TGS Creative Arts Teacher Sherry Zhang shared the poem, “Life Just Isn’t,” and asked the students to write a mirror piece, “Art Just Isn’t,” to give them the opportunity to think, reflect, and (re)define to what art is and isn’t to them. Below is the poem that inspired the students’ words, followed by the original lyrics each student composed. Note: the students have selected nicknames for themselves for security and privacy purposes; those nicknames are reflected here.

Life Just Isn’t

Author Unknown

Life isn’t about keeping score. It’s not about how many people call you and it’s not about who you’ve dated, are dating or haven’t dated at all. It isn’t about who you’ve kissed, what sport you play, or which guy or girl likes you. It’s not about your shoes or your hair or the color of your skin or where you live or got to school. In fact, it’s not about grades, money, clothes, or colleges that accept you or not. Life isn’t about if you have lots of friends, or if you are alone, and it’s not about how accepted or unaccepted you are. Life just isn’t about that.

But life is about who you love and who you hurt. It’s about how you feel about yourself. It’s about trust, happiness, and compassion. It’s about sticking up for your friends and replacing inner hate with love. Life is about avoiding jealousy, overcoming ignorance and building confidence. It’s about what you say and what you mean. It’s about seeing people for who they are and not what they have. Most of all, it is about choosing to use your life to touch someone else’s in a way that could never have been achieved otherwise. These choices are what life’s about.

Students at THINK Global School undertake their first creative arts assignment

Student Lyrics: Art Just Isn’t

Benny: Art is not about how many people see it. It’s not about how many people want to see it. Art is not at all about who likes it. It isn’t about how much money you get from selling it. It’s not about getting anything in return. Art isn’t about how pretty you can make it or how many compliments you receive from it. It’s not about the colors you use, or the precision of the lines you draw, or how well you can follow the rules of creativity, because art is most certainly not about following rules. Art just isn’t about that. But art is about the people that do see it. Art is about the people who do like it. It’s about why somebody cared enough for what you made to buy it from you. It’s about understanding that you don’t need anything in return, because art is meant for you to express yourself and why should anyone else have to be involved in that. Bless the people who feel your works emotions with you, but good riddance to those who didn’t understand. Art is about making something, and not caring about it being pretty. It’s about showing a side of yourself that isn’t pretty in a conventional way, but beautiful on a whole other level. It’s about using a whole array of colors you feel, whether or not they’re the colors other people want to see, and not coloring in the lines, and breaking every rule out there. Because art is about expression, which barely comes with guide lines. Most of all art is about being yourself no matter what others may think.

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Demitrios: Art isn’t about making something look nice. It’s not about how much more money you got for selling something, or how many people think your piece is amazing. It isn’t about who painted it, or what kind of canvas it was painted on. It’s not about how exact your details are, or how perfect the contrast is. Art isn’t about showing off, or making other people feel bad. It’s not about how skilled the artist is, or how well known he or she may be. Art just isn’t about that. But art is about the story it’s telling. It’s about how the artist is expressing themselves, and the passion they put toward they artwork, that they pride themselves in, knowing that it’s the best they could ever possibly do. Art is about sharing happiness, sadness, love or hate. It’s about doing what you love, whenever you want to do it. It’s a way of life, something that shows who you are inside to the world around you. Most of all, art is about you.

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Adrian: Art isn’t about the most paintings. It’s not about how many you have and it’s not what you painted or what you’re painting or what you want to paint. It’s not about your paintbrush, or your drawing sheet, or the color of the paint, or where you sell your paintings. In fact it’s not about who’s better, or who drew the Mon Lisa, or what they think of your painting, or what company will buy your art work or not. Art isn’t about Drawing the biggest painting, or using the most colours, its not about using black or white. Art just isn’t about that. But art is about what you feel like putting on the paper. It’s about what you love. It’s about working together with your paintbrush and paint and make a masterpiece. It’s about anything and anywhere you want your painting to be. It’s about being able to be proud of what you have done even if people think it’s bad. Most of all art is about making anything that sets your mind to “this is hyped up man.” These choices are what art is about.

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Frosty: Art isn’t about competing for the best picture prize. It isn’t about who gets less criticized. It doesn’t matter if your picture isn’t on a gallery, or if no one appreciates your melody. Art isn’t about worrying what others think, and saying that a flamingo is always pink. Don’t stress yourself to be perfect in every single thing you do, ‘cause art just isn’t about that. But art is about getting your feelings out of your heart. it’s about letting your creativity and imagination flow endlessly. It’s about not being scared to have a new start. ‘Cause it’s worth it to let the things you keep inside free. Art is love, passion, inspiration, and a point of view. Art is a world of emotions, music, colors, lines, and words. Art is about what you really think is true. Most of all, art is about you.

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Lhaphu: Art just isn’t about drawing, painting, taking pictures. Its not about how beautiful your sketch is, its not about how amazing your pictures are. Its not about being famous, its not a laughing matter, its not just a pen and a paper. Its not about how to draw or how to color or how to write. Its not about being popular in your school to fit in or show something beautiful. Art isn’t about sitting on a chair drawing something or going out taking pictures and its not about having nothing in your mind. Art just isn’t about that. But art is about expressing your feelings. Its about what you think. Its about happiness, being yourself and doing what you love the most. Art is about showing people how a single thing can change a person’s life. Everybody needs inspiration and that’s art. Art is all about inspiration. Its about what you feel and what you think. Its about creating your own world. Its about imagination. Most of all, its all about feelings and gathering your thoughts together. These are what art is all about.

