What is Art? - Kelsey Small

Edith Wharton said, “There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” I believe art is both the candle and the mirror. Art exists when it sheds new light for exploration and understanding within a unique topic. The topic need not be new or uncommon, but art will provide a new framework for engaging with it. Art also serves as the mirror for reflective insight to transcend the artistic experience into one’s whole being. The presentation of art should challenge audiences to explore unfamiliar terrains of expression and emotional possibilities. Art heightens emotional responses, challenges existing ideas, and is responsive to the environment of its creation and reception.

I believe art exists to engage audiences with a new medium for personal interpretation of the complexities of life. Art is meant to be shared, to challenge perceptions and offer new insights. The underlying driver of art is its inherent use of emotion from moment of creation through audiences’ reactions.  Without an emotional pull, art cannot exist. Personal emotional appeal is the moving and cementing force encapsulating the presentation and reception of art. I agree with John Dewey’s theories defining art as something that creates emotional experiences. An emotional unity is derived from the continuous merging of separate feelings to form a heightened emotional awareness of the work’s presence. Art should move people beyond their realm of familiarity into a perspective of expressive self-realization.

Kyle Abraham’s philosophy is to use the medium of dance as an autobiographical introspective of the social issues prevalent in our culture today. If the presentation is influential in showcasing on stage what is happening in the audience and all around us, then this is art. Art’s mirror effect is a powerful tool to encourage audiences to shatter currently held beliefs and discover a new reality. This new reality can come in the form of discovering new responses, ideas, and activism in the face of social and personal topics. Audiences should be able to see some part of their life represented through the work of art. Art then must encourage individuals to be reactive and accept the vision of a new future. Art provides new parameters through which experiences and societal forces can be framed to encourage new lineages of thoughts and actions.

Art exists when it is influenced by the place of its creation. Place is not constrained to physical location, but includes the circumstances, nature, and characteristics of influence driving the creation. My idea of art follows Roger Srcuton’s theories about architecture. Art must become flexible and vulnerable to the changes in place in order to maintain relevance and demonstrate a realistic vulnerability to life’s forces. Art cannot be static; it must kinetically respond and change to external influences. Therefore every time art is reproduced, it should be built in accordance with a new sense of place and purpose driven by the environment. Art exists as a responsive medium as a snapshot of the place it came from and possessing the ability to adapt to the purpose and need of its current presentation.

Art occurs when the presentation offers meaningful purpose for audiences they hadn’t conceived before. Henry David Thoreau said “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” This quote embodies the quintessential function of art, for audiences to become lost in its magnificence in order to find something completely different and moving on the other side. This is achieved when art is a medium that encourages heightened emotional sensitivity, is responsive to social issues, and adapts to the changing landscapes of place and purpose.