My name is Justine, and I’m from a small town in Illinois along the Mississippi. I transferred here this year to study anthropology. I plan to settle on an emphasis by the end of the semester. Art has always been a passion of mine, so I hope to incorporate it into my degree.
I’d like to begin by arguing that each individual has his or her own right to decide for themselves what art is and what is not. Even if we as a class form a definition or guidelines, to the rest of the world it will still remain “in the eye of the beholder”. But for obvious reasons we have to attempt to outline what it includes. After our class discussions I think it’s fair to say art is an ambiguous term. However, thank you to Friday’s class, defining art as “creative expression” should relax the debate a little. I like this definition because it allows for a broader category. I can include “cake design”, or music, or dance.
Someone brought up in class that art is something more “original” in the sense that it is a piece hand-made and not mass produced. I strongly agree with this argument. Of course there are exceptions but in general, something produced by a machine is not art. But then not everything made by hand is art. A shelf built by human hands is not art.
Art is not to simply provide a functional object but to go beyond a function. It’s the “adding to” that makes it a piece of art. An ordinary object can be transformed into art by this “adding to”. I believe that when something is added, to be considered art, it would have to be added with design or something “original” in mind. For example painting a shelf a single color isn’t really art. But painting a design on it would make it art. Art provides an intangible function such as provoking an emotion, thought, a memory, or inspiration. It’s a means of expression – negative or positive. Many times art can translate what language cannot; our imagination can be translated into something tangible. It’s the creation of things displeasing or beautiful that has other than practical uses.
I’m very interested in early human life, and I read that we will be studying the markings of early hominids and Upper Paleolithic cave paintings. I would love to take away from this class a new understanding of their “creative expression”! I hope to grasp a better understanding of where “art” lies in the priorities of other cultures around the world.
