Art School Dropouts

The first section of reading, by Kevin Melchionne, opens up talking about high school art classes and their students. Having myself taken several classes in high school and even college, you can not help but to look over to your neighbor's drawing and compare yours with theirs. How come I can't make my bottle look as straight? My shading looks nothing like hers. Goodness, I wish I could just draw that well. All of these things and situations happen in all art classes and Melchionne characterizes them as realism anxiety. You want to achieve what the great standard of art is and totally forget your imaginative drawings.

Those imaginative drawings often end up in galleries and museums around the world where the common viewer is simply faced with the idea of "I could do that. Why is this considered art." This very common question tends to put a standard on what people think and characterize art as. If it is something that looks realistic and requires much skill, it must be art because I could not do it myself. Anyone could slap a blue dot in the middle of a blank canvas and call it art. Wht should they get praised for doing something so simple?

I think it is interesting how Melchionne described one's aesthetic health. He states that someone who has good aesthetic health not just what is placed in front of them but also gathers the other factors that went into the artwork to make it aesthetically appealing. He also states that it is important for one aesthetic health to grow and develop by seeking out new things and expanding your appreciativeness of unique things.

Hilde Hein talks of museums and their ever changing atmospheres. He states that they are becoming more familiar with technology and using it is place of the priceless works of art. This is a way is taking us further away from the art that the museum is trying to get you to become interactive with. Sort of ironic.

Arthur Danto talks about the uses of art in public spaces to memorialize and capture a specific moment in time out in public places. He talks about the war memorials and how it helps everyone acknowledge victories and defeats. He talks about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and how every part of the set up and design of the monument plays a significant role in its importance and statement. I think that the Vietnam War Memorial is a good example of monuments out in the public that also involve them. Every time someone visits the memorial they look up someone with the same last name, or someone that they know. The surface of the memorial is reflective and you can see yourself within the names of the deceased. It is a powerful statement to those who take the time to appreciate it.

Questions
1. What other war memorials or public monuments make a connection with the public in a physical and emotional way?

2. What are some ways a person can expand on their aesthetic health?

3. Do you think that museums take away some of the effect that the artists were going for when they composed their pieces?

4. Do you think that placing a specific kind of artwork somewhere makes a difference on the way it is viewed by the viewers?