AUTISTIC...ARTISTIC

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KUNLE ADEWALE...IMPACTING LIVES THROUGH ART

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KUNLE ADEWALE has a friendly mien. He always wears a smile that would make anyone meeting him for the very first time to assume he has never experienced the downside of life. His laughter is infectious and when he speaks, his words could propel you to do those things you wouldn’t ordinarily want to do. Indeed, there is no dull moment with this author, poet, art teacher and curator of Tender Arts Nigeria.

  In 2013, Ayomikun Omoyiola, a 10-year-old girl and one of his protégées, won the Peace Award in Abuja for her brilliant painting on the Nigeria’s situation, titled Peace In The Midst Of The Storm. And recently, another feather was added to his hat. A UK-based organisation not only recognised his efforts at mentoring children and youth, but also nominated him for the Global Teachers’ Prize.

  In his usual unassuming way, Adewale attributes this nomination to the Lord.

  “The nomination is just the grace of God. Since 2001, I have been in the classroom teaching and imparting knowledge to pupils. The classroom has always been my contact with them over the years. I have always loved teaching. Aside from the classroom teaching, I also use any opportunity that comes my way to touch lives. People must have seen what I have been doing, using art to develop the grassroots people and mentor children to enable them be their best in life and school. This must have informed the nomination,” he explains.

  Is it logical then to believe that it wasn’t coincidental that Nigeria’s youngest Peace Ambassador, Ayomikun Omoyiola emerged through him?

   “Yes, I may say. I met her at Queens of the Stone Ageland Academy, Okota, Lagos, where I teach art. From her performance in class and with her parents’ consent, I began to groom and mentor her along with others outside the school. Ayomikun’s works earned her accolades and laurels. Her artistic rendition on the Nigerian problems drew the attention of the people in government and she was rewarded with a Peace Award. She was invited to the Presidency and I was there with her when was honoured as Nigeria’s Ambassador for Peace. At 10, she has set the record as the youngest recipient of the award,” he says joyfully.

  Not only is Adewale proud that one of his mentee has brought his name to limelight in Nigeria, he is also delighted that the award will go a long way to inspire all young people in the country.

  “The award is a call to young Nigerians to maximise their potentials,” he says. “They should be encouraged and where they are not clear, a mentor should be invited to help them get to their desired heights,” he advises.

  Regarding the Global Teachers’ Prize holding in Dubai this year, the curator informs “the prize is equivalent to the Global Peace Prize and is being organised by Vagin James Foundation, UK, as a way of recognising teachers that have contributed immensely to education and impacted on their societies.”

  While many young trained teachers are moving away from the chalk-and-talk profession for lack of motivation, the artist is embracing it and doing it with great passion. On his love for the profession Adewale notes,   

  “I do not believe I am inferior or superior to anybody, as everybody is special. I cannot do the work of a lawyer or a motor mechanic. They are great people at their own level. Anybody that is somebody today passed through one teacher or the other. So, the classroom is the pitch, where lives are moulded.

  “I see myself as an ordinary people’s teacher because beyond the classroom and the fact that I am a teacher, there is so much I have inside of me. I bring what I have to the classroom, which goes beyond the curriculum and I think that is what adds value to my teaching.

  “I always ask people that beyond being a banker, an engineer or a medical doctor, what values have they added to life? Every individual, depending on how you see yourself, is an agent of change. Nobody is superior to you. Besides, you are not competing with anybody. It’s just like the sun and the moon; they both produce light at different times of the day. While the sun rules the day, the moon dominates the night; they both shine and there is no competition,” he philosophises.

   Adewale strongly believes that teachers, as change agents, can make or mar the pupil’s life with their words or attitude.

  “Whatever you become in life, you are either taught in school or you get it from someone. Some people are what they are today, whether good or bad because of what their teachers told them. This goes to show that words are very powerful. Beyond the classroom, the personality of the teacher matters,” he says.

