Chapter 6: Appreciate Art
There is much fine art so appreciate it. Art gives you new ideas and perspectives on the world. It makes you think and even feel. Even the art you don’t like can elicit some sort of feeling from you. Some say that art makes life worth living. Whether or not you agree, art can certainly add flavor and joy to life. It can add rawness and authenticity that the world often lacks, too. Take some time to appreciate art in all of its forms.
Appreciate movies and the massive amount of work that goes into making them. Huge crews of people participate in the magic of making mere scripts on paper come alive on screen. A good movie will suck you in. You will feel like it is real and you will stop paying attention to the real world around you. Appreciate the little mental vacation that movies offer you.
Appreciate pretty jewelry. The effort and talent that go into making jewelry is astounding. The fine details, the curves and whorls in the metal, the beauty and color of the jewels, are there just for your delight. Some jewelry is minimalistic and its beauty lies in its simplicity. Other pieces are unbelievably complex and intricate.
Appreciate murals and street art. Lurid graffiti and murals add special beauty to the bare walls and streets. Even if you do not like graffiti, you can at least appreciate its uniqueness and the color it adds to streets. If you walk about a city long enough, you will start to notice the little, tiny unique things that people paint or draw in public places. People leave their marks. Appreciate that these are people you may never meet, or else you have passed them on the crowded street. Wonder about their stories and what drove them to leave the mark that they did.
Appreciate literature. Someone poured his or her heart and soul into the words that you are reading. You are basically staring at the slivers of a dead tree and drifting into other worlds. Words printed on a page are triggering you to imagine worlds that do not even exist. Books have the unique power to make you imagine. They educate you and awaken your creativity.
Appreciate colors. Appreciate how they add character and uniqueness to the world. Appreciate how they blend together or stand apart, and blaze in striking beauty. Appreciate how color affects your moods and shapes your experience in life. Certain colors probably resonate with you; appreciate how they make you feel and how your body has such an amazingly strong emotional response to mere reflections of light on a spectrum.
Appreciate unique clothes. Clothing sets you apart and lends you part of your unique style. You own clothes that no one else does, and you possibly own clothes that other people do. Either way, clothes are a part of your culture. You feel wonderful when you wear nice clothing. Clothes help you feel warm or cool, secure, and even attractive. Some clothes are truly stunning and complex in their design.
Appreciate dance and the finesse and physical strength of dancers. Appreciate the complex choreography that somehow everyone in a troupe is able to remember. Appreciate how simple physical movement can be used to create a story line.
Appreciate the unique ability that music has to make you feel something. Music is a powerful medium that can entrance you and transport you to other dimensions of feeling and thought. There is nothing better than the moment when you identify with the lyrics of a song. You may feel alone, and then you find another musical artist who feels just the way that you do. The swells and crescendos of music can invoke drama and excitement in your soul. The beat of a song may drive you to dance or walk fast. Music can take hold of you in a way that few other things in the world can. Appreciate its power and the special effect it has on you.
Appreciate finely made musical instruments. Appreciate how an interest blend of physics can create beautiful sounds. Appreciate the aesthetics of these instruments too. They are able to look beautiful and sound beautiful too.
Appreciate finely made furniture, as well. Beautiful furniture can make or break the functionality and appearance of a house. The furniture of a home has the power to change the entire mood and appearance of a room. There is a difference between a house and a home, and furniture is part of what makes that difference.
Appreciate the art of different cultures and how different people are in their forms of expression. Cultures are reflected in their art. You can surmise a lot about the nature and the religious beliefs of a culture by its art. Since art is a reflection of life, cultural elements are packed into art. Art resonates with the people of a culture and it can resonate in you too.
Appreciate the unique perspectives that different people can add to art. Give ten people a pen and ask each of them to draw a tree. You will get ten very different trees. People all see the world in different ways and this manifests in artistic expression. No two paintings are alike. Even fakes are not true copies of the original.
Appreciate the countless mediums that art can use. Art can be made with just a piece of cardboard and crayons, like the famous painting The Scream. Music can be made with plastic buckets or shoeboxes or straws. There are even artists who create with sand or salt and other simple household items. Art can be created out of nothing; if the artist has a will, he or she will make a way.
Appreciate the creative genius and talent of artists. Art is part of humanity. The ability to recreate the world in new perspectives calls for great imagination and sensitivity to the world’s sensations. People with amazing dexterity are able to create the most miniscule details. People with amazing hand-eye coordination are able to paint and draw lifelike images, and play complex musical instruments.
If you make art, appreciate the beauty of what you create and how much you enjoy it. Art is one those passions that can fuel your lust for life. You can spend hours creating art, lost in the timeless vortex of creativity. Appreciate the artistic gift that you developed naturally, and appreciate the mentors you may have had that helped you hone your art. Appreciate your medium of choice and the ease with which you have learned to use it. Appreciate being part of a very special community of artists and creative types.