What is Art?

"Art isn't just fine painting, but writing, poetry, dance and what one would call craft, as well as the traditional fine arts. It includes manipulation of electronic mediums as well as the physical. it isn't reserved for the few who become famous, but touches anyone who appreciates it or gets their hands on something to create an artform. It can last centuries or be as ethereal as a sand painting washed away by the sea.

Art is important because

• It tapes into the creative side of people, which is so often overlooked in our hectic daily living.

• It enriches those who pursue it. This includes little kids who splash around with finger paints, teens in school who are trying to find their own identity, grownups who seek balance in an overly structured and hassled work life, oldsters who have time to reflect on the beauty around them and anyone who desires self-expression.

• Art also enriches those who view and appreciate it, wear it, put it in their houses or otherwise add it to their lives without creating it themselves.

Those who argue for a narrow definition of art (to the exclusion of most of creative expression) are bound up in their own arrogance and lack the ability to appreciate their infinite appeal of beauty."

                              —Pam Sutton
                              as printed in ARTalk, June/July 2009,
                              North Tahoe Arts Newsletter