Struggling for a definition: What is Art Part II — even the mayor weighs in

What is it about our obsession for clarity that thrusts humans to define everything? From objects, concepts, phenomenons, patterns and people, we feel most at home when we understand and are in the company of that which is familiar.

Defining art poses a perplexing dilemma: that immediately upon creating parameters for understanding and interpreting it, someone or something comes along that challenges and expands its boundaries.

It is through this seemingly impossible and somewhat limiting exercise that we accept that the beauty of the task lies in the plurality of the results. Art is none of these things and everything at the same time, and we find comfort in this irony.

Art’s possibilities are immediate: if we can think of it now, we can accomplish it now. Nothing, other than ourselves, is standing in the way between ideas and their execution.

As I continue on my quest to gather ideas, more Houstonians offer theirs. In their words: Art is defined.

Joel Luks’ quest to gather Houston’s collective definition of art continues. From established institutions to creative personalities, the replies are diverse and colorful.

“We look, we listen. These two solitary activities are two of the most important — other than touch, they are how we experience life. Looking and listening: private activities become public, are shared, as we sit together in the theatre. Yet how we do them remains different to each of us. The audience member always brings something unique and original to the experience. This is the magic of art.”
 

- Sarah Rothenberg
Artistic Director
Da Camera of Houston
 

"Art is that which brings people together, inspires creativity, and elicits an emotional reaction."

- Mark Hanson
CEO
Houston Symphony Orchestra
 

"Art is individual expression free from judgment or constraint. Art, in its purest form, should be enjoyed and appreciated as such: brave expression. Artists are some of the bravest people I know."

Monica Danna
Founder
co.lab

"For me, art is the outward expression of emotion. A Mahler Symphony, an Ansel Adams photograph, choreography by Twyla Tharp - all are linked to specific emotions and I can re-create specific moments in my life by surrounding myself with art."

- Brandon VanWaeyenberghe
Director, Corporate Relations
Houston Symphony

"The art of a civilization reflects its sensitivity to humankind."

- J. Todd Frazier
Composer and Educator
Executive Director
Young Audiences of Houston
 

"A true work of art is a maturing energy; it continually renews both itself and the spectator — thus, profoundly wrought works of art change over the course of our lives, because we view the world differently at different ages. Like the passage of time, art, particularly music, is a type of vibrant consciousness: thoughtful and enriching, sometimes
disturbing or offending, more often moving us to laugh, cry, or simply comprehend differently."

- Patrick Summer
Music Director
Houston Grand Opera

"Art is an experience, a relationship that exists between the viewer and some stimulus that has poetic resonances that linger long after the encounter.  Art today can be a traditional art object, painting, sculpture, or photograph, but it can also be time-based, like a video, or totally incorporeal. The only thing contemporary art requires is that one arrives curious. Ask, 'Why would the artist make this?' prior to answering the question, 'Do I like this?' thereby shutting down the discussion before it can begin. If you can do that, art adds immeasurably to life."

- Bill Arning
Director
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

"When Life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind."  - Khalil Gibran

"...I'd argue that a poet can speak her mind just as well, a painter can see her secrets and a dancer can feel her rhythm. Art is the creation - somewhere between imitation, interpretation and childbirth - of a work that can either speak to universal truth or merely be pretty. Whatever it is, it frequently grips us when it communicates something we, in our everyday lives, can't."

- Jenni Rebecca Stephenson
Executive Director
Spacetaker/Artist Resource Center

"Through art you can see the artist's struggles, their accomplishments, their pain, their happiness, their mental fortitude, their strength and most certainly their passion. It is every emotion. It is every experience. There is nothing more personal."

- Beth Everitt
Instructor
Ben Stevenson Houston Ballet Academy

"Art is something made with one's complete attention with the possibility of totally absorbing someone else."

- Anthony Brandt
Composer and Artistic Director
Musiqa

"Entertainment provides a distraction from the real issues of life, allowing us to forget our problems for a short while. Art confronts life's most important issues head-on and draws us into them, allowing us to understand them, helping us to deal with them, and giving us a better understanding of ourselves, our fellow human beings and our society. Opera combines both art and entertainment in the most intoxicating cocktail imaginable."

- Anthony Freud
General Director and CEO
Houston Grand Opera

"Art is the result of capturing the essence of an idea or emotion through something tangible. Art shows the truth, no matter what."

- Amber Roussel
Co-founder
Ah-Ha! Creative

"Art has the potential to be transformative, to take you outside yourself. It can make you stop and get lost in it or think in a different way. However, not all art speaks to all people."

- Mayor Annise Parker

"Art is the self-expression of whatever is most intensely alive for the artist (musician, dancer, actor, writer, photographer, designer, chef, inventor . . .). It is a process, a product, a lifestyle, a philosophy -- perhaps even the spirit in which an action is performed. Who said, 'Art expresses what mere words cannot'? That."

- MaryBeth Smith
Founder and Director
Feldenkrais Center of Houston
 

“Art is water for a thirsty soul”

- Michael Remson
Composer, librettist, author and educator
Executive and Artistic Director
American Festival for the Arts

"Art is engaging and emotional; in all of its forms it must stimulate the senses, engage thought and draw emotions.

Art is experienced by both the artist and the audience; the process and meaning is just as enriching as the final product.

Exceptional art commands a repeat performance."

- Troy Matthew Campa
Newberry Campa Architects

"Art is the best that humanity has to offer -- the highest form of expression ... a poem, a painting, a mosaic, a puppet, an opera, turned wood, a symphony. Fortunately, Houston has arts venues that are the envy of the world... at our fingertips."

- Kim Bjork Lykins
Executive Director
Texas Foundation for the Arts

"Art cannot be defined in a few sentences — or a few billion — because it never stands still long enough for anyone to pin it down. Being subjective, the sensation of perceiving an object or experience as art occurs to all humans whenever they encounter anything that jolts them, even for a moment, from the banality of daily life to a concentrated moment of enjoyment that transcends the merely sensual. We may not call that 'art,' but it is."

- Barry Walker
Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art
Curator of Prints & Drawings
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston