W hat is art?</p><p>The question, posed by photographer Roy Inman to the subjects of his First Friday portraits in today&rsquo;s magazine, elicited a variety of humorous, thought-provoking answers.</p><p>By design, all of the subjects were attending a gallery walk in the Crossroads Arts District. </p><p>Most people who regularly look at art or make it regard art as a medium of intellectual and emotional expression, although technical skill is also valued. </p><p>I agree. What elevates art from what your dog could do with a paintbrush tied to its tail is intent. </p><p>Some people think art is pretty pictures to hang on walls and finely wrought crafts, such as inlaid wooden boxes or blown-glass vases. </p><p>I agree with them, too. I love decorative artworks, and you&rsquo;ll find me perusing some at the Plaza Art Fair next weekend. It&rsquo;s just a different kind of art than what you find in museums and top galleries.</p><p>I love it all. </p><p>Not every piece, but all the categories: visual art, craft, graphic design. I love Cuban movie posters, album covers by Milton Glaser, pretty stamps and Ingo Maurer lamps as well as the Great Masters and Abstract Expressionists.</p><p>I love some children&rsquo;s artworks. (I can see the derisively arched eyebrow of a dear friend as she reads that last bit, but I cannot tell a lie.) </p><p>Much kid art is dreadful, including many works by my offspring over the years. But every now and then, a crudely rendered picture in chalky tempera on construction paper can move me profoundly.</p><p>And that&rsquo;s the test.</p><p><em>How does it make you feel? </em>I used to ask my kids that about paintings, especially abstract ones, when I dragged them to museums. </p><p>(We still go to museums, but now that they&rsquo;re teenagers, I have to persuade them. When they were little I forced culture on them, like any responsible parent. You don&rsquo;t ask children if they feel like brushing their teeth, right? I always felt promoting civilization was as important as promoting oral hygiene.)</p><p><em>How does it make you feel?</em> That question heads off the dead-end like it/don&rsquo;t like it approach to art. When you throw off the burden of judgment, you give your heart and mind a ticket to ride. </p><p>A photograph, painting or sculpture can unlock long-forgotten memories and emotions. Recently, the pastel hues in a ribbon stripe painting rocketed me straight back to age 12, inside my grandmother&rsquo;s house, circa 1973. </p><p>The colors in the painting were the colors of Grandma&rsquo;s cotton nightgowns, one of which she had on when she walked in on my cousin Suzanne and me smoking cigarettes in the upstairs bedroom. </p><p>Standing in front of the painting, I could suddenly smell the singular mix of Lemon Pledge, potted geraniums, musty quilts and Virginia Slims in the room that summer afternoon all those years ago.</p><p>A visit to a museum or gallery is as much of an escape for me as sinking into a great book. </p><p>If you stop thinking and let the colors, lines and mood work their magic on you, a work of art can be as moving as a spectacular sunset in a national park. </p><p>Museums are like camping without the bugs and damp. Or like international travel without the visas and currency exchanges.</p><p>Industrial designer Karim Rashid once said nature bored him because it was already designed. </p><p>I understand the sentiment. I can appreciate a stunning natural landscape, but I like a magnificent painting or photograph of one even better.