What is art?

Isabelle Lydick

For me, art can come in many forms.  It can be beautiful, but it doesn't have to be.  Art brings out emotion, and visual art is a great way to speak without words.  A person can get a message across without speaking, teaching people about themselves and their interests.  Also, art and aesthetics go hand in hand.  I find art to be pleasing when it works aesthetically, whether that means with shape, form, color, or medium.

An artist is the maker of their own art.  Anyone can be an artist, if they have the creative drive and passion that making art requires.  An artist is a person that wants to open up without speaking, show a part of themselves by drawing, painting, etc. whatever they want their audience to see.

For people that are shy, or don't like to talk much, art is a great outlet.  As I've said earlier, a person doesn't have to speak much if their art can speak for them.  So I think art is very important and should always be made.  It can be an escape, an outlet, a voice, or whatever the artist needs it to be.  Art is very flexible.

As for the assessment of art, art is very subjective.  Good art for one person may be bad art for another.  So it's hard to say what makes some art good and some art bad.  For me, good art makes me feel something, it leaves me with an emotion that I have to dissect, figure out.  I don't necessarily think that the distinction between highbrow and lowbrow art should be an issue.  Most all art is good or highbrow for someone.