Best Art Courses & Certificates Online [2024] | Coursera (2024)

Art is any product or activity that demonstrates an aesthetic purpose or creatively communicates a worldview. It encompasses a wide range of the expression of human imagination. Art takes various forms from visual media like painting, sculpture, and photography to literature to performance elements such as music, drama, and dance. When you create art, you’re harnessing your skills and creative power to create something that demonstrates beauty, expresses emotion, tells a story, or presents a statement about the world around you. Human beings have created art for thousands of years, and works of art explain what people have thought about their place in the world.‎

Learning to appreciate and create art is crucial to helping people harness their imaginations and skills, and art has plenty of other benefits as well. Expressing yourself through art is an excellent way to relieve stress and have fun, and it allows you to articulate your beliefs and feelings in interesting and innovative ways. Art education in schools helps children learn math and improve their reading skills, and they learn new skills they might not otherwise have discovered. Making art also helps adults improve their critical thinking and cognitive abilities and encourages creativity in ways that adults don’t often get to express.‎

Naturally, learning art can help you if you’re seeking a role in the arts, such as actor, writer, filmmaker, or photographer. However, you can benefit from learning art even if you’re not an artist because art gives you creative and problem-solving skills. The creativity you express when you make art helps you exercise imaginative thinking, potentially leading to innovative ideas at work. Art also challenges and improves your ability to solve problems by opening you up to new perspectives. Making art is also a great way to relieve stress, helping you unwind when the workday is through.‎