Role of Art in Our Everyday Lives - Essay Example

Role of Art in Our Everyday Lives Arts play a major role in the development of communities, even with the current increasing globalization; communities are at a local level recognizing their identity, culture, value of working together and their traditional art forms (Kay par 1). In everyday life art plays a significant role in people’s lives. People often do not realize this though. Without realizing it, we are surrounded by art and continually use it on a daily basis. Most people have pieces of art in their own home even without realizing it.

Examples of arts found in homes are, pictures hanged on walls, decorative towels in the houses, quilts on beds, decorative rugs on the doorsteps, often people do not realize the presence of this art form as most of it is functional in the house and not used as decoration for viewing purposes. The importance of art is that it makes live joyful, simply looking a beautiful wall painting in the bathroom or in the bedroom brings happiness. Generally, music and art affect much of what people do on a daily basis.

Music brings peace and harmony to a soul and makes one feel relieved from a day’s stress (Articlebase par 1). Sculptures used in parks create interest and pass some kind of information to people. Our energy levels are raised ones we listen to music. A majority of people tend to work with some music playing in the background. This helps set mood for what work is supposed to be done. When tired or handling a difficult task, an energetic selection of music can help wake one up and give energy to handle the piece of task.

Calming music on the other hand works very well with a person trying to relieve stress. This soothes one to sleep and in turn calms down. In work places, there are inspirational poster and artworks to encourage the workers to encourage the worker to continue being productive (Articlebase par 2). This explains why many organizations allow artworks in their offices and even allow workers to play music in the offices as they work on their projects. Art can affect mood both positively and negatively.

Some visual art like wall paintings may appear dark and as a result scare a person, on the other hand, some art maybe appealing to the eye and this results in a happy mood to the viewer. Appealing arts also make one feel calmer and inspired. The use of a music set to visual art brings about mental stimulation to an individual. On the other hand, music set and visual arts helps in story telling by conveying the message strongly. Artistic presentations make sense because they are presented in a universal language (Articlebase par 3).

Arts act as a binding force to some people. It helps some people reach out for things they cannot see or touch. An example of how arts impact the lives of communities is the Swazi, Zulu and Xhosa people. Regardless of the fact that this people have adopted the white man’s culture, they still have preserved they good old culture. This is seen with their traditional ceremonies (Deutsch par 3). Many people are not able to attend these ceremonies but thanks to photographers like Eric Miller, the events of these ceremonies remain alive.

Every ceremony is an art. This is seen by the various costumes made of beadwork and worn by the dancers. This is however an art that is slowly dying in South Africa. The issues of disparity of incomes in South Africa, large shopping malls have Gold and Diamond jewelry hanging on their display while poor South Africans beg for food in the streets. To address these issues, a jeweler based in SA, Beverley Price, issues jewelry she can make ranging from affordable to pieces placed at the museum. Beverley argues that, the gold and diamond jewelry found in the malls signifies the walls in the white suburbs.

They offer false security. Instead she chooses to discard gold and diamond and instead use materials like tin can and aluminum to make colorful bracelets referring to food stuffs important to the black life in the streets. The future growth is addressed by black young artist, Sidwell Rihlamvu, who grew up in the streets. Seeing them as amusement and painting them with bright colors. This way, creating a playground for the blacks (Deutsch par 3). In conclusion, art however, seen or unseen is present in our everyday life and it presents itself both in a positive and in a negative manner.

Regardless of the negative side of it, art is generally important to human’s coexisting. Works Cited Articlesbase, The Importance of Art in Our Everyday Lives Free Online Articles Directory. Web Aug 18, 2009 Kay Allan, Art and community development. Community Development Journal . Retrieved as of Dec 13, 2011 Deutsch Jessica, Role of Arts in our Lives. Published on June 11 2009. http://www.sapromo.com/sa/living-and-earning/the-role-of-art-in-our-lives