Amaya Rainey-Mendes

Seminar: Arts Education

Studio: Visual Arts

Artist Statement

I have always wondered why art isn’t really in schools anymore. After being in a arts school for 10 years, I couldn’t imagine school

without art. What’s happening? School’s are cutting art because of a lack of funding and because some schools don't think art is a necessary

subject. I was absolutely shocked by this. Why would anybody think art is not important. And so many people don't understand that art is not

just drawing. Art can be acting, dancing, sculpting, music, even making bracelets or something. These things are all possible to do in school. So

why isn’t anything happening? This is where my project idea came in. I figured “How do I make people see how important art is?” Then it hit

me, make people see what a world without art is like, that might help shed light on the importance of art education. I decided to make a side by

side view of what I thought the world world look and feel like with and without art.

Arts education has been something schools are cutting back, I wanted to know why. Most articles I read had the same messages, like

how “Art isn’t important”. Why don’t people think that art is important? Art is important to me because it helps me relieve stress or express my

emotions. I love to be creative and try new things. I think art helps a lot of students do the same. Express themselves. Schools should have art. I

think art is just as necessary as any other subject, like English, Math or Science. I want to show people how important art is and how lost we

would be without it. It will start with it not being taught in schools, but what if it spreads to closings of museums? It was really great to hear

our interviewees opinions. My arts education seminar group interviewed some important figures when it came to art education. We interviewed

a teacher named Mr. Garver who teaches music at the lower school. We asked him about what he thought about the importance of arts

education. My group also asked him what he thought the world would be like without art, He told us “Boring, bland and colorless. Without

purpose”. Art gives people purpose. Art is literally everything.

My Vision was to show a split vision of what a world with and without art would look like. My vision did not change. I wanted people

to see what a world without art would look like. For the side that shows what the world without art would look like, I wanted to show how

much people would miss it or just feel empty without it. For the side that shows a world with art, people are happy and art makes those things

possible.solving problems peacefully. I was inspired by when I asked people what I thought the world would look like without art, most of

them said the same thing like “ BORING” and “How people wouldn't be able to solve problems”.

I used watercolors, markers and yarn. I just wanted to make the colors pop. One challenge I had was drawing bodies and hands, but I

persevered. I decided later that I wanted to use yarn to make the banners pop more. Ms.Schibuk suggested to draw banners and I thought it was

a good idea. I glued the yarn to the banners I drew. The banners on the positive side have words like creative and and empathy or problem

solve. I chose those words because without art, they wouldn’t be possible. For example, art may inspire creativity. For the world without art, I

chose to use dark colors like a blackish dark blue color because I think the world would be dark without art. For the side with art, I chose

bright colors like a pinkish orange. The brighter colors represented cheerfulness, joy, and how the world is bright when there is art.

I learned that art is so much more than paper and paint. I learned that art is emotion, it tells stories, and it needs to be taught and funded.

I also learned that it's good to push your comfort zone. I decided that I wanted to try something new. A lot of people were doing collages and I

wanted to at first, then I changed my mind and did something a little different. It was a little challenging at first to come up with how I wanted

the “world without art” side to look like because it didn’t have a lot of detail. But I found more things to add in and it looked much better. Im

proud of my work because I feel like there is meaning and like I'm standing up for what I believe in. And I haven’t really made art like that

before. I persevered and put a lot of thought and detail in my art.