Hey guys :)

My names Sarah Mann and I am a psychology major from Roseville California. I am very interested in Anthropology and might minor in it because its simply fascinating learning about different cultures and different things they value. I chose this class in particular because I believe art is necessary to keep cities and cultures alive.

Beginning with the topic at hand, what is art? Its tough to come up with a hard copy definition of such a widely interpreted topic. So many people have different definitions of what they believe art to be, even sitting in class the first two days I experienced a couple different viewpoints of the topic.

Personally, I believe art is a representation. I believe art is the desire of an artist to appeal and create relation to another being or culture without physically speaking to them. Art takes down a language barrier and speaks to people through emotion. Which comes to my first topic, can there be such thing as bad art? I personally believe there is no such thing. As I was saying before, art sparks emotion, whether its good or bad. People may consider art that makes them unhappy, uncomfortable, or unsatisfied to be bad art, but I see it as a way to really feel what the artist was feeling when said artwork was made. On the bottom line, not all art is beautiful.

But where do you draw the line? If art is simply something that sparks emotion, anything could be considered art. You really have to look into it to see that not everything beautiful is art. Buildings, pottery, and artifacts could all be considered art, but in some/ most cases, they are truly just a work of craft. In my opinion, it really depends on the time and meaning put into the piece, the colors used, and the reactions the piece creates that determine whether it was a work of craft, or art.

One main thing I really hope to get out of this class is gaining a more vast appreciation for art. By the end of this class I would love to have a better definition of what art really is, because personally I still feel a bit naive in the subject. If anyone has any opinions about my post they would like to put in, please do so. I am so exited to really get everyones input on the subject.

-Sarah Mann

some art that i love:

Banksy

Robert Mapplethorpe