  Reminiscing on life, the art teacher, who is also the author of a motivational book, Why Sit We Here Till We Die? A Tale Of Four Lepers, believes that in life, one should not mark time but maximise it.

  “If you don’t know why you are at a particular office or what you have achieved for the day, then you are marking time and that is the essence of the book. If you wait for government to put things right or for the right condition before you can launch out, know that you are marking time and not maximising it.

  “I wrote the West African Schools Certificate Examination (WAEC) seven times and the Joint Admission And Matriculation Board Examination (JAMB) five times before I could make it to the university. As a matter of fact, I was failing English Language, because before now I could not speak or write in English very well. It was a defect I got from my environment. Despite this, however, I had the urge to become somebody. I hawked cold sachets of water (ice water), nylon bags, anything sellable on the streets of Mushin, a notorious area in Lagos. Irrespective of my poor background, however, I had the yearning to go to the university. And after five attempts at JAMB and seven at WAEC, I gained admission into the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ife, to study fine art and graduated with a 2.1,” he explains.  

   Coming from such a background, Adewale’s spirit could have been easily dampened and he could have dropped the idea of going to the university, but he never gave up, not even for a moment.

   “I had more educated people around me,” he says. “They mentored me for a change. Change is not just the talk but putting the talk into actions. They encouraged me to study hard and I also invested in books. I was hungry for growth. So, I borrowed a lot of books from people around me. I was willing to learn and each time I failed, I worked to improve on the previous experience.”

  With these deep experiences, Adewale wouldn’t want anyone he knows to go through such. So, he decided to catch pupils young by investing more of his time on children.

   “I like teaching children. A child’s mind is flexible and easy to mould. I am passionate about what I do and look forward to seeing them grow up, make positive impact in the society with art. I am not regretting being an artist or an art teacher. I do not envy scientists or those in other professions because I know I can use my art to contribute my quota to the world and improve my society for the better.

  “I would suggest that parents get their children involved in arts. It helps the child to identify colours and relate properly with his or her environment. It also helps the child to coordinate and comprehend whatever, he or she is being taught. Art — literary, drama, still drawing or any other — is key to development. If you remove Art, life is empty; void and death.”

  Knowing too well that government cannot employ all Nigerian graduates, Adewale, an apostle of dignity of labour, would want entrepreneurial skills to be taught to the child as early as possible. And through his art mentorship, he has exposed some of his protégées to marketing their works.

   On what he does with the children artworks, he says: “some are sold and the money goes to the child, but some of the children are not keen on selling their works. Another aspect of the entrepreneurial skills is to train the child to enable him or her be self-reliant in future. Every child has a skill and parents should help them to identify and develop them.”

   Last year, one of his protégées made a presentation of the Peace Portrait to President Goodluck Jonathan. What exactly did he have in mind when he went for the event?

   “I am not purse driven. I am purpose driven,” he explains. “Being purse driven is when you work according to your salary, which I don’t do. I work according to my value. I never had it in mind that I would ever meet Mr. President or the Secretary to the Federation. I am a very passionate human being. My life is driven by value and whether I am rewarded or not doesn’t bother me because I know life will reward me in a special way.

  “Meeting the President was one of the rewards for my years of hard work. There was a time I trekked long distances to go and teach pupils. In those days, I was not seeing or meeting the president, but was driven by passion because as of then, if you lack the fund to move around, you may end up not going to teach. I want to stress that when a man is driven by passion, he goes places.”

SOURCE: The Guardian Newspaper, Life Magazine, Sunday January 11, 2015. Pg.15

 

Kunle:An Inspiring Teacher For Global Teacher Prize

To nominate me please click this link http://globalteacherprize.com. Pls Use this brief information for my nomination First name: Adewale Last Name: Olakunle, Nominee City: Lagos, Nominee Country Nigeria, Nominee current school: Queensland Academy Okota Lagos, Nominee Phone No: +2348032256759, Nominee email address: olakunleadewale@gmail.com, Other way to reach the Nominee: +2348120286744. If you need other information you can Please click this link shared for details.http://ttenderarts.blogspot.com/2014/09/kunle-adewale-for-global-teacher-prize.html?spref=fb. Please Nominate Olakunle Adewale For Global Teacher Prize. http://globalteacherprize.com. you can also share this on your timeline and recommend for your friends too. deadline October 5th 2014. thanks for your unflinching supports and encouragement. God bless. Nomination ends 5th of October, 2014. Thanks and God bless.

