Visual Arts and Human Flourishing

Visual Arts and Human Flourishing brings together thoughtful and innovative thinkers from various visual arts fields such as art history, architecture, public art, and museums, to examine visual arts'' relationship to flourishing, well-being, and happiness from the ancient world to the present day. From the poetic musings of exiled Cuban artist Enrique Martinez Celaya, to the practical utopianism of Kulapat Yantrassast as he tries to rescue architecture from the coldness of Modernism; from the musings of Steven Fine about the decorative arts in ancient synagogues in creating community and meaning, to Faya Causey''s analysis of the role of amber in celebrations and rituals over the millennia, and throughout the many other chapters of the book as a whole, the contributors examine how visual arts have promoted expansive expressions of an ever more flourishing and thriving humanity. The essays in this volume, part of The Humanities and Human Flourishing series, demonstrate how the process of thinking, writing, creating, and general curiosity about visual art can play a vital role in human flourishing.