A "C" essay for your reading pleasure

 

 

Yes, that is a shoe on the table behind my laptop and coffee cup. That shoe makes me happy and cheers me up while i'm doing homework.

This essay that i'm about to post is one of my famous "C" grade essays, but I don't turn it in until tomorrow. Here I am at 10 pm, attempting to polish it up! So, you get a sneak preview. Who knows, it may even be a "FAIL" essay and I just don't know it yet.

This is a "definition" essay, and the subject is "artistic endeavor".  The professor warned us that this was a tough subject and that we would be better off choosing "respect" or "freedom", but me being me, I had to go for the one that I was warned off of! We will see how THAT goes. Drum roll please, and here we go!

 

     "If one were to look up the word "art" in a dictionary-Webster's New Compact Desk  Dictionary, for example-one would be faced with ambiguity. There are no less than ten entries in the aforementioned dictionary under the heading of "art". Number one is "human creativity" and number ten says ""sly trick;wile". To learn more about the concept of art, one might look up "The Arts". This would be an exercise in futility. There is no such entry in Webster's New Compact Desk Dictionary.  Google would be a better source of information on "The Arts", and would surely lead one to the knowledgeable Wikipedia, which states that "The arts are a vast subdivision of culture , composed of many endeavors (or artforms) united by their employment of the human creative impulse." That clears the issue up, doesn't it? If one were to wonder what is meant by "artistic endeavor", looking it up in the dictionary or on Google would leave one none the wiser, as well. A little detective work and research, however, could yield information that would "paint a picture" so to speak of what is meant by "artistic endeavor".  The definitions for both "art" and "the arts" make mention of human creativity. The definition in Webster's New Compact Desk Dictionary for endeavor says "en-deav-or, vi, to make an earnest attempt; try: usually with an infinitive." One might surmise, then, that a definition for "artistic endeavor" would be "to attempt to create".

    Paint and canvas easily come to mind when considering art and the act of creating. One might even think of Thomas Kincaid, The Painter of Light, who obviously knew about artistic endeavors. Whether or not a painting ends up in a gallery or is offered for sale online for thousands of dollars, it is the act of applying paint to canvas that constitutes an artistic endeavor. The canvas one employs could be, besides the traditional kind" a cabinet door, a garden bench, a t-shirt, or even a wall. Perhaps one's paint has been purchased in tubes large or small, in squeeze bottles, in a gallon bucket, or even contained in a spray can. The tool for delivering the paint to the canvas might be a brush, a wadded up rag, or the bottom of one's foot. Regardless of the end result, the process, beginning with a squeeze of a paint tube and ending with a desired result, is an artistic endeavor. It is an attempt to create.

     Fabric, needles, thread, and yarn are all materials that could be used in the act of creating. A bolt of fabric doesn't turn into a garment or a quilt by magic alone. Currently, clothing is most often mass produced in factories, but there are some individuals who still, with the help of some scissors, needles, and thread, turn a length of fabric into a garment. Others do the same, but the end result might be a quilt.  Yarn and knitting or crochet needles are useful when creating hats and scarves and sweaters. Whether it occurs that the sweater has a dropped stitch in row three on the left arm, is unraveled and reverted back into a tangled ball, or is sold on Etsy for $30, the first stitch signals an attempt to create.

     What about dinner? If one is interested in a meal beyond what can be purchased in the Burger King drive through or in the frozen foods section of the grocery store, some creating must take place. An assortment of ingredients must be gathered, prepared and blended together to create a meal. Those ingredients might be ground beef, onion, bell pepper, an egg, bread crumbs and salsa for meatloaf, or blueberries, chicken breasts, and Velveeta cheese for Blueberry Chicken with Queso. One would hope for an end result that is pleasing to the eye and to the palate, but if it's final destination is the family Rottweiler's food dish, an attempt to create has taken place.

     A blank sheet of paper and a pen laying on a desk might not look like much, but should a person gather those materials, along with some thoughts and some words,  an attempt to create could be imminent. One might choose to begin the 5-7-5 meter of a haiku, or the rhyme of poetry. A short story might be taking shape, or a family newsletter being drafted.

     The term "artistic endeavor" can be loosely translated as "an attempt to create".  Applying paint to canvas, piecing together fabric shapes, choosing and combining ingredients to form a meal, and stringing words together in a piece of writing could all be considered to be a manifestation of an attempt to create. Human creativity is at the heart of art. . The definition for art is vague, and open to individual interpretation.  To paraphrase a popular saying, "One man's trash is another man's art."  

 

 

Ok, well, the conclusion is weak. I'm going to let it stew overnight, and get up EARLY in the morning to finalize it. Anyone with thoughts or suggestions, please pipe up before 5 Am.

 

A dozen quacks!