I have been a professor of art for over 20 years and so I get on my soapbox from time to time to talk about what art is. Art is for everyone. Did you hear me? I am going to say it again! Art is for everyone… even YOU, especially if you believe you are not artistic. I would argue that art is as valuable to all humans as speaking. In fact, art is literally another tool of communication. Art is for you and it is definitely for me and I would argue that we humans all need art just like we need food. Art nourishes our souls and feeds our imaginations and makes life here on planet earth far better. Good art makes us think and hopefully it is beautiful, but sometimes it has to be detestable in order to get its message across. No matter what art is, I love it.

I believe art is literally a part of my being. When I experience great art, I sometimes get the chills and feel a physical sensation as I take in the work. I envision that I am digesting its content much like food and a feeling washes through me from my mind to my heart as I try to study and memorize each profound and beautiful detail of the artwork. Good art becomes an integral part of me and I am informed by its message and beauty. I am truly changed forever. The first artist I every “digested” was the work of the great Jim Dine. He is best known for his heart paintings in the 70s, which have really shaped pop culture in art history. I enjoy the symmetry and variety of his heart paintings, but I want to talk about the profound impact his tool drawings have had on me. I was first introduced to his tool series when I was in art school and I could not get enough of them. They are extremely detailed and simplistic all at once. I love how the realism of his tools comes out of the chaos of seemingly random childlike marks. Furthermore, the ordinary subject placed on display for all to see makes me wonder if there is a sense of the ridiculous, like Marcel Duchamp’s “This is a Pipe” drawing, or just a matter-of-fact approach to tools. This particular drawing is of pliers, pliers are just work tools of course, but a drawing of pliers is something more. It reaches a higher plain like that of Plato’s eidos or the essence of things, which a drawing is striving to interpret. The drawing is further elevated because it is closer to the perfect ideal of pliers rather than the actual tool. Whatever Jim Dine’s tool drawings are, they are beautiful and ordinary all at once and worthy of closer examination. 

As an artist, I am bound by some inner code that dictates I must create things that are beautiful and the subject that I find to be most beautiful is powerful women. I have been drawing them for almost three decades and I am amazed that I still have an endless list of subjects always waiting in the wings. My Amelia Earhart series actually lasted for a while, as I drew and painted many versions of her because I could not get her out of my psyche. I see her as a powerful woman who worked hard to push boundaries and enter the aviation field dominated by men. She was successful and hardworking and ultimately paid the price for her passion with her life. Fly free among the clouds Amelia Earhart and thank you for paving the way for women to take to the skies.

Art is amazing and thought provoking and creative and challenging and we so desperately need it. Everywhere I have been in the world, I have been blessed to visit at least one art museum and I am better for it. Go see some art my friends and taste what art is for you.