ART : it's importance in our lives : what do you think?

Art balances out the right side of our brain. In fact they are proving that art can be used to teach math, science, history, and reading. Our son is very artistic. His grades show that when he gets to use art to explain, or to characterize for a story he is writing that he gets As or Bs. It creates excitement and visual. Many of us need that.
Eliminating art from schools is not the answer.

Dawn L.

I think art is very important! Art is food for the soul!

Schools~ Take half of the money from the sports programs, put it into art classes, it will make the world a more peaceful place! I will not hold my breath, we are a violent society who need the sports programs that reflects the need for violence.
Hard to tackle someone with a paint brush!

The schools who have done away with art should truly be ashamed of themselves!

Thanks Dawn, I fully agree with u. Actually I can't think of any school curricular without art class, so I am trying to understand why most of the schools are eliminating art from their curriculum.

Yes, indeed Mrs Road Runner!

That's a great thought. Paint brush is mightier than several other things.

But I believe that schools are not fully responsible for eliminating the art from their curriculum. They are forced to put more focuse on other subjects in order to fulfill some other requirements to survive in this hard economical situation. What they don't understand is that they can still focus on other subjects by hiring those art teachers who believe on teaching art in collaboration with other subjects to enhance their student's performances. Ms. Down has already enlightened us on her son's success based on this.

I think it would be awful if art was removed from schools! I loved art class all through school, I even took advanced art my senior year which was two periods out of the day! It encourages kids to be creative in a world where there are lots of rules and most classes are very structured. Art lets them be themselves, and use other parts of the brain.

My children attended schools that taught everything via the arts. Every lesson had an art component. The school test scores were high in every area. The only school that did better in science was the science impact school. The arts impact school and the science impact school both did equally well in math.

It is awful that the first thing cut in many public schools is the arts programs. They do not understand this is the way to reach some kids, especially the very smart ones. It keeps them from getting bored.

By the way - my son is a musician and artist now and my daughter has a theatre degree, performs in plays frequently and works for a costume company.

ART is VITAL to LIFE ~ Without ART there is no LIFE. ART is in ALL THINGS EVERYWHERE. You can not look past your fingers without SEEing ART.

ART is COLOR ~ ART is STYLE ~ ART is TEXTURE ~ ART is in the words we WRITE ~ ART is in ALL THINGS ~ ALL THE TIME

SCHOOLS without ART? -- not possible ~ It will be all over the walls in GRAFFITI if it is not in the classrooms.

Very good questions RENU ~ This is FEATURED in Artistic Therapy

Every subject should be taught in an artistic way - when I received my teaching credentials from UCSB back in the dark ages, we included art in all subjects including reading . Art is vital to everyone's education. I can't imagine my life without art - I paint, sculpt, and write. Creativity is the heaven in everyone's day. Salud

Thank you for joining my friend's network! I look forward to reading your posts and getting to know you better. I love other kindred spirits and they are usually all artists. Salud

I agree with the comments above. I think art if very important. I do not think it should be removed from school and I don't think there is a such thing as "too young to start". In fact part of my twin granddaughter's Christmas presents was paint, an double easel with chalkboard and wipe board, and various other supplies. They are 3 years old and I can not wait to see some of their creations.

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Life, without art is not truly life. Even the troglodyte makes art and seeks beauty. A soul. unmuted sings, the hand in possession of a charcoal stick draws, the legs, faced with rhythm dance. Art is the mark of life reality.

The Art program in our high school may be cut next year. My daughter is applying to art schools, and is currently in an SLR Photo class, BW.

The art program in the school is nationally ranked. It is very sad.

can't live without it!

When I was in school, high school, graduated in 1944, we had majors and minors as they do now in colleges. I majored in art, and had a scholarship which I did not use, because the war was on and I went to work for the army, I have regretted that somewhat, but did go to night school art classes in oil painting in my late twenties. I minored in business, I think that is funny to say that about high school now, but that gave me a career that kept me working all my life, when I was not being a mother. I think art is extremely important , especially to those even a little gifted, and to those that don't know how to draw, it is nice to be taught the basics. I have used it all my life, even in my business career , used to design labels for the company I worked for, if they wanted an idea, several were used. If they do away with art, they are taking away a lot from our children's lives.

Why don't they take a wack out of all these team sports once in a while? I know being physically fit is also very important, but there are other ways to do that (working out in a gym, PE, etc.). For those who are not so physically inclined, and are more of the right-brained, artistic types, this is a *real* hardship. I'm sorry, but I still think it's basically a male-dominated society in many ways, and this has a lot to do with why SPORTS always take front and center stage. It bugs the bejeebers out of me! Please, guys, those of you who are NOT that way, do not take offense. My hubby could care less about team sports or watching any games on TV (other than the Olympics, which we both love), and is very artsy, but still very athletic in the individual sense. Also, you gals who love sports, please also don't take offense. I can appreciate how both sexes love sports, but I think they've become overly important, and overly emphasized in our society ~ also, because they're BIG MONEY! My two cents worth!!

