PEA RIDGE — It’s March and it is also National Youth Art Month across these United States. Events are planned around the USA all through March with Pea Ridge elementary students participating in art competitions/exhibitions in bi-county, regional and statewide venues.
While most folks like and appreciate art, a lot of folks have disagreements over just what makes art art. Going beyond what is good art or bad art, if there is such a thing to some folks, people may ask just what is the meaning of art and why do we ,or society in general, hold it in such high regard?
Just the multi-million-billion dollar world class art museum which opened to resounding success in nearby Bentonville can tell you, art is important. I have toured the place multiple times already and while I haven’t quite seen everything yet, I have seen enough to heard folks say things like “this is art?” or “I could have done this in the second grade!” Of course, these remarks were in the modern art, or contemporary wing of the place. Over in the early American and 19th Century artist wing, nary a negative word was heard.
Lots of folks are impressed with art that looks so real that “it almost looks like a photograph.” Of course, there are others that have almost the opposite point of view, thinking that realistic works of art aren’t really art.
On every level of art, the work “creative” or “creativity” gets bandied about like some kind of imprimatur of authenticity. However, lots of folks don’t agree on just what is creativity and what it takes to get there, to get to a state of being creative.
In my art class, I will make sure that each student in each grade will get a chance to try as many mediums, or types of art making materials, as is humanly possible. Pencil drawings, charcoal drawings, dry pastels and oil pastel drawing, watercoloring, painting with tempera and acrylic, and having those sometimes disparate mediums interacting with each other. I do my best to impart to these youngsters the knowledge of how to use the tools of the artist, how to handle the medium, and above all, why.
Being nearly 60 years of age, maybe I adhere to the “old school” of teaching art because I happen to be old.
On the other hand, maybe I believe in the old way of looking at creativity and artisticexpression is because it makes sense.
There is a growing movement and belief among some art teachers that creativity is the work of some random action, or the work of talented children who just have the gift of art born within them.
However, there is nothing magical about creating art nor are people born with or without the abiity of creating art.
This relatively new movement emphasizes creativity over or ahead of mastery, believing that artworks just kind of happen, without plan or thought.
A well known cognitive scientist Margaret Boden, wrote that creativity was not the result of some divine intervention nor is it magical. She felt that it wasn’t something that was by nature, reserved for the elite. She felt creativity was an aspect of general intelligence.
Boden further felt that creativity was not beyond the reach of the scientific process. In other words, creativity can be taught and it can be learned.
Wikipedia explains creativity as a process of creating something new whether it be new to the individual or new to the society. The trick to understanding creativity is to understand how people can access the creativity that I believe all people are born with, to one degree or another.
Former University of Texas president Dr. Larry Faulkner once wrote that in the pursuit of excellence in any field, certain basic skills had to be practiced. They needed to be practiced until it led to the automacy of those skills, at which point the working memory part of the brain would have more capacity to solve or address complex problems.
Famous artist Jean Miro said that artists should “express with precision, the golden sparks the soul gives off.” The precision that Miro speaks of is the artitistic skill artists must master if they wish to express their creativity in any kind of understandable way.
On my school business card I have the statement “mastery precedes creativity.” For a person to be good in creative writing, he/she must first be proficient in spelling and sentence construction.
A writer must internalize the mechanics of writing or the best ideas of said writer will never be tranferrable to another person. For a person to be creative in science, to find new formulas to make everyday life better, he/she must first master the knowledge of the variables a person will have to deal with in the field of science.
Now relating my students,I believe they need to learn basic procedures of how to mix colors starting in kindergarten. Art students of all ages need to be exposed to proper techniques in holding art tools, using artistic tools, and how to avoid problems. The importance of perspective, shading, variations in value and the almost innumerable skills can aid the artist in future projects, if that artist makes the skills a part of the brain’s longterm memory.
Over the years, I have students who often moved here from larger schools. One student, after hearing my directions for the day’s activities, decided to use his paintbrush to sling paint across his paper.
When I observed his actions, I asked him what he was doing, he said “Oh, I am just being creative.” When I asked what he was creating, he couldn’t say. I told him the creating he was doing was creating a mess by mindlessly throwing paint on paper. He did art that way because it was easier than listening to directions.
The furtherance of anyone’s ability in any area of life means a refinement, or advancement of skills. It takes work, it takes a widening knowledge of skills relating to what you are pursuing. Anything to be valued takes effort, and the brain has to be engaged if there is to bereal achievement.
There was a study done relating to the music of Mozart, who was writing symphonies at the age of 4. From that age until much later, his music was the product of the skills he obtained from his instructors.
Impressive as it was, it was only after he had gained a solid and internalized knowledge of the nature of music itself, was he able to create what were to become his masterpieces.
My father was an artist when it came to auto mechanics. He understood every nut and bolt in an automobile and could fix or at least identify every single problem that an internal combustion motor could be afflicted with. Michael Jordan’s mastery of basketball skills became so great, he creative moves and motion that seemed to defy gravity and led to his being called “his airness.”
Going back to the early question asking the meaning of art, it generally means what you want it to mean. Viewing a well done piece of art can bring viewers pleasure. It has had this place of importance since men wrote on cave walls.
But whatever the art you wish to see or perhaps wish to make, just know this: Mastery precedes creativity. It always has and it always will.
News, Pages 9 on 03/07/2012