The question is “What is art?” Anything that shows or tells about ideas, feelings, or experiences is art. Paintings, photographs, poems, stories, plays, songs, and dances are art. Art is like magic. Art helps you appreciate what is around you. Where is art? Art is everywhere. It is in the trees and clouds and shadows on the sidewalk. It is in the clothes you wear, the dishes you eat from, the furniture in your home.
Art is in museums and in libraries. Who is an artist? Artists share their feelings and ideas. Artists show or tell others about their experiences. Anyone with imagination is an artist. Studying the elements and principles of art can help you understand art better. The elements are like the pieces of a puzzle. One piece means nothing when it is by itself. It is only when all the pieces are put together that the puzzle is complete. The principles of art are the plans that make the elements come together. The principles make order. The principles organize a work of art.
To create a work of art it is necessary to use: line, shape, texture, space, value and color, these are the elements to create a painting or other form of art. The principles needed are: balance, unity, emphasis, and rhythm. Art is important every day in our lives. If all things made by people were to disappear, we would all be in the nude on the bare ground. All things made by people must first be designed, before they are made (such as cars, shoes, houses, fabric, clothing, pictures, furniture, roads, buses and stores including advertising of food sold in stores and illustrating an idea) anything that is created by people and not nature first must be designed. Usually the act of designing things is done by an artist. However, the making of an object sometimes is separate from the designing.
There are many careers related to art in some way. The sad part of “Art in America” is that art is viewed neither as part of everyday living, nor as a legitimate part of education in many areas of our nation. We are surrounded each day by the visual environment and from the moment we get up we deal with things that have all been made by people using the elements of design. So stop and look around where you live and realize that everything you see (except for nature like: trees, clouds, ocean, rivers, rain, etc.) is created by people to be used for people and are some art form and you know now what art is.
For more information contact Jaylene Armstrong, retired art educator from Madison Wisconsin, at 661-255-3050 or email: Jaylenearmstrong@yahoo.com.