Gateways to Art Chapter 1.2 - 1.3 part 1
Value
The lightness or darkness of a plane or area.
Medium (plural media)
The material on or form which an artist chooses to make a work of art, Example: canvas and oil paint, marble, engraving, video, or architecture.
Color
The optical effect caused when reflected white light of the spectrum is divided into separate wavelengths.
Composition
The overall design or organization of a work.
Foreground
The part of a work depicted as nearest to the viewer.
Emphasis
The practice of drawing attention to particular content in a work.
Scale
The size of an object or artwork relative to another object or artwork, or to a system of measurement.
Volume
The space filled or enclosed by three-dimensional figure or object.
Picture plane
The surface of a painting or drawing.
Texture
The surface quality of work, for example fine/course, detailed/lacking in detail
Hatching
The use of non-overlapping parallel lines to convey darkness or lightness
Cross-hatching
The use of overlapping lines to convey darkness or lightness.
Organic form
Three-dimensional (irregular) form made up of unpredictable, irregular planes, that suggest the natural world. Example: living things like plants, animals, and humans that change constantly and their forms change too.
Geometric form
Three-dimensional form composed of regular (forms), planes and curves. Example: cubes, spheres, cylinders, cones, pyramids.
Actual texture
Three-dimensional objects we can touch, such as a sculpture.
Open volume
When an artists enclose a space with materials that are not completely solid. (The space occupied by a form).
Position
When we look into the distance, objects and things in front of us appear lower in our cone vision.
Overlapping
When we see an object but not the entire object, we know there is something in front of it. The overlapped object is further back in space.
Size
When we see similar objects that have some distance between them, the object closest to us appears larger.
High relief
a carved panel where the figures project with a great deal of depth from the background.
Chiaroscuro
(Italian for "light dark") The use of light and dark in a painting to create the impression of volume. Is an effect that creates an illusion of solidity and depth by using five defined values; highlight, light, core shadow, reflected light, and cast shadow.
Asymmetrical masses
(Masses) cannot be equally divided on a central axis. Can suggest dynamism, movement, and change.
Style
A characteristic way in which an artist or group of artists use visual language to give a work an identifiable form a visual expression.
Plane
A flat surface, often implied, in the composition.
In the round
A freestanding sculpted work that can be viewed from all sides.
Background
A part of work depicted furthest from the viewers face, often behind the main subject matter.
Renaissance
A period of cultural and artistic change in Europe from the 14th to 17th century.
Relief
A raised on a largely flat background. Example: the design on a coin is "in relief". Forms that combines aspects of two dimensional art and three-dimensional works of art.
Bas-relief
A sculpture carved with very little depth.
Shape
A two-dimensional area, the boundaries of which are defined by lines or suggested by change in color or value. Example: a drawing of a triangle.
Implied texture
A visual illusion expressing texture.
Mass
A volume that has, or gives the illusion of having height, width, density, and bulk. (By contrast, suggests that something is solid and occupies space). Example: it expresses that a volume is solid and occupies space, whether it is enormous, like the pyramids, or small, like a piece of jewelry.
Shadow
An area of the darkest in value of work.
Highlight
An area of the lightness value in a work.
Surrealism or Surrealist
An artistic movement in the 1920's and later; it's works were inspired by dreams and the subconscious.
Negative space
An empty space given by the surround, Example: right pointing arrow between the E and X in FedEx. (Open space not occupied by form).
Axis
An imaginary line showing the center of a shape, volume of composition.
Form
An object that can be defined in three dimensions. Height, width, and depth.
Freestanding
Any sculpture that stands separate from walls or other surfaces so that it can be viewed from a 360° range.
Facade
Any side of a building, usually the front or entrance.
Installation
Are artworks that alter a space or create a environment at a specific site for a limited time (usually until the end of an exhibition).
Abstract
Art imagery that departs from recognizable images from the natural world.
Genres
Categories of artists subject matter, often with strongly influential histories and traditions.
Closed form
Does not interact with the surrounding space, there are no open areas.
Tenebrism
Dramatic use of intense darkness and light to heighten the impact of painting
Baroque
European artistic and architectural style of late 16th century to early 18th century, characterized by extravagance and emotional intensity.
Two-dimensional
Having height and width. Example: a drawing of a triangle (shape) is flat and does not have mass or volume.
Three-dimensional
Having height, width, and depth. Example: the great pyramids of Egypt.
Implied forms
Having mass and volume.
Open form
Interacts with the surrounding space. There are open areas in the sculpture that create negative spaces.
Core shadow
Is a more sudden transition to darker values.
Imply depth of space
Size, overlapping, position, perspective; atmospheric, linear, isometric, foreshortening .
Absence of mass
Suggest lightness, airiness, and flight.
Presence of mass
Suggests weight, gravity, and connection to the earth.
Relative placement
The arrangement of shapes or lines to form a visual relationship to each other in a design.
Elements
The basics of vocabulary of art - line, form, shape, volume, mass, color , texture, space, time and motion, and value (lightness/darkness).
Focal point
The center of interest or activity in a work of art, often drawing the viewer's attention to be the most important element.
Perspective
The creation of illusion of depth in a two-dimensional image by using mathematical principles.
Depth
The degree of recession in perspective.
Space
The distance between identifiable points or planes
