Overlooked - Art as a Standard of Living

by K. L. Van der Veer

It’s curious, how our society approaches art, education, and employment. When I really look at the purpose of each, I wonder if we haven’t gone a bit astray .

Great emphasis is put on education, and, to most of us, education consists of those things that give children a foundation of knowledge that can then be applied in a job or career through which they earn their living. But what is that living? We measure standard of living by what we have, and what we have consists of two things—things we need and things we want. Most, if not all, of the things we want are tied to emotional responses. I like this or that thing for this or that reason. But even meeting our needs is tempered with emotional attachment—if we have a choice between two things that meet our need, we will take the one that appeals to us most. If we can’t afford that the things that appeal to us, we look for ways to increase our standard of living (re-education, new job, additional job) so we can get them.

All those things that stir our emotions to wanting are rooted in art. Art is an emotional experience, not too far removed from religion, which speaks through imagery and connects to many of the same intangibles as art. The beauty we strive to fill our homes with, the well manicured lawn, the sleek lines of a car are all art. Televisions and stereos allow us to experience art. Architecture, interior decoration, books, cds, paintings, furniture… all of these things by which we measure our standard of living are art. Our life is wrapped in art.

So, what does our education focus on? Primarily skills that will earn us money so we can obtain the art by which we measure the value of our lives. Oh, art is present in education, but it is not treated equally, and it is often elective or extracurricular. Children are often discouraged from pursuing an uncertain career in the arts, and yet the idols of our era are actors, musicians, authors, and athletes (which, at the level they perform, is artistry). Not only do they produce art, but they also achieve the highest standard of living. It’s no wonder they are looked up to. They embody everything our creative, emotional side screams for and represent success in the quest for the uncertain.

I think another aspect of art that is overlooked is its effect on the “harder” disciplines. It’s our artistic, creative side that puts different ideas together and spawns great leaps in science and medicine. It’s creative inspiration that sparks a brilliant new business venture. From my own experience, creative writing has drastically improved my technical writing because it taught me new ways to view the world and how to use the word to shape emotions and perception, factors that are present in any thought process, no matter how objective we try to be. Without the ability to think creatively, artistically, we can offer nothing but a regurgitation of data loaded into us throughout our education. We are a computer terminal. And that is a prison… which is how we can come to see our jobs. The job becomes a task performed to get money so we can get the things we want. So we label the job as restrictive and money and possessions as evil because they ultimately fail to bring happiness.

And there’s the fulfillment of our self-delusion. There is no evil in things. Someone made them, fashioning them after a vision that arose from their creative center. We appreciate their art, but we are lacking our own because, in our pursuit for the beauty they uncovered, we forget to nurture our own. I think that failure to see ourselves is something that is learned. Part of our education, so to speak. Perhaps one day, we will focus on becoming sources of art. Perhaps one day, when a child talks about becoming a scientist or an accountant, we will say, “That’s nice, dear, but make sure you concentrate on your arts. That way you can be anything you want and be one of the best.”