- "How can art be good for/contribute to our society?
- What events/moments/experiences change or refine my past perspective to look at things
- Do I make a connection between my personal historical events or experiences with the story I want to tell?
- How can I utilize art to represent my change or revision?
- How does the metaphor represent my change or revision from that past perspective?
- How does this experience may influence my path of becoming an artist and educator?"
In my opinion, art contributes to society's awareness of events. Text only catches people's attention so much, but if you add graphics and colors to posters, people are more likely to pay attention. Because of the monetary value in art, artwork can also raise funds whilst raising awareness to events. Art can aid communication, as visuals transcend words in some cases. Art also allows storytelling in ways that are easier for children to understand, even.
Recently, (late December, early January, and onward) there were forest / bush fires in Australia, and while I was disconnected from the news by quite a bit, I found a bunch of fundraisers and crowd calls for action by folks on Instagram and Facebook. Among these were pleas for donations, of which something stuck out to me - they were pleading for artists to make koala holdings. (One specific organization called themselves, 'Animal Rescue Craft Guild'). I never considered how artists could aid in support efforts like that before I read the initiative. As such, I noticed how art has a much bigger impact than I previously knew.
I can use art to represent my realization by demonstrating an event that was crucial to my newer understanding. I also am new to this idea, so perhaps if I use a new material to me, it could further represent my change. Using art to speak about the contribution of art to society is an effective way to raise awareness, too.
This was the first time I utilized watercolor. This was also the first time I depicted something related to a disaster or wildlife cause. After having the prompt of art contributions to society, I knew I wanted to create something for a cause to demonstrate the prompt. The rain is starting up in my painting as a reference to how Australia started flooding while they were getting hit with the fires. I used this event as it was the point where I changed my perspective on how art can benefit society.
This experience will influence me as an educator as I am now inspired to ask students to represent events in their art to raise awareness of them. I feel as though this could be a unit that can bridge on political cartoons, posters, or even documentary making. There are many avenues in which to reflect on art in the world and how the art can manipulate and make change.