What is art?

     When I think of art the first thing that comes into my head, not surprisingly, is a painting, a sculpture, or even a piece of architecture.  But then, if I think about it a little deeper I try to draw parallels between the things I've thought of.  I suppose in my mind art is anything that expresses creativity or passion.  Paintings, sculptures, and architecture are obviously all very good examples of creativity, but what else falls under that category? Music? Cooking? Science, maybe?  All of these things require at least a small amount of creativity and a huge amount of passion for someone to master and  to excel.  Anything that someone is passionate about and expresses creativity is, to me, considered art, but what is good art and what is bad art?  That is a bit more complicated.  I suppose as far as visual art, such as paintings, sculptures, and architecture, good is anything that is pleasing to my eye and that evokes some kind of emotion within me.  Written art is the same way, except for the "pleasing to the eye" part.  Like they say, don't judge a book by its cover, literally.
     One piece of art that is both visually interesting and musically pleasing is a song by Gotye.  It's called "Somebody That I Used to Know" and the musicians, or whomever directed the video, found a way to incorporate the painting process, the human body, and music into one video that is pretty dang good, for lack of better words.

Somebody That I Used to Know

Palmer Visit

     Whilst strolling the galleries at the Palmer Museum of Art I couldn't help but notice one of the pieces and how brilliant it was.  It was called Forest Scene by William Trost Richards, and American artist, in 1868.  It is an oil on canvas painting of a very beautiful and secluded glade of evergreen trees at the base of a hill.  The surrounding forest is in complete shadow and has a mysterious air to it as the branches of trees and brush on the ground hide what lays beyond.  In the middle of the glade, a single beam of sunlight pierces the canopy to reveal a large rock protruding from the side of the hill and a small pond with even more rocks in the water.  The whole scene just invokes a feeling of peacefulness and calm.  It also brings about a sense of homesickness and nostalgia because I have spent a large amount of time in or near the forest by my hometown.
     I don't know the history of the artist, but based on the date of production I can see a representation of the United States.  To me the piece symbolizes the feeling of the American public after the Civil War.  It represents a return to peace and, in a sense, normalcy.  I suppose one could argue that the artist is happy that the conflict is over because of the tranquility represented in the piece and because he lived through it, it would be a good assumption.  Also during this time, there was still a large portion of the country that was not developed and even uninhabited.  Many of the Rocky Mountain states and Great Plains states were still only territories and sparely inhabited, if at all.  Therefore, there were quite a bit more scenes like this that existed in nature.  He may even be foreshadowing a loss of such beautiful natural scenes by trying to immortalize them in his art.
     I would say that as a whole, my experience at the Palmer Museum of Art was a very good one.  I saw a lot of very interesting pieces and a lot of rather boring ones.  Some stuck me a s powerful and others made me question who would call this art.  One thing about the building itself that I liked was the lobby.  It was a pretty neat piece of architecture.  On the other hand, there were a couple of things that I didn't like.  One of those things was the funky smell that pervaded the air.  I don't know whether it was just their air system or the smell of the paintings and other works of art but it was quite distracting.  Another thing that bothered me was the apparent lack of concern the builders had for efficiency.  It seemed that there were just unnecessary walls everywhere!  These walls severely reduce the available floor space of the building.  However, the pieces in the museum and the architecture of the lobby are enough to make me want to go back some day, possibly, despite its random and inefficient walls