TOK art project IB

I.B TOK Project

"Art as......"

B-day Nihlha Malik

Critical perspective:

I find art as a language to be a postive thing. It falls under freedom. It allows us to enhance the value of art, this type of communication can can persuade society; and you have the ability to use it to your fullest advantage. Artist can reach to many audiences, by communicating through art.

(the end!!!!)

"Art as Language"

Language:

Historical Development:

Example:

Sometimes using words within a language to explain the way you feel can be hard. Sometimes pictures can say a million things that we as humans don't always know how to express. Just like the famous painting "Cristina's World" created by Andrew Wyeth. He was inspired by a woman named Anna Cristina Olson. She was friend who lived near him who had suffered from polio (was paralyzed in the lower part of her body). One day Andrew was looking out of his window and had seen Her crawling through the fields; She was his inspiration for this painting

"Art as freedom"

A way that people use art as language is by writing; more specifically music, the lyrics put into a song. Music is a type of art that many of us enjoy. It can also be an inspiration to many, just like Michael Jackson's song called "Heal the world". Not only did the lyrics stood out, so did the music video. What else could be a better way to communicate/spread a message to billions of people around the world, than putting it into a song. However, the message behind the lyrics to this song was to spread love, peace and remind everyone of the countries and people going through hard times around the world.

I feel like art as a language has always been there. But the type of art used as a language has changed. Today we have music, paintings, poems, literature etc. Also, we have technology to further enhance the message of our art. The art that we create can speak the language of propaganda, politics, love, other emotions and much more than that. Around the early1900's, the type of art the people had found appealing was different. Photograpy for instance can also say a lot.

Language: Artistic freedom is the extent of freedom of an artist to produce art to his/her insight.

• "The work of art is a scream of freedom"

Examples:

Example :

Historical Development:

• Another example could be the time when HPC had this poetry presentation in the Auditorium. There were a couple of student from this poetry group; which they came to present their art and one of them was an HPC student (Doug). As I was listening to them I noticed one student in particular was mentioning African Americans within her poem. She was talking about the controversy in the news surrounding them and how they are seen today (called thugs and etc.). It was kind of eye opening for me because I never heard someone talk about these worldly issues with so much passion and openly discussing them as well. Especially coming from a student because we don't usually talk about these things and we do not voice our own opinions either. Which also, shows us how she is using her freedom of speech to spread her message on the issue.

• There is a Roman/Greek sculpture called Venus De Milo, which is known to be a representation of Aphrodite (greek goddess). However, some people find this art to be scandalous because it is known to be "too" revealing, some critics say for the public eye. But, people don't realize, that an artist can express their art in any type of way (this was seen as an expression of sex from some point of views). They can also create/express their own opinion through the art, whether society is accepting of it or not.

Art as Therapy

Critical perspective:

Overall I believe that this Freedom to art can both give us a negative and a positive perspective. Positive because it allows you to spread messages through the artist's work. The artist has the power to convey his or her audience with their art work. Now when it comes to the negative aspect of it; it can be dangerous because you can create a connection with the real world and send a message that is wrong. Now keep in mind that art is just not all pictures and paintings. It allows you to put words on paper and label a type of writing and preach; it is also considered a type of art. Through the negative aspect, what I am trying to say is people will try to abuse the freedom that they have. But overall I believe that this type of freedom is a good thing.

The way we create art has changed, through the freedom that we have been given. For example, we have the ability of making art 3D, 2D, what you would like to provoke through your master piece etc. Basically we have many resources to create art in whatever way we would like to. In today's world we are allowed to voice our opinions. Not only that, but the way we perceive to see art or what we consider art; shows that our way of thinking has changed. Which allows us to interpret art in many ways. Also, Back in Medieval times; art was made to reflect religious leaders, wealthy or just religion in general. However, that was the past, in today's world artist put a lot of emotion/thought into their art. In the medieval time, the material that the art was made out of determined it's price and value (marble, stone and other rare expensive material). As for today, People look at the meaning behind the art, but not everyone thinks that way.

Historical Development :

Language: (literal definition) Art Therapy is a creative method of expression used as therapeutic technique.

• "Art can permeate the very deepest part of us, where no words exist" - Eileen Miller

When it comes to the development of therapy, it has surely enhanced. An article from Psychologytoday.com tells us that this type of therapy reduces anxiety and stress; which was a statistic from the year 2007. Not only that, but art therapy was discovered in the 1940's by a women named Margaret Naumburg (educator and therapist). This type of therapy has always been efficient; however, people are not aware of this type of therapy. But over the years, it has been receiving more attention from children to adults; even the elderly and whether or not you have a mental disorder or physical disability.

Examples :

• Go to Maggiewoods.com to see my example (blog)
• So there is a seventeen year old girl named Sally Smith; who has endured severe bullying throughout middle school and it left a big impact on her social life in high school. However, she has improved ever since she has stopped seeing her regular therapist; and went for art as therapy instead. Sally has improved a lot, instead of cutting herself; she now takes out all of her negative energy through drawings. Which helped her explore her new talent/interest for art. not only that, but this has made her confident enough to join her schools art club.

Critical perspective:

Overall I find this area of art to have a good connotation to it. Which is seen through improvement it had on people throughout the years. For example, people with cancer sometimes use this type of therapy to help them get through hard times. I feel llike in the real world today, people don't realize how many different forms of therapy there is. Not everyone wants to go to a psychologist and sit on a chair and just talk. That type of therapy doesn't always work for everyone. Sometimes writing (journals or any other forms) drawing or any other type of creativity can help a person out. Not everyone is good with words, which is why I see art therapy effective thing for many people. It can also open doors to many other things in life; for example exploring your love for the arts. Also, the art itself can be a reflection of who you are and an example to show today's society by giving them hope; Or encouragement/being a role model for other people who need a better form of therapy. And finally it allows you to define your own art.