From Cool To Incredible

Berry Friends, 5x7", Oil on Panel

As a college student, I had to take art history classes. The first course was a required "Survey" course of art history. The textbook alone was intimidating, huge, heavy. Even though it had lots of pictures (uh, yeah, ART,) it still had tons of text as well. That course was an introduction to the evolvement of art and art movements through history. In class we would be shown slides of artwork. We were required to learn who the artist was, and title of the work, and get it right if we wanted to pass the class. It was grueling, but in that class I learned how to study art, how to learn what it's all about.

Once I got through the Survey course I had more choices about which art movements and periods I wanted to study. I chose those classes based on what I had learned in that first course. I liked the Impressionist period, so I took a class about It. As part of that class I had to write a paper. To this day, the Impressionist period in art resonates with me because I learned so much about it. I had to learn the premise of the movement (capturing the impression of an image) and the artists who led the way (Gauguin, Monet,
Van Gogh, Degas, Cezanne, Renoir, Seurat and many more!) and just how they approached their art.

The point is, you can like art, or a particular style, or a particular piece, but when you learn more about it, your interest grows into a deeper understanding of it and the knowledge of what it means. It is said that you can't hate someone you truly know. The same holds true for artists and their work. There are artists whose work I don't particularly care for, but I respect their work because I understand the philosophy, or meaning, or technique used to create it.

Okay, so that's what I did to learn about art, but I'm a professional, and most people who enjoy art may not be itching to read a bunch of art history books. So how to learn enough about art and artists to even form an opinion? Simply looking at art is a great start. Seeing the actual art is a totally different experience from seeing it in a book or on the computer. One thing I forgot to mention about my learning experience was the absolute awe I felt when I went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa. This painting I had studied about and seen in books was tiny! It was also in a glass case with special lighting and security, but I thought it was an amazing painting, in part because of what I already knew about it from my studies, and because it was an awesome experience to see it.

When you look at a work of art, try to think about what the artist was trying to do. Most artists write statements that help explain what they try to accomplish with their art. Understanding their motivation, thought process, or working process can change the way you think about it as well. It can take you from "Gee, that's so cool!" to "Wow, that's incredible!"