I believe I am INTP (though some argue F) and art is very important to me. (And I am a female.)
It is my theory too that tertiary Si is a "safe" way for T types to feel.
I love art as refinement. I see this in Japanese and Greek culture, the Japanese taking it to an exquisite extreme and making everything they do and believe into an art form. This is more my approach to art, although there is an element of expressing the unconscious.
I do visual art, I'm a musician, and a dancer. Visual art is fulfilling and pleasing to me if it is beautiful or communicates something true (but I still don't like it if it's ugly). I am very much into aesthetics and the sensual, and I appreciate the beauty in my environment. As far as music is concerned I am one of those people who is great at imitation but awful at creation. I can play a song back to you by ear, sing like the person singing, and even do my own creative cover or remix; but put me in a jam session and I'm retarded. (I'm also awful at poetry. I like and understand it, but I am incapable of writing anything serious. My mind works to clarify things, not make them more abstract.) I love music though. I listen to it all the time. It's the way I connect to other people and the outside world (Fe). I connect to a collective spirit or emotion in a piece of music and feel part of a group. Dance, the most Si, really makes me feel alive and expresses my unconscious self. Creative and aesthetically pleasing physical movement is a big part of my life, and seems to purge any negative feeling I might have buried in my consciousness which I may not be aware of (not that I'm often moody, because I'm not). I just feel better and stronger afterwards, not to mention it gets my endorphins going and makes me happy. Then I remember that this is what life is really like, not some stupid illusion.
Anyway. I have more thoughts about art, but this about explains why I like art and how that manifests in my life.
Edit: Oh yeah, one more thing. I think Ti can appreciate and create art if it expresses an abstract idea. I do this a lot. I like to illustrate concepts.