Jayne Buck (left) a panelist from the Janus Student Art Buying Program converses with International School of Denver’s art teacher Risa Machovec and ISD students Levi DeCroce, Finn Spangenberg and Sofia Morfin on their purchase.
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Janus Student Art Buying Program at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival
A hearty “Thank You” goes out to Denver based Janus Capital Group for their investment in Kids. Over Independence Day weekend, 24 schools participated in the Janus Student Art Buying Program at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival. Elementary, middle and high-school kids roamed booths at the bustling festival intent on finding just the right art to reflect their own school’s values.
Jayne Buck (left) a panelist from the Janus Student Art Buying Program converses with International School of Denver’s art teacher Risa Machovec and ISD students Levi DeCroce, Finn Spangenberg and Sofia Morfin on their purchase.
At The International School Of Denver, students vied to represent their school by writing essays to the question “Why do people create art?” From hundreds of unidentified essays submitted, Art teacher Risa Machovec and other teachers selected the winning essays written by Sofia Morfin, Finn Spangenberg and Levi DeCroce.
The following sample was written by Levi DeCroce:
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People have been creating art since they have existed. Creating art is not a basic need like food and water, so why do we make it? There are many different reasons for which we create art, such as self-expression. Other reasons include reflection of one’s surroundings and communication with others.
Self-expression is the main reason for creating art. What people draw always has something to do with what they’re thinking about, or how they’re feeling. For example, Pablo Picasso painted mostly in blue after his friend committed suicide. Even in the case of abstract art, there is always a hint of self- expression in the art.
Reflection of one’s surroundings is a component of self-expression. What we see, we recreate in our art. For example, prehistoric people drew animals that they hunted on the walls of their caves. Later in history, people created art that represented their religion, also their surroundings. Even in the case of abstract art, the artist has seen something resembling what the artist draws.
The third most important reason for creating art is communication with others. If we want to tell someone something and we can’t explain it with words, we might draw something to help explain it. Some cultures had and have picture-like writing. One example is the ancient Egyptians’ hieroglyphics. Communication with others is less important than self-expression and reflection of one’s surroundings because communication is not a constant in art, as are the other two reasons.
As with anything else, there is more than one reason as to why people create art. The main reason is self-expression, accompanied by reflection of one’s surroundings. Communication with others is the third most important reason. Humans are not robots, so we have the need to express ourselves, and art is a way of doing that.
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The three eager art buyers arrived early on Friday morning to select just one of the thousands of art works available at the festival. After perusing as many as 50 booths, the trio narrowed their choice to three artists before ultimately choosing a painting my Rick Loudermilk of Austin TX. Risa Machovec aka Ms.mac says the painting will be displayed in the main office this summer before landing in the library.
ISD art teacher Risa Machovec along with student art buyers Levi DeCroce, Sofia Morfin and Finn Spangenberg show off the school’s new acquisition by Austin painter Rick Loudermilk.
Student art buyers Levi DeCroce, Sofia Morfin and Finn Spangenberg along with ISD art teacher Risa Machovec and Janus representative Andrew Kier pose with the school’s new art acquisition.
Savvy student art buyers with supportive families.