But of course, art is in the eye of the beholder!

I guess anyone could make a claim that something is art because it is creative or new or beautiful. afterall, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you can't tell someone 'no that's not beautiful' apparently yes. i will try to find the link to post here: but there was a woman in college, majoring in Art and her artwork consisted of a large plastic cube that held blood from all of her miscarriges. Disgusting. She claimed it was art. That certainly has caused some controversy

Yes, with the right context it can. It is another question if anything can be GOOD art.

Had a gut response of "yes". (and then ...) Well, thanks to you and this question? I just spent 30 minutes .. first thinking about it ... struggling with my "yes" answer and then thinking "hmmmmm, I wonder how art IS defined .. think I'll go google it and see just for fun". Put in "art" and "definition" as search terms. -- Dictionary results, of course. But wound up spending time reading a long article at Wikipedia. (Know this is user contributed - and meant as jumping off point as a source). FOUR PARAGRAPHS to try to define "art"! :) -- Art in Wikipedia includes << 1 Usage - 2 Theories - 3 Utility and Purpose - 4 Classification disputes - 5 Controversial art - 6 Art, class and value - 7 Forms, genres, mediums, and styles - 8 History - 9 Characteristics >> Notes too that there's an entire branch of philosophy dedicated to "art" ... aesthetics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art -- I really enjoyed the Wikipedia side trip. I enjoy learning. I admire art and human "creativity" - brought to bear in the arts, but also to other areas of life. So thank you for teaming up with my first cup of coffee this morning -- over your question -- "can anything be art"!! :)

Everything is art. Art is a creation that spawned from an idea so everything is art. The question should've been- What makes a good piece of art?