What is the Value of Art in Our Society
Posted: Monday, November 23, 2009
by Dianne Lehmann
Artisan Jewelry from SyZyGy
" I see little of more importance to the future of our country and of civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist. If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his/her vision wherever it takes him/her." former President of the United States of America , John F. Kennedy
Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe you just don't know how to behold it.
A debate has raged for a very long time between artists and those whom artists refer to as crafters. It has lead to a more prevalent use of the word "artisan." I've seen this word applied to just about everything from soups to breads and jewelry and the people who create them.
Many years ago, upon presenting my then, now ex, brother-in-law with a laboriously crocheted afghan with a huge yin-yang in the center of it, we got into an argu discussion about just what art is. My position was that the afghan I had made for him was art, his position (he painted art you would hang on a wall) was that anything useful and that was "crafted" was not art. We went back and forth and never did reach any kind of consensus on the issue. It was a matter of perception. Art wasn't something you made. It was created. I couldn't come down on him for nitpicking over words, I do it myself.
When my husband and I first started producing jewelry for sale and people would ask me what I did, I would tell them that I was a jewelry artist. I was surprised (guess I shouldn't have been) by the number of people who objected to my use of the word artist in that context. I've avoided the issue for years now by replying to the question with, "I design and manufacture jewelry." Although, from time to time I just can't help myself and might instead say, "I design and manufacture one-of-a-kind wearable art."
Most sources will define art in one of several ways: (1) the products of human creativity (kind of leaves picture painting elephants out of the loop), (2) the creation of beautiful or significant things (so who determines what is beautiful or significant), or (3) the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. I vote for number three. And so I saw that afghan as art and my brother-in-law did not.
If you look at the word "artisan," most sources agree that it is a skilled worker who practices some trade or handicraft. The emphasis seems to be on skilled. And a handicraft can be an object that is crafted by skilled hands or also skill and dexterity with working with the hands. Doesn't this apply to those who paint wall art or sculpt marble? All artists must have skill and dexterity and plenty of practice in using the tools particular to their type of art. What they make with their skills is the product of their creativity. At any rate, most of those who care about such things think that the controversy today centers around whether or not art can even be defined. I think that it is such an elemental part of our natures, like mind, that it can never truly be defined. I think it is everywhere, all of the time and I definitely agree with John F. Kennedy.
Art shows us what is relevant and important in societies. At a time when generic and "plain wrap" products were of significance, cars were boxy and basic in design. Now with the prevalence of an ecological mindset, cars are more streamlined. The artists who design them might want to do something different, but they don't because their art must reflect the current emotions of the car-buying public. And just look at the types of programs that are on television today versus the programming of five or ten years ago. I see a more introspective trend to it all a searching for meaning (well, okay, you can't really count the sitcoms, and I guess there will always be sitcoms, goodness but I hate laugh tracks).
Do you still think that art has no bearing on your life? I won't say that our refrigerator is art, but we bought it because its shape, design and color pleased us appealed to our sense of the esthetic. We wouldn't have bought one that didn't no matter how inexpensive it might have been. So what color of clothing did you wear today? Was it all uniformly grey? I'd bet it wasn't. Without creativity and the artful expression of it, there would be only one kind of breakfast cereal and one kind of soup. We would all be driving the exact same car painted the exact same color. Without art, artisans and handicraft there is no novelty. And novelty is the meat (pot roast, stew, chicken fried) and potatoes (baked, fried, au gratin) of the human animal. If art is not essential to us, why is there so much of it?
On occasion, a customer might be admiring some piece of jewelry that I had made. They would say to me that they could never do that and that they aren't at all creative. I would always remark that we are all creative and that they had just not yet found their outlet for their creativity. There might be more denial and I would just insist because my truth is that we are all artists.
I don't believe that we would be who we are as a species or accomplish what we do without art. Art needs us to exist and without art we would not exist and that is the true value of it.
