The Importance of Art

The arts are indescribable to define and difficult to gather into a conceptual net,
but we would probably agree that the arts enhance daily experiences. Art has touched
everyone. Art is all around us, being universal as it can be found in all cultures.

Meaning of Art

The word "art" is rooted in the 13th century French word art, which means skill as
a result of learning or practice, and the Latin word arts, meaning ability or practical
skills.

The word art covers many meanings including ability, process, and product. As
ability, art is the humans capacity to make things of beauty and things that stir us; it is
creativity.

Art concerns itself with the communication of certain ideas and feelings by
means of a sensuous medium-color, sound, bronze, body, words, and film. This
medium is fashioned into symbolic language marked by beauty of design and
coherence form.

Art History

It is the study of objects or works of art in their historical development and

stylistic contexts, i.e., genre, design, format, and style. This includes the "major" arts of
painting, sculpture, and architecture, as well as the minor arts of ceramics, furniture,
and any other decorative objects.

Assumption of Arts

There are principles and bases of appreciating a work of art since it is in art that
man can communicate one’s individuality and way of life.

Art is Universal

Art is everywhere; whenever men have lived together, art has sprung up among
them as a language charged with feelings and significance. The desire to create this
language appears to be general, and art as a cultural force can be pervasive and
potent.

Art is not nature

Art is man-made it is creation of man utilizing his thoughtful skill and artistry,
which undergoes process and planning. Art is artificial because it is just an animation or
even an appropriation of reality and nature.
Art involves experience

Art is a depiction of our experiences. It demands taking part. Art involves laying
of pigments, moulding of clay, chipping of marble, casting of bronze, constructing of
buildings, singing, of songs, playing roles on stage, acting and going through rhythmic
movements in a dance.

Functions of Art

1. Personal - It is being used to provide comfort, happiness and convenience to human

beings.

2. Social - Art is used for public display and celebration; it is used to affect collective
behavior.

3. Cultural Function - Art helps preserve, share, and transmit culture of people from one
generation to another.

4. Aesthetic Function - Aesthetic is when there is the real feelings of appreciation to

natures beauty and are manifested through appreciation and enjoyment when in contact
with the artwork.

5. Spiritual Function - An artist may create a work of art to reinforce the religous or
spiritual support of a culture.

Basic Philosophical Perspective of Art

Art as mimesis (Plato)- according to him, art is imitation of the real that was an imitation
of the ideal . Art is an imitation of an imitation.

Art as representation (Aristotle)- according to him, the aim of art is not to represent the
outward appearance of things but their inward significance.

Art for art’s sake (Kant)- that art has its own reason for being. It implies that an art is
best understood as an autonomous creation to be valued only for its success as it
organizes color line into a formally satisfying an beautiful whole,

4. Art as an escape- the ceremony of doing or creating art touches the deepest realms
of the mind and the sacred dimension of the artistic creative process.

5. Art as functional- art serves a function. Art is meant to be used, to enrich lives to be
spiritually potent, to educate, to support or protest existing power structures, to
entertain, and so on.
Categories/Classification of Art

1, Visual arts (2D, 3D)

a. Painting- application of pigment (color) on any flat two-dimensional surfaces.

b. Sculpture- it is carving, modelling, constructing and assembling of materials

and objects into primarily three dimensional work of art.

c. Architecture - the art and science of planning, designing, and constructing

buildings and non buildings structures for human shelter or use(3D)

2.Performing/Combined arts

a. Music- art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound organized in time.

b. Dance- is the movement of body in rhythmic way, usually to music within a

given space for the purpose of expressing an idea or emotion.

c. Film- also called movie or motion picture, is series of still images that when
shown on a screen creates an illusion of moving images.

d. Theater- is a collaborative form of art that uses live performers, typically actors
or actresses, to present the experience of real or imaged event before lived audience in
a specific place, often a stage.

3. Digital art- this is the art that is made with the assistance of electronic devices, or
intended to be displayed on a computer, which is the most important element in digital
art.

4. Applied arts- application of design and decoration to everyday objects to make them
aesthetically pleasing.

a. Fashion design- the art of applying design, aesthetics and natural beauty to
clothing and its accessories.

b. furniture design- is a specialized field where function and fashion collide.

c. interior design- is enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and

more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space.

d. Graphic design- is an artistic process of effective communication. Designers

combined words, images, and symbols to create a visual representation of ideas.