What is Art?
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INTERESTING QUESTION.. Let's explore...
In Our Story
"Ms. Hussey said she noticed that Art often showed what was important to people in any given time. It revealed things." (p.27)
Calder felt that "Art, for him - was something puzzling. Yes. Something that gave his mind a new idea to spin around. Something that gave him a fresh way of seeing things each time he looked at it." (p. 51)
Dictionary-type definition
art
/ärt/ See definitions in:
noun
1.
the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
"the art of the Renaissance"fine art
artwork
creative activity
2.
the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance.
"the visual arts"
Picasso Quote
Picasso said that "We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies. If he only shows in his work that he has searched, and re-searched, for the way to put over lies, he would never accomplish anything."
Calder thought Picasso meant that "art wasn't exactly the real world but it said something real." (p. 36) What do you think Picasso meant??
What Makes an Object a Piece of Art
"Here's what I want you to do...
Start by choosing one item at home that feels like a work of art to you. It can be anything. Don't ask for advice - this has to be your own thinking. Describe this object for us without saying what it is." (p. 36)
Feel free to take a picture of your object and send it to us (cbcsksd@gmail.com).
We'll put it below in the "Gallery of Art"
If you do the exercise above you can hand in your description of your item and have your class try to guess what it is.
Broad Rock Gallery of Art Objects
More on the Question
Petra had her own thoughts on Art in our story. "What WAS art anyway? The more she thought about it the stranger it seemed. What made an invented object special? Why were some manmade things pleasing and some were not? ... She thought about the pictures in the Art Institute that made her feel like she could leave everything behind.... It let her into another world. It made familiar stuff seem mysterious. It sent her back to her life feeling a little different, at least for a few minutes." (p. 40)
Some Local Artists
We checked in with some of our favorite local artists to get their thoughts on our question and showcase some of their work for you also...
Kevin Gilmore
Kevin Gilmore is an interdisciplinarian artist working as a painter, an experimental sound technician and an educator. kevingilmore.com
1.What is Art?
In order to define such a broad question, I think it comes down to intentions. I think a person can be artful in anything they do - from designing a garden, preparing a meal, making a painting, or singing a song. It is in the process where one might add an artistic intention, not the end product. Approaching a process creatively can't help but result in something I'd define as "Art."
2.Why do you make Art?
Making art is simply to be human. Making art came way before having an iPhone, owning a car, or paying the bills. Thousands of years ago, the first humans painted on cave walls, and beat together a rock and a tree stump and began to dance. Asking an artist why they make art is like asking "Why do you eat?" Aside from all of that, I am most at peace with this life when I am creating. If I am happy, I can then spend time helping others to discover art by teaching it!
3.What is interesting about a process you use in the making of your Art?
At a most basic level, making art is the process of organizing things, or finding order in the infinite. By placing several notes together on a piano, you create a musical chord. Writing a song is about organizing a bunch of notes together to communicate your feelings or emotions. Making a painting is about organizing colors. So part of my process is inventing new ways to organize whatever materials I am working with.
Now, go make some art.
Mara Trachtenberg
Mara Trachtenberg is a sculptor and artist and educator.
1.What is Art?
Art is human expression. It expresses our emotions, ideas, and experiences. It's purpose is to express these facets of being human.
2.Why do you make Art?
I make Art because I have a deep desire to create and express. When I don't or when it's been some time since I have made something, I get sad.
3.What is interesting about a process you use in the making of your Art?
I use photography to bring the people who look at my work into my imaginary world. I make photographs but my process encompasses sculpture, drawing and animation.
Eben Horten and Jen Nuack
Eben and Jen run the Glass Station Gallery in town. They blow glass and give classes and are responsible for the "Glass Float Project." theglassstationstudio.com
1.What is Art?
Art is a very difficult thing to define. What is art to someone may be craft or just process to someone else, but if someone views something made by someone else and they are moved by what they see, I would call that art.
2.Why do you make Art?
I make Art very infrequently because I would refer myself as a craftsman as opposed to an artist, but when I do make something that I would call art it is because I have something to say that words alone can not express.
