Unit 3 Objectives:
- Consider the origins of art
- Explore a brief history of Western Art
- Examine multiple perspectives for evaluating art
1 example piece of work:
1 reflection on the piece of work:
For this Unit I chose the What is Art For Essay assignment as my artifact to show that I have met the units objectives. Dissanayake was able to take you through the history of Western Art from the Greek times all the way to the 19th century. The meaning of the word art has changed drastically through human history. At the beginning it was to describe an activity you were doing. Later on Art was strictly made for churches and finally how it is now where it is made to please oneself and others. There became more and more rules added on to what was good art and what was bad art. There became schools to go to learn how to make good art. She also discusses how everybody practices some type of an art. That art is wired in our brains. (Dissanayake 21) This is like in the TED talk that we watched for the weeks lecture. The speaker Denis Dutton discussed how even in the caveman days there are carved pieces of rock that were made for pleasure for the mind, which is what art does. He talks about what people defined beautiful and there are so many different things that people can find beautiful. Dissanayake describes how there a “elite’s” that critique whether a piece of art if good or not. I disagreed with the fact about determining if art was good or not. I believe that if somebody meant for it to be art then it is art. Art does not have to be beautiful as things are not beautiful to every person that experiences the art. We will see more about variations in opinions and perspectives about art in the next unit where food as art is involved.
Below are some of my personal art pieces. These may not be beautiful to others and not be considered art by the “elite” but to me… This qualifies as art. Everybody has the right to make art and call it art.
Future Goals:
My goal is to learn more about the history of art. We were only able to read Dissanayake’s piece about the history as well as a quick lecture given in the TED talk about historic art. It was pretty brief as I know there is a lot more to learn. I was very interested in the first humans and what they did to stimulate each others minds. I also hope to attend more events to help broaden my knowledge of types of art.
Here is a link to get to my Unit 3’s main page to view other works done for this unit:
Table of Contents:
Portfolio’s Main Page
Unit 2: The Nature of Human Values
Unit 3: What is Art for?
Unit 4: Is Food Art?
Unit 5: The Art of Personal Adornment
Unit 6: The Aesthetics of Horror
Unit 7: Creative Spirituality
Unit 8: Art, Technology, and Games
Unit 9: Remixing Culture
Bibliography