When it comes to art, there is an insurmountable number of wells of creativity that the artist can draw from. Art in and of itself is simply a blank canvas; it’s the artists themselves who bring the piece to life. Some artists depend on their career of being an artist, and that raises the question: Can an artist’s work be affected by the contents of the art that they create?
From real world issues, to personal struggles artists create what they know. As the quote from the poet César A. Cruz goes “Art is meant to comfort the disturbed and disturbed the comfortable.” This saying goes to further the issues of society’s norms when it comes to expressing one’s feelings through art and how it affects people.
View points are never the same from person to person. The same goes for the way people view art, sensitive or not. When asking if the contents of art affects the artist’s ability to do well with the piece. Their earnings can be very important to look at people who inspire artists to create. And what’s more perfect than an art teacher who has both a degree in art and helps people with what they create?
When taking a look at Suzi Melly, an art teacher here at Horizon, there was an array of things Melly had to say. Melly claims there are only about one to two pieces of art she comes across every year that have sensitive subject matter, she wonders if maybe they just don’t want to share or don’t feel comfortable sharing. Melly does admit though that she is starting to see these works more often as the world changes, going as far as saying she is trying to gear more lessons to the middle ground of sensitive subjects.
With the content of some of the art she is seeing change Melly says that she has seen pieces in her own classes about sensitive subjects. From gun violence, to societal violence, and even climate change. The last bit Melly sparked insight on was reasons why people make this kind of art. Melly states, “When students get that opportunity to express their concerns they see them in a different way and can see themselves making change.”
An art teacher, who is new to Horizon sees these subjects with a different lense, Melissa Moore was ready to elaborate. Moore tells of how sensitive subject matters come hand in hand with creating art, from one’s personal experiences to something they want to spread awareness about. Art should be thought provoking.
Moore elaborates that she feels a want to talk about these subjects but that as a teacher she doesn’t want to spark an uncivil debate amongst her students. Moore also worries that students have a hard time sharing how they feel through art due to Moore being a mandatory reporter. Moore had a very passionate view as to if sensitive content in art is a good thing or not , she exclaimed, “It’s totally a good thing! I think it’s a great way to engage people!”
The opinion of students in art and the students outside of art can certainly be different. To capture both sides; M.J. Mustered and Cameron Kholer give their feelings on the topic
The two had clashing comments.
Kholer stated, “I feel like it’s always gonna be affected by biases, and it’s good to have personal biases, but if you’re letting it affect you a lot it’s a bad thing.”
When asked about awareness being spread through art being a positive or negative thing, Mustered proposed the idea that it’s both, “I feel like it’s both, because of some social biases.”
The two seeing the biases as being from different sources shows how taking art impacts how one views the issues surrounding it.
While view points and biases are always going to be a stark contrast from person to person, the content of art can be sensitive to some while natural to others. Artists will always have people applauding their work and some finding it distasteful. In the end it matters only how the artist feels. Artists should never have to wait to make a piece until the ‘world is ready’ because it’s possible they will never be.
