Dewey separates two aspects that often become combined when describing art. He finds that art refers to the actual object while aesthetic refers to the way the object is experienced. This makes art objective and aesthetic is subjective. This makes a lot of sense because the physical object of art has known characteristics and qualities. This means it has aspects that all people can know while everyone’s taste can differ in their taste in art.
This separation of the artistic and the aesthetic also allows one to see how closely tied everyday experiences are with the artistic/aesthetic. Everyone creates things that are visually pleasing. Dewey uses the example of poking a fire to make it burn brighter. This is not quite art because the purpose of creating it is not the pleasure it brings, but people enjoy the changes in color for the pleasure they bring. Creating the fire is an everyday human activity, but it contains some of the qualities of art.
This suggests that art is not in a separate realm from human’s natural life as Bell would suggest. In Dewey’s view all of art is grounded in the natural. People can only create art because of their natural development and connection to nature, but they are the only ones that can create art because they are the only ones with the concept of art. Dewey’s ideas seem to be aimed at making art into a more natural and less divine conception, but he is likely guilty of overly romanticizing art himself. He finds that the conceptualization of art is “the greatest intellectual achievement in the history of humanity” (142). He is placing art above any sort of academic knowledge which we often think of first when discussing intellectualism. I usually think of an intellectual as prioritizing reason over the emotions and I do not think this is the case for art. Art seems to prioritize the emotions and the manners in which they can be portrayed. Also, if Dewey is right and art is the greatest of all human achievements then school systems clearly have their priorities wrong. Art tends to be the first program cut in school systems.
Is art the “greatest intellectual achievement in the history of humanity”? / What makes art intellectual?
I do not believe that Dewey ever agreed that art is an actual object and also notes on several occasions that the art process and aesthetic viewing cannot be separated. He specifically writes, "Art refers to the making of doing in the creation of a final product. Aesthetic refers to the perceiving, as utilized by the consumer, but the two cannot be separated." Dewey argues that one cannot exist without the other. The value of what is produced cannot be truly determined without the interaction of both creator and perceiver. - Art as Experience p. 49 I believe that many things can be completed artfully, including teaching, which in turn offers the possibility of connecting the artful and academic. Any activity that has an emotive link will resonate over those that do not. Psychology has shown us that the human affect has a tremendous correlation with learning or the lack of learning.
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