1. Describe the term paleoanthropsychobiological. Who coined this term?

Palaeoanropsychobiological suggests several things. First, that the idea of art encompasses all of human history, second, that it includes all human societies, and third, that it account for the fact that art is a psychological or emotional need and has psychological or emotional effects. The term was coined by Ellen Dissanayake.

2. What does Dissanayake mean by the phrase “making special”? How does it relate to art and to human survival?

What Dissanayake means by the phrase making special is different from the ordinary or everyday. It relates to art as humans want to be unique and different from one another. They want to express themselves. Early sightings of this would be cranial deformation, tooth filing, and tooth decoration.

3. Dissanayake identifies many different theories/movement/periods of art throughout western european history. Name three different theories of art that Dissanayake mentions in her essay. Identify the time period when each theory developed and was prominent. Provide a brief description of the philosophies and ideas that define each theory/movement/period of art. Support your answer with quotes from the reading.

Three different theories of art are pre modernism, modernism, and postmodernism. Pre modernism was prominent during the greek, medieval, renaissance, and 18th century. Medieval art was in the service of religion, renaissance was about man-centered concerns, and the 18th century was the rise of science. Modernism was prominent during the 20th century. It was about that there was a special frame of mind for appreciating works of art. Art became an ideology whose principles were articulated by and for the few who had leisure and education enough to acquire them(18). Postmodernism is now. It is the assumption that interpretation is indispensable to appreciating and even identifying artworks. Rather than assuming that art reflects a unique and privileged kind of knowledge, postmodernists point out that any “truth” or “reality” is only a point of view(19).

When I think about the question: what is art for? I believe that art is used as a form of expressing ones self. Just like Dissanayake, I believe and agree that art is not limited to a group of people but for everyone. “Art is not confined to a small coterie of geniuses, visionaries, cranks, and charlatans-indistinguishable from one another-but is instead a fundamental human species characteristic that demands and deserves to be promoted and nourished”(26). Art is just not limited to painting and pictures, it can also be food. I like how Dissanayake said the phrase making things special. By using that phrase, it doesn’t limit art to a certain group. It shows how anything can be art as you the person decides what you want to make special. “Transforming the ordinary into the exta-ordinary. Looked at this way, art as making the things one cares about special, shaping and elaborating the ordinary to make it more than ordinary, is fundamental to everyone and, as in traditional societies deserves to be acknowledged as normal-to be encouraged and developed”(25). As for me, I could never draw, paint, or do anything that would normally be considered art. What i do as art is to be on the other side of the camera. What I like to do is make clothes seem special and just more than regular clothes. And I do this by modeling clothes through different companies. By doing this I am making the things I care about, which is clothes, and making it special in my own way. “Art is normal and a necessary behavior of human beings that like talking, exercising, playing, working, socializing, learning, loving, and nurturing should be encouraged and developed in everyone”(26).