3.What is interesting about a process you use in the making of your Art?
The process I use is incredibly difficult to learn. I takes approximately 10 years before a glassblower can feel confident to make what they set their mind to make. It is transparent, yet opaque, molten, solid, hot and cold. A medium full of contradictions.
Seth Jacobson
Seth Jacobson is a Photographer living and working in the Rhode Island area since 1995. www.SethPhotos.com
1.What is Art?
I love this question! The answer boils down to intention. If one intends something to be art then, it is. Now the question of GOOD art vs BAD art is another story… Just because someone makes a piece of art, doesn’t mean it’s good, and an unseen flower that grows in the meadow may be spectacular but I wouldn’t call it art because no one willed it to be so. I think to make good art one needs intelligence and creativity.
-Intelligence is the ability to apprehend and perceive what is
-Creativity is the ability to apprehend and perceive it could be
2.Why do you make Art?
I make art because I must. I’m compelled to create by some internal force. I honestly don’t feel like there is any choice being made. If I’m not able to make photos for a long period of time, it starts to eat away at me in an unpleasant way, and the moment that I make another photo I immediately feel a relief. I have found the outlet of photography but if I was rendered blind tomorrow, I would find another way to create. Another way of saying this is I create art for my own sanity, and I’m fortunate enough to have the ability to make photos that other people like too.
3.What is interesting about a process you use in the making of your Art?
I am willing to employ any and all techniques that might make my photos better, including merging many photos together to create a finished image. Pulling and stretching a photo to reshape it. And Over the years, my technical skills have grown. If you want to make art the most important thing I can tell you is just start making stuff and a pay attention to the folks you can find that are better than you.
Martha Nardini
Martha Nardini is a jewelry designer and craftsperson who also has a storefront on Block Island. There she sells her wares and lives half the year when not in Wakefield. marmarboutique
1.What is Art?
Art is a form of expression. Art is a way to explain one's self without having to say a word. Art is a means of making the audience view something from a different perspective. Art evokes feelings, thoughts and emotions. Art is a personal individual experience- each viewer perceiving it in their own way. Art is what keeps life interesting. Without it, life as we know it wouldn't be the same. From the clothes that you wear to music that you listen to, art infiltrates life... whether you realize it or not.
2.Why do you make Art?
For me, art is a means of a combination of things. Escape, control and release.
Some people do yoga or meditation to release stress. I prefer banging a hammer. When I am working with metal, it requires a certain amount of concentration that enables me to "get lost" in the process. From the high concentration of using my torch to solder or melt metal, to the humdrum of sanding and filing, I am able to forget about life's little stresses while I am creating work. When life seems crazy and upside down, I am able to maintain a sense of control when I am in my studio. Certain techniques that I use give expected results, making me feel more grounded.
Working with metal allows me to get out a lot of my inner stress, especially when using a technique called "chasing and repoussé," which entails a LOT of repetitive hammering .
3.What is interesting about a process you use in the making of your Art?
One of the coolest (I think) processes that I use is called "chasing and repoussé."
It is a very old technique of patterning or putting relief onto flat metal surfaces. Some artists use it to make floral or natural motifs on their work. Although I have tried to do otherwise, the shapes and patterns that are transferred from me to the metal are most always geometric and repetitive. When I finally stopped fighting it, I realized that I really enjoy the shapes that happen.
For repoussé, I start with a flat sheet of metal, usually bronze or sterling (if I'm feeling brave.) I have a bowl of pitch, which is kind of like road tar... when you heat it up a little, it gets soft, and then it hardens as it cools. I anneal my metal with my torch, which makes it softer and easier to work with, as heat releases the molecules inside of the metal. I warm up my pitch, and push my annealed sheet of metal into it. This holds it in place while I hammer it, and also provides a stable backing so I am less likely to punch a hole in it with my chasing tools. Once it is cooled a bit, I use my chasing tools and my chasing hammer to start shaping and patterning it. Chasing tools are 2 inch long pieces of steel, about the width of a pencil, with different shaped tips on them. Each differently shaped tool creates a different effect in the metal. Once I am finished hammering the entire piece, I warm up my pitch again, remove and anneal my piece of work, flip it over, put it back into my pitch bowl and start working it from the back. This allows me to create very high relief patterns as I push and pull the metal. I might have to repeat this process of flipping it over and working each side quite a few times, depending on what I am making. It is a very physical (and noisy!) process. The most interesting part of this entire process, however, is that I usually end up liking the back of my intended design. This is always interesting to me, as it reminds me that however much I always think I am in control, the universe is always providing alternative options.
