Many people have done lots of research and devoted a lot of time to the discussion of what is art? When it comes down to it, each person trying to answer this question has come up with their own answer that is used to help describe their personal feelings and beliefs about what truly defines art for them and how they believe others should think about art.

In Ellen Dissanayake’s article What Is Art For? she discusses the conclusions that she has come to in order to help answer this question. Dissanayake coined the term paleoanthropsychobiological to help give a label to her collective feelings on art and also to help others have a better understanding of art. Paleoanthropsychobiological is a combination of three different aspects to help further understand not only her view on art but a Western view as well and to give a name to some of the feelings that one may have about art. Her definition of the word is used to suggest that what is necessary to comprehend art is to know that art includes all human history and societies, and “that art is a psychological or emotional need and has psychological and emotional effects” (Dissanayake 1).

When discussing art in her essay Dissanayake also uses the term “making special”. Her definition of this is that humans have a inclination to work to make certain aspects of their lives and activities special. Many humans want to be able to distinguish the portions of their life that are exciting or special from the portions that are average or not fun to them. When using “making special” to discuss art, Dissanayake suggests that humans focus on what goes into creating art. That art is special because of the effort, time, and patient one puts in to making a piece of art that they care about. Some examples that Dissanayake used to talk about this were body painting, rituals, and markings on utensils.

In her essay Dissanayake discusses art throughout different time periods. One time period she mentions is the Greek and Medieval times and how during this period art was not used or discussed in the same ways that it is now. Most art during this time was focused on religion. Another time period that she discusses is the postmodernism during the mid-twentith century. In this time period art was said to need to be more then just its appearance, it needed to have meaning behind the painting or drawing. Not only the artist but the viewer also should be able to give an interpretation to the piece of art. This means that there would end up being multiple  views and interpretations to one single piece of art. Dissanayake also mentions the modernist time period during the eighteenth century. During this time people worked to understand what went in to making a piece of art and what ideas led to someone creating a certain piece. In this time period they focused on art as an ideology.

 

Do our human beliefs and values relate to what aspects of the world we define as beautiful? When watching the presentation the first thing that came to my mind was what truly makes something beautiful and why do different people find beauty in different things? It is very interesting to me that one person could find beauty in something that someone else could either find repulsive or not even care for. Dutton talked about how the skill put into something is a factor in defining beauty. I do agree that this is true, but it is interesting that even an appreciation for craftsmanship can differ so widely from person to person.

Another question that I had when watching the presentation is what part of us and our history helps us conclude what sorts of skills in art we define as beautiful? Dutton said that it is not our culture that helps us define what is beautiful, that it is instead the craftsmanship or skill behind the artwork. I agree that this is a factor but this also makes me wonder where we developed opinions of skill or craftsmanship. This makes me believe that it is our values and human beliefs that help define our appreciation. We are the way we are because of how we were raised or who we were brought up by, so that has to play a role in shaping our ideas of beauty and skill. I also believe this to be true because I find myself agreeing with the people I grew up with on beauty. We tend to have similar opinions on what things are beautiful and what are not. I do not think there is any true way to define what makes people find beauty in different things. There definitely are some aspects that play in to it, but I do not think that there is a set of common things that define a persons appreciation or ideas of beauty.