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_how art improves our lives _
By: T.Miller
Art is a deliberate recreation of a new and special reality that grows from
ones response to life. It improves our existence by enhancing, changing and
perpetuating our cultural composition. The great artist knows how to impose
their particular illusion on the rest of mankind, proclaimed Guy de
Mauspassant. Art improves our lives by directly and indirectly lift the morale
of individuals, creating unity and social solidarity. Art creates awareness of
social issues. Art may express and reflect the religious, political, and
economical aspects of cultures. Art is and can be what ever a culture says it
is or what ever they want it to be. It involves all people, those who conceive
the idea of the work, execute it, provide necessary equipment and materials,
and people who make up the audience for the work. Art forms as diverse as
architecture, body decoration, clothing manufacture, and memorial sculptures
reflect social status. Art echoes the natural world. It gives order to the
world and intensity to human life. Art is a means of communion as well as
communication. It provides pleasurable experiences along with cerebral wealth.
Art also helps us to express our sentimental relations. It can beautify,
surprise, inspire, stimulate imagination, inform, tell stories, and record
history. As someone once said, Art is life. Therefore, as teachers, it is
our jobs to teach students about life through art. We must have a penetrating
comprehension ourselves of how art affects our society in order to teach our
students to comprehend the complex purposes of art. We must be aware of the
global culture and heritage from which art emerges. For example when teaching
our students art aesthetics, we must never let them think that there is only
one way to view art. Students, and especially teachers, should be acceptable
to all ways in which art evaluation can occur. Western aesthetics is based
primarily on individuality, originality, permanence, and form. These factors
cannot be applied to art from every culture. For example, African art is
understood in terms of rites of passage, healing, power, control, and
commerce. Students must be taught to understand the principles of art as they
are understood by the cultural group in which they belong in order to truly
achieve global awareness and appreciation for art. Obviously, teachers must
gain this awareness themselves before they can impart it to their students.
Travel, physically or intellectually, is necessary for teachers who truly
aspire to instill a devotion to open-mindedness and tolerance in their
students. Furthermore, teachers themselves must be open to teaching about
culturally diverse art, and learning the history and meaning of behind such
pieces. As teachers, we must constantly be open to expanding our base of
knowledge and learning new information to share with our students. It is
important to note that teaching art requires more than just looking at
pictures, listening to music or watching a dance. To teach art in a truly
meaningful way, principles of art history, production, criticism and
aesthetics must be explored. Students must be taught to value not only the
beauty of art, but also the meaning, elements and the history of art. Students
do not naturally look at a painting and know the principles contained in it,
who created it and for what purpose. Students must learn how to view and
critique art in order to understand it. This understanding can come from being
immersed in an environment in which art is an essential component to learning.
If art is integrated throughout the curriculum, and is not relegated to half
an hour per week of drawing, cutting or pasting, then students can develop a
love and understanding for a variety of creative experiences involving
artistic expression. An environment supportive of art development can be
obtained in any classroom in which the teacher instills in the students a
respect for the history, purpose and meaning of art. This doesnt mean that
all students have to be great artists capable of completing outstanding works
of art themselves; rather the implication is quite the opposite. Even students
who are not great artists themselves are capable of appreciating,
understanding, and perceiving art on a highly cognitive level. In order for
this to happen students must experience for themselves the production of art
using specific elements, principles and techniques. Once they have tried to
create a particular effect, it is important to show them the work of someone
who mastered the task, and allow them to critique not only their own work, but
also the work of the professional artist. It is only by attempting to create a
piece of their own that students will truly understand how talented some
artists are. Despite the benefits of art production and criticism, an
environment truly conducive to artistic development must include both art
history and art aesthetics. As mentioned before, it is to provide a culturally
diverse perspective in these areas.
Word Count: 814
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