Summary Of The Sanctuary Of School By Lynda Barry

991 Words4 Pages

Kaysie Rich
Mr. Dibattista
ENGL A111 619
September 25,2016
Literacy is Not Just Reading and Writing Creating art is one of the many ways our brains can go on autopilot and deal with the stress everyday events may cause. It isn’t just drawing or painting; in fact, art can be defined as visual, auditory, or performing acts that convey unique and creative thoughts to be appreciated for their beauty by oneself or others. The artist’s thoughts become the art through their personal hardships, struggles, and overall awareness of oneself. In her essay The Sanctuary of School, Lynda Barry, an art major and successful artist, demonstrates her founding love and freedom through art provided by her teacher in her classroom as a young child. In relation …show more content…

Knoblauch’s scholarly article, Literacy and Politics of Education, he elucidates that literacy isn’t just reading and writing. Literacy is much more than that. In fact, someone could be literate in just about anything. To expand, Knoblauch also explains literacy in different areas in life, such as the basic needs to function and personal development. These two concepts go hand in hand with Barry’s situation. While fulfilling her needs to escape to her own little dimension and find her way through her difficult life, she learns to deal with the stresses and problems that come about by making art. In addition, Heather Stuckey and Jeremy Nobel, authors of The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature, state that “art helps people express experiences that are too difficult to put into words…” (Stuckey 24). This leads me to believe that Barry felt that art was the only way to work through her issues, especially because she drew the exact opposite of what her living conditions were, “a sun in the corner of a blue sky over a nice house with flowers all around it” (Barry …show more content…

Whether visual, written, or performance, art is a form of expression that can help individuals find themselves and where they are meant to be in this intimidating world. Barry was not forming art for the primary reason to please others; she did it for herself. Not only did she come to know herself through art, but she also acquired some information to function in the world surrounding her. Art acts as a form of self-expression and in some cases, such as Barry’s, a type of therapy.
Works Cited
Barry, Lynda. “The Sanctuary of School.” Issues in Education. 83-85. Print.
Knoblauch, C.H. “Literacy and the Politics of Education.” The Right to Literacy. Ed. Andrea A. Lunsford, Helene Moglen, and James Slevin. New York: MLA, 1990. 74-80. Print.
Scribner, Sylvia. “Literacy in Three Metaphors.” American Journal of Education 93.1 (1984): 6-21. Print.
Stuckey, Heather L., and Jeremy Nobel. “The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature.” American Journal of Public Health 100.2 (2010): 254–263. PMC. Web. 28 Sep.