By Marvin Bartel

This comes from a post Marvin Bartel made to Teacher Art Exchange List.
Marvin Bartel is a retired professor from Goshen College, Indiana. © 2004

Here is a list of REASONS FOR ART.  Many are edited from Chapter 1 in the
Herberholz book: Artworks for Elementary Teachers.  Feel free to copy and
edit this to a poster format the for the art room. A few examples are in the parenthesis.

1. A reason for art is to tell stories, events, myths, beliefs, and
   literature.
   
   
2. A reason for art is to convince, inform, inspire, criticize, persuade,
   make the world a better place (Guernica by Picasso - Faith Ringgold).
   
   
3. A reason for art is to perform rituals, work magic, pray for protection,
   pray of success, for fertility, for cures for sickness,  for prosperity,
   etc (tribal fetish art - modern advertising).
   
   
4. A reason for art is to enhance a religious ceremony (stained glass in
   Gothic church - tile of Mosque).
   
   
5. A reason for art is to help in meditation as in the contemplation of
   nature.
   
   
6. A reason for art is to create personal and group identity, inspire
   school, cultural, and/or national identity, loyalty, and spirit (flags,
   mascots, logos).
   
   
7. A reason for art is to tell how people used to look and behave.
   
   
8. A reason for art is to tell us how places and things used to look.
   
   
9. A reason for art is to tell us how an artist feels about the subject of
   artwork (DeKooning - Wyeth).
   
   
10. A reason for art is to tell us the ways artists have found to express
    their creativity, and ways to interpret and represent what they have seen,
    imagined, remembered and felt (Bearden).
    
    
11. A reason for art is to a way to interpret our own emotions and
    understand ourselves better (Pollack - Frankenthaler).
    
    
12. A reason for art is to express and see dreams and fantasies (Mary Frank
    - Dali).
    
    
13. A reason for art is to reveal pure visual pleasure from the impact of
    color, shape, line, and other elements.
    
    
14. A reason for art is to design and create the tools, utensils, and other
    functional objects needed.
    
    
15. A reason for art is to embellish, decorate, and enrich objects and our
    surroundings.
    
    
16. A reason for art is to symbolize or substitute for a real idea or object.
    
    
17. A reason for art is memorialize or pay tribute to a person, persons, or
    event (Maya Lin).
    
    
18. A reason for art is provide therapy that helps the creator and/or the
    viewer better understand a problem and solution.
    
    
19. A reason for art is to help us pre visualize ideas for buildings,
    bridges, cities, and everything else that is imagined before it is made (Frank Gehry - Frank Lloyd Wright).
    
    
20. A reason for art is to add humor to our lives (James Melchert).
    
    
21. A reason for art is to create gifts that show love and other feelings
    to our friends and family (flowers and cards are commonly used this way).
    
    
22. A reason for art is to do pure visual research into the effects of
    color, line, and other elements as well as materials and processes (Joseph
    Albers).

Artworks for Elementary Teachers  By: Herberholz  ISBN: 069734424X Pub Date: 10/1997

World Cultures