EDU403 Final Term Art and Craft Handouts

Topic 001

Introduction to Course

What this Course is about?

This course will cover the following areas:

Basic introduction to Art, Crafts and Calligraphy

Fundamentals of theory and Practice such as Elements and Principles

Pakistani Artists

Art Movements

Ways of teaching Art in elementary schools

Interface of Art with other academic disciplines

Objectives of the course:

Develop a basic understanding of art

Enhance Exposure (Historical and Contemporary)

Understand the significance of art in education

Learn meaningful ways of teaching

Topic 002

About Defining Art

What is Art?

There are there components which need to be considered when we try to define art. These three components are as under:

Something that is expressed

The way in which it is expressed

The function that it performs

The definition of art has evolved over time and varies based on context; anything can be made into art, and the term continues to evolve. The nature of art has been described by philosopher Richard Wollheim as "one of the most elusive of the traditional problems of human culture". Art has been defined as a vehicle for the expression or communication of emotions and ideas, a means for exploring and appreciating formal elements for their own sake, and as mimesis or representation. Art, at its simplest, is a form of communication. It means whatever it is intended to mean by the artist herself, and this meaning is shaped by the materials, techniques, and forms of the art, as well as the ideas and feelings it engenders in the viewer. Anything can in fact be art, and the term continues to evolve.

After the recent collection of definitions some of history’s greatest minds and and pgylosophers define art as:

Henry James says:

We work in the dark — we do what we can — we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.

Leo Tolstoy writes:

Art is not, as the metaphysicians say, the manifestation of some mysterious idea of beauty or God; it is not, as the aesthetical physiologists say, a game in which man lets off his excess of stored-up energy; it is not the expression of man’s emotions by external signs; it is not the production of pleasing objects; and, above all, it is not pleasure; but it is a means of union among men, joining them together in the same feelings, and indispensable for the life and progress toward well-being of individuals and of humanity.

Oscar Wilde believes:

Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.

Francis Ford Coppola states:

An essential element of any art is risk. If you don’t take a risk then how are you going to make something really beautiful, that hasn’t been seen before? I always like to say that cinema without risk is like having no sex and expecting to have a baby. You have to take a risk.