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| Aesthetics courtesy Mercedes Benz |
Open
Studios and Aesthetics:
Artist
versus Artisan
Have you ever gone to an art show
or an open studio and been confused as to what is art and what is not, or as to
who is an artist and who is merely doing craft projects? If so, you are not alone. While art might have been highly defined and
organized at one point, it is no longer so.
Any definitions about art or as to what is art and what is not will be
contradicted as quickly as they are established.
Rather than worrying about defining art or
even attempting to understand art, I find it more useful to consider developing
one’s own aesthetic or appreciation of art and to then challenge oneself to
find more and different types of art and artworks in which you become
interested.
For instance, I know that I really like the
sculpture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.
At first, I thought that the sculptures of Ancient Egypt were weird and
silly but as I learned to appreciate the relationship between Ancient Greek art
and that of Ancient Egypt, I began to fully appreciate them both.
On one of my first trips to the Art
Institute of Chicago, I was amazed at how real the faces of some of the
sculptures were from India and how similar they were to Greek art. After doing some reading, I learned that much
art from Ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan was highly influenced by the Greek
invasion under Alexander the Great.
As I became more experienced, I learned to
enjoy the differences as well as the similarities. Viewing art is like any other activity – the
more you do it, the better you become. The
better you become at viewing and interacting with art, the more you enjoy it.
During this process, you will determine for
yourself what is interesting and what is not.
This is your personal aesthetic.
