I am struggling. It seems this is a theme to my blog so far. I write here when I'm struggling. Whoever reads this probably thinks I'm melancholy all the time and suicidal. Well, no, but I do come here to write and process my thoughts. Usually it helps. Until the next time.
Thinking about art tonight. "Art" being used loosely to include writing, fiction and non-fiction, painting, music, film, photography, really any creative expression. Why art? Why do people create art? Why to people consume and digest art? What's the point? More personally, why would I spend time doing something so frivolous, when I could be using my time to accomplish something?
The way I see it, art is our attempt at being like our creator. Creating something. Using the mind and body God gave us to create and have dominion over something. In that sense, you can argue that parenting and marriage is an art. It's having dominion and creativity in something outside of yourself. This sentence I'm composing right now is art. It's an outlet, an attempt to connect with something, or sort out myself.
Some would argue that, and in American culture today more specifically, art can be made to cause change. A poingnant film may inspire action, changing ideas and changing culture. A book can do the same. Art can make a statement about an inequality or a sterotype or prejudice. A song can change the way people think.
But...what if art can just be art? What if the details aren't really that important, like what the book or film or painting represents and it's just pretty or enjoyable? What if it's going to take me years and years to process a painting or book or film? Do I really have to dissect something immediately after interacting with it?
I think this idea that we need to read or observe or experience something and then immediately tell about it really affects education. There's so much pressure on producing something, like a book report or presentation or taking a test to "show" you know something. I think that's doing a disservice to the students, our children, and on a greater scale it's doing a disservice to each other when we demand "proficiency" in the form of showing something. Yes, I understand that proficiency tests are necessary in some ways, like a driver's test, but as a whole it's overused.
I noticed this with my kids a few weeks ago. We visited the state capital buildings and campus. The architecture was impressive, very Roman and grandiose. Statues of important historical figures. When we were driving home I really wanted to drill the kids on the importance of the state capital and why the buildings were constructed in that way, the three branches of government and such. But on the way home they watched a movie in the car. I didn't even really talk about what we'd seen for several hours. And I didn't lecture about facts and dates and such. I made comments about what I noticed. Like, "I love all the columns on the buildings and how everything was made from granite." Who am I to drill my kids on the specifics?
Such as with art. I need time for my brain to process the things I consume throughout the day. Reading a book and one concept will stick out over and over and my brain will chew on it. Then suddenly it will make sense or I can apply it to something in my life and then maybe I will be able to tell about it, or write about it. This may have been a process that takes days or weeks. The on-the-spot discussion is anxiety-producing for me. It almost takes the enjoyment out of the art. I'd like to form my own opinions and not be corrected. If I need to be corrected, be kind, be gracious, and maybe it doesn't matter if I'm "wrong" because IT'S ART.
No comments:
Post a Comment