Magic Exists In Art
As children, we believed that magic was real. Fairies sprinkled magic pixie dust everywhere, and unicorns had charm in their rainbow hair. As we got older, we realized this was not true. Magic isn’t real, right? Well, what if I tell you that magic does exist. Magic may not exist in a fairy godmother or a leprechaun’s pot of gold, but rather it exists in the form of art.
When we think of art, we may only think of paintings, drawings, and sculptures; art that you would usually see in a museum. While those things are incredibly breathtaking to look at, they aren’t the only things we should consider to be art. I pose these questions: Can dance or a song be art? Can movies or television shows be considered art? How about textile work such as crochet or knit? Is sewing or quilting art? Or how about even simpler things such as shoes? Can video games be considered art? How about cooking or baking? All of these have in common to pieces one would see in a museum: the time it took for the artist to create them. Creating a movie or show takes several months to a year to produce. Textile work can take a few weeks to a few months to make, shoes take lots of time to create, and video games take a long time to program and produce. Cooking and baking take a lot of time to complete, as well.
Art also creates a sense of community. Much like how people would gather to look at paintings/sculptures in museums, people are usually together when they watch TV and cook. There is a community of people who share a common love/interest in textiles, shoes, and video games. Not only this but according to J. Faith Almiron’s article “Why We Need Unconventional Public Art Now More Than Ever,” she mentions, “art helps to articulate the public’s shared frustrations with the current moment” (Almiron). This pandemic has been brutal for many of us. I felt utterly lost as a person. One thing that gave me purpose was knitting and crocheting. It’s therapeutic in a way. Cooking can be therapeutic, much like video games and watching television.
Art has this way of masking our worries and fears, even for a few minutes. Since it takes time to create the art piece, and the fact that it could be done with other people, combine to wash our worries away for a few minutes to a few hours. Art truly is real-life magic. While it may not be in the form of fairies or unicorns, it’s the everyday things that are the real magic. Magic has and always will be right beside us. We just have to take some time to explore it.
Works Cited
Almiron, J. Faith. “Why We Need Unconventional Public Art Now More than Ever.” Hyperallergic, 17 May 2021, https://hyperallergic.com/645398/why-we-need-unconventional-public-art-now-more-than-ever/.