Get More Art: An Easy Guide to Exploring, Discussing and Creating

By Wiktor Kostrzewski

"I decided to write this course for two reasons. The first one is my love and respect for art and everything it does in my life. The second reason is the overwhelming belief, which I want to fight, that art is something elitist and unnecessary. If I can steer you away from that second belief and get you a bit closer to sharing my enthusiasm about art, then we've done good work."

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483536286

Book preview

morebetterlearning.org

Introduction

Hi and thanks for joining me on this art-focused trip. My name is Wiktor and art is something I've been exploring in my work and study for over 10 years.

I decided to write this course for two reasons. The first one is my love and respect for art and everything it does in my life. The second reason is the overwhelming belief, which I want to fight, that art is something elitist and unnecessary. If I can steer you away from that second belief and get you a bit closer to sharing my enthusiasm about art, then we've done good work.

I have six main goals in mind as I'm writing this.

Goal number one is to enable you to enjoy art more. This is the biggest, and by far the hardest thing to do. If anything in this course stops you from enjoying art more in the end, let me know so I can fix it.

Goal number two is to let you discover different kinds of art for free, or on the cheap. This doesn't sound like a lofty objective, but paying for art is a criterion that discourages many people from even trying. And the end result is that they are giving up on the free or inexpensive art which is awesomely accessible.

The third goal: to break several myths about the art world. The reasons you've not been to a gallery in ages - the reasons you think all museums are boring - the fear of opera - those are all powerful myths. Which means there's something that feels powerfully true about them, and they hold on tight to places in our minds. I'm going to try to pull them apart and show you the benefit of a mind free from those myths.

Goal four: I want to show you easy ways of thinking about art. You don't need eight-syllable words to talk about a painting. And you don't need to read seven essays before they let you in to an opera hall. There are simple ways of thinking about anything you experience. These in turn translate to powerful conversations about art - which you will actually enjoy instead of fearing them.

Goal five: to help you grow your art-discussing phrasebook. This is very connected to the previous goal. From good thinking, you get good conversations; from enjoyable ways of reflection - amazing blog posts and articles. And if both the thinking and the discussions are kept simple, relevant and true, then they don't cost you a lot of effort at all. Not to mention - they don't need an art degree.

Finally, the sixth goal: to show you helpful tools for discovering, exploring and discussing art. Most of these you will already have access to - they're online! These are designed to satisfy most needs, inspire you to get more art - and not confuse you with jargon.

So these are my goals for this short course. But why should you care? If you've gone throughout life without giving a damn about fine arts - what's the fuss all about?

Let me give you five reasons.

Art is awesome: I'm using this word fully aware of its modern meaning - but also aware that is means filling you with awe. Art makes you laugh or cry. It makes you think. So does a soap opera, you say? OK - art makes you think different. It makes you see and hear things you're not prepared for. And in the end, because it moves you - it makes you