What is Art?

I’ve asked myself this questions a number of times throughout my life, and I occasionally find myself wondering if ‘art’ is a well designed word or not. The word ‘art’ reminds me of words like ‘love’ or ‘religion’, where there are so many different layers, levels, interpretations, connotations, and manifestations of the word that it has come to mean everything. The concept of art has become so broad and encompassing that it requires a qualifier. I am a visual arts instructor, living amongst instructors of musical arts, performance arts, language arts, and countless others. If I’m tasked with identifying what all of these programs may have in common, I’d wager that it’s a search for those hidden qualities that make an human expression most effective. Art is most always an expression, often from art artist to a viewer, but sometimes between an artist and themselves. While the product can be useful or have a practical application, the work itself has to have undergone this expressive conversation, or have its expression be put up for consideration in order for it to be considered art, in my mind. I realize I use the word human here, and I use that not necessarily to exclude any other life forms, but just to imply that art requires one to be aware of themselves, and to be able to consider their experience or the experiences of others, which we often describe as humane.