamlining education to the "essentials", the fact around my part of the world, and I suspect most places, is that teachers are given lots of room to engage kids in art, drama, writing certainly, and music gets funded by parents to whatever degree they want their kids to have it. Hopefully the teachers have an interest in engaging students, and sweetening what they're teaching via various disciplines is a good thing.

I personally don't think it's important to be able to draw like Peter Paul Rubens for example. For that they would need to be educated.

But look at the world. It's filled to the gills with art and artists of all kinds. I think that's in part because people love to do it.

I think as far as which secondary types of programs that got sacrificed, a bigger loss by far are the Shop classes where kids had learned how to build and maintain things in our world. There are the practical skills not being addressed in part because the critics have been scapegoating education as the source of all society's ills. And so budgets get shuffled to accommodate testing scores to show these voters that Education itself is not letting kids down. So the tail wags the dog. And Education keeps shifting programs to be a moving target that can't be so easily attacked.

Art doesn't need to be taught for people to get what it's about. It isn't missing in the least for anyone with a simple pencil and a desire to express themselves. The world speaks Art fluently. It reflects each person who tries their hand at it, and what they hold as important for themselves, whether for their own personal expression or to connect with others. This is still the information age and on that level it's a golden age that anyone can participate in just by looking around or going to the movies. IMHO of course.

It's a fair question though. So what do you think having taken up the art instructor gauntlet? What is your observation on it?

[Victor Osaka]

Thanks for the reply. One of the reasons I did not give my direct opinion was that I am indeed an educator and former professor. So, I am biased - just a bit. Your thoughts on the subject are interesting to me.

It's true, one CAN find a lot of art on the web. Does one have to know how to create art to appreciate art? Is appreciation enough? Must one be intellectual about art? About the creative process? Or have a practical knowledge of the creative process?

Is the ability to express one's creativity (in a deep way) essential to the human experience? I think so. I can't quite remember what it is like to not know how to create art. The mechanics of putting to form a concept.

[jmac]

"Is the ability to express one's creativity (in a deep way) essential to the human experience? I think so."

I think I have to disagree here, Victor. The world is full of people who do not express creativity on any level. At least any artistic level. Not only do they not express it, they don't even think about expressing it. And some who think such expression is a waste of time and energy. Does that mean they live a less human existence? Maybe. But who decides that?

[D Akey]

Fair enough jmac, and I can see that. But perhaps one of the sterling qualities of Art is that it is one of the vehicles that can take us to places that the mundane tends not to.

The way I see it is that intention has a whole lot to do with it. And as you suggest there are those who do not work with Art that way. . . nor do they want to, and maybe because they personally don't see it, they find it something to eliminate as a waste of school resources.

In keeping with the topic for a moment about schooling and Art, the way I have looked at Life is that it's like a classroom for all of us, like one of those one room schoolhouse from Little House on the Prairie or something. We're all in the same room, but we're learning and experiencing completely different things based on our ability levels or what is important to them at their point in development, and what the teacher believes to be important. A first grader would be learning those young things while a fifth grader would be learning things they can grasp. For each person it's a custom curriculum.

Art like language is a vehicle. Where people go with it and what they use it for is based on them whether driving into the mountains or lugging groceries or even getting from one bar to the next.

There are some programs in Los Angeles that take kids from the inner city to the beach -- something they've never experienced. What is the effects? Any and all. Is it life changing? Could be. Maybe not.

So I don't disagree with either points on the topic of going deeper with Art (or anything that gets the ball rolling). If one has never had a way to go deeper and Art gives that to them, by all means it instantly has value in that area. And for those on that ride, those impelled in that way, it's sort of hard to not see it being used for that. And for teachers who have gotten there personally, not offering that possibility to get there through Art means that while in the role of Teacher, they're failing their calling to educate.

Unfortunately, if the school board is focused elsewhere, it's not going to include it in favor of something that is perhaps a more universal sell. Because you're right.

[DJM]

Art is important for me because it takes me away from my real world which at times can be very tiring. I can escape into another place where only my creativity exists and I am at peace.

[Someonesane]

Personally, I believe the process of creating art helps center me, at times. When there's a lot going on around me, taking some time to just sit down and let out the stress with whatever happens on the canvas can be cathartic. It's also a means of focus. Learning to calm oneself when one can't get just the right outcome, is a life lesson I think that many people are lacking in today's world. Many fail to see the benefit of compromise, which art can instill with its "Happy little accidents", as Boss Ross would say.

I always hate it when I hear someone say "I can't draw", as some sort excuse to not try it. In my opinion, if you're "trying" to draw, you're doing art all wrong. It's should start as an expression, first. Technique comes later.

