Home»DOCUMENTARY/PHOTO STORIES/ESSAYS»ARTPACE: CHALK IT UP 2013

Art and history mirror each other. Throughout modern and ancient times, art and history have influenced and affected one another in profound ways that are still evolving and being discovered in the present. Experts all agree that getting children involved in anything is best done at a young age. This is especially true of art due to the unfiltered nature of a child’s mind. As we age, our minds become increasingly filtered and disciplined; we no longer consider it productive to think in the way we did as children that is mentally conducive to producing art. This is why a program like Artpace’s Chalk It Up is so important to San Antonio area children. For many historical reasons that have to do with the rejection of all things European, the importance of art education and art in general is considerable less. Modern artists are considered to be on the fringe of the occupational scale and are almost always negatively stigmatized. But that doesn’t change the fact that to an evolving society, art is just as important as brain surgery. Art teaches the mind not only how to think, but also how to reason and question others as well as themselves. Here’s what Artpace is doing to help influence future artists and brain surgeons.