Bring Your Peace to the Puzzle ™1994

In this class we ask and discuss many questions that may have more than one answer.

Some common questions are:

• What is art?
  
• When can something be called art?
  
• Why do people make art?
  
• Who are the great artists?
  
• What makes a work of art beautiful or not?
  
• Why is art different around the world?
  
• What can we learn from art from the past & present?
  
• What makes art valuable?
  
• Can my cat make art?
  
• Is nature art?
  
• Why is it important to make art?
  
• How do I make art?
  
• When is my art work finished?

The visual arts provide a door to understanding the world through our first language, visual imagery. The visual arts give us the opportunity to express and communicate through a universal language where pictures are worth thousands if not millions of words and concepts. Picture making is a quick and efficient way to communicate.

Our brain loves pictures. It is no wonder the television, the movies, video games and the computer take over much of our time. We live in a society where advertising pictures dominate the visual landscape. It is important to become aware of how we are influenced by the pictures we look at in magazines, in advertising, in music videos, in the movies and the images on video games. Our behavior is linked to what we see and what we input into our thinking. Everyday we are bombarded with an incredible amount of visual information. Even at night in our sleep, visual imagery dominates our dream time.

It is important to develop a greater awareness and mindfulness about how all of this visual information can help us or hurt us. We are responsible to make the world a better place for our children and the future generations. Let us wake up, open our eyes and look with our full attention at what is presented before us. Let us be smart and choose to look at and participate in what can help our world be a happier, healthier, safer,and a more peaceful place to live. Let us be educated participants and viewers.