Chapter 7, Principles of Design

Explain the relationship between emphasis and focal point.

Artists use emphasis to draw the viewers attention to an area of a work. This area is the focal point. Emphasis, in other words, is a means to create a focal point.

repetition/rhythm

an effect achieved when shapes, color, or a regular pattern is repeated over and over again.

media

materials an artist uses to make art.

Describe the relationship between pattern, repetition, and rhythm.

Rhythm and pattern are created by repetition. repetition of patterns create rhythm. repetition and rhythm create patterns. they all work symbiotically.

Differentiate between scale and proportion.

Scale refers to the dimensions of an object as compared to the original object it represents or in relation to the objects around it. Proportion refers to the relationship between parts of a whole.

Define symmetrical, asymmetrical, and radial balance.

Symmetrical balance occurs when both sides of a work have absolute or bilateral symmetry. Asymmetrical balance occurs when the two sides of the work lack balance but have the same weight. and radial balance moves outward from a central focal point.

absolute symmetry

each side is exactly the same

balance

even distribution of weight in a composition

radial balance

everything radiates outward from a central point

Discuss the traditional relationship between unity and variety and why postmodernist artists have tended to emphasize variety over unity.

Unity give variety in the composition a sense of being a consistent and complete whole. Postmodernists rejected unity to emphasize a sense of disjunction and disorder.

proportion

relationship between the parts of an object and the whole

visual weight

the apparent heaviness or lightness of the shapes and forms in a composition

stylobate

the base, or platform, on which a column rests.

actual weight

the physical weight of a works materials

canon

the rule of perfect proportions for the human body as determined by the Greek sculptor Polyclitus in a now lost work, known as The Canon, and based on an idea that each part of the body should be based on a common fraction of the person's height.

bilateral symmetry

there are minor discrepancies between the sides, but the overall effect is still symmetrical.

asymmetrically balanced

two dies of a composition lack balance but have the same visual weight

scale

used to describe the dimensions of an art object in relation to the original objects around it

postmodernism

used to describe the willingly plural eclectic art forms of contemporary art.

symmetrical

when two halves of a composition correspond to one another in terms of shape, size, and placement.

focal point

where an artist employs emphasis to draw the viewers attention to that area of a work