Why do we study? Why do we attend school? So we can help the human race. We can be more beneficial to human kind. We study science to discover new cures to diseases so we can battle viruses and live more comfortably. We study mathematics so we can calculate complex formulas and solve problems. We study literature and language so we can communicate easily, and eliminate misunderstanding. So why is Art important? Art is the salt of all knowledge. Without art, you won’t be able to taste any knowledge, and life will seem bland. How so?
Art is a means to communicate our emotions. To understand each other better. To understand ourselves. Art is what helps us become humane. To be kind. To be caring. It helps us empathize, and it helps us bond, make connections and appreciate the beauty in everything.
Long ago in the times of the Greek and Romans, they invested in the arts, namely sculpture, music, theatre arts, and the sorts with the sole intention of studying the arts so it may help build character, personality, and can be an aid to studying the sciences and mathematics. But not so long ago, we removed the arts from the academic curriculum deeming it to be just a waste of time or just a means to relieve and relax. We did not realize it’s potential in sculpting us as better humans. A lot of schools reduced the art curriculum to a bare minimum so that more focus could be given on the sciences and mathematics, forgetting that it is through art, that we understand and empathize, hence helping us apply our scientific knowledge to solve problems.
When I’m sketching, the minute strokes, the long hours, the attention to details provide me with the grit and resilience necessary in life to persevere through the mundane and boring tasks to achieve the big picture. When I drew this drawing titled PAO-PAO (you an purchase its fine art prints by clicking HERE, it took me 80 hours to finish it. In all those 80 hours, I completely immersed my self in that picture. It gave me time to focus, to be present with the drawing, and there were times when my thoughts were a mess, but then, through those soothing gray lines of lead and graphite on pure white canvas, I was able to bring myself back and just be present with the drawing. Creating something slowly, I’ve realized, is sort of like meditation.
It takes time to create something beautiful and worth looking at. Art cannot be created in mere seconds, and if it can, then that time is compensated for the years of practice that has gone behind learning that art. There is an interesting story about how Pablo Picasso, the famous Spanish artist, developed the ability to produce remarkable work in just minutes. As the story goes, Picasso was walking though the market one day when a woman spotted him. She stopped the artist, pulled out a piece of paper and said, “Mr. Picasso, I am a fan of your work. Please, could you do a little drawing for me?” Picasso smiled and quickly drew a small, but beautiful piece of art on the paper. Then, he handed the paper back to her saying,
“That will be one million dollars.”
“But Mr. Picasso,” the woman said. “It only took you thirty seconds to draw this little masterpiece.” “My good woman,” Picasso said,
“It took me thirty years to draw that masterpiece in thirty seconds.”
In conclusion, I would like to add a personal anecdote that portrays perfectly how art can help us make stronger bonds within our community or circle. I had an opportunity to conduct a workshop at MSB. You can read more about the experience by clicking below.
MSB, a school that believes in holistic education, incorporates the learning of all skills and talents for it’s students, and it made me so happy to be able to add to that treasure trove of talents, with my small contribution of sketching and drawing. We made the students sketch and along with drawing masterpieces, they learned about perspective, appreciating the art of others, and seeing their classmates in a whole new light. It was wonderful. I witnessed it almost everyday, but it was no short of a miracle that so much love and warmth could be shared over a pencil, paper, and a few ideas up in your head. I implore everyone to take up one or the other form of art, be it music, sketching, painting, whatever, and experience it alone, or with your friends, because both has benefits that nothing and no one can ever describe for you.
Best regards, and until next week,
MJ
PS - If you’d like to learn about the details of sketching for beginners, visit the link below
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