“If apple is the language of the future then art must be its core.” Elliot Eisner
Life without art is bland, soulless. Art lights up even the most mundane of daily tasks. Imagine a world without the beauty of the musical note, the brush stroke, the written word, the dance movement and more from the arts. Without art, life is just pale and lifeless. It’s mush. It’s applesauce.
An apple without a core has no backbone. Applesauce is the result of a coreless apple. With applesauce, there is no examination of the reds, yellows and greens that make up the rich color of peal, the beauty of apple skin. No study of the form or shape of the apple, its symmetry and texture. With applesauce, there is no crisp sharp sound of that first bite piercing through the skin to the sweet inside. No spray of juice as teeth breakthrough peal. There is no rhythm to eating applesauce like the careful approach of navigating bites separating the edible from the core.
A life without art is a life without a core. Why be content with applesauce when you can have the whole beautiful intimate encounter with the complete apple? An apple has so much of sight, of sound, of taste, of feel, of scent. Not so with applesauce. There is some sweetness to applesauce but very little of the sensuous delight of the complete apple. Not unpleasant but lacking in the vital experience of engaging all the senses. Life without art is just applesauce.
*The art education world has lost one of its greatest voices with the passing of Elliot Eisner this week. For more on Elliot Eisner’s contributions to art education, see the National Art Education Association’s (NAEA) website at the link.
Other posts about Elliot Eisner:
http://artistquoteoftheday.wordpress.com/category/elliot-eisner/
http://wisdomofhands.blogspot.com/2009/10/elliot-eisner.html