Tender Arts is a creative enterprise directed by Adewale Olakunle Joel; a graduate Painting and General Arts Auchi Poly and of the Department of Fine and Applied Arts Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.  He is a writer, an art analyst/scholar and art educator, whose teaching of creative arts has spanned a decade. Tender Arts Nigeria is also a group of young, vibrant and visionary professional Nigerian artists whose mission is to raise the standard of art by providing a platform for grooming young artists at the grassroots.

Tender Arts Nigeria is registered with Corporate Affairs Commission CAC/BN/2279861 in Abuja in 11th of November 2013. Tender Arts seeks to discover and develop creative abilities in children and young adults. This will come in form of art tutorial, art workshops, art education, art tour, art advocacy, Charity art exhibitions and competitions among many others. Tender Arts  Nigeria also partners with NGOs, governmental agencies or any other humanitarian organization that share the same values, vision and objectives , in other to help add value to their community projects initiatives using creative arts as a veritable platform. Furthermore, it promotes children/Adolescents art works using the media and other business networks as a veritable tool. Kunle Adewale is currently an art educator in Queensland Academy while he still pursues the objectives of Tender Arts Nigeria where He is the CEO and also the creative director.

In every child is locked a creative genius awaiting an open door for expression. I believe creativity rules the world and this creativity begins with a child’s art. Picasso wrote "Every child is an artist; the problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."

Some of my art protégées and pupils age range between 6 and 18. The children and the young adults work in mixed media, painting, collage print making while their themes borders on Child Abuse, Beauty, education, health, nature, womanhood, feminine, peace, entertainment among many others.

Kunle Adewale engages in Specialized Therapeutic Art Workshop For Children with Challenges, Charity Art Exhibition (Fund raising art exhibition), Mobile Art School, Art advocacy, Art Education in schools, Art Tour, Art Marketing and Promo, Art Competitions for children, teenagers and youths.

•             Kunle Adewale and his art protégées were invited to the Voice of Nigeria (VON) early 2013 to speak on art platform which was done by the children who presented their artworks and spoke on artistic development through the mentoring art class by Kunle Adewale and the impacts it has made in their lives.

•             Kunle Adewale and one of his esteemed art protégées and pupil Ayomikun Omoyiola, a 10 year old pupil of Queensland Academi Okota were invited last year July by the federal government of Nigeria to receive a Peace Award through an art work done by one of our art pupil, while at the Nigeria Centenary Celebration grand finale of the Nigeria Centenary in Abuja, Kunle’s Art Ayomikun Omoyiola did a painting and gave to the President of Nigeria. She is currently Nigeria’s Youngest Peace Ambassador because she used her art work to advocate for peace and unity in Nigeria. This feat was a product of commitment and dedication and sacrifice of her art Teacher, Olakunle Adewale.

•            

Olakunle has organized art workshops in conjunction with Sickle Cell Foundation, Nigeria at Luth Idi-Araba, Lagos tagged ‘ARTIVITIES’ this creative initiative was endorsed by the art institutions like SNA, Society of Nigeria Artists, Kunle Adeyemi studios and ARA studio respectively. About 155 art works were produced during this exercise.  The event which lasted for a month, mostly Saturdays between the hours of 8am to 3pmThe event was graced by the founder of Sickle Cell Foundation Professor Adeyanju, and top Nigerian Artists like Prof. Bruce Onabrakpeya, MsNidi Dike, Dr. Kunle Filani and Dr. Kunle Adeyemi. He and his volunteer art teachers also did art workshop for the Special Correctional Centre for Girls, approved by Lagos State Ministry of Youths, Sports and Social Development. Over 150 works were produced by the girls at the centre. He also embarked on a Therapeutic Art Project for children Children Living with Cancer Foundation, Lagos. A Therapeutic Art workshop with the theme: Art Without Limits. He also spear head the team that groomed art participants in the ongoing ‘God’s Children got talent’ A Talent hunt initiative which was started by RCCG City of David four years ago, now in its season 4 with large number of contestants. Kunle and his team were able to groom the contestant to the finals which will took place at Eko Hotel and Suites 29th May 2014. The art pupil Nelly Erubasa, a 6 year old girl who was groomed by Kunle and his team won the competition at the junior category and cart N500,000:00 home

