We have learned to only view the visual and musical beauties of the Fine Arts without considering that not even our acting or dancing could be art. Performing Arts aside, Battle of the Art’s next observation is of the Applied Arts which has seen to be the most neglected of the artistic perceptions. Design has a beauty in terms of the simple and complex functionality and schematics that is sprouted from our imaginations and created via our mechanical and mathematical skills.

“So let’s say I’m drawing a spaceship, something nerdy like that, when I draw it, I want it to appear like it could be real, like it would be functional. It’s sort of like a suspension of belief but you have to look at the facts of what could be possible and what looks good” Senior James Scales describes Applied Arts in discussion with Lydia Angel, editor of The Rider Chronicle.

From space ships to weaponry, James Scales is a commended student by the National Merit Scholar Program. James designs a multitude of schematics for various technologies he thinks of. Lydia Angel on the other hand, is an editor for the Rider Chronicle who designs the overall layout for the newspaper. These two design concepts are Applied Arts through the concept of design and expression as discussed between James and Lydia.

James continues: “It’s like a way for if I’m thinking about something, I have this idea in my head and sometimes it’s nice to get it down on paper. Then I can look at it and think; ok, what does this look like? What am I trying to create here?”

Lydia: “Pretty much yeah, you have different aspects of trying to draw the viewer into what you’re expressing. I kind of thought of Newspaper as an art because, in my opinion, anyway you express yourself is art. I think writing, designing or whatever you do that is expression or shows feelings is definitely a form of art”

James: “I’m going back and forth between what I would consider art and what I wouldn’t consider art because if I think about it with traditional art then no, what I’m doing really isn’t art; it’s just sketching, but in terms of what like you were saying, it’s a form of creative expression. I think it definitely is because it’s imaginative.”

Before there was art as we knew it today, art was considered just as the definition lead it to be; the expression or application of creative skill and imagination. Unbeknownst yet amidst many Renaissance innovations and ideologies came a Modern Distinction between what is artistic and what is not.

Lydia: “The majority of people kind of have an idea of, it’s all about their opinion. Some people may think it’s art and some people may not. That’s ok. Maybe through that art, you can express how it’s art.”

James: “Yeah, I’d say if you make something look cool then people are going to be more drawn to it”

Lydia: “Design definitely supports your work by drawing the viewer in and if you have something else you want to say or portray and you can’t really fit in, you can definitely do that with design.”

Battle of the Arts 6 : Coming Soon