Kalista Hayes

What is the Value of Art?

Throughout my experiences this semester, I have found that art can be expressed in
many different ways. I have learned about the power of art through the different renaissances.
Art is way for people to express themselves and their emotions whether it be through literature,
sculpture, painting, etc. Art also has the ability to spread ideas and influence others. Throughout
a renaissance, ideas are spread in order to make necessary changes among people and their
cultures.
The Harlem Renaissance was a huge time of change and movement. During this time, a
many African-americans were migrating from the south to the north in hopes for a better life and
artists like Jacob Lawrence and Aaron Douglas illustrated this. Many of these people migrating
ended up in Harlem, New York. Because these people all had similar experiences, many of
them came together to create art, music, and literature in hopes of sharing their stories and
culture. A huge part of the culture in Harlem came from the creativity and art among these
people. They created their own renaissance through the power of art.
There are many different ways to express art. One type of art we explored was surrealist
art. The Surrealists like Salvador Dali or Andre Breton created very dreamlike or un-real artwork.
The purpose of this art was to explore ideas outside of the constraints of reality. I greatly
appreciate the Surrealist movement because they spread ideas and influences that were far out
of the ordinary. People created artwork that wouldnt make sense if it werent thought about in a
dreamlike way. It was a whole new wave of creativity and individuality. We explored these
surrealist ideas by creating art ourselves. We created poetry by cutting out words or phrases
and putting them together in a random order. It was very interesting to see the poetry we
created randomly, whether the poems made sense or not, they were surreal.
To me, art is an amazing form of expression and if it werent for art, it would be very
difficult to get ideas and messages spread. Art gives people a chance to showcase their

individuality and express themselves freely. The ability to influence others through artwork is
very important. Art is a very big part of some cultures and it is a very good way for people to get
recognition. Art is important to me because I find it very interesting to see how others express
themselves and what art means to them. I hope to always surround myself with and appreciate
art.