Humanities: Creativity, Imagination, and Aesthetics

• Art appreciation discusses Arts & Humanities
• Learning objectives include defining humanities and arts, reflecting on importance to people, culture and society, reviewing the importance of creativity and imagination, appreciating art's contributions to oneself, identifying and recognizing various forms

Humanities

• From Latin "humanus," referring to a cultured and refined human
• Academic disciplines studying human society and culture
• Achievements illuminating characteristics of humans as rational, spiritual beings

Why studying Humanities is important:

• Teaches empathy
• Builds skills in writing and critical reasoning
• Encourages creative thinking and questioning our world
• Helps understand the human experience and is essential for a cultured person
• Aids in understanding ourselves, others, and the world

Creativity

• Ability to produce original unused ideas (Cambridge Dictionary)
• Tendency to generate useful ideas for problem-solving, communication, and entertainment (Franken, n.d.)
• Closely related to innovation; creativity is essential for innovation (Segal, 2016)

Imagination

• Ability to form new ideas, images, or concepts of external objects not present
• Forming mental images of something not present or never fully perceived

Art

• Processes, products, and experiences communicating aspects of human living
• Diverse human activities creating visual, auditory, or performing artifacts (artworks)
• Expressing imaginative, conceptual ideas or technical skill for appreciation of beauty or emotional power

Art as Communication

• Broader sense, is a form of communication
• Meaning depends on artist’s intentions, materials, techniques, forms, ideas, and feelings created in viewers
• An act of expressing feelings, thoughts, and observations

Assumptions of Art

• Universal nature, transcends time, generations, and continents
• Age is not a factor

Art Is Not Nature

• When not a representation of reality, it is a perception of reality

Art Involves Experience

• Requires sensory engagement: seeing, touching, hearing, or feeling its presence
• Aspect is highly personal, individual, and subjective
• Perception is value judgment based on personal tastes, biases, and experiences

Art is Cultural

• Every culture uses singing, dancing, storytelling, monuments, and visual patterns
• Not appreciating art is a disability

Functions of Art

• Individual - Expressing oneself freely
• Social - Expressing the need for display, celebration, and communication
• Cultural - Preserving cultural heritage
• Historical - Restoring and retelling historical narratives
• Political - Gaining prestige and power
• Physical - Addressing need for functional objects

Functional Art

• Benefits human existence and answers people’s needs
• Benefit is financial
• Applied art made for use, serving a purpose with aesthetics and beauty
• Meets a need through artistic design

Non-Functional Art

• No utilitarian purpose
• Is in direct contrast with functional art, which has both an aesthetic value and a utilitarian purpose.
• Includes paintings, sculptures, and fine art
• Engages the viewer intellectually, emotionally, or aesthetically
• Artwork's value determined by sensibilities, not utilitarian merits

Artist vs. Artisan

• Artist-is someone creating or practicing arts
• Artisan-creates things by hand and practices a craft with expressive skill
• Artists focus on creativity and self-expression
• Artisans focus on craftsmanship, creating functional/decorative objects

Art in Society

• Plays important role, reflecting values, beliefs, aspirations
• Catalyst for social change and raises important issue awareness

Importance of Art

• Preserves cultural heritage, allowing learning about other cultures and societies
• Used for social commentary on political issues and prompts debate

Philosophical Perspectives on Art

• Philosophy discipline trying to explain almost all aspects of human existence.
• Philosophy of art studies nature of art, including interpretation, representation, expression, and form
• Aesthetics studies beauty and taste and interpreting/evaluating art

Art Philosophers: Art as Imitation

• Plato's view from 'The Republic', artists are imitators and art is imitation
• His metaphysics say things are copies of originals in World of Forms
• Art is imitation of imitation
• Paintings imitate nature which also imitates reality

Art as Representation

• Aristotle aligns with Plato but sees art as an aid to find the truth and reality
• Gives pleasure, instructs, teaches the audience

Art as a Disinterested Judgement

• Emmanuel Kant says judgement of beauty is cornerstone of art, something universal but subjective
• Judgement of beauty is subjective
• Beauty is a matter of taste, can be subjective

