Why Art?

“Why are these things so important?”

“Why is this supposed to be so cool?”

“Wait, what is the history of this?”

“Can you explain this a little bit more to me?”

These questions and more have been asked to me numerous times during my study abroad experience and especially during this weekend. The subject of these questions? Art. I have become the go-to gal when it comes to any type of art question. This weekend in the region of Calabria we saw a variety of art and art history that included grottos, ancient churches in caves, and massive duomos. The culmination of this weekend trip was getting to see the Riace warriors. These warriors were found in 1971 in the sea off the coast of Riace, which is a town in the province of Calabria. They are life-size Greek bronze statues that show superb craftsmanship and stellar artistic features. They were created in the 5th century BC which takes it to another level of greatness. Another reason why they are so spectacular is that very few bronze statues are still around due to the melting and reusing of bronze at this time. My favorite thing about them? I actually learned about them during my first semester at St. Thomas when I decided to switch to become an art history major.

I am a big believer that anything is way more interesting when you learned about them first. A year ago, when I was sitting in my art history class, I would not believe you if you told me that I would see them in person. The fact that I am in Italy and am having SO many opportunities to see what I have learned about and experience things that I will want to learn about is extremely exciting. I am now constantly surrounded by a plethora of information that I will never know deeply or fully. What I have been slowly realizing is that I do not have to know everything about all types of art, nor do I have the mental capacity or the time to do so. I see the importance of specializing in one time period or type of art. I also see the importance of not being able to choose a specialty until I get into my master's or doctoral program. My undergraduate Art History program has a comprehensive curriculum that makes me be exposed to all different types of art from across world and time. I chose to be an art history major so I can be exposed to a little bit of everything. The field itself is masterful because I have the opportunity to have true comprehensive knowledge, I do not have to choose one thing - I get to choose many fields. I get to explore things in writing, communication, working with others, science, art, history, business, and more. The amount of people that I get to work in various fields makes me so excited.

The picture I have painted so far is one of happiness, sunshine, and rainbows. But in actuality, it is not always like this.

“How are you going to make money as an Art History major?”

“What type of job can you even get?”

“Is Art History even still relevant?”

“Why would you want to go into a field that doesn’t really matter?”

“Oh, so you are taking the easy way out and majoring in something in the humanities.”

“Why art?”

I usually get a lot of hate and confusion from people wondering why I am going into Art History. Although I am used to getting these questions and statements, it still gives me a twinge of hurt. I know that many people dismiss Art History as an easy major or something that does not really matter today. As a person who wants to see the best in people, I always make the excuse for them that they are just misunderstanding art history as a whole. But, truthfully, I believe that our society today is putting the sciences and “hard” facts on a pedestal and dismissing the humanities. Don’t get me wrong, I think that science and facts are valuable and have their place. I just believe that the humanities have their place too. The humanities are what make us feel. They are what we live for. Even if people do not realize it, art is present in every aspect of their lives. The art on the walls. In the pattern of the flooring. In the layout of any building, they step into. In the way, they interact with each other in a built space. Even in how incredibly intricately made cells are. Art is everywhere and anything can become an art.

Go back and re-read the questions throughout the post.

These questions make multiple feelings and thoughts arise but the most prominent one is pride. Pride that I am known to be the “art history girl”. Proud that so many are willing to come up to me and ask these questions. Proud that I have the strength to deal with negative comments and questions. Proud that I want to become a professor and that is my first choice of job. Proud that I know as much as I do about art. Proud that I have so much more to learn and that I will hopefully never stop learning. Proud that I am going through a strong liberal arts education that allows me to connect what I love to what others love whether that be math, science, sports, justice and peace, politics, music, and more.

So why art?

Art because I love it. Art because it makes me happy. Art because it connects generations of people and places and beliefs. Art because it brings people together. Art because it can represent any and all ideas. Art because anything can come from it. Art because it can be created in so many ways. Art because it brings out raw human emotions. Art because it makes me geek out (ask any of my friends who saw me today at the Riace warriors).

Art because it is me.

“Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits, and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for” -Dead Poets Society