lessons from the art

lessons from the art

Exploring the Significance of Art: Lessons and Insights

1. Introduction to the World of Art

Art, whether it is painting, sculpture, or any other form, has been around since the beginning of time and has served a variety of purposes. Just a few of the many things that have been said about art and its significance include the view that it is important because it allows us to be creative, because it helps breathe life into our lives. It can be seen as a social act of communication, a political commentary, or an economic investment. Topics that we can explore through art are as numerous as the many forms of art, with new areas for appreciation and intellectual discourse in developments in forms of art such as tattoos, graffiti, body art, and other visual communication. The goals of this paper are to examine these ideas of the significance of art, discuss ways to explore these through the vehicle of art, and assign a way for the students to meaningfully explore these ideas through their own artistic explorations. It is then our hope that the exploration of these ideas of art’s significance will increase their appreciation of art as a whole.

2. The Power of Visual Communication

Supporting the belief that visual media communicate tremendously impactfully and produce significant internalized and lasting results, elaborated, “It is this magnificent ability of visual communication to permeate into the very roots of our being and to anchor there undisturbed until judgment day, untouched by the sands of time, that intrigues me.” The many qualities that make pictures a persuasive and effective means for communicating are underscored by Dr. Malcolm Park, “I know of no picture which does not, on some level, communicate an idea.” Consequently, we can believe and concur with Victor D’Amato who, while reflecting on his role as a communicator in teaching over 19,000 teachers in 22 years, perceptively stated, “The dull lecture short-circuits senses and throws no spark on the imagination. The class that listens learns little.”

The message of good art is nonverbal and often nonintellectual. Analysis and explanation, or even descriptions with correct terminology, cannot convey the full import of a work of art. No one can be said truly to understand or enjoy a piece of music, a literary work, or a picture if he needs to have it explained through words. An educational course will help a few students who seek the aesthetics of art, learn something about responding to art. This introductory training is like the ability to recognize wine by its bouquet, but the full appreciation of wine, and of art, attainable through the senses is something more than recognition and quite different from educational expertise.

3. Cultural and Historical Context in Art

An introduction to the understanding of the work of art, the understanding of the multi-layered process of the creation of the artwork, and the circumstances of the surrounding reality at a certain time may help the observer-spectator understand the indicators of the mastery and the intentions of the artist. During art history courses, students expand their knowledge of visual arts that have accompanied various written texts and historical documents. Thus, students can, for example, understand the value of visual materials that reflect various events and ideological changes over several millennia, so that they have come to different social orders and cultures. Learning from historical paintings and sculptures, we can sometimes obtain more accurate information about historical processes than from some of the contemporary works. We gain insight into the attractions and peculiarities of historical epochs, personalities, and social strata.

Art is not free from the influence of social, cultural, and historical traditions, values, and customs. Colonization by global languages and cultures, often under the flag of political imposition, has led to numbness and, in some cases, a complete loss of the ability to think critically and culturally in our mother tongues. The traditional national art hierarchies, imposed political criteria for artistic creativity, and the establishment of the so-called “proper” state artistic institutions were and still are metaphorical “boxes” that were filled with derelict values and meanings of art. Unquestioned are the acts of bowing heads to, for example, the Western economic, political, and military power elements, values, and authorities, which are deliberately and effectively visualized in various projections of physical and moral violence.

4. Art as a Reflection of Society

The most sophisticated and objective way of determining “who, what, where, when, and why” has evolved through the collective knowledge of history and the identification and interpretation of the thoughts of various nations, societies, and civilizations from artifacts related to daily life, art, and architecture. Furthermore, the great similarity between various civilizations has led to the use of terminology to include a number of groups, taking into account historical, internal, or territorial knowledge. These terms can be given briefly as: source, culture, society, civilization, and people. In societies, the common knowledge of a few activities related to language, connection, and internal innovation is the most important aspect that separates thought from common knowledge and ensures its continuity. Similarly, a variety of arts, which are produced to satisfy societies’ various needs, wants, and desires through continuity, generality, and distinction, are reflections of society as a part of and within its own framework.

Societies are generally the sum of their respective cultures, and the history or continuity of these societies can be interpreted and comprehended through the arts. Especially in the way they reflected and portrayed their experiences, dreams, and beliefs, evidence of various societies’ existence from pagan times to the present day can be found, from the ancient to the most modern of collections. As civilizations reflect a continuous search for historical knowledge, the way they have expressed this quest in a sequential way and as their knowledge increased can be considered as a kind of art. Mythological fades become filled with epics, which in turn become filled with laws. Therefore, history begins to be formed; societies are externalized; artifacts reflecting daily life develop from a nomadic theme. Commemorative structures for victories begin to emerge. In short, as the common knowledge of the function of societies increases, evidence that they existed and what they achieved can be found in arts as a reflection of their own spirit.

5. The Impact of Art on Individual Well-being

Art can have a profound impact in developing and nurturing skillful individuals, who will be well equipped, intellectually and practically, to exercise critical reasoning and moral deliberation over the whole course of their lives. This capacity-building role of art in individual well-being has a moral, educational, and social dimension; and supports access to a form of radical empowerment through which many voices and alternative solutions can be recognized and assessed. That is why there is the claim here that the arts more generally should be considered important components in the development of individuals, providing them with the tools and resources to lead plurifaceted lives. Such an approach would extend the list of social primary goods that facilitate achievement, freedom, political participation, social relations, and self-respect, thereby embracing lively, reflective, and creative involvement with the world.

Examined in this section are the conditions of well-being promoted and maintained through the healing power of art. Focus will be mainly on the moral quality and excellence that support well-being, as well as the capacities essential to human flourishing. Central to this analysis is the proposition that artistic interactions can stimulate creativity, foster our understanding, and improve our skills in problem-solving. As a consequence, we can then exercise our capability to make good choices. In offering these arguments for the distinctive relation between art and well-being, connections are drawn to the capacity approach espoused by Amartya Sen.