What is Art. . . in YOUR opinion?

by Dan in Misc > Art Opinion

Published Oct. 26th 2009

Slight change of plans today, folks—originally I was going to publish a reader-submitted article entitled “What is Art?” but after more consideration I decided that it drew a little too heavily on quotes from Wikipedia and other online sources.

I guess I just wanted more personal opinion and less Wikipedia.

So in light of that, I’ve decided to open up this topic to everyone to create a truly crowd-sourced response. I’m looking for as much insight as you’d like to give, on any or all of these time-honored questions:

What is art?

Why is art important?

And why are YOU an artist, rather than anything else?

Care to share? Use this contact form to send me your thoughts, opinions, personal stories, or essays and I’ll publish as many as possible on EmptyEasel over the next few weeks. (You can also just email me at emptyeasel@gmail.com.)

Short one-sentence opinions will be grouped together; longer submissions will get their own article. As always, make sure to include a link to your website, blog, twitter profile, etc, so I can credit you as the author.

Sound good? I know you’ve all got an opinion on this one. . . so let’s hear it!

UPDATE: Thanks for all the entries! This particular project is over, but as always, if you have an opinion or article that you’d like to share on EmptyEasel, you can still send it in here and I’ll publish it if I can.

Did you like this article?
Please stumble it so others will find it or check out the related posts below.
Finally, my "big project" is finished! It’s been a crazy day with a lot going on, but foliotwist.com is finally live and online! Since I’ve kept it a complete secret up until launch, here’s a quick (mostly visual) overview of what it does. . .read more
I’ve talked before about how to judge art, but today I’m going to explain why I think it’s important that all of us DO judge the art we come across, and speak up with our opinions about it. Personally, I believe there are some works of art that are better than others. You probably feel the sa. . . read more
One of the easiest ways to develop long-term interest in your art is by regularly sending out an email newsletter to fans, friends, and potential buyers. After watching EmptyEasel's newsletter grow at a rapid rate for the past several months (at 140 sign-ups per month, on average) I decided to. . . read more
Ever notice that "blogging" is different for everyone? I have a very specific blogging style for EmptyEasel and that's the way I tend to think of blogging overall—as a vehicle for teaching. But the truth is, other art bloggers do things differently and many are quite successful. In fact,. . . read more
How well do you adapt to new technology? Do you find ways to use it, or do you prefer to just ignore it all together? Artists are all over the map when it comes to technology. Some are tech-lovers; others want nothing to do with it. One of my friends is a very talented artist who's had an emai. . . read more
Stay current.
Subscribe to EmptyEasel's free weekly newsletter for artists. Sign up today!
EE Writers
Lisa Orgler Luke Montgomery Gordie Carver Stede Barber Doris Glovier Rose Welty Robert Sloan

Want to be a writer for EmptyEasel? Paid positions are available, and the perks are great. :) Contact us to apply