 Kunle Adewale organized a painting/poetry competition amongst international schools in conjunction with Good Character Initiative of Nigeria, chair by Dr. Christopher Kolade OON and directed by Chief Social Architect Prince Nnadozie Ochi. The event which was endorsed by Lagos State Ministry of Education, Committee of Relevant Arts(CORA), Advocacy for Human right through arts, Terrakulture, Nike Art Foundation, Quintessence Art Gallery, Bruce Onabrakpeya Foundation, ARA Studios, and Kunle Adeyemi studios. About 31 private/international/government schools participated and over 400 Nigerian pupils/student were in attendance at the Shell Hall, Muson Centre, March 29th 2014. More so the event was graced by Top Nigerian Poets/artists like  Taiwo Ajayi Lycett, Tade Ipadeola, JumokeVerissimo, RopoEwenla, Chiagozie Fred Nwonwu, DamilolaAjayi,IquoDainaAbasi, Dr. Kunle Filani, Dr. Kunle Adeyemi, Associate Prof. Peju Layiwola, Jelili Atiku, Aderonke Akinyele, and Chief N.O Adebowale.

Some of my art protegees and pupils have participated in local and international exhibitions and competitions and have won awards.

KUNLE ADEWALE FOR GLOBAL TEACHER PRIZE

According to William Arthur Ward, He said: “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires”.

Tender Arts is a creative enterprise directed by Adewale Olakunle Joel; a graduate Painting and General Arts Auchi Poly and of the Department of Fine and Applied Arts Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.  He is a writer, an art analyst/scholar and art educator, whose teaching of creative arts has spanned a decade. Tender Arts Nigeria is also a group of young, vibrant and visionary professional Nigerian artists whose mission is to raise the standard of art by providing a platform for grooming young artists at the grassroots.

Tender Arts Nigeria is registered with Corporate Affairs Commission CAC/BN/2279861 in Abuja in 11th of November 2013. Tender Arts seeks to discover and develop creative abilities in children and young adults. This will come in form of art tutorial, art workshops, art education, art tour, art advocacy, Charity art exhibitions and competitions among many others. Tender Arts  Nigeria also partners with NGOs, governmental agencies or any other humanitarian organization that share the same values, vision and objectives , in other to help add value to their community projects initiatives using creative arts as a veritable platform. Furthermore, it promotes children/Adolescents art works using the media and other business networks as a veritable tool. Kunle Adewale is currently an art educator in Queensland Academy while he still pursues the objectives of Tender Arts Nigeria where He is the CEO and also the creative director.

In every child is locked a creative genius awaiting an open door for expression. I believe creativity rules the world and this creativity begins with a child’s art. Picasso wrote "Every child is an artist; the problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."

Some of my art protégées and pupils age range between 6 and 18. The children and the young adults work in mixed media, painting, collage print making while their themes borders on Child Abuse, Beauty, education, health, nature, womanhood, feminine, peace, entertainment among many others.

Kunle Adewale engages in Specialized Therapeutic Art Workshop For Children with Challenges, Charity Art Exhibition (Fund raising art exhibition), Mobile Art School, Art advocacy, Art Education in schools, Art Tour, Art Marketing and Promo, Art Competitions for children, teenagers and youths.

