The one about the functions of art: art as a tool

The farther you walk into the woods of creativity the clearer the path becomes Oil on canvas 2013 16 x 50 inches

Art as a Tool

WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF ART? Adapted from Art as Therapy by Alain de Botton and John Armstrong and Exploring Art: A Global, Thematic Approach by Margaret Lazzari and Dona Schlesier

 

From Art as Therapy, the authors write, “A tool is an extension of the body that allows a wish to be carried out, and that is required because of a drawback in our physical make-up.

A knife is a response to our need, yet inability, to cut.

A bottle is a response to our need, yet inability, to carry water.

To discover the purpose of art, we must ask what kinds of things we need to do with our minds and emotions but have trouble with?”

The material choices in artmaking are the same as the knife and bottle: the need to do something is facilitated by the materials at your command.

 Detail of The farther you walk... Oil on canvas 2013

I like thinking about the materials I use to communicate what can’t be said through verbal or written language as analogous to our sticks, clubs, and racquets used in lacrosse, baseball, tennis, etc. The instruments in music also apply here, but as an athlete who played sports that used sticks it’s the sports analogy I am going with for now – though in class I address the instrument-experience of my students.

And this has led me to construct the analogy: Tools in sports are to an athlete what materials in art are to an artist: each enables you to do something that our faculties can’t do on their own

Where the club, the stick, or racquet you control can optimize your performance, the control of materials enables you to say something profoundly and with an economy that words alone can’t.

Woods Oil on canvas 2013 9 x 12 inches

FUNCTIONS OF ART from Exploring Art: A Global Thematic Approach

·       Art glorifies the power of the state/rulers

·       Art celebrates war and conquest, and sometimes peace

·       Promotes cohesion within a social group

·       Records likenesses of an individual and their environment

·       Art entertains

·       Art assists in rituals that promotes our spiritual or physical well-being

·       Art reflects customs related to food, shelter, and human reproduction

·       Art communicates thoughts, ideas, emotions

·       Creates pictures of deities or what one may be

·       Serves to commemorate the dead

What do you see are the functions of your art? Does it differ for you from your audience?