The making of art contributes to a knowledge of the world that is unique. Through art it is possible to see new aspects in our environment and to renew our concepts.
Art provides a way to view the world and to understand the mind.
No other experience provides the kinds of insights that arise through the making of art. Art study should involve more than development of skills and training in techniques. Its justification lies, above all, in the way it deals with the major questions raised about life, about society and culture, and about the meaning and purposes of art itself. Art can help relate those ideas to the student s thinking in other disciplines and lead toward an integrated view of life. For these reasons, Northwestern s art courses synthesize the technical aspects of making art with the intellectual discipline of analyzing and criticizing art.