•             Kunle Adewale and his art protégées were invited to the Voice of Nigeria (VON) early 2013 to speak on art platform which was done by the children who presented their artworks and spoke on artistic development through the mentoring art class by Kunle Adewale and the impacts it has made in their lives.

•             Kunle Adewale and one of his esteemed art protégées and pupil Ayomikun Omoyiola, a 10 year old pupil of Queensland Academi Okota were invited last year July by the federal government of Nigeria to receive a Peace Award through an art work done by one of our art pupil, while at the Nigeria Centenary Celebration grand finale of the Nigeria Centenary in Abuja, Kunle’s Art Ayomikun Omoyiola did a painting and gave to the President of Nigeria. She is currently Nigeria’s Youngest Peace Ambassador because she used her art work to advocate for peace and unity in Nigeria. This feat was a product of commitment and dedication and sacrifice of her art Teacher, Olakunle Adewale.

•            

 Olakunle has organized art workshops in conjunction with Sickle Cell Foundation, Nigeria at Luth Idi-Araba, Lagos tagged ‘ARTIVITIES’ this creative initiative was endorsed by the art institutions like SNA, Society of Nigeria Artists, Kunle Adeyemi studios and ARA studio respectively. About 155 art works were produced during this exercise.  The event which lasted for a month, mostly Saturdays between the hours of 8am to 3pmThe event was graced by the founder of Sickle Cell Foundation Professor Adeyanju, and top Nigerian Artists like Prof. Bruce Onabrakpeya, MsNidi Dike, Dr. Kunle Filani and Dr. Kunle Adeyemi. He and his volunteer art teachers also did art workshop for the Special Correctional Centre for Girls. Approved by Lagos State Ministry of Youths, Sports and Social Development. Over 150 works were produced by the girls at the centre. He also embarked on a Therapuetic Art Project for children Children Living with Cancer Foundation, Lagos. A Therapeutic Art workshop with the theme: Art Without Limits. He also spear head the team that groomed art participants in the ongoing ‘God’s Children got talent’ A Talent hunt initiative which was started by RCCG City of David four years ago, now in its season 4 with large number of contestants. Kunle and his team were able to groom the contestant to the finals which will took place at Eko Hotel and Suites 29th May 2014. The art pupil Nelly Erubasa, a 6 year old girl who was groomed by Kunle and his team won the competition at the junior category and cart N500,000:00 home

•          

   Kunle Adewale organized a painting/poetry competition amongst international schools in conjunction with Good Character Initiative of Nigeria, chair by Dr. Christopher Kolade OON and directed by Chief Social Architect Prince Nnadozie Ochi. The event which was endorsed by Lagos State Ministry of Education, Committee of Relevant Arts(CORA), Advocacy for Human right through arts, Terrakulture, Nike Art Foundation, Quintessence Art Gallery, Bruce Onabrakpeya Foundation, ARA Studios, and Kunle Adeyemi studios. About 31 private/international/government schools participated and over 400 Nigerian pupils/student were in attendance at the Shell Hall, Muson Centre, March 29th 2014. More so the event was graced by Top Nigerian Poets/artists like  Taiwo Ajayi Lycett, Tade Ipadeola, JumokeVerissimo, RopoEwenla, Chiagozie Fred Nwonwu, DamilolaAjayi,IquoDainaAbasi, Dr. Kunle Filani, Dr. Kunle Adeyemi, Associate Prof. Peju Layiwola, Jelili Atiku, Aderonke Akinyele, and Chief N.O Adebowale.

Some of my art protegees and pupils have participated in local and international exhibitions and competitions and have won awards.

Nominate Olakunle Adewale click this link http://globalteacherprize.com/#nominate. Pls Use this brief information for my nomination First name: Adewale Last Name: Olakunle, Nominee City: Lagos, Nominee Country Nigeria, Nominee current school: Queensland Academy Okota Lagos, Nominee Phone No: +2348032256759, Nominee email address: olakunleadewale@gmail.com, Other way to reach the Nominee: +2348120286744. If you need other information you can contact me with provided the numbers and email posted here. you can also share this on your timeline and recommend for your friends too. deadline October 5th 2014. thanks for your unflinching supports and encouragement. God bless. You may choose on options given to you, either as a parent, colleague etc...

