Art is crucial to the development of this society and societies in the past. It is a mistake to consider art only necessary for personal entertainment. It is so much more.
There are many people who pursue art as a career yet art can also be used beyond the behavior of creativity. Studies prove that exposing people to art help develop their social standing, self-esteem and skills in their educational development.
As an artist I can attest that art is hard work. Years of concentration, practice, and discipline go into honing the skills needed to master the skills. One of the traits it develops within people moderately exposed to art is to learn the feeling of self-satisfaction of work done to the best of one’s skill. Therefore, it creates the revival of the idea of ‘good work’. Learning the joys of work through art encourages other growths of work for personal fulfillment, work for social recognition or work for economic expansion. Good work is an expression of one’s character, and good work ethics can be contributed to art. Productivity and workmanship is an ideal goal in our society. Both of these skills are strengthened through art. The thought that art is the best way for every young person to learn the value of good work is valid.
Art as well can promote self-esteem through development of skills needed for social acceptance. Analytical skills and the process of understanding are developed through participating in art. Art encourages analytical skills in the beginning stages of art. It requires the individual to break down thoughts and ask questions on what technique to use in order to reach a conclusion. It also shows the participant that the conclusion will not always be what you expect. Choices are needed to be made before a project begins. Deciding on what color, size, spatial relationship and what type of medium to use before the project begins is the basis for decision-making concepts. It causes the participant to ask questions and problems solve to produce the desired outcome.
Art promotes imagination that causes thoughts to rise above limitations of old thought and enables thoughts ‘outside of the box’. Through art, new concepts of mental organizing and retrieving information occur which produce critical thinking and problem solving abilities. Learning art techniques and styles help develop observation, analysis, interpretation and evaluation skills which transfer to one’s surroundings and other areas of educational development. Self esteem grows from making good choices which are developed from the skills learned through art.
Cognitive and physical skills learned in art encourage expression which leads to better communication skills. Art increases a person’s perception and also uses necessary functions of short and long-term memories. Arts education increases interest in academic learning, cognitive and basic skills development and the development of academic achievement skills. Art develops self motivation. Because there is no right answer, it is left open to the imagination and decisions of the one taking on the project, there is no fear of failure or inferiority. This concept encourages inquiring and answer-thinking questions. The quality of developing an inquiring mind and seeking answers carries over to academic learning. The two correlations between art and reading are learning to communicate and mastering a clear use of symbols. Studies have resulted in the findings that those that are allowed to participate in art are better readers and creative writers.
It is amazing to think that a small three-letter word, a-r-t, could have such an impact in these areas. A sole act of being creative can change a life, society and the world.
about gracehodgin
Grandma Blogger encouraging grand parents to remain active in the lives of their grand children and to inspire imagination and creativity.
When Grace is not writing articles for her blog then she morphs into GracieLoo and is off to ZombieZoo where she is the resident Grandma who hands out cookies, kisses, band-aids for booboos and reads stories to her beloved ZombieZoo Residents.
I so agree. Here’s is a lovely quote by Rachel madow that I am sure you will enjoy:
“Sometimes we choose to serve our country in uniform, in war. Sometimes in elected office. And those are the ways of serving our country that I think we are trained to easily call heroic. It’s also a service to your country, I think, to teach poetry in the prisons, to be an incredibly dedicated student of dance, to fight for funding music and arts education in the schools. A country without an expectation of minimal artistic literacy, without a basic structure by which the artists among us can be awakened and given the choice of following their talents and a way to get to be great at what they do, is a country that is not actually as great as it could be. And a country without the capacity to nurture artistic greatness is not being a great country. It is a service to our country, and sometimes it is heroic service to our country, to fight for the United States of America to have the capacity to nurture artistic greatness.”
“Not just in wartime but especially in wartime, and not just in hard economic times but especially in hard economic times, the arts get dismissed as ‘sissy’. Dance gets dismissed as craft, creativity gets dismissed as inessential, to the detriment of our country. And so when we fight for dance, when we buy art that’s made by living American artists, when we say that even when you cut education to the bone, you do not cut arts and music education, because arts and music education IS bone, it is structural, it is essential; you are, in [Jacob’s Pillow founder] Ted Shawn’s words, you are preserving the way of life that we are supposedly fighting for and it’s worth being proud of.” -Rachel Maddow
Very well said and it is sad that the value of these programs are not fully appreciated by our leaders and encouraged for the value they serve us as a society.
I completely agree. That’s why I hate when I hear about schools cutting arts programs due to lack of funds.
Thanks Jennifer and it is a shame. My sister-in-law who has a masters degree in art and is an art teacher for a middle school now only teaches two art classes and the rest is filled with reading classes because of the cut backs.
In conjunction with Jennifers comment, we’re so glad our kids can attend a school that focuses mainly on the arts. I think a good combination of arts and sports is good for any school. Too bad public schools don’t understand this.
Most of my kids enjoy art in one form or another and I’m also very particular about the art pieces I hang or display in my home, because like you mentioned, art has such a profound effect.