by Jennifer Panek

Created on: October 03, 2008   Last Updated: October 21, 2008

The History and Appreciation of Art for the Uninitiated "Mass Market"

To gain an appreciation of art, you need not have a formal education in the subject or even a college degree. All you need is your eyes and an open mind. If you've never been to an art gallery, that doesn't mean that you are not educated in art. Art is all around us. It's found in nature, in shopping malls, even in a kindergarten classroom. The first step to forming a true appreciation of art is to immerse yourself in it. Visit an art gallery. Walk inside and take a tour provided and hear it from someone else who is a trained professional, or go on your own educational voyage. Once you step foot inside all you need to look for are a few key elements. You can examine the period the piece of art was created in and compare it to pieces in its own era or compare it to artwork from a completely different era. Get a feel for what you like. Do you like things from the days cavemen wrote on walls or are you into the works of Picasso and Monet? Do you prefer your artwork flat on the wall, or would you rather look at a sculpture? If you look close enough, I bet you can find something special about each and every piece of artwork you come in contact with. But don't touch it. Alarms go off. Seriously.

Let's say you're in the door and you approach a framed painting hanging on the wall. What should you look for? What could you possibly appreciate about this canvas with paint splashed about? I guarantee there is something.

The first thing every art student learns from their professor is the key elements that make up every piece of art. They include shape, form, line, space, texture, value and color. These keys to understanding art can give you the steps you need to pick apart a piece and examine each individual part of it that makes it worth appreciating.

Look at the shape of the artwork. Is it flat on canvas, or is it a sculpture full of movement? If it is indeed a sculpture, there is much more to examine here. Let's take the sculpture of Michelangelo's "David." It's one of the most renowned works of the renaissance period. Look at his muscles. Do they take up space? Of course they do. How much space, are they large, small, proportionate to the rest of his body? Proportions and space can take a sculpture from looking normal to abstract and unusual. In the case of David, yes he is proportionatein every way.

Now that we have shape down, let's take a look at form. Examine the statue's characteristics. How

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