Exploring Art

Margaret Lazzari is professor emerita of drawing and painting at the University of Southern California. A writer and artist, Margaret's artworks have been exhibited extensively throughout the United States. She has written numerous catalog essays and reviews and is also the author or co-author of five art textbooks. She is half of the Lazzari Evans Public Art Design Team. Margaret is active as an exhibiting artist in galleries, as a public artist producing for communities and in serving in leadership roles in non-profit venues. Dona Schlesier taught for 27 years at Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa, where she educated a high percentage of international students, specializing in studio and non-Western art. Currently, she is professor emerita. Her drawings and multimedia have been exhibited nationally and internationally. She has traveled the world, visiting every continent except Antarctica and is passionate about the global perspective of the book.

• Letter to Students: Why Study Art?Part I: INTRODUCTION TO ART.1. Art and Art Making.2. The Language of Art and Architecture.3. Media.4. Deriving Meaning.Part II: WHY DO WE MAKE ART?Section 1. Survival and Beyond.5. Food and Shelter.6. Reproduction and Sexuality.Section 2. Religion.7. Deities and Places of Worship.8. Mortality and Immortality.Section 3. The State.9. Power, Politics, and Glory.10. Social Protest/Affirmation.Section 4. Self and Society.11. Mind and Body.12. Race, Gender, Clan, and Class.13. Nature, Knowledge, and Technology.14. Entertainment and Visual Culture.15. Art in Your Life.