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Porcelaine: Art just isn’t squiggles and dots. It’s not only just sketches, or even the Mona Lisa. It’s not about perfect drawings of temples and emotionless pictures of squares and circles. It’s not about competition, or stress. It just isn’t about uncannily real looking sketches of things. It isn’t being trapped inside a box, pressured to make it beautiful. Art just isn’t something you can stereotype or judge. Art isn’t all about that. Art is about breaking free, about releasing who you really are inside. It’s to let your emotions burst out in creation, for all the world to see. It’s all around us, from ballerinas, to photos, to the trees in front of our house. It’s the small doodles of a child to the portrait of a woman. You can see it flowing out of of beautiful speeches, out of the chops of martial artists…Most of all, art is not only the masterpieces that we make that but it’s a way of living. Art simplified to its core.

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Photoman: Art just isn’t music, literature, film, photography, sculpture or paintings. It isn’t about how well done it is, how much time did you spend to do this… It isn’t about which colors did you use or which notes. Also art isn’t about other people, what do they think about it, it doesn’t matter… Art just isn’t about that…But art is about how well have you been trying doing this, how much your soul did you put inside… It is about your feelings: happiness, sadness, love, hate, curiosity, beauty, greed, wisdom, spirituality, tranquility, unity… It is about how do you think and what do you think… It is about telling a story. Through art you should express your thoughts and yourself. The most important thing is that art should be a part of your life and you, and you’d never forget about it.

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Dude: Art isn’t what you think it is.  It isn’t paintings, sculptures, graffiti, its not music, its not self expression, design, or still life.  It isn’t always what the public wants, it isn’t riches, gold, fame, money, recognition, love, adoration, interest.  Art isn’t happy, sad, beautiful, or ugly, art doesn’t have to said or heard. Art isn’t about the tools used, art isn’t the skill involved, art isn’t the emotions felt. art isn’t the creation process, art isn’t the artists views, art isn’t everything to everyone.  Art isn’t just one thing, nor has art ever been fully classified, art cannot be understood by everyone, art can’t be interpreted the same way every time. Art cannot be fully understood.  Art isn’t how many paintings you paint, sculptures you sculpt, carvings you carve, or lyrics you write.  Art isn’t the time spent practicing because art simply can’t be learned. But art is all about you.  How you interpret it, what you believe the message people are sending is.  Everything you experience could be interpreted as art.  There is almost nothing that could be considered as “not art” by absolutely everyone.  Art is doing what you believe, art is sending a message, either bluntly or subtle.  Anyone can be an artist, everyone is an artist. While not everyone will always understand the message you are trying to put across art is never without a message.  But most of all, art is life.  Art is nothing and art is everything, art is quiet and loud, it is dark and it is bright, happy and sad.  Art in the truest sense should have no definition because it is a word almost without meaning, art is basically the word to describe somebodies views on life.

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Freeze: Art just isn’t about perfection. It also isn’t about straight lines and direction  “You’re so ugly you could be a modern art masterpiece.” – Full Metal Jacket. The Mona Lisa isn’t perfect, why should we be? “Modern art is a piece of crap you can’t flush.” – Unknown. Its not something you should do to fit in. Art just isn’t about that. But Art is about being creative. Art is a great way to take out your emotions like anger, sadness and jealousy. Art has no bounds. Billions of people could view your art but only the artist fully understands what he’s trying to say. Most of all art is about emotions and creativity.

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Polarbear: Art just isn’t… A blob of paint thrown onto a canvas. It isn’t just a statue that represents a being who is no long among us. It is not a piece of music. Art isn’t just entertainment. That’s not what art is about. But art is an image that stays in our head. A statue is a representation of power, sadness, happiness and any other thinkable emotion. The paint on the canvas says something: Freedom. When I think of art… And I mean true art, I think of a painting that made me think, a song that flies through my head and a building that makes me feel like I’m home. Yes a building… Even an apartment is art. In some way. Most of all art is about making us think of what a wonderful world we live in.

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Kiwi: Art isn’t about what others are doing. It isn’t about who drew the best, or who was the nicest in the room. It isn’t about whose feet were pointed the furthest, or who was the most graceful. Art isn’t about best painting, or even the most valuable painting. It isn’t about color, or shapes or technique. It isn’t about the prettiest clothes, or the nicest hair, or even the best smile. It isn’t about the design or the style. Art just isn’t about that. But art is about life and emotion. It’s about feeling and love. It’s about doing what you want to do and not caring about what anyone else says. It’s about happiness, and hate. Art is about sadness and joy. It’s about knowing who you want to be. It’s about making opinions, and telling people your ideas. It’s about showing your emotions to the world. Art is about soul and heart and meaning. It’s about belief and hope. That’s what art is about.

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Isaac: Art just isn’t about the outer shell that all the boring and bland people see. It’s not about the dumb paint or the scribbles you see on a canvas, the music you hear on elevators, the clay figures you pointlessly try to make sense out of. It’s about the meaning hiding behind the canvas that inspires emotion. When you look at a beautiful marble statue I’m not only seeing the statue I’m seeing the the pieces of marble that were chipped off long ago, unattended to. But that’s just the creative arts, what about nature itself as in the mountains that sprouted out of the ground millions of years ago, or the human mind.

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Amidala: Art isn’t just about making a picture good looking it is about the story that the picture tells, about the story in the picture, that means that every painting tells you a story and drawing helps you a lot of times because you can let your emotions out and draw them out of you and put them on the painting. Art is everything you want it to be.

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Phoenix: Art isn’t about meaningless squiggles and dots, neither about splashes and spots. Art isn’t about playing with clay, neither about randomly writing a play. Art is about a full picture with beauty in details, as well as it is about not following others trails. Art can be about musical beats,
as well as it can be the graffiti in the streets. Art is about telling a story, Showing up in all its glory.