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Top-level comments on this article: (9 total)Art absolutely plays an important part in our lives, as it has since the caveman wall-doodling days. To some, art only means old, dead painters with old, dried-up canvases in some old museum, yet to others it could be anything from jewelry to the shape of the coffee cup they use every day.When people buy a car, for example, the most important thing is how it looks. Some artist made the hood just that way, the doors just that way, etc. Even with food there is art: sometmes when I make a sandwich I stop and tell myself I am indeed an artist, a magician.Without art we probably would exist, but we wouldn't enjoy life the same way. In fact, we wouldn't enjoy life at all. Well done.Hi Michael.As I was working on this article, Bernd and I were discussing it quite a lot. I was looking around the kitchen at the toaster and the blender and thinking just what you wrote about a coffee cup.As for existing without art. I just don't think that we would be what we are without art ... everything about how we go about our lives would be different. In that regard, we would not exist ... we would be something else. But you are right in saying that without art, life would be much less enjoyable. So, okay, I'm allowed to contradict myself from time to time. :)Thank you for sharing your thoughts,Dianne
I suspect many people would define "art" simply as something that can be hung on a wall, and therefore, jewelry is not art in their view. It's not mine however. What a fantastic article!Thank youHi again Andy.It's nice to hear that you too have a more broad idea of what art is. Glad you liked the article.Thanks for reading and commenting.Dianne
I'm an art aficionado; an appreciator of art. I have always reinforced artistic expression in my daughter, who also creates jewelry art of her own kind. There is a distinction between art and craft, but the lines blur. I am also an artist, a psychedelic polymer clay artist, but recessed at present. My art is a combination of craft and art, because I ornament every day objects from rocks to bird houses with designs that would amaze even the most skeptical, if I do say so myself.Long live John F. Kennedy's proclamation! In this age we are so insecure as to practically force the ensuing generation into technical, engineering and scientific vocation. We have proportionately deprecated the importance of art. This is a sad state of affairs, because it is reflective of repressed imagination, both collectively and personally. Religion without imagination, for instance, becomes submission to rote dogma, rather than spiritual liberation. I see that problem on the rise, which makes sense in the context of increasing cultural homogenization, gentrification and dullness.- GHi G.Thanks for your very astute comment. I agree that the lines between craft and art blur. I think that is the whole reason for the continued debate.The movie "Demolition Man" was on TV again recently. In it every restaurant (term used very loosely) was Taco Bell. Arrrgh! Let's hope we never get that culturally homogenized.Thanks again,Dianne
If I were a millionaire I would have art everywhere. I wear earrings that are different from what most people have and I love them and classify them as art, I have a collection of dolls called all God's Children and I classify them as art, I have some metal pieces, water fountains and wall hangings and I classify them as art and I also have an eclectic mix of paintings including some that I did when I could still paint and I classify them as art. Art makes the world go round and also tells many stories.May it never go away.Good article, Thanks for sharing.Linda DHi Linda.Sounds like your life is rich with art! I say hooray!Thanks for reading and commenting,Dianne
An excellent article.Art is precisely what this article has given us - Fuel for debate.Vive le difference!Hi Chris.And life would be ever so boring without it.Thank you for reading and commenting!Dianne
When we create ANYTHING we are demonstrating the artistic creativity of our soul. However that is expressed is the individual expression of your soul. We all do that differently, just as we do everything else differently. We each create according to our individual abilities. We're all creators to some degree- you might say we inherited that from our FATHER.Hi Ella,Precisely how I feel about it.Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.Dianne
Dianne,You have made some very valid points. I consider the layout and design of my garden as art, although I don't do it for that reason. I group for color, for height, for amount of sun and or water, etc. And, in doing so, I want it to be artistic. But my fridge? Art? My refrigerator has a bottom freezer; thus, my back enjoys the upper section tremendously. That is as artful as my appliances go because I don't purchase them for looks -- I buy them for functionality.Thanks for a good 'thinker'.Hi Nancy.We bought a top freezer fridge because we consider those to be more energy efficient, but we did look at the bottom freezer models as well. Some were, to my thinking, bu** ugly. So I guess that I am still trying to defend my point. Did you buy one whose shape and color displeased you? I'm really just trying to broaden the scope of art in people's minds. And as for your garden, I think that you indeed do it for art. You arrange the parts so that they are pleasing to you. Otherwise (except for their requirements as regard sunlight) why take so much care with it?Thanks for your thoughts, really!My best to you,Dianne
Dianne, Art is important in the human life. Even cavemen knew it - and left their art scribed into stones. It is important to the owner to gaze on it, to own it, to want it, to create it. We treasure the first artistic renderings of our children and preserve them for all time. Many refrigerators are covered by our children's art. And the rare piece of art that is owned by a wealthy individual is as important to him as a successfully painted "first oil" is to me or you. I think you should call yourself a jewelry artist because that is what you are - I am a stained glass artist and I am also a mosaic artist. It is our creative spirit from which flows our own unique art. Art is most definitely an important part of our human lives. Great subject and article. HeidiHi Heidi.
Thanks for finding this old article and giving a look. At the time I wrote it, I felt very passionately about the topic. I guess I still do. Art, for me, is simply a part of the human experience. I don't think we could be "human" without it.
Some day, when you have time, you will have to send me a couple pix of your stained glass art in an e-mail. I would really enjoy that.
Hugs,
DianneI really love some of our writers' older articles. There really is a whole lot of talent.
I've just met a new friend on FB and she's into jewelry and the art of making it. I have another webmaster acquaintance who runs two gorgeous websites of jewelry - all made by h is wife. And my own brother and wife are into art jewelry. And on my website I have CJSardi for equestrian jewelry. I'm a true fan!
You're absolutely right to think that we could not be human without art. It sets us apart from all other God's creatures. Some of us have more artistic gifts than others and, yet, even those without line-drawing art or the conventional artistic norms are perhaps musical (an art), creative (an art) or gifted in other ways. I love that you put attention on this subject. Heidi
I agree with you, I think that art is a broad term... its almost like the word love in that it is purely a subjective phenomenon... I believe that art can be experienced and not only made or created. Poetry can be art, dance can be art and, in some ways, even a fridge (not the mass produced types) can be art.
At the same time, some things that are sold as art, I dont necessarily see as art. Such as printed photos on canvases. People buy them and hang them on their wall and call it art....
I just think its as u said: art is in the eye of the beholder. Jewellery can be art too. Anything can be art... Ok i lost my point...Hi Tharuna.
I frequently lose my point, but I don't actually think that you did. You began with the thought that art is a broad term and you ended with that ... good composition. :)
Thanks so much for reading ... especially for finding an article that is so old. :)
Hugs,
Dianne
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