Rick Maguire
Rick Maguire is a very talented woodworker, luthier and craftsman. He's been building instruments for 30 years. rickmaguireguitars.com
1.What is Art?
Using one’s skills and imagination to produce items or ideas for the purpose of creating things that are either useful, beautiful or thought provoking.
2.Why do you make Art?
My art is guitar making. I make my art in order to challenge myself and my skills to create things that can be used by others to help them express their own creativity by making music. Making my art helps me to feel productive and happy. I think it also keeps my mind active and sharp.
3.What is interesting about a process you use in the making of your Art?
My art is made mostly from wood. I like that the tools in my hands, guided by the thoughts in my head can transform plain and ordinary pieces of lumber into beautiful and useful items.
Christine Herron
1.What is Art?
Whether it is pottery, painting, singing or playing an instrument, Art to me is something that brings me joy. It can be created by myself or with friends. It can be very simple like a sketch in my sketchbook or complicated and layered like a huge mural. It can be used everyday like a ceramic mug or something you buy tickets for and see in a theater. Art is an expression of the soul, a challenge for the mind and food for the soul.
2.Why do you make Art?
I make Art because I have always made art. I enjoy figuring our how to use different mediums, materials. I like the challenge of having an idea and then making it. I like making interesting things that are useful and I enjoy teaching others how to do so as well.
3.What is interesting about a process you use in the making of your Art?
Well, I am a potter and I don't use a pottery wheel to make my work. I roll out my clay in sheets and cut out shapes that I then shape into things like mugs, plates, vases and small sculptures. I design my own templates and make my own tools out of clay. I ornament my work by creating textures, carving, drawing and painting on my pots and then firing them in my kiln.
Sarah Swift
Sarah Swift grew up in RI and attended Art School in New York.
1.What is Art?
I was raised by two passionately curious marine biologists, living on the rural coast of RI. I was mentally, physically and spiritually fascinated with the organic world, as it became the primary influence surrounding my early years of learning. I remember towing big nets to catch sea plankton that we would later watch and draw for hours with the help of monstrous microscopes. I vividly recall the joy I found in simple structures like cracked ice, dead flower pods, and veins in leave I would peel apart to examine. Back then it was just "play," but that obsession has developed into a studio practice rooted in exploration, experimentation and "life cycles" of repurposed materials.
2.Why do you make Art?
The idea of creating a sustainably conscious studio practice entered my mind in art school when supplies were expensive and I had reusable material EVERYWHERE. I started favoring the processes of finding fabric or wood or plastic and giving it all a new purpose. As political powers have shifted in the last year, the subjects of climate change, and the global plastic epidemic, came to the forefront of my mind. I decided to put more effort into using material that was not only around me but actually in my way, that I intended to dispose of; garbage. I began hording plastic bags to be woven into tapestries and into loom pieces. I shredded old ripped clothing and unraveled old sweaters. All material I receive goes through a process whether it is painted, cut, collaged, or shredded; it is always somehow pieced back together.
3.What is interesting about a process you use in the making of your Art?
My process systematically mimics the ongoing cycle of build-up and breakdown found in natural phenomena. On the most basic level I'm investigating life and death - perhaps rebirth. On a more complex level, I think of changes of season, habits and patterns of daily living, relationships, even the economy and stock markets. I love this idea that everything is in a constant state of flux. ebbing and flowing and reacting to everything around it. I believe this work is my contribution to that everchanging cycle. I constantly question whether ontological loneliness is the cause for most art, as we all constantly grasp at identity and concrete reasons for why things ARE. I humor myself that this whole process is my attempt to control laws of nature within my own life, which are (of course) so intrinsically uncontrollable.
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