[jmac]

I agree D Akey. I didn't mean my comment to suggest art wasn't important in life or, particularly in education. It's difficult in the constraints of internet posts to comment on such a huge topic without writing a novella. Victor's comment just struck me as a "one size fits all" kind of thing which he probably did not mean. I just think sometimes academic discussions can overlook the very pragmatic and often restricted lives lived by much of the worlds population. Personally I believe art does enhance the human experience and the fact that it exists, even in those restricted populations, in all it's forms, and with the proliferation you point out, is evidence of it's importance to the human experience as a whole and especially so for some of us individually, as Someonesane expresses.

The relatively new explosion of music as entertainment and expression due in large part to ever advancing technology may help to keep that a topic of educational budget discussions. And maybe the improving possibilities for digital painting will do the same for that form of expression. I hope so. I believe it was Albert Einstein who said "Imagination is more important than intelligence." Imagination is the life force of artistic expression. Humanity without imagination probably would have gone the way of the dinosaur a long time ago. But the advancements born of imagination and the enhancement of the human experience thru imaginative expression in art, will always be provided by the few, for the many, as not everyone is built that way.

Someonesane, I feel as you do when I hear "I can't draw". But I don't think it is an excuse not to try, though there may be a lack of interest in learning. I think most people who say that think drawing specifically and art generally, is like magic. Requiring skills and spells and potions they do not possess. The truth is, if you can sign your name legibly, you have the requisite skill necessary to draw. I helped teach a class for police artists , a term I dislike, and a handful in the class said they "could not draw a stick figure." By the end of the week long class they could all go back to their agencies and function in that role. They were not Rubens, or Da Vinci or Michaelangelo. Drawing is a technical skill. It is teachable and learnable by almost everyone. Technical skills come from the head. Drawing a composite sketch from a witness description is not art. It is the application of a technical skill. Using that skill in combination with imagination and personal expression to produce art is a whole different thing. Art comes from the heart. Teachable and learnable to a degree. Not magic. But, in the hands of some, definitely magical.

Like D Akey points out, you can never underestimate what may be sparked in a child by the exposure to art or ideas or a new, seemingly simple experience. I may have inappropriately restricted Victors comment because over all I agree with him and though artistic expression may not be a part of every human, it is certainly part of humanity and in that sense, essential in the development the kind of world we could be proud of.

[HannahRage]

Also, less philosophically, there's increasing scientific evidence that creating art helps the human brain in measurable ways (e.g. improving cognitive function into old age).

[Henry Stahle]

"...the fine arts are just about dead in our educational system..."

Well, I am not sure about the "fine art" and what it is. Compared to "foul art" or ""bad art" or...? Fine art is probably an art historic term. Academic art is another. But no art is finer than the other to me. I have been teaching art all my professional life and do not agree to anything that puts one kind of art above the other. Internet has billions and billons of pictures made by artists like me and others. Amateurs or not. Some art is promoted as "fine". For what reason? I recently visited an art exibition at the Nordic Akvarell museum (http://www.akvarellmuseet.org/) about Disney early films. That is art.

Have a look at Pinterest or Behance and other sites lik them. They are full of art. Made by people like you and me, not by any divine ARTIST.

Art has become democratic.

Art history is interesting and is, and has alwys been, a part of the curicculum in my country. I have been teaching art and art history and examining it for over 40 years. This is what the core content for art history in swedish schools read:

"Contemporary art and documentary images, and works of art and architectural works from different periods and cultures in Sweden, Europe and other parts of the world. How images and works are designed and what messages they communicate."

That is what the students should learn and what the teacher should teach over here. Not only "fine art".

All kinds of art.

I like that. :)

[Victor Osaka]

Yes, may be I should rephrase that from Fine Art to Art period. Originally, when I made the post i had been considering a more traditional in

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Western European academic traditions, fine art is art developed primarily for aesthetics or beauty, distinguishing it from applied art that also has to serve some practical function.
Historically, the five main fine arts were painting, sculpture, architecture, music and poetry, with performing arts including theatre and dance.

[Henry Stahle]

Yes, may be I should rephrase that from Fine Art to Art period. Originally, when I made the post i had been considering a more traditional in From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Western European academic traditions, fine art is art developed primarily for aesthetics or beauty, distinguishing it from applied art that also has to serve some practical function.
Historically, the five main fine arts were painting, sculpture, architecture, music and poetry, with performing arts including theatre and dance.