'This is an account of Kunle's ugly duckling

Metamorphosis from the slum dwellers of Mushin

Nigeria to become an inspirational Art Teacher who is

Impacting young lives all over Nigeria by changing one life

at a time. The youngest Peace Ambassador in Nigeria is a

product of Kunle's dedication and passion for making

Nigerian youths responsible citizens by employing their

full potentials. Kunle's story has proved that success is not

deserved, but desired'.

Mrs Oluwakemi Ajayi

Lawyer Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Over the last couple of months, I have admired Olakunle

Adewale's paintings, some of which he shares on social

media. Beyond their aesthetic beauty, I have been mostly

impressed by the level of reasoning that goes into

producing them and the deep meanings they hold. I am

aware that hundreds of Adewale's followers on social

media have been immensely blessed by his artistic

brilliance. Being a writer myself, I am doubly impressed to

see that the artist has a literary side to him; and just like his

paintings, he has chosen to inspire and motivate his

audience to be the best that they can be; to rise above

their limitations and realize their God-given purpose and

potentials regardless of the seemingly insurmountable

challenges life sometimes throws at us. Reading through his

new book ,Why Sit we here till we die?...a tale of four

lepers. I am glad to see that Adewale, who has done

remarkably well as an art teacher, impacting and inspiring

his pupils to produce amazing works of art, is yielding

himself to a divine calling to touch and bless even more

lives through the written word. Though written from a

Christian’s perspective, this small publication draws

inspiration from the word of God and some of the world's

most venerated personalities—from Steve Jobs to Nelson

Mandela—some of who do not profess the Christian faith

but who have affected humanity in very wonderful ways. In

essence, approach this book with an open mind: whoever

you are, whatever you do and whichever religion you align

with, you will be the better for reading this book--just as I

have been.

Pelu Awofeso

Travel Journalist/ Author.

Winner, CNN/Multichoice African Journalist Awards (Tourism)

 Dear Mr Adewale,

 Once again, I am overwhelmed with the arts collections created by your pupils and my favourite young artist Ayomikun!

Your creativity as shared in the hearts of these young ones is reviving a new generations of Nigerians and Aficans alike to not only be appraisals of great arts but creators as well.

Although, you can only see the sparks of the skills you are developing in these ones, the great fire it will become would be there for all the world to see after we have passed on.

 I truly believe with your dedications, Nigeria and Africa as a whole will be dominating the arts world very soon and the world will have no basis to deny the arts geniuses Africa will produce.

I am still looking forward to the time my children would take part in your workshops when next we are in Nigeria.

Keep up the good works.

My warmest regards,

 Mrs Oluwakemi M. Ajayi

 Solicitor of England and Wales.

Sirs,

I am pleased to recommend Tender Arts Nigeria youth workshops, under the direction of Mr. Adewale Olakunle Joel.  Adewale has displayed an incredible amount of vision and dedication in forming art workshops that not only provide children with a creative outlet, but seeks to develop skills that can produce lifelong success.

The Arts Education Partnership is a coalition of more than 100 USA educational, artistic, philanthropic, and government organizations that took two years to produce studies that suggest arts education may be especially helpful to poor students and those in need of remedial instruction.  The findings show that visual arts improve content and organization of writing; promote sophisticated reading skills and interpretation of text, and develop reasoning skills about scientific images and reading readiness. Additionally, the arts reinforce math skills and improve higher-order thinking skills.1

As an educator, it is not difficult to see how the Tender Arts Nigeria programs support the importance of art in schools and will benefit the lives of growing adolescents.  I offer my full encouragement and support of Adewale through Tender Arts Nigeria, and the students the program seeks to serve.

