It is the age old question within the creative world: What is art? It is a common struggle from artist to artist whether or not this question can ever have a clear, definitive answer.
To get to the bottom of this query, I spoke with a variety of Xavier community members.
Alison Dunn is a multi-subject art teacher at Xavier who is a practicing artist in her own time. She sternly says, “There is no answer to the question of what is art.”
“When a person makes something and they say ‘this is art,’ we have to take them at their word,” she says. She further states that while we cannot judge whether something is art or not, one can consider if the art is weak or strong.
This was a sentiment echoed by other artists I spoke with including seniors Isabella Ballesteros and Addelyn Pederson.
Ballesteros says that art does have a somewhat objective side of things, noting that one can find objective skill in an artwork. She says when viewing a piece, “You can see how a person has cultivated a specific style, or put in thought and time to learn her art style.” This is a point for which I see strong validity.
Pederson agrees with Dunn’s earlier point of how art is defined. “What I love most is that art has no limits. It can be anything and everything with no standards or rules,” she states.
Ruth Stricklin, a member of the Xavier Community with a specialty in sacred art offers a unique perspective on how her faith influences her idea of what the purpose of art is.
She says that specifically with her style of art, “Its purpose is not to entertain or make us feel something. Its purpose is, working along with the Mass, to transform us into heavenly beings.”
All these artists shared the idea that they do not let societal standards dictate what is beautiful or what exactly art is. Dunn remarked that with her own work her goal is to make herself feel something. She even shared that her most successful piece was one that made her cry.
Ballesteros said that when creating her works she focuses on how it improves her growth as an artist regardless of how good she thinks it turns out. Similarly, Pederson said she might not love every work she creates but in the end is still proud of the creation itself.
Stricklin draws from her faith heavily when considering societal standards. “I try not to concern myself with what society accepts as art. My art is defined by who I am in the world, and who I am is defined by God alone.”
These points all circle back to the fact that art is no one thing for all artists. The definition and meaning of art changes from person to person, artist to artist.
“Through- the artistic -process and the end results, we express what it is to be – to experience life as a human,” Stricklin says.
