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Lizzie Tippett
English 112
3B/ Mrs. Manugo
Argumentive Essay (Rough Draft)
March 1, 2015
Why Art Matters
The artist sat slumped over her workbench as her brush swept over the canvas. The black
paint ran delicately through the middle of the canvas, however the artist paused as an idea
popped into her head. She slipped her brush into the water, pushing the excess paint off before
dipping the brush into the red paint as she let her pent up emotions come through to put the life
into her art piece.
While most believe that art is not important, whether in school or regular life, they are
wrong. Art is a form of freedom for an artist or anyone. Art can be used in many different ways;
some include art therapy and another as a way to express themselves.
Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy involving the encouragement of free selfexpression through painting, drawing, or modeling, used as a remedial activity or an aid to a
diagnostic. This use of therapy is for adolescents and adults [who] are suffering from all
manner[s] of mental and emotional disturbances ( ). One of the founders of the American Art
Therapy Association, and also one of the early Presidents, was called Don Jones. He was an
artist, teacher, theologian, social activist, and pioneer in the profession of art therapy. Don began
his career during World War II, where many people with PTSD were traumatized from their time
at war. With this he used art therapy through art media, the creative process, and artwork that was
used to explore the feelings of these people. This was able to recoil emotional conflicts and

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provides a form of self-awareness, which also went into being able to manage behavior and
addictions. Along came the ability to redevelop social skills, improve reality orientations, which
also reducing anxiety and increasing self esteem. This in which provides people away to help
with their mental and emotional problems.
Many people assume that art therapy includes Rorschachs inkblot test, which is a test
that identifies a persons inner feelings by analyzing their interoperation of the inkblots. While
using the inkblots is a fun game that psychotherapist use, it is not a way for the patient to express
him or herself towards their problems. However, people still believe that art therapy does not
help because if the patient does not allow themselves to create art then they are keeping their
emotions in rather than expressing themselves, like the psychotherapist wants. Therefore, while
most people believe that art therapy is helpful, some still do not believe in the work of art as
helpful.
While common sense seems to dictate that art is a waste of time, the people who believe
this are entitled to their own opinions. For people who appreciate art, art is a way for them to get
out their emotions and just let go, whether it is with a paint brush, pencils, or coal, the student is
able to use real life problems or situations and incorporate that into their pieces. However, when
schools are cutting out the funds for arts, whether it is visual art, music, sports, etc. or just a fun
class for students, that is taking away the right of a student being able to express him or herself
through how he or she feels they should. Therefore, when Columbus, Ohio decided on cutting
the arts, music, and gym classes from schools, the president of the Ohio Educational Library
Media Association, Susan Yutzey, urged the members of her association to oppose the change.
Yutzey stressed to the board that [their] goal should be to provide a quality public school
system, not [to] strip expectations of what schools should provide ( ). In another situation, in

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Miami, the public systems for elementary schools are slowly dropping the amount of visual arts,
dance and drama classes. These cuts are attribute[d] to budget cuts and an increased focus on
math and reading ( ). Therefore, the percentage of elementary schools with visual arts class
declined from 87 to 83 percent ( ). One person responded to this by saying that it is deeply
troubling that all students do not have access to arts education today ( ). Also, art classes are
often the first among others to be pushed away because of unfunded mandates ( ).
Furthermore, because art was not contributed to the public, most parents are not able to afford
allowing their child to go to a private school for art; along with this, the students would achieve
at a lower standard could be pushed by an art class just to continue going to school.
(go into how people disagree with art helping people)
(conclusion)

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Work Cited
Zhao, Emmeline. "Elementary School Arts Classes Reduced, Report Says." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2015.
"In Search of the Science Behind the Healing Powers of Art." WSJ. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar.
2015.