Instructor: Steve Bishop Essay One
Josalyn Cook 1/26/2011
What Makes Art Art?
Art is an object or piece of work that brings one pleasure. Art is also something you see or feel and you cannot even begin to describe the ways you like it or how it makes you feel. Art is something that portrays beauty and happiness. Art lets you see the world through another person’s perspective. Most art seems to tell a story about where a person has been and the things they have encountered along the way. It lets you connect with the artist and see things through their eyes. Art is a way of expressing one’s self without words. When I think of art, I think of paintings, portraits, sketches, and sculptures. I know there are many other forms of art, but my favorite form is painting. I normally respond first to the mood of the art and the idea it brings to mind. I like art that makes me feel happy. Second I would say I respond to the colors in the art. I like warm and soothing colors. I prefer scenery in art work. I like paintings of autumn, filled with warm oranges and yellows in the trees, country roads covered with fallen leaves. Those kinds of paintings make me feel warm and happy. One of my favorite autumn scenes is by Robert A Tino, a local artist in Sevierville, TN. It is called Autumn Psalm. It is a small country church setting just off of a country road lined with trees. The trees in the painting are almost bare, and the beautiful autumn leaves are scattered on the ground. This painting gives me a sense of peace and happiness.
The content of art is not quite as important to me as the way it makes me feel. I love works of art that portray a place that I have been or know. It is nice to see something you are familiar with from another person’s perspective. For instance, Harrisburg Holiday, another great work of art by Robert A Tino. It is a painting of a covered bridge that I am very familiar with, but he has painted it