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Anuva Fellner

Mrs. Compton

AP English and Language

9 May 2016

Innovation in Art

To be an artist, innovation is the key to being recognized. According to Merriam

Webster Dictionary, the definition of innovation is the act or process of introducing new

ideas, devices, or methods. In art, innovation is seen everywhere such as in writing,

paintings, or music. A writer who is able to depict their story in an exceptional way that

engages the audience, a painter who can illustrate a vision in their mind in a creative way

that connects with the viewers and remains in their memory, or even when a musician

creates a new song that connects to a larger audience.

In order to be innovative one needs to be able to create abstract art. According to

Merriam Webster Dictionary, abstract means expressing ideas and emotions by using

elements such as colors and lines without attempting to create a realistic picture. What

this means is that one needs to be able to formulate creative ideas or visions without

having something to reference to; they need to be able to come up with their own ideas

that they feel they would be recognized with. Artists want to be recognized or noticed by

the public in order to convey a message to the society. One needs to be expressive with

their ideas so their voice can be heard through their artwork. With free association, an

artists voice can be unique or different and stand out to the audience. According to

Merriam Webster Dictionary, free association means the reporting of the first thought that

comes to mind in response to a given stimulus. By using free association the artist can
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portray his or her feelings in a unique way that isnt structured around the social norm:

leading to innovation taking place in their field. Without artists introducing new

approaches to a situation, there would only be one standard way of getting a message

across to society, thereby limiting the voice of the artist. I hypothesize that innovation is

needed in the art field to allow artists to express themselves in unique ways that develops

a distinct voice for society to connect to.

Society has been known to affect a writer, artist, orator, or politician in many

ways when they communicate or attempt to formulate new ideas. Society can hinder

innovation in an artists field because the artist may not want to go against the social

norm by expressing a new idea. For example, Fredrick Douglass spoke up for those who

were too afraid to go against the social norm and fought for equality for all. Do you

mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? (Douglass 1). Douglasss use

of satire made a bigger impact on the audience rather than him just stating his position

bluntly. By advocating for his goal, Douglass was able to make an impact on many

African American lives along with women as well by fighting for them to be treated

fairly: by fighting to attain jobs, the right to citizenship, and the right to vote. With

Douglass breaking the social norm by standing up for a controversial issue, he was able

to give people the chance to make innovative ideas in their future careers and he

motivated others to come up with creative ideas to fight for a cause that is important to

them.

Innovation can also be accident-prone, meaning that someone came across the

idea with no intention of doing so. For example, Leonardo Da Vincis technique was

inspired by myths of the origin of art in accidental shapes. His art would encourage the
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viewer to search for meaning in chaos (Turner). Leonardo pointed out that in the ancient

days, artists would happen to come across a gnarled tree trunk or a piece of clay, whose

contours needed only a slight change to look strikingly like something else. Renaissance

artists employed all kinds of tricks that played with these ancient, shape-changing ideas

(Turner). Leonardo found this technique very interesting and creative, which made him

encourage other artists to search for inspiration in the natural stains.

The government can play a major role in how an artist innovates. Governments

have started to give out more and more patents-making exclusive or proprietary claims or

pretensions (Merriam Webster)- over the past 20 years due to different advances in each

field. The patents provide an incentive for artists to discover and create new ideas in

hopes of gaining profit from their work. The creative work is also made public so others

can build on and benefit from the work from the original artist (Crow). The more an artist

is paid, the more innovative ideas he or she will create because they would be motivated

to achieve bigger ideas. Technology has opened the door to more innovative ideas as

well. New software programs have allowed creators to make new music, art, design, etc.

The number of applications in the three major patent offices increased by 40% between

1992 and 2002 (Why Collaboration Leads). Patents protect innovation, causing artists to

feel safer with expressing their ideas to their full extent without having to worry about

someone stealing their idea, leading to an increase in patent applications over the past

few years.

Working alone versus working in a group can have an impact on innovation as

well. Historic artists like Leonardo were innovative in their standards, but since they

worked alone their resources and ideas were limited. Bringing together groups of people
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who have different ideas, approaches, experiences, and knowledge allows new ideas to

form. According to Nielson, working with 2 people can lead to a 16% improvement in

performance, with 3 to 4 people a 32% improvement, and with 6 or more people a 58%

improvement. Although group work can have many positive impacts, there are a few

obstacles that are faced. To prevent these obstacles there are some easy steps that need to

be taken: one needs to leverage the scale and diversity of U.S. institutions to serve large

numbers of low-income students, model the practices and commitment necessary to

succeed at scale, and apply cutting-edge research approaches to the issue of higher

education innovation in order to improve practices over time.

In conclusion, my hypothesis was accepted because there are many things like

society, salaries, and collaboration that are proven to hinder or lead to innovation in the

art field. Artists are able to express themselves in a way that allows them to be

independent and develop a distinct voice that they can express to society in creative

ways. In order for the arts field to keep improving, an artist needs to be able to be

independent and create ideas that are unique. As society grows, an individual needs to

grow as well and introduce new innovative concepts to inspire others.


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Works Cited

Boyle, Amy. "MoMA Learning." MoMA. MoMa Annual Education Fund, 2006. Web. 30

Apr. 2016.

Crow, Michael M. "Innovating Together: Collaboration as a Driving Force to Improve

Student Success." Home. Educause, 2 Mar. 2015. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.

Douglass, Fredrick. "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" Rochester Ladies' Anti-

Slavery Society. 5 July 1852. Reading.

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.

Nielson. "Newswire ." Why Collaboration Leads to Higher-Impact Innovations. Neilson

Foundation, 1 Dec. 2015. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.

Turner, Christopher. "The Deliberate Accident in Art." Tate. Tate Britain, 1 Jan. 2011.

Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

Wiens, Jason. "How Intellectual Property Can Help or Hinder Innovation." Kauffman

Foundation. Kauffman Foundation, 7 Apr. 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

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