Define Art: (sorry I wrote a darn book)

Laurel Woerheide

Define Art:

Art is something meant to be experienced, understood, relatable, or influential to someone and good art is meant to move them to feel certain ways. It can be described, imagined, or shown in too many forms for there to be only one correct definition of “art”. According to Dictionary.com, art is defined as the quality, production, expression or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance. To me, this definition is accurate in that it's not always a physical object, but it's majorly flawed in that art is not necessarily made for beauty and happiness alone. It can be well-written, but depressing, or well-painted, but dark. It depends on the observer to decide what makes something beautiful and what truly makes something art. According to Thomas Adajan, "the definition of art is controversial... whether art can be defined has also been a matter of controversy." This is a much more accurate way of looking at art than Dictionary.com's definition because there really is no single answer, which is the beauty along with the frustration of the concept. The way art is perceived and appreciated will always be a controversial subject.

Art is a process in which something is created from scratch based on someone's own inspirations and reasoning for wanting to create the piece. The creation of art must start with just a simple thought or emotion. In a way, art is simply a physical form of bare honesty. It shows the feelings of the artist and gives those who may observe it an insight into the artist's mind. We live our life having only been given one point of view, only being able to see people and situations through our own lenses. Our escape from this idea is through art as we try to understand other peoples' points of view and their ideas of expression.

It seems that creativity is a word used to describe art in any definition. Is it possible that art and creativity get mixed up, as we are unsure of the correct definitions of both terms? Could it be that they are almost the same thing? From the words of Patrick Frank, “Not all of us regularly create works of art, but we are all creative in some way. We create a home life. We create relationships. We create events, goals, projects, and accomplishments. Even the common acts of arranging furniture in a room or pictures on the wall can be creative.” If someone describes art as something that is created, wouldn't that make all of us artists? Not according to George Dickie who claims, “An artist is a person who participates with understanding in the making of a work of art.” This implies that in order for one to be considered an artist, one must have intentions of making art. Therefore, something that is created, but not meant to be considered art, is not art.

Society bases good and bad art on how relatable or emotionally grabbing it is in their own opinions. However, this feedback is an answer that did not come from the creator of the piece, the only one who knows where its original idea came from and how the process took place. The artist is the only person who had a feeling and created a work of art that matched it and expressed that feeling. It should only be up to the artist to decide whether their own work is good by knowing how well it expresses their own emotions, not how well it represents the observer's feelings. Good artwork can only be a product from an artist that is not trying to please society, but is trying to express themselves. There can certainly not be one correct definition of art if there is not even a correct way to judge art or understand its original significance to the artist.