Why Art? How will learning Art help me?
Why Art:
What is not art? Something that is not appealing and has no purpose cannot be considered a good piece of art.
Fine arts is the most popular form of art which further branches out into Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Literature, Music, Performing and Film. Art on the whole is intertwined in our lives so closely. Every next thing we do is related to art or a form of art. The house we stay in, the chair we are sitting on, the movie we’re watching, notes we are typing, songs we are listening, the road we are walking on, the ads we see every minute. We use art without even realising we are doing so. Art is not just a painting, a sculpture we see in a shop or an architecture, the manner in which I drape my sari; the hairstyle I create, the expressions we create or imitate with children, creating something out of paper, writing an article, the list can go endless…
Creating something unique and interesting that people would like to see, hear, experience or do is art. Engaging in art doesn’t require any particular age, it’s a misconception that only engineers or IIT/ IIM graduates can create works of art (referring to apps or machines). When you are involved in something, ideas pour in and usually the novel ideas come in as you are thinking of the usual ones. The human mind is complex and built all the same, therefore a 90 year old can engage in craft activities, dance, film, photography. There are examples of the elderly who started learning a piano at the age of 60. This allows one to imagine, get creative, build an emotional connect, gives you hope and a sense of confidence by doing something productive, motivates yourself when other people appreciate it.
Studies have shown that it lowers your stress, by reducing the amount of cortisol in the blood if you engage in 45 minutes of art. Art allows one to think in a divergent manner, allows the creative juices to flow, evolving no set structure or rules, stimulates the imagination, encourages brain plasticity, enhancing problem-solving skills, self-esteem, distracts brain from routine activity, enhances observation skills. This meditative-like state focuses your mind and temporarily pushes aside all your worries.
Leonardo da Vinci proclaims that “Painting embraces all the ten functions of the eye; that is to say, darkness, light, body and colour, shape and location, distance and closeness, motion and rest.”
It doesn’t matter if you are not an artist, the reflexes in the brain are building and neural connections are growing stronger. One of the world’s greatest artists were once novice. Artistic talent is not innate or inborn, it is how we perceive, build connections and extend the unlimited possibilities of art. It is up to us how we use it to the best of our abilities and potentialities.