For some kids, it's their only creative outlet.
Of course it's important to keep art in schools. Unfortuantely, there are other subjects that are mandatory for schools to get their state money.
It's all about the MEAP tests, you know. I'm being very sarcastic but it's true.

I'm not sure how art in 'major schools' (whatever that means) would affect my life on way or another.

I recall back in the 60's, people talking of cutting art and music programs. I don't recall how that worked out.

My early art in school history, from a essay "Art History:"

Scroll forward a couple, three years; I had an art teacher in middle school. He was a sloppy southern European with dark, greasy features, a rectangular face, wet eyes and rolling mouth, which barely had his teeth contained. He hated feet; he thought the feet were the ugliest thing on the human body (maybe in creation). He liked to lean over me from behind and look at my work. I swear he was humping my chair. He smelled of cigars and stale coffee.

He showed me pictures once, sketches, not unlike the work I produced in grade school. He watched my face and asked what I thought. I might have used the phrase 'wonderfully erotic' if I liked the guy. And yes, at that age, I used phrases like wonderfully erotic and I knew what it meant. I told him about rape, my ranting diatribe not coming to the bitter crescendo of my mother's, but with my raised voice and heads turning, I got the desired effect: he ignored me the rest of the year, trolling in other waters.

Thanks for the email.

P.S. I think we need to write to our senators, congressmen, and governors about this and plead with them not to let it happen for all the reasons we've all stated here!!!

To Photophatty above - they DID cut out sports once. You had to pay to play. Not fair to everyone.

Well, now that's ridiculous! Pay to play? I don't think that should happen, either... Was that just one school or a whole state or what? Gees...

Our school district.

How outrageous... Surely, there's got to be a better solution than THAT!

Right question, Renu and first of all thanks for shifting my attention on talking to this topic.Art or fine arts were the subjects which evolved for the peace of mind.In this crucial time when human beings are so much trapped in their daily routine, Art as a best meditation could help in so many ways.Personally for me, Art drives me to live, laugh and sing...dance too.It's an open canvas where I'm all free to pour my colors of expressions to draw my world and to display silently what I could never even in words.It's a medium to interact, it's a communication with others....a mute coversation where manytimes an artist is successful to say all and manytimes he gives food of thoughts to the society.
If if look back in the history man first expressed in art form, he drew, he painted and he wrote all his weird languages...Why to kill this medium? It's like butchering tongue.

Art as a verb or as an adjective, both are important in my life.

Eliminating art is like taking away an essential ingredient to a recipe. Yeast is a humble substance, but try getting your bread to rise without it. It will be flat, airless and dull.

Science, math and technology are important, as are reading, spelling and grammar. Art brings beauty to a world of cold facts. The students whose greatest talents are in art will be cheated, as will society. The students whose strengths lie in other areas need art to round out their education.
Eliminating art would produce a result that is unbalanced, incomplete and void of beauty and creativity.

Regardless of which art form it is, it needs to be available. The school system I came from tried to do away with art and sports (they were also opting for the pay to play). It didn't work. Art comes in many forms. When they are talking about taking art out of the schools they are stopping at art classes. They will also take away theatre, plays, fine arts, art, music, band, orchestra and any chorus classes. I realize these are considered secondary classes and not necessary but I disagree completely. I studied art in school. It was one of my only interests. And probably the main reason I showed up every day. Not every child is a math genius or a scientist and their artistic interests and talents need to be recognized. Altho' I have no children in school any longer, I would fight for this tooth and nail.

Art, which is another word for creativity actually, is proof that man is not an organism but a higher being. Art is proof that man has a soul. Art is proof that we all long for the ultimate freedom. Art is proof that we have been created by the Almighty.

Art is one of the checks and balances of society. It reminds us of our shortcomings and inspires us to build a greater society. It's no secret that, in this country, it has not been given the respect and allocation of resources that it deserves. I'm pleasantly surprised by the wonderful response that art has received from fellow Gather members, proving that they are a rare group of educated, thinking and deeply feeling individuals. Several of which have become collectors of my work.

Otherwise, I find much greater response from my collectors in Europe.

Great post, my new friend.

Hello Renu,
Sore spots for me as the parent of adult children: art, music and civics all but disappeared from our schools over the past 30 years. Are you lobbying for art in school curricula on the change.org website? I think you should add this concern for Obama's folks to consider.