Sincerely,

Dionne Taylor

Educator, Harmony Charter Schools

Texas, USA

WHAT IS ART?

     Painting by Kunle Adewale

Question: What is the Definition of Art?

Note: This is a question that pops up around once a month, typically from a student who is stumped and pressed for time. My answer, a compilation of replies, is as follows.

Answer:

There are several ways you could go about defining art, but my suspicion is that one will get you better results than the others.

I could tell you that art plays a large part in making our lives infinitely rich. Imagine, just for a minute, a world without art! (You may think "So what?" but please consider the impact that lack of graphics would have on your favorite video game.) Art stimulates different parts of our brains to make us laugh or incite us to riot, with a whole gamut of emotions in between. Art gives us a way to be creative and express ourselves. For some people, art is the entire reason they get out of bed in the morning. You could say "Art is something that makes us more thoughtful and well-rounded humans."

On the other hand, art is such a large part of our everyday lives that we may hardly even stop to think about it. Look at the desk or table where you are, right this minute. Someone designed that. It is art. Your shoes are art. Your coffee cup is art. All functional design, well done, is art. So, you could say "Art is something that is both functional and (hopefully) aesthetically pleasing to our eyes."

You might say "Art is in a constant state of change, so nobody can really pin down what it is." The constant change part is true, but the not pinning it down part is going to get you a bad grade. It may even raise a comment or two about your being some sort of wisenheimer. Don't go this route.

You might even say "Art is subjective, and means something different to every single person on earth." This, too, is the truth. I would caution against this approach, however, as it would require a stack of paper from here to the moon to cite all of your 6.8 billion references.

Now, everything just stated has elements of truth, but is largely based on opinion. My opinion is, frankly, useless in your paper-writing endeavor. Form your own opinions (that should be the reason you are receiving an education, after all), and be sure to sprinkle them in your answer... which needs a factual basis, so here are the cold hard facts

Art is form and content.

"Art is form and content" means: All art consists of these two things.

Form means:

• The elements of art
• the principles of design and
• the actual, physical materials that the artist has used.

Form, in this context, is concrete and fairly easily described -- no matter which piece of art is under scrutiny.

Suppose you've written: "One half of all art is form. Here is how Goya's The Shootings of May Third, 1808 fits in." You would then go on to provide details about how Goya used color, value, space and line (elements of art). He used balance, contrast, emphasis and proportion (principles of design). He composed the aforementioned elements and principles on canvas, using brushes and oil paints (the physical materials).

The example just given employed a work of Western art, and was written in English. It doesn't take much of a leap in imagination, though, to understand that the concepts behind "form" could be applied to any piece of art, created anywhere on earth, at any time, using any language. With that, we have successfully covered "form."

Content, now, gets a little more tricky. Content is idea-based and means:

• What the artist meant to portray,
• what the artist actually did portray and
• how we react, as individuals, to both the intended and actual messages.

Additionally, content includes ways in which a work was influenced -- by religion, or politics, or society in general, or even the artist's use of hallucinogenic substances--at the time it was created. All of these factors, together, make up the content side of art.

Returning to the Goya example, you might comment on the fact that the shootings were an actual event. Napoleon had invaded Spain, at the time, and subjected it to six years of war and revolution (political and social influences). There had been a revolt by citizens of Madrid, and they were summarily executed (historical context). Goya, obviously, didn't think this was good and recorded the stark horror for all posterity. (He was successful at conveying that which he meant to convey.) We react to the painting in our different ways -- usually with mixed feeling of revulsion, anger and sorrow.

Again, we are discussing content using one picture as an example, but the same parameters apply to any piece of art.

That's my best reply, then. The first four paragraphs are applicable -- with infinite variations, up to, and including, "The way my girlfriend puts on her eyeshadow is art." Just be sure that your main argument includes "Art is form and content." You can certainly think of some great examples using works of art that you know and/or enjoy. Now. Go get cracking on that paper and, next time, don't wait until the last minute.

Reference: http://arthistory.about.com What is Art?