We are all a part of Art.
Art seems to be everywhere; whether it’s on your walls, in a magazine, whether your reading a book or admiring a building; some creative minds have gone to work. If you think you are artistic or not, we all submerse ourselves in art in some way shape or form. Next time you put your feet on your carpet or when you’re sleeping under your duvet, remember that someone has crafted and created a specific design to aesthetically please you. We are all attracted to art, whether you are a fan or not.
Art isn’t just singled down to pen on paper or a paint on a brush, or even the intricate sewing of a cushion, no, art can be in pretty much anything you do. That why it’s so important! If you are a writer, whether that’s a poet, novelist, journalist or even a food critic, you use creativity to produce something interesting and different. If you are an actor, you create a character and perform something different from yourself. If you are a musician, you create something that pretty much everyone surrounds themself in. Art is a part of our everyday lives- you shouldn’t push it aside just because you’ve never been good with pencils and paint.
Why is Art important?
The famous American Trappist Monk, writer and social activist, once said that “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” This, to me, is a very important and accurate way of describing people’s reasons to create. Being a writer, painter, musician, actor is all about creating something new and ,ultimately, we lose ourselves in the process. We create our own worlds and portray how we see things, through paint, music, drama and words. But just as we have seemed to have lost ourselves, we manage to find out who we are, what we can do and how we express ourselves. Being creative lets us be who we want to be.
“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”
― Leonardo da Vinci
As well as a form of expression, art has a number of benefits for a range of different people, for different reasons. Art Therapy is one of the many beneficial ways art can help many various types of people. Prisons are a BIG producer of art. Art Therapy can usually be found to be one of the main activities in prisons. The Prison Art Coalition ‘provide support, resources, information, and partnership opportunities for those active in programs around prisons in the US.’ This organisation allows peoples voices in prison to be heard again. Whatever the reason for their imprisonment, they still have the right to show some sort of expression, even if it’s in the confinement of prison. Prisoners being able to express through the likes of art, music and writing will allow their emotions to come through in a controlled and creative way, and learn control and care within the prison environment. Kathleen Toohill, blogged ‘Why Arts Programs In Prisons Are So Important’ and found detailed research into why any kind of creative programme within prisons has it’s benefits, not just to the inmates themselves, but to their development when released from jail, and therefore society as a whole. She found research by Dr. Larry Brewster, a professor at the University of San Francisco and author of “Paths of Discovery: Art Practice and Its Impact in California Prison,”. Brewster had said ‘that prison arts programs improve inmate behaviour, help connect inmates with their families and provide them with a way to give back by donating their art.’ In his 1983 study “An Evaluation of the Arts-in-Corrections Program of the California Department of Corrections,” Brewster found that the benefits of these programs outweighed the costs. In the summary of his 2014 study “California Prison Arts: A Quantitative Evaluation,” Brewster writes, “We found that the inmate-artists in this study were far more likely to pursue other educational and vocational programs than inmates without arts experience or education. A significant majority of the inmates who had been involved in the Arts-in-Corrections program said that their enhanced self-confidence and motivation to study in other programs was at least partially attributable to the arts program.” If by going to various art programmes help encourage more participation into other useful and beneficial programmes, then having Art in prison should be essential.
A more simple, although somewhat fictional, example of helpfulness in prisons is in the TV show ‘Orange Is The New Black’, the inmates take part in various drama classes throughout the series, this way they can confront conflicts, and personal emotional issues faced in imprisonment. It maybe a TV show, but it can be a small reflection of how in real prisons Art Therapy and various Creative programmes can play a big benefiting factor when inside!
Moving away from Art Therapy in prisons, art also plays a massive part in children’s lives. There are long lists of ways it can greatly benefit a child when growing up:
-Physical Development
When children take part in art activities they are supporting their large and small muscle development, as well as their eye-hand coordination. Using different types of mediums through art can help children practice the fine motor control they later need for writing.
-Social Development
They can learn to interact with others, share, and have responsibilities such as cleaning up after themselves. This is important in social learning.
-Cognitive Development
When using different colours and experimenting with art they can learn their primary and secondary colours through mixing and combining the colours around them. Older children can experiment in feelings and textures of different materials, both inside and outside of the classroom/home, this helps develop their observational skills.
-Emotional Development
Through creative art, children might be able to represent experiences and expressions that they cannot verbalise. They may draw pictures out of proportion, exaggerating things that are important to them. When we appreciate children’s creativity, we help them feel valued and can raise their self-esteem.
-Imagination and Experimentation
Imagination is a big part of creativity. Through active experimentation, children can learn new ways to create and craft, and with their imagination they can produce something special and important to them. Every child likes to dance, sing, draw, paint, imagine and explore. It’s what makes them so special, and as adults we should be carrying on with our childish ways and be creative and express ourselves!
These are just a few examples of how art is an important part of life. Whether you are artistic or not you should embrace the creativity around you, use your imagination and express your emotions through this wonderful way. Art should be accepted, not pushed aside. So enjoy the creativity around you, the world wouldn’t be the same without it!
