Coney,+The+importance+of+art

=== The reason that i chose the importance of art as the subject of my wiki is that i believe that the appreciation and recognition of the creative mind will help the world progress as well as our future children. I believe that it was through the creative and artistic process that we even ended up this far as the human race. Because of this, i want to discuss the idea of the importance of creativity, in art, music, theatre, architecture, etc. ===

The top five things i learned:
1) Going about many tasks in a creative way allows students to think in alternative ways. To make different assumptions about what is being asked of them and to make different connections to what they need to know. By learning to write music, paint, write poems, and so on, it helps students think of all possibilities of doing something while still being restricted to that 4/4 timing, or keeping the syllables per line at 11. Students learn how to do things differently through the artistic process.

2) Art education forces students to learn the importance of community and communication. Having students act in a play requires them to learn off each other and benefit themselves in that way. When painters work and their pieces and get critiqued they learn how the words of others can help them become better in their future endeavors instead of giving up because of a few "harsh words". The students get a chance of showing their artwork to the public and become closer to their community because of how their artwork becomes a part of that community.

3) Art makes an impact not only on the artist, but on the receiving end of the artwork as well, the community. It allows the public to look at life in a different light especially in events that may seem too sensitive to talk about in public. Artists give their opinion of these topics through poetry, paintings, and even comedy that allows the public to think about these areas of concern. It challenges the public to encourage critical thinking of these topics. Art affects the community by giving us an opportunity to feel things that we would only experience if we were in that specific moment as if when you listen to a poem or watch a film.

4) A common concern is that artistic people do not score well on tests and that they are wasting their time doing something that won't help them in their life. Schools cut their art programs because of this to make room for "the subjects that matter" such as math, reading, science, etc. when there have been studies that prove that exercising the entire brain is much more effective than exercising just one side of it. The No Child Left Behind act tries to get schools to keep their art programs which only make schools feel like it's keeping their students down

5) Not everyone thinks and expresses themselves in different ways, and for some people the only way they can communicate is through art. Whether that means they have to dance, or paint, or even speak through rhymes and allusions to other works, for some people it's the only way they get their message across.

Resources:
1) I have always been a huge fan of the TED conferences and what this man says helped inspire me to take my passion for art and try to teach it. To help give students a chance to express themselves when other people would have tried to find other ways for them to get out of their comfort zone so that they can communicate "like real people". Sir Ken Robinson talks about how he's learned over the years how some just need to move to communicate, not everyone does things exactly the same way as others and unfortunately the artists get the short stick and have to try to conform to everyone else. He talks about how he feels that art is just as important as literature or mathematics. No, we shouldn't just teach art, but we shouldn't just teach math and science either, in order for students to become as smart as possible they need to use both sides of their brain, not just one. 5/5 media type="youtube" key="iG9CE55wbtY" height="349" width="425"

2) This is a look at how art allows some people to communicate, this may seem a little pushed but the concept is still there. This man builds an invention that allows a man who is completely paralyzed to create art using only his eyes. The man (who was diagnosed with ALS) said to him and his crew "That was the first time I've drawn anything for 7 years. i feel like i had been held underwater, and someone finally reached down and pulled my head up so i could take a breath." which says for him that because he was an artist before being diagnosed with ALS, that even though he had a way to communicate (having other people point at cards what he's trying to say) he was never given a way of communicating to people the way he wished to until he was given the ability to draw again. 3/5 media type="custom" key="9520158"

3) This video takes some time but it helps demonstrate how art can be used to directly affect and change the world. This man is a graffiti artist from France and used to believe that art could never really change the world until he went on a project of his own to help send a message from the people of Paris to the government of France by putting up large photographs around the city of people who were sent to prison due to things that they were accused of but never did. On these pictures he left all of their contact info to demonstrate how these people are just as human as you or i. The government didn't like this and ordered workers to wash away all these pictures from the city. It was then that he realized how art can be used to change the world, to send a message from the people to the government to tell them the problems they face that they should be aware of. He and his crew have traveled around the world taking pictures of people and placing it everywhere around the world, carrying their story with him. It may be a long video, but it's message is beautiful. 5/5 media type="custom" key="9520346"

4) I came across this article from Whitman College, which i thought was beautifully written. It talks about how art is important to students and how it helps some to learn and others to communicate. It goes on to talk about how Whitman encourages their students to partake in the arts because of the effect it has on both themselves and the community that they demonstrate their artistic talents to. After reading this article i decided to look up the author of it and was astounded at the fact that it was written by the president of the university. It truly demonstrated how Whitman has made a commitment to the arts and how they value the effects of the arts as well. 4/5 []

5) This last article is nice because it helps describe the general effect of art on the public. How art impacts people in both the conscious and unconscious ways, how art has pushed us through history and in some ways allows us to read into the past more than reading into a history book would allow. The writer of the article explains how art directly affects society and even helps move us forward as well as allowing us to see the problems that we currently face. 4/5 []

BONUS:
This video wasn't used as one of my resources but it does help explain the beauty of some celebrities who have achieved a very successful career in the arts but know they could do so much more with that exact same skill set.

WARNING: Some adult language
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