From the breathtaking paintings of Vincent Van Gogh to the horror-exposing photographs of Lewis Hine, from the captivating music playing through our earbuds to the raging movies on screens and the engaging books we read, art is a potent force in our world. Why is art important? It gives us something so paramount to our existence that we would not be the same for lack of it.
Krista Webster ‘16 is an artist, and says that her work “gives me escapism and it relieves my stress. It makes me feel powerful and accomplished.” Through art, the human mind can express the things it could not find a way to say before, freeing it and relieving stress.
Art is a vessel for the stuff of the human soul. A work of art will long outlive its artist. It gives virtual immortality to the ideas of the artist, and that is as far from mortality as one can get. Humans easily die—but art? Art is very hard to kill.
Art is a preservation of culture, and of history as it happens. Walk into a museum, and the majority of relics of past civilizations on display will be art forms. The hieroglyphics and pyramids of Egypt are art forms, and have long outlasted the ancient Egyptians who created them. They have stories to tell, and in studying these things, we have been able to better understand the ancient Egyptian civilization as it was. Not only are these works of art enjoyed by a modern world hundreds of years after their creation, but they also inadvertently recorded history in the making. They preserve an interesting and captivating time in Egypt’s past, thus conserving a piece of its culture. Numerous ethnicities keep traditions of dancing certain dances, or singing certain folksongs, or passing down certain stories. These are all preservations of culture, linking each generation to the last.
Art teaches us. It teaches us not only of the past, like Egyptian hieroglyphics do, but of mankind, and of each other, and of the world we live in. Books and movies often have underlying messages. In our English classes, we constantly analyze literature to figure out what the author is trying to convey. Paintings, photography, and songs are often social commentaries. Art is a form of expression, and oftentimes what it expresses can teach someone. Oftentimes, what it teaches can change someone forever.
“I think art gives us a way of understanding the world around us that, without it, we would lack,” photography teacher Mr. Ortega explains.
Art is around us wherever we go. “It’s around us in different ways and we don’t recognize it,” Mr. Ortega remarks. “Art is not just visual representations; you can see art through a lot of different things. Like, someone designed this desk.”
This brings up an interesting idea; for those who are not “artsy” and have little interest for things like sculptures and musical compositions, this is a new way to think of the term “art.” Take an electric car, for example. Any car can technically be considered art; someone put thought, time, and painstaking effort and planning into creating it. It was designed and prototypes were made before the final product was built.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, art is “something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings” (1). Look around you. So many things fall into that category. An electric car certainly does. Doesn’t designing a green, safe, aesthetically pleasing car require imagination and skill? Isn’t it daunting to think of the beautiful intertwining of knowledge, deft skill, and diligence that gave birth to its existence? Isn’t being eco-friendly an important idea? So much art surrounds you. It would be a shame not to recognize the importance of something so abundant and so beautiful, something so intrinsic to human existence.
So, look around yourself and think, Why is art important to you?