Art is a broad term that encompasses the creation of many different objects and ideas. Its purpose is to evoke emotions, educate, and inspire. Art can be viewed as a representation of our culture, history, and spiritual experience. It can also be used as a tool to communicate cultural norms and values. The study of art allows us to examine the world around us in a way that other disciplines, like science or history, cannot.
Art can be defined in many ways, and definitions are organic and change over time. It could be seen as a craft that one can excel at through practice and hard work; through Romanticism it became something that expresses the individual; during modernism, artists searched for originality and wondered what art was capable of doing; and now some are searching for meaning and value in abstraction.
The first step in learning about art is examining it visually. A good place to start is with a museum visit. Visiting museums provides students with a visual experience that they can analyze and interpret in their own words. During these visits, students can engage in the critical thinking process by developing a description of the artwork, then moving onto analysis and finally concluding with their judgment/evaluation. This method helps them hone their speaking, writing and information-gathering skills as they become familiar with works from all periods and cultures of the world.
When observing art, it is important to take into consideration its size, medium, and style. It is also helpful to consider the use of line, color, movement, and space. Identifying these elements will help students understand how the artist created the piece, as well as its historical context.
For centuries, art was primarily understood as a form of representation or mimesis. This concept of art was developed by Plato, who argued that the primary function of an object is to convey its subject. A painting or sculpture that faithfully replicates its subject is considered art, as long as it conveys its message in a beautiful and pleasing manner.
A major problem with traditional definitions of art is that they tend to incorporate or presuppose a framework that incorporates a history of systematically biased, hierarchical, fragmentary and mistaken understandings of art-related phenomena and concepts (Danto). It is difficult to escape this problematic legacy when trying to define what art is.
Another issue is that the definitions that we adopt are based on an androcentric bias and fail to recognize that there may be a difference in how men and women perceive art. Some theorists have even suggested that a separate canon of art for women is necessary because of this, and that there are specific artistic styles and forms that are unique to each gender.
When teaching about art, it is important to incorporate the study of entire cultures and time periods. Teaching about Greek, Roman, Egyptian, prehistoric, and modern civilizations will provide a broader view of what art is, as well as how it can be used. It is also beneficial to compare and contrast past masters with living, contemporary artists. This makes the art and its meaning more relevant to student’s everyday lives.