I agree with the general opinion about art, as described above. Great words on the subject!

Here in Canada, this summer the conservative government tried to cut arts funding... and some speculate that it caused so much commotion in Quebec that it may have cost them a majority government. Here is an article in The Star about it.

Without art, we have no beauty, without beauty we have ugliness and hate.

Very important!

It should be kept in the schools.

Art should not be eliminated in any capacity in the schools.

Visual Beauty is very important to me for peace of mind.

Art History is very important as well.

Rated you a 10.

Well as a photographer and a jewelry designer (and an all out crafting fanatic, if you ask my husband) I suppose I might be considered biased, but I find that art was always instrumental in expanding my learning capabilities, and it was the same for my children. My youngest just won 2nd place in her schools art show, and she was thrilled, but more importantly she learned a few lifes lessons, AND she redoubled her efforts to bring up her grade in advanced math. She decided if she had so underestimated her ability in art, then perhaps she wasn't giving herself a fair shot in math either. Her grade went up within a week!
Art is also something my children and I still enjoy sharing in. We love art shows and museums, and attend together whenever possible. It definately enhances our time together.
I don't think art should be removed from schools at all, and in some instances perhaps should be expanded. I have seen several schools drop their art programs in order to expand their sports, and though I believe our children benefit from team sports (when parents are kept under control), I also believe that they can receive equally important benefits from art. Many students are not sports inclined, but our society has put such an emphasis on sports, that schools have been willing to deprive the students of art over sports. This is wrong, and sending incorrect messages to our more art inclinded children.

I think it is important that a person be well rounded. Art, musicm and other classes that some want to eliminate are necessary for a child to reach their full potential. I also think it is what helps a person become well balanced socially and emotionally.

Art is expression and people will always express themselves, I think, whether or not it is taught.

I feel that everything created is art. It would be a crime to take this away from children.

10 4 u

Art should be included in everything!

It may needed to point out that it's not the SCHOOLS that are taking art out of the cirrculums at school. It's OUR GOVERNMENT. And it's not only the art classes, it's the fine arts that are being threatened....like drama class, band, music classes as well.


I thinks it's critical that we fight to keep our arts in the schools. Look at all the creative minds all through history that have contributed emmensly to our society. Children need to have their artistic/creative abilities nurtured and culitivated to help groom them to become the person they can be. Art doesn't only contribute to the beauty of society, it also contributes to many other things that requires a creative mind.

Taking away the arts in school is limiting students that could excell and get scholorships for college. Many students get full rides for college where other wise their families may not be able to afford to send them. Sports is just as important, but it shouldn't take priority over the arts.

Art is a wonderful thing in life. They need to keep art in schools

I think it is incredibly important. I mean art is so much more than just paintings and sculptures. It allows the mind to expand and be creative which in turn will help in problem solving aspects in your life. They definitely to keep it in schools.

Eliminating self-expression leads to a military state.

Makes me wonder what they plan on getting rid of next.

That is horrible! I cannot imagine schools without art and art classes........so much is being cut from schools today....enough is enough.....kids need well rounded educations.....including the fine arts.........if art is eliminated, then what will be next? It's rather scary to think about!

Art is an important means of expression. Oftentimes it is used as a way of making a statement that someone needs to make without offending or hurting others. As far as public funding of art, that is a dicey subject that I don't think equates to the value of art. Art shouldn't have to be funded in all reality, we should all express ourselves without having to be taught to do so. That being said I don't think that art should not be taught in schools.

Personally I never really took any 'art' classes in school because I didn't like it, and I never took any kind of creative writing type classes or anything. My point is that even without these classes I still have an innate desire to be creative, I'm always coming up with ideas for stories, sometimes I pursue them sometimes I don't. I never took even one class on film, but I'm currently writing a screenplay because I love to express myself creatively. I'm trying to say that we don't have to have classes on art to be artistic, and in fact many of the most artistic people in history probably never had a 'class' on their artistic forte they simply adopted it out of natural desire and ability.

Okay I'm getting windy here but here is another point I would like to make. Why can't children learn to be artistic at home? I love classical music, I think it is filled with life and vigor and imagination, I listen to it with my children. I believe that I like classical music because my father liked it enough to bring it to my attention and create an interest in me. I like photography, the only 'art' form for which I did take classes in school, and I like to take photographs, my children are beginning to want to do this on their own and my oldest has only just started kindergarten (meaning that he didn't need school to create the interest in art). He also started writing 'books' on his own before starting school, again he didn't have to be taught in school, he was taught at home. Even if we don't have funding for art in schools, which is something I hope doesn't happen, there will still be art in our world as long as it is in our homes.

No, it should not be eliminated from schools.

