Art Introduction
Our
first art class this year was an introduction to art. We asked
questions such as “What is art?” and “How can art be useful in whatever
field we choose to pursue?”. We talked about the importance of
developing our right and left brains and how those people who we
consider to be geniuses have strong mathematical and logical skills as
well as highly developed creativity. The following is a summary of our
discussion:
• What is Art and who are Artists? Everyone who
expresses themselves via visual art, literature, drama, music, verbal
presentation, dance etc.
• What different kinds of art can you think of? Eg. Visual art, musical, Literary, dance, design, etc. Webster’s Definition
•
Why is art important? Expression, enhance creativity, spark interest
(relate seeing star wars led me to a job creating space planes, reading
a book), document history (photos, cave drawings, story tellers),
create serenity (fountain or a peaceful photo, painting), invoke action
(like disturbing photos, drawings, books), give pure enjoyment (a
novel, musical, symphony, a bracelet), pay tribute (memorial).
•
Importance of Left Brain / Right Brain development. Examples of genius:
Einstein, da Vinci, Ben Franklin, Socrates, A. G. Bell, etc. – all had
highly developed right and left brain function
• Why should we learn
to draw, and develop visual art skills? No matter what field you decide
to go into, what hobbies you enjoy and will pursue, the ability to
relate your ideas to others is very important. If you are an engineer
and design a new rocket engine or a viable method of tapping energy
from the ocean waves, your designs are useless unless you can convey
them to other people. An architect may design a stunning new opera
house, but must first present his or her design concept in a sketch to
win the contract. An archeologist, a journalist, a teacher must convey
what he or she observes, knows or suspects to others. Writing, drawing,
speaking, singing, playing music, dancing etc. are all methods of
conveying the images, thoughts, ideas and designs in your head to other
people. Your experience in nearly every profession will be enhanced if
you develop your skills in expressing yourself.
• Can you think of
how drawing skills might be incorporated into different professions?
Can you think of a profession or hobby where you don’t need to have
visual art skills? Challenge class to come up with ways visual art can
be used in these activities.
Project
We form pre-conceived
notions of what things look like (Left Brain), but sometimes don’t
really look at the object (Right Brain). Observation (really looking at
something and attention to detail) is critical to art.
• Blind Contour of hand
• Blind Contour of partner’s face
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