From Artforms, Revised 7^th Ed. by Duane & Sarah Preble (Revised by Patrick Frank) Pearson, Prentice Hall.

CREATIVITY (p.20):

Creativity is as fundamental to experiencing and appreciating a work of art as it is to making one. Insightful seeing is itself a creative act; it requires open receptivity—putting aside habitual modes of thought.

Studies of creativity have described traits of people who have maintained or rediscovered the creative attitude. These include the abilities to:

¥ Wonder and be curious

¥ Be open to new experience

¥ See the familiar from an unfamiliar point of view

¥ Take advantage of accidental event’s

¥ Make one thing out of another by shifting its function

¥ Generalize from particulars in order to see broader applications

¥ Synthesize, integrate, find order in disorder

¥ Be in touch with one’s unconscious, yet be intensely conscious

¥ Be able to analyze and evaluate

¥ Know oneself, have the courage to be oneself in the face of opposition

¥ Be willing to take risks

¥ Be persistent: to work for long periods—perhaps years—in pursuit of a goal

REPRESENTATIONAL ART (pp. 26-7) :

“Representational art (sometimes called objective or figurative art) depicts the appearance of things. It represents—presents again—objects we recognize from the everyday world. Objects that representational art depicts are called subjects.

Representational art includes a wide range of styles… The most ‘real’ looking paintings are in a style called trompe l’oeil (pronounced ‘tromp loy’)—French for ‘fool the eye.’ Paintings in this illusionistic style impress us because they look so ‘real.’ …

Belgian painter Rene Magritte presents the viewer with a different pictorial and written statement about the nature of representational art. The subject of the painting appears to be a pipe, but written in French on the painting are the words, ‘Ceci n’est pas une pipe.’ (‘This is not a pipe.’) The viewer wonders, “If this isn’t a pipe, what is it?” the answer, of course, is that this is a painting! Magritte’s title, the treason of images, suggests what the artist had in mind.

Matisse told of an incident that illustrated his views on the difference between art and nature. A woman visiting his studio pointed to one of his paintings and said, ‘But surely, the arm of this woman is much too long.’ Matisse replied, ‘Madame, you are mistaken. This is not a woman, this is a picture.’"

ABSTRACT ART (pp.28-9)

‘To abstract’ means to extract the essence of an object or idea. In art, the word abstract can mean either (1) works of art that have no reference at all to natural objects, or (2) works that depict natural objects in simplified, distorted, or exaggerated ways…

In abstract art the artist changes the object’s natural appearance in order to emphasize or reveal certain qualities…We may be able to recognize the subject matter of an abstract work quite easily, or we may need the help of a clue (such as a title). The interaction between how an actual subject typically looks and how a particular artist presents it is part of the pleasure and challenge of abstract art. In a basic sense, all art is abstraction because it is not possible for an artist to reproduce exactly what is seen. [Plato on art]

NONREPRESENTATIONAL ART a.k.a. NONOBJCECTIVE OR NONFIGURATIVE ART (p. 29)

A great deal of the world’s art was not meant to be representational at all….Nonrepresentational art (sometimes called nonobjective or nonfigurative art) presents visual forms with no specific references to anything outside themselves. Just as we can respond to the pure sound forms of music, so can we respond to the pure visual forms of nonrepresentational art.

While nonrepresentational art may at first seem more difficult to grasp than representational or abstract art, it can offer fresh ways of seeing. Absence of subject matter actually clarifies the way all visual form affects us. Once we learn how to ‘read’ the language of vision, we can respond to art and the world with greater understanding and enjoyment.

FORM AND CONTENT (31)

Form is what we see; content is what we interpret as the meaning of what we see….form refers to the total effect of the combined visual qualities within a work, including such components as materials, color, shape, line, and design. Content refers to the message or meaning of the work of art—what the artist expresses or communicates to the viewer. Content determines form and is expressed through it; thus the two are inseparable. As form changes, content changes—and vice versa.