Lessons in Art are Lessons in Life
Lessons in Art exercise many of life’s most vital needs. To even think about education without the arts, lacks vision and sensitivity.
It is about making decisions concerning challenges that have never been defined, forcing the individual to react intuitively, making choices according to the previous actions. It is about exploring the inner self, and finding inspiration and emotion from a wide range of issues, and teaching the individual how to internalize their feelings, developing an understanding and forming a solution. It is about being unique. The very nature of creating is about being different and finding new ways to express oneself, in turn, becoming sensitive to the uniqueness of others. It is about taking that uniqueness and melding it within the community, learning how to work together as well as apart. It is about risk, opening up your heart and soul and expressing it in visual media for anyone to view, developing a comfort zone for being out on the edge, and dealing with possible rejection, controversy or even applause. It is about studying history through the eyes of some of the most flamboyant characters to walk this earth. Before photography, artists recorded history through their paintings and drawings, yet after the camera, artists glorified history by reacting to the social context of it. It is about learning to see through the uncommon mind. While the common mind is one that can only see what it can touch, the uncommon mind is about vision, and creating things that have never been seen before. It teaches the intellect of perceptiveness, inventiveness and cleverness, all very powerful traits to have throughout ones life.
Art is a wonderful vehicle for preparing our youth for life. We give them tools and teach them skills for attacking future challenges. As they move down the road of being, their lessons in art will become the road map for strategy in creating their existence.
Without participating in the process of creating, ones perception of the significance of art can be very limited. I call it the, “It Takes One To Know One Theory.” For most people to understand, they must experience first hand how the act of creating directs the being to every edge of life. Art teachers, artists and advocates throughout the land are often frustrated when money¹s and programs in the arts are cut. They have explored a myriad of avenues to educate those who do not support the arts in education, yet explanations alone do not suffice. It is very difficult to see the view unless your on top of the hill. In order to make it on top of that hill most of us must participate in the process of creating. Only then will ones perception be clear and true. It requires a different strategy of justification. In Mathematics 2 +2 will always equal 4. In Art 2 + 2 can equal 12 on one day and 2002 on another. In creating, the answer is irrelevant. The process is what counts.
“Art Is Life and Life is a Process.”
Art Sherwyn