AMERICA! ART IS ESSENTIAL TO OUR NEW WOLRD!

FROM GOOGLE IMAGE

Every day I meet artist, though sometimes they do not know themselves they are artist.  There is a need in every person to be creative, though for many reasons from cultural indoctrination to family attitudes people deny it within themselves.  Our culture does not value art highly, nor does it nurture creative expression as it should.  When we do, as an American culture, we are likely to name it something else entirely, like "thinking out of the box", " a unique approach", "American Individualism" and so on.  When I was teaching I saw many a talented child not encouraged, because their parents thought it was frivolous or wasteful.  They could not see how the arts would lead to a career or a sustainable life for their child, so they steered them toward reading, science or math.  And what was the seed of creativity was denied and in doing so they taught their children to see art in the same way..passing it on from generation to generation.


But what I know as an art teacher is that every person is an artist and everyone can call on their individual creativity of expression if  they allow and nurture it.  As a culture we need to highly encourage the teaching of creative thinking and the expression of individualism and experimentation.  That is how innovative approaches are born.  In this highly changing, data overwhelmed world of ours...thinking creatively is the most essential skill we can teach our children.  
We now live in a world that is more visual than ever and it is a world we must learn to live in creatively and in an innovative manner.  This age calls for muti- tasking, multi functioning brains.  We can learn all the facts books and computers can teach us, but unless we adapt to method of thinking that allows us  adapt quickly to the ever increasing speed of knowledge and data we will only learn to react to it, and not thrive.  
So to all the innovative people I see in every walk of life everyday, to the individual who does "think out of the box" to the person who creates a new way of seeing or approaching something....I honor you.