Why do people make art?

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Why do people make art?
Diego Rivera No. 9, Nature Morte Espagnole-
National Gallery of Art
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Artists make art to tell a story.

• The story can be personal or historical

The painted scenes on the jar show the hero
Herakles killing the rampaging Nemean lion and a
battle between armed warriors http//www.artic.edu
/cleo/amphora/amphora.html The Art Institute of
Chicago website
Claude Monet, On the Bank of the Seine,
Bennecourt http//www.artic.edu/aic/collections/eu
rptg/24pc_monet.html The Art Institute of Chicago
website
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Artists make art to enrich the environment with
beauty and/or share the beauty that they
experience in their lives
Paul Signac. Hillside from Downstream, Les
Andelys, 1886. The Art Institute of Chicago,
through prior gift of William Wood
Prince http//www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/seurat
/seurat_overview.html
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Artists make art to celebrate and express joyful
emotion..
Edgar Degas, Ballet Scene National Gallery of
Art, Washington
Paris Through the Window, 1913. Marc Chagall
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
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Artists also make art to communicate the darker
emotions that we all experience from time to time
The Red Tower (La Tour rougePeggy Guggenheim
Collection. Giorgio de Chirico
Barbara Kruger Untitled (Not Perfect), 1980
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Pablo Picasso Woman Ironing, 1904. Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum
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Artists also make art to make us aware of what
our cultural values, beliefs and concerns are
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Dorothea Lange
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Other works in that category (made by students
from lesson posted on http//www.portfolioseries.
com/ )
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So what are the roles of artists in society?

• To make our world more_________
• To make us see things we ordinarily wouldnt
  ___________
• To make us ________
• To ______ us mentally, emotionally and spiritually

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Artists make art using a wide variety of
materials and techniques
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Artists use their materials in specific ways to
communicate meaning
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What do visual artists share with other subjects?

• They research ideas, observe and experiment
  like
• They move us and make us think and feel like
• We look at works of art to discover the main
  idea/message like we in

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Other Art Forms

• Music
• Dance
• Drama
• Language Arts
• These artists are also concerned with the same
  things that visual artists are. They just use
  different media/methods to communicate. All of
  the arts have things in common.

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Where do we find artists?

• Video/film/tv industry (animation, set design,
  costume design, video production, photography,
  commercial design)
• Advertising industry (for cars, food, clothes,
  homes, etc.)
• Design industry clothes, cars, homes, everyday
  products (dishes, shoes, lamps, tissue boxes,
  chairs, couches, etc) packaging design, interior
  decorators, architects, magazine design and
  layout, etc.
• Studio artists (painters, sculptors, fabric
  artists, ceramicists, photographers, printmakers)

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What do all those kinds of artists share in
common?

• They know how to use materials and techniques in
  certain ways that communicates to their audience
• Relationships of qualities, elements and
  principles of design
• Specific skills that often involve DRAWING.
• In todays world, this also involves computer
  technology.

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The Artistic Process

• Your inspiration/idea has to make you excited.
• Brainstorm the theme. Collect visuals, research
  ideas, stories. Observe! Sketch!
• Explore and learn about media and techniques.
• Plan and design your works.
• Create your work that you feel communicates
  something important. Reflect and revise your
  work as you create it.
• Teaching art links\Where and How Artists Get
  Ideas.htm Where do artists get ideas
  printout. PDF

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Resources

• http//lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/wcf/wcf0013.html
  Dorothea Lange
• http//www.portfolioseries.com
• The Art Institute of Chicago website
• National Gallery of art website
• Smithsonian website
• The Art Spirit, Robert Henri
• http//www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/Files/ideas.
  htm The Incredible Art Department- Where and How
  artists get ideas