Significance of humanities

Diversification meaning the school is producing productive people into society that are well rounded in all areas, not just a concentrated person in one area and ignorant to all others.

Ten reason to study humanities
1. To practice the analytical thinking skills you need to be a successful student and employee.
2. To improve your skill at oral and written communication.
3. To see the interconnectedness of all areas of knowledge -- how it all fits together..
4. To develop a global perspective by studying cultures throughout the world.
5. To deepen your understanding and appreciation of other's cultures and other's points of view.
6. To support and strengthen your local arts community by learning to appreciate the importance of creativity.
7. To clarify your values by comparing and contrasting them to what others have thought.
8. To deepen your sources of wisdom by learning how others have dealt with failures, success, adversities, and triumphs.
9. To appreciate what is enduring and to be able to tell the difference between the meaningless and the meaningful.
10. To be inspired by some of the greatest minds and thoughts of the ages.
Characteristics of Art
Art is often considered to be a very subjective field because the perceived quality of a particular art work depends largely on the taste of the individual. While there is no defining characteristic of art, there are characteristics which are common to many works of art. One characteristic of some art is that it is open to different interpretations and communicates on different levels. Often a work of art demonstrates the creator’s facility or high ability. It can sometimes provoke an interplay between conscious thought and unconscious reaction. It typically requires creative perception or participation by both by the artist and the audience. Art is frequently aesthetic in nature or is pleasing to experience.
"Painting only can "describe" everything which can be seen and suggest every emotion which can be felt! Art reaches back into the babyhood of time, and is man's only lasting monument!"

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium[1] to a surface (support base). The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects may be used. In art the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting. Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or concrete. Paintings may be decorated with gold leaf, and some modern paintings incorporate other materials including sand, clay, and scraps of paper.
Painting is a mode of expression and the forms are numerous. Drawing, composition or abstraction and other aesthetics may serve to manifest the expressive and conceptual intention of the practitioner. Paintings can be naturalistic and representational (as in a still life or landscape painting), photographic, abstract, be loaded with narrative content, symbolism, emotion or be political in nature.
A portion of the history of painting in both Eastern and Western art is dominated by spiritual motifs and ideas; examples of this kind of painting range from artwork depicting mythological figures on pottery to Biblical scenes rendered on the interior walls and ceiling of The Sistine Chapel, to scenes from the life of Buddha or other scenes of eastern religious origin.


History
The oldest known paintings are at the Grotte Chauvet in France, claimed by some historians to be about 32,000 years old. They are engraved and painted using red ochre and black pigment and show horses, rhinoceros, lions, buffalo, mammoth or humans often hunting. However the earliest evidence of painting has been discovered in two rock-shelters in Arnhem Land, in northern Australia. In the lowest layer of material at these sites there are used pieces of ochre estimated to be 60,000 years old. Archaeologists have also found a fragment of rock painting preserved in a limestone rock-shelter in the Kimberley region of North-Western Australia, that is dated 40 000 years old. [1] There are examples of cave paintings all over the world—in France, Spain, Portugal, China, Australia, India etc.
In Western cultures oil painting and watercolor painting are the best known media, with rich and complex traditions in style and subject matter. In the East, ink and color ink historically predominated the choice of media with equally rich and complex traditions.
Different types of paint are usually identified by the medium that the pigment is suspended or embedded in, which determines the general working characteristics of the paint, such as viscosity, miscibility, solubility, drying time, etc.
Examples include:
• Acrylic paint is fast-drying paint containing pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water-resistant when dry.
• Pastel is an art medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder.
• An enamel paint is a paint that air dries to a hard, usually glossy, finish. In reality, most commercially-available enamel paints are significantly softer than either vitreous enamel or stoved synthetic resins.
• Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. The liquid/paste is then applied to a surface—usually prepared wood, though canvas and other materials are often used.
• Fresco (plural either frescos or frescoes) is any of several related mural painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings.
• Gouache[p](English pronunciation: /ɡuːˈæʃ/; French: [ˈɡwaʃ]), the name of which derives from the Italian guazzo, water paint, splash or bodycolor (the term preferred by art historians) is a type of paint consisting of pigment suspended in water.
• Tempera, also known as egg tempera, is a permanent fast drying painting medium consisting of colored pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder medium (usually a glutinous material such as egg yolk or some other size).
• Water miscible oil paint (also called "water soluble" or "water-mixable") is a modern variety of oil paint which is engineered to be thinned and cleaned up with water, rather than having to use chemicals such as turpentine.
History of the humanities
In the West, the study of the humanities can be traced to ancient Greece, as the basis of a broad education for citizens. During Roman times, the concept of the seven liberal arts evolved, involving grammar, rhetoric and logic (the trivium), along with arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music (the quadrivium).[13] These subjects formed the bulk of medieval education, with the emphasis being on the humanities as skills or "ways of doing."
A major shift occurred with the Renaissance humanism of the fifteenth century, when the humanities began to be regarded as subjects to be studied rather than practiced, with a corresponding shift away from the traditional fields into areas such as literature and history. In the 20th century, this view was in turn challenged by the postmodernist movement, which sought to redefine the humanities in more egalitarian terms suitable for a democratic society.[14]

The elements of painting are the basic components of a painting. In Western art the elements of painting are generally considered to be:
• Color
• Tone (or value)
• Line (a narrow mark made by a brush, or a line created where two things meet)
• Shape (2D, can be positive or negative) and Form (3D)
• Space (or volume)
• Texture (or pattern)
Sometimes these elements are also added to the list:
• Composition
• Direction (vertical, horizontal, angled)
• Size
• Time and movement (how the viewer perceives and looks at the painting)

abstract - the art consists of colour and shape to represent emotion. the painting wasn't to what is would appear to be in real life.
Sonia Delaunay
Jackson Pollock
Pam Sanders

cubism - the painting uses many geometric shapes.
Pablo Picasso
Marc Chagall
Georges Braque

expressionism - the artist is more concerned on how the feel about the object rather than what is looks like.
Wassily Kandinsky
Ludwig Kirchner
Edvard Munch

impressionism - the painting looks as if the artist took one quick glance at the subject. it is presented in bold colour and not much detail.
Claude Monet
Mary Cassett
Pierre Auguste Renoir

pointillism - many dots of paint make up a pointillism picture. by far away, they blend together.
Paul Seurat
Paul Signac
Chuck Close


pop art - it stands for popular art. contains interesting everday objects in bright colours. it's inspired by comic strips, ads and popular entertainment.
Andy Warhol
Roy Lichtenstein
David Hockney

Postimpressionism - still life and landscapes. used alot of colour and shadows.
Vincent Van Cogh
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Paul Gauguin

Primitivism - Art which looks like it's been painted by a child. Very plain, simple and 2-d
Paul Klee
Henri Matisse

Realism - It shows exactly how something looks in real life. very popular in France
Leonardo Da Vinci
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Honore Daumier

Surrealism - generally based on dreams. Very strange and mysterious. the aim of the picture is to show an item in a different way
Salvador Dali
Henri Rousseau
Max Ernst
Types of Painting
A landscape is an outdoor scene. A landscape artist uses paint to create not only land, water, and clouds but air, wind, and sunlight.
A portrait is an image of a person or animal. Besides showing what someone looks like, a portrait often captures a mood or personality.
A still life shows objects, such as flowers, food, or musical instruments. A still life reveals an artist's skill in painting shapes, light, and shadow.
A real life scene captures life in action. It could show a busy street, a beach party, a dinner gathering, or anyplace where living goes on.
A religious work of art shares a religious message. It might portray a sacred story or express an artist's faith.