Art Can Be

Skill

Beauty

Longing

Pleasure

Dexterity

Communication

A form of truth

Not a handicraft

Creative activity

Not just portrayal

Nature concentrated

Not a form of propaganda

A line around our thoughts

The microscope of the mind

A sweet consoler in misfortune

But a shadow of the divine perfection

An aspect of being human beyond utility

The act of making ordinary things extraordinary

An internal appreciation of balance and harmony

The transmission of feeling the artist has experienced

An act of expressing feelings, thoughts, and observations

One of the purest and highest elements in human happiness

A rock-flower flourishing by stormy blasts and in stony soil

The expression of the profoundest thoughts in the simplest way

A use of indirect means to communicate from one person to another

A vehicle for the expression or communication of emotions and ideas

The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination

Artefacts or images with symbolic meanings as a means of communication

A means for exploring and appreciating formal elements for their own sake

A system of rules, serving to facilitate the performance of certain actions

When the mind or imagination are more concerned than the hands and the body

Producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power

The power of performing certain actions, acquired by experience, study or observation

The developed and efficient use of a language to convey meaning with immediacy or depth

The disposition or modification of things by human skill, to answer the purpose intended

The means by which a community develops for itself a medium for self-expression and interpretation

A wide range of human activities (or the products thereof) that involve creative imagination and an aim to express technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas

A highly diverse range of human activities engaged in creating visual, auditory, or performed artifacts— artworks—that express the author’s imaginative or technical skill, and are intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power