How Does Art Impact Students?

When I think of art, I imagine abstract finger paintings, swatches of canvas dripping with watercolors, paper covered in erratic scribbles, and of course the ever-baffling “modern art”. However after reading Keith Gilyard’s article Children, Arts, and Du Bois,  I understand that art is not something that always takes place on a canvas. Art is anything that involves an element of creativity and ingenuity that goes beyond the norm and pushes boundaries. Art is speaking, art is writing, art is poetry, art is singing and dancing and loving and thriving and learning…art is LIFE.

            Art is hugely beneficial to students because it allows them to be unabashedly, daringly creative; art gets you thinking and moving. It stimulates the brain and gives students the courage and confidence necessary to take that creativity into all subjects. Math, science, English, history; these subjects can be horrifically boring, or, you can be inventive and challenge yourself to look at them in a new light and make them interesting.
            So, is art “good” for students? Absolutely.

"The arts provide a more comprehensive and insightful education because they invite students to explore the emotional, intuitive, and irrational aspects of life that science is hard pressed to explain. " – Charles Fowler