I see your point, David, but many kids don't even realize they have a creative talent until they are in art class. I mean , some may like to draw or play with play-dough on their spare time, but's they do it to pass the time. Their parents may not recognize the 'talent' and end up trying to steer their child in a different direction (although trying different things is good as well, but..). Then their talent can become dormant and stagnant. Being in an art class, the teacher can not only recognize a talented student, but also cultivate him/her and introduce him/her to different forms of art. Bringing out his/her natural talent. The home environment doesn't always pay off. Kids with artistic talent come from all sort of backgrounds, even backgrounds where parents, who see they have a talent, don't offer much support or encouragment because they may see art as a lost cause or something that will be no good later in life. An art class and a good teacher can do that, thus giving the child some hope for their future if they desire to do something with their art later in life. It can build self esteem and confidence, especially if they enter art/music competitions. They don't even have to win, but just knowing their stuff is good enough to enter helps.

"In our every deliberation we must consider the impact on the next seven generations...." Iroquois
Sacrificing the children for the sake of a buck is only an answer to getting that finally push to send the world to he** in a handbasket in my honest opinion. Art as necesary to the human psyche as any other course to the fruitful and healthful contributions to society in general

I truly believe art has value and I'm always so sorry when I learn that a school has eliminated an "art" form (music, art, journalism) from its curriculum. Some people learn more effectively by means of art.

Art touches each of us daily in many ways and mediums. Art needs the same emphasis as sports in school.

Taking art and music out of school is really saying that you are not interested in the soul and spirit of the children. In fact, music is a great trainer of the mind, and playing an instrument, or singing regularly, helps foster a better understanding of math.

I subscribe to Maslov's heirarchy of needs. When our basic needs are satisfied then art becomes paramount. To not teach art is to presume that the student will never rise above the fundamental needs. That is clearly pessimisstic and defeating. If we assume a future of universal individual achievement then we must teach the arts.

Rest easy

art needs to be in the schools. it is just about the only place left for a child to experience it. it is avery important part of life

When you think of how unique and how important art is to human culture, you have to shed a tear for the way it is devalued in our school systems.

Of all life forms we have encountered, only the human being in known to create art. Art is the human reinterpretation of reality, and new and deeper understanding is arrived at through it. It is the vehicle through which the human experience, in all its depth and breadth, is made familiar and common to us all.

So much of our entertainment is life is based on art or derived from art: music; literature; drama; sculpture and other visual arts. Yet our society has almost entirely reduced art to merely entertainment, and then raised up entertainers to a kind of semi-deity. The internationally famous artists (the rock stars, the movie actors) become a focus of intense fascination to the general public. Their lives, as a separate thing from their art, become entertainment fodder in and of themselves.

And this is because we push the arts away from our own lives. Music, instead being something shared around the kitchen table, becomes something recorded far away and enjoyed vicariously. Performing arts, rather than being enjoyed live and participated in on a communal level, becomes the purview of Hollywood and Bollywood and we become merely consumers of it.

Despite the fact that these remote, "blockbuster" forms of art are a multi-billion dollar business, the arts are seen as an economic dead end. And this is why they are devalued in the school system. The narrow minded and short sighted want education to be reduced to mere job training, morbidly concerned as they with the need to "earn a living".

Meanwhile we lose the importance of rounding the person in a fully realized and expressed human being, with not only an appreciation for the arts, for music, for performing arts, for visual arts, not only a consumer, but someone with the ability to reinterpret reality artistically themselves.

As a writer (amateur, largely unpublished) and an actor (very active in community theatre) I know that the arts are a huge and essential part of my life. They have put a very few dollars into my pocket and certainly do not allow me to earn a living through them. But they add so much life to my living experience that I would not trade them for anything.

Sometime soon I will be conducting a workshop in a local school on theatre acting. I look forward to it.

I think it would be horrible to remove art from school. They wouldn't remove writing courses from school or music programs or athletics, to me they are all forms of art. Poetry, song writing, writing stories, playing an instrument, photography, drawing, painting, scupturing, etc etc etc..... I could go on and on about what I consider art. Art as you are speaking of is a great way to express yourself. You can put all of your feelings in one piece of artwork. Some therapists use art as therapy for children, when they have no other way to express in words how they feel. I think art is vital to our survival. If there wasn't art we would would all live in the exact same boring plain looking homes. We would wear the same old boring plain clothing, we would drive the same boring looking vehicles....all these things are based on art.

Art is an important aspect of life. Creativity and the ability to dream separates Man from the animals. It's a shame that it's one of the first subjects cut from the school budget when money is tight. --Joe

sorry for the generic comment... trying to catch up with almost 1000 e-mails in here