One thing that was difficult for me to comprehend was when the author was talking about abstract art in history and said, “Because these values were not easily apparent to the untutored observer, appreciating art became more than ever an elite activity, requiring an apprenticeship and dedication not unlike that of the artist” (Dissanayake 4). This seemed crazy to me because I never thought of art as something that you needed to be educated in to appreciate. Although someone who is majoring in art might be able to critique a piece of art better than the average person, that does not mean that the art is any less important to either one of them. I would not consider myself very “skillful” in examining art but I still appreciate going to museums and having artwork in my home. I would also be curious on how someone defined art during this time period. Today I feel like art is freer flowing and someone could make an argument that everything we see is a form of art. I wonder if it was the same way back then?
However, the part of the article that I connected with the most was when the author started talking about living abroad and how it changed her life. Dissanayake said, “Living in a non-western country permits, indeed demands that you look afresh at all the cultural truths and beliefs that you have grown up with and taken for granted. Among these of course was my idea of art” (Dissanayake 1). The reason that I found this so interesting was because I just finished studying abroad for the past four months in Hong Kong. Although I had traveled out of the country before, this was my first time going anywhere as exotic as Asia. This was also my first time ever living abroad. Since this experience has been so recent and this is my first term back in Oregon since, I have been thinking a lot lately about how my experience has changed many of my beliefs and truths that I grew up believing in. While in Hong Kong, I would see new buildings being created and even though it is a modern place, they still used bamboo scaffolding while the buildings are under construction. For me, that was art and I loved to look at it. I found it fascinating and beautiful. Before studying abroad I do not think I would have ever considered something such as scaffolding to be a form of art.
Source:
Dissanayake, E. (1991). What is art for? In K. C. Caroll (Ed.). Keynote adresses 1991 (NAEA Convention), (pp.15-26). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.
Hi, George. I totally agree with you that appreciating artworks do not need to be educated unless you want to be professional in art area. I think appreciating art is depends on our own emotions and experience in the life. Everyone is different so there is no standards for artworks. If most of people think one artwork is good so it could be seen as good artwork. For your second paragraph, I have much same feelings because I am a Chinese student who is studying in the United States which have different culture and language. This experience is very important and interesting for me. In America, I found there are many street artists and they perform good art, like dancing and singing. There is also some street performers in China but I did not think that is art until I came to America I changed my thinking.