Immanuel Kant

• Wrote about aesthetics, beauty during Enlightenment
• Beauty is matter of taste, can be subjective, universal, Beauty is form, not color

Art as Communication of Emotion

• Leo Tolstoy: art communicates experiences/emotions
• Communicates emotions

Three classical branches of art

• Painting - a two-dimensional object on a flat surface
• Sculpture - a 3D object
• Architecture designing and constructing a building that serves a specific function

Art Forms

• Visual Arts include (architecture, ceramics, drawing, filmmaking, painting, photography and sculpting)
• Literature include (fiction, drama, poetry, and prose)
• Performing Arts includes (dance, music and theater)
• Culinary Arts include (cooking, chocolate making and winemaking)

Other Art Forms

• Music
• Theater
• Film
• Dance
• Literature
• Digital media

Art Forms Combining Visual Elements with Performance

• Cinematography-the art and science of motion photography
• Written Word i.e. comics

Appreciating the Arts Means To

• Stimulate thought, allowing viewers to draw own emotions from personal experiences.

Powerful Aspects of Art

• Naturally develops critical and innovative thinking skills
• Teaches qualities like listening, observing, and responding to multiple perspectives
• Develops appreciation for each other and our uniqueness

Express things that we ourselves feel that we are unable to express or convey

• Evokes feelings of joy, sadness, anger and pain
• Give the artwork one final element and that is our interpretation
• Brings artwork alive by changing the viewer's perspective

Fostering art appreciation is important and helps assess how it appeals to us and what it means

• Delve into the history
• What does it mean to each individual, as well as a look into the artist's life

Appreciating the Arts

• Critically analyze a work relating to design, mastery, techniques
• Stimulate thought and analysis
• Provoke looking past meets the eye open mind
• Look at other people's views
• Personal legacy be articulated, immortality can define how we see art

Elements of Art

• Subject
• Medium
• Content
• Techniques
• Style

Subject

• Meaning of the art.
• Recognizable object or work of art masterpiece center piece
• Term for whatever is represented in a masterpiece
• Identifiable object, individual, thing, place, or event illustrated in a work of art that answers “what is it?” or “what is it about?"

Kinds of Subject

• Landscapes nature with qualities
• Still life objects

Methods in Presenting the Subjects in Art

• Realism presentation of art is realistic when presentation and detail is nature
• Accuracy and honesty

Abstraction

• highly selective and subjective

Distortion - Twist/elongate to show

Media

• The word medium comes from "medium” and is a way an artist communicates
• Material the out of which the artist creates
• An artist chooses mediums to best express the art

Medium examples

• Oil on canvas
• Watercolors
• Metal
• Glass

Content- Refers to message/idea wants to convey

• The meaning of art

Techniques

• The artists elements medias & materials

Style

• Manner of execution
• Realism/Imitationalism
• Classicism
• Expressionism
• Surrealism/illusionism

Style (Objective Accuracy)

• Style (objective accuracy) imitates reality, stages production, or to write (novel) life experiences. "Real life"

Style Examples

• Expression of balance, harmony, and stability.
• period-artists conform to moderation.
• Emotion is expressed, violence.

Style of emotion: (Expressionism)

• Van Gogh's starry nights.
• Fantasy: Surrealism-imagination

The Style of Fantasy Surrealism Utilizes

• Myth or dreams. Surrealism stressing sources of imagery
• Surrealism-Dali's Persistence of Memory

Art Criticism

• Analysis and evaluation of works Art
• Often tied to theory Art a theoretical per

Why Evaluate (Art)

• Is to recognize bad & good, more successful craft from failure
• To be better equipped, understand/digest

The Steps to Art Criticism

• Description
• Analysis
• Interpretation
• Judgement

Descriptions

First is describing. Take note of information

Analysis

• How are the elements being used, principles
• Our minds take account into rhythm and balance

Interpretation

• Looking for meaning naturally
• Communicating artist
• No interpretations are wrong

Judgement

• Evaluate if work is successful
• Doesn't mean that all art will be a favorite.
• Why or how?