Would you like to revitalize and enrich your life? As well as uplift your sprits this summer?
For the next several weeks, we will be posting on a daily basis another installment of Through an Artist’s Eyes: Learning to Live Creatively offering you a pathway to art and the vision of the artist. Enabling you to develop your own inner creativity and apply it to the personal cycle of everyday living!
So let’s begin! Take the first step!
(And if you are familiar with our book, you might find new meaning by rereading it again!)
A special bonus section added with a selection of art works just for you!
See caption below*
- INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD OF ART
What Do I Know About Art?
Have you ever really considered what you know about art? Are you secure in your overall knowledge and background of the subject? Or, are you at least familiar with a favorite area or type of art? Or then again, do you feel that you know very little about art, if nothing at all? As communicators and educators of the arts, we’ve heard all of the above responses. But, we have discovered that people often feel uncomfortable, tentative, and apologetic when discussing art. Not only at the beginning of our classes, but in random conversations we have with people in many settings—at a coffee shop or restaurant, or when we are traveling, or even in an art museum itself.
Why is this happening? It is the 21st century and many of us have more access to information and education than any other civilization since the beginning of time. For instance, just a click or two on the internet will reveal a virtual universe of paintings, sculptures, and other media, that is expanding every day.
Yet, does it actually matter, you might ask yourself. Why should I care if art is part of my life? I have friends and family who love me. I earn a living, I have ways of entertaining myself in my leisure time. What more do I need? Anyway, what can looking at a painting or attending a dance or music concert really do for me–activities that at the most take up an hour or two of my existence.
How does one of these art experiences make me feel? My spirits might be lifted for a few minutes after contemplating a work of art at my local art museum. Or, I might even remember some of the music the day after a concert; the words, the rhythm, the notes might echo in my consciousness for hours, as I do other, seemingly unrelated daily tasks. Or, a scene from a particularly moving movie might remain with me, creating a sense of longing to see it again, if only for a moment.
Fragments really, in a 24-hour day. But have you ever thought what it would be like if the arts brought unity and wholeness to your life leading to excitement and adventure as well as a sense of peace and tranquility; provoking your mind and imagination while also touching your emotions. Most importantly, showing you the path to creativity—an artist’s creativity. Though not requiring you to produce an actual work of art, separate and meant for public use and display, but to develop and cultivate your own, inner creativity, and applying it to the personal cycle of everyday living, whether at home or in your office, alone or with friends.
For everyone is born an artist so why not begin a lifetime of discovery.
COMING TOMORROW: WHAT IS ART?
Bonus: What are your favorite themes in art?
For instance, nature and landscape?
Or portraits?
https://artseverydayliving.com/arts-everyday-living-rose/
Or a vase of flowers?
Or a favorite pet?
*Claude Monet, The Bridge at Argenteuil, 1874, oil on canvas, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
In the public domain, courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
The National Gallery of Art does not endorse or approve use of the above image or any of the material on this website. Nor has the National Gallery of Art participated in any projects utilizing the said image.
Copyright 2010: Joan Hart, Museum One, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented including photocopying, recording and information storage and retrieval without permission from the publisher.
ISBN 9780615301884