Well, I do not agree to what fine art is as a phenomena. Art was, and still is, an intrument of power, opression, money and superiority. It had a practical function in the hands of the upper classes and the religion. It was not only beauty and aesthetics in them selves, these were only means to communicate the power over the lower classes. Just like today when art is locked in museums, galleries, on the walls of millionairs, when art shows in expensive clothing, in architecture, in expressions in the upper classes ways of living... etc. Our time is not far from the period of Louis XIV...

90092

Graffitti, comics, animated films, Internet and digital communication... et cetera...has made art truly democratic. There are lots of good paint programs to make your own art... like ArtRage, ClipStudio, Sketchbook, krita, Media Bang... and so on. And you can easily spread your art by publishing on forums or sell it on Etsy and other places. You can even but good reproductions in IKEA or print your own art in a print shop and sell it by yor self. No need for galleries any more.

I think the history of Art, from stoneage and forward is a truly necessery and interesting subject in every school, from K-12 to University. FINE art... I don't like the term... I really would like to call it something else... just art, I think.

[damasocl]

Thanks for the reply. One of the reasons I did not give my direct opinion was that I am indeed an educator and former professor. So, I am biased - just a bit. Your thoughts on the subject are interesting to me.

It's true, one CAN find a lot of art on the web. Does one have to know how to create art to appreciate art? Is appreciation enough? Must one be intellectual about art? About the creative process? Or have a practical knowledge of the creative process?

Is the ability to express one's creativity (in a deep way) essential to the human experience? I think so. I can't quite remember what it is like to not know how to create art. The mechanics of putting to form a concept.

Yo opino que el tema es muy amplio, y por lo demás muy interesante para muchos de nosotros.
Yo también soy educador, y desde que decidí estudiar la Pedagogía en Bellas Artes (Artes Plásticas como se le suele decir en Chile), me dí cuenta que el alumno reacciona bien si es bien motivado, y además, si se le invita a "mirar" la naturaleza, o bien, lo que le rodea ...
Cuando recién comencé a trabajar como Profesor de Artes Plásticas en una escuela particular, a niños entre 9 y 14 años aproximadamente, descubrí poco a poco que mis clases "encantaban" a los alumnos.
Una de las cosas que los motivó fué el hecho de invitarlos a salir al patio de la escuela a dibujar ...

Pero, desgraciadamente hoy en mi paìs, las Artes Plásticas son una materia optativa, y las autoridades de la Educación (a partir de 1973), solo tienen la meta de que los alumnos compitan, ganen, y tengan un trabajo que les reporte mucho dinero...

WEB translation:

I think that the topic is very broad, and otherwise very interesting for many of us.
I am also an educator, and since I decided to study the Pedagogy of Fine Arts, I realized that students react well if well motivated, and also if you are invited to "look "nature, or around him ...
When I started just working as art teacher in a private school, children between about 9 and 14, I discovered slowly that my classes "loved" to students.
One of the things that motivated them was the fact invite them out to the schoolyard to draw ...

But unfortunately today in my country, the Arts are an optional subject, and the authorities of Education (since 1973), only have the goal of students compete, win, and have a job to report them lots of money ...

[Victor Osaka]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16578438

David Hockney thinks that over his lifetime art has become "less". He blames the art establishment (museums, galleries, art schools) for becoming over-enamoured with conceptual art: "It gave up on imagesbit" the artist laments.

[Henry Stahle]

[QUOTE=David Hockney thinks that over his lifetime art has become "less". He blames the art establishment (museums, galleries, art schools) for becoming over-enamoured with conceptual art: "It gave up on imagesbit" the artist laments.[/QUOTE]

Oh! I always admired David Hockney. Here is one of his iPad paintings:
90168

[Henry Stahle]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16578438

David Hockney thinks that over his lifetime art has become "less". He blames the art establishment (museums, galleries, art schools) for becoming over-enamoured with conceptual art: "It gave up on imagesbit" the artist laments.

Oh! I always admired David Hockney. Here is one of his iPad paintings:

90169

I use Pinterest, Behance and Instagram and study and look at art of all different kinds every day on these great artistic meetingplaces on Internet. I find it amazing how many talented and serious, well educated and skilled young and older artists there are exhibiting their work of art. I really don't think art is any way is going backward.

Art history is alive in schools and universities and art schools all over Europe as far as I know (http://www.europeana.eu/portal/).

[shivanya]

Art is important to the people nowadays because of the colors, and the output of the typical art in the world.

[Pop Alexandra]

It's important because it can remind us that there is pleasure and beauty outside jobs and social interactions.
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Alexandra from art transport (https://artystransit.ca/)