IMPORTANT QUOTES FROM TRANSCRIPTS
Reflecting on Art's Value
Conversation with Ariel
Me: How do you see are impacting society as a whole… why do we keep producing art?
Ariel: You know it’s really cool living in a different culture, I really am kind of adapted to like the French culture, and art is such a part of that. Just everything from the buildings they live in, the clothing, just the way they approach life in general...like everything has its place and you don’t live to work you work to live. There’s something kind of romantic, you know taking time to appreciate the beauty of just like daily life... Paris is like a major city but I think people there still really value getting up in the morning and having their cup of coffee, getting dressed... presentation is important. They value art a lot, they have tons of museums and going to the Louvre is just a thing you can do, the buildings are beautiful, the city is beautiful. Art adds beauty.
Me: I want to ask you the age-old question, what is art?
Ariel: I guess in my humble inexperienced opinion, to me art is anything that reflects the human experience.
"To me art is anything that reflects the human experience."
--Ariel Ronayne
Maria and Art
Me: How do you think art impacts society—does it have value in the world to you?
Maria: I think yes, it’s definitely rooted in our culture... it’s how people interacted with the world. Let’s go way back to cave art, during a time when people just needed to survive with nothing else they still decided like “let me create something to leave an impact on this world”. That encapsulates the idea of art—that it’s just, like, you wanna make something personal to share with the world. Leave your mark basically by making something. Staying connected to art and sharing art is a vital human experience. Basically, art can provide catharsis and you can feel validated—your experiences are validated through other peoples’ artwork. I think to understand other peoples’ art you have to have empathy for them.
Me: Just for a simple definition… what do you feel art is?
Maria: Art is the process of creating. And I think that that can apply to anything, art should be seen as broader. I think honestly, art...if someone put in a lot of effort creating this desk then it’s art. I think art is an outlet that I don’t know if you can re-create in anything else really... for a long time I had a kind of stressful relationship with art, specifically in high school like working through depression basically and also having to force yourself to create is a really difficult process. You hate yourself, you hate your art in the process. Recently especially with my mental health getting better I’ve been enjoying the process a lot more... with it being part of my schoolwork it is still work, I do get stressed but it’s really rewarding and the process is enjoyable. I love creating and I know I want to continue creating throughout my life. It doesn’t matter if it’s like sculpture or drawing—I do other things as well like I bullet journal and recently I’ve been writing poetry for myself—I’ve been finding more outlets and it’s been really enjoyable.
Maria Soboleva
"Art is the process of creating... it's an outlet I don't know if you can recreate in anything else"
Isaiah's Quotes
Me: I want to ask you, how do you see art impacting society as a whole, like what is its role?
Isaiah: I think arts role in society is to just appeal... think of like everyday life—a lot of people think it’s very cynical, very boring. Like you know, you wake up if you’re an adult you go to work you come home—yes I guess the children are there waiting for you… But like imagine no TV, imagine no music to listen to, imagine no hobbies like scrapbooking, collaging, painting—imagine just none of that being here, it would be so dull... art is like the spice of life, it’s like what keeps you happy.
Me: My next question is just if you were to give a definition for art how would you define it?
Isaiah: I would define art as anything that can be used to express yourself—whether that’s through clothing, through how you decorate your room, how you wear your hair, how you paint—I guess anything that can show someone anything about you without directly saying—and even directly saying it.
Me: I like that, so art is something that says something about you, it becomes part of you?
Isaiah: Yeah, exactly. If you can look at someone’s art, someone’s playlists, someone’s paintings, whatever it is and be like OK I know she has a good sense of color I know she’s creative, I know she’s out of the box... then that’s art to me.
"I would define art as anything that can be used to express yourself... anything that can show someone anything about you"