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Show THE DIXIE OWL 2 The Essence of Art Many of the recognized values of art are found within the drawing courses of our public schools and colleges. It has been thought in the past that art was a fad that had been corrupting our young people and turning the courses of education into useless channels that were not of practical use. It is true that art belongs to the fads, but we need ideas and feelings of illumination and inspiration, for it is the training of the feelings that cultivate the neglected areas of the mind. Art is to open the mind to a higher meaning of life and spread before us a fenst. of beauty and joy, that will keep our senses from noting such evils as the pleasurable, the vulgar, the coarse and the selfish. It will stimulate the minds of those who study it for attainment in the world of worthy ideals. It belongs to the school whose aim is to serve the needs of modern industrial democracy; which builds upon the finer instincts for workmanship, the very life of industry. Artis the only universal language with a wonderful gift that every nation can talk in its own tongue. It trains the eye to see accurately, opens it to a new range of vision which enables one to see from many different points of view7, and strengthens the power of observation. It trains the power of analysis, the judgment to decide the essentials over the and develops skill in the to hand work out, and to apply mental acquisition; it brings a well balanced mind and body, develops character, and the innate qualities of the future man. There are few healthier indications of public progress than the efforts to increase the attractiveness of our schools by filling them with good works of art. There has been done a great deal in that non-essenti- direction, and American interest has found fruit in exhibition. The surroundings of the daily life of American young people are wholly inartistic except in so far as fine art in literature appeals to them. The necessity of artistic decorations for school house: The chief aim is to transform the barren and repellent school room into an attractive room which shall cheer the eyes and the spirits of teachers and pupils. One room should be devoted to mediaevel and renaissance art, including reproductions of building, statues and paintings; correlated with the causes of ancient and mediaveal history; that it may ihrow light upon the lives of the people who lived in that age. One room should be given to literature illustrated by portraits and pictures of dwellings of famous writers, and of scenes that they have immortalized. A room should be hung with European views varied by copies of famous monuments and pictures in noted galleries. Another hung with Asiatic and African scenes and works of art; and still another, given to American scenery pastoral and picturesque including such scenes as the Niagara Falls and the Natural Bridges of Virginia. This should be done that there may be some spice placed in the study of history and geography. In the enthusiasm of putting-arinto the schools there is an element of danger. For in every community there are comparatively too few people who know the difference between the true and the false in art. There should be no pictures hung in the public schools without having been critito the art subjected higher cism of the community in which the school is situated. With the view of gaining interest in art t decoration in school and home collections of pictures may be exhibited. Talks of local artists will add great value to the exhibits. In this w7ay a new impulse may lie given to art study and the decoration of public schools, and the public taste for art will be It is better to have elevated. barren walls in a school room than poor pictures, and there can be no more diasastrous form of education, than a collection of pictures having no relation to one another, and which influence the education of taste. The good that can be done, however, must not blind us to the fact that we are dealing with material. In our public schools the mind can hardly appreciate a picture with whose theme and art it is unfamiliar. The object in decoration is to increase an interest in art and an appreciation for it, and we must not soar above the comprehension of the child. In regard to collecting pictures for school room decoration: In a sense all subjects are suitable for this purpose, but there should be liminations. Religious expression should be guard y used because of the likelihood of offense to persons of different way of thinking. The nude in art is to be carefully used because of the peculiar ideas of some persons in this respect; and subjects tending to ridicule particular doctrines are to be avoided. Historical pictures of places, photographs of famous people, ele-menta- architectural prints, sculpture and plaster casts are admissable. The simplest range of subjects would appear to be that of pa- triotic nature. Christopher Columbus, Washington, Lincoln and Pershing and other names in American history are familiar to all. Pictures of these great characters pave the way for more pretentious and artistic attempts. |
