Art Appreciation
Environment
Artistic works that are planned, often on a grand scale, to surround or to involve the participation of the spectator.
Open palette
Artists don't restrict themselves.
Restricted palette
Artists limits themselves with a few pigments, mixtures, tints and shades.
Damascened
Artists put one metal onto another metal to decorate it.
Protest
Artwork created by activists and social movements
Kinetic Art
Artwork that actually moves & it is part of the design.
Reconstruction
Artwork that has been rebuilt after being damaged or destroyed.
Anthropomorphic
Artwork that has human characteristics.
Primitivism
Artwork that is less complex, less sophisticated or less advanced.
"Sacred Realm"
Artwork that is religious
Personification
Artwork that represent an abstract quality in human form.
"Daily Life"
Artworks people live with
Uncanny
Artworks that are strange or mysterious
Relief
Attached to 2-dimensional surfaces.
Symmetry versus Asymmetry
Balanced vs Unbalanced
Prehistoric Art?
Because we do not understand the artist's purpose for it.
Megalith vs. Monolith
Big stone vs. One Stone
Censorship
Blocking of immoral imagery.
Cool Colors
Blue-Green side of the color wheel due to their association with the sky, water, and shade
Conceptual Art
Breaks away from traditional art. Makes us think and question ideas about our reality.
Assembling
Building a sculpture out of distinctive parts and pieces.
Arches
Building design that the Romans used to build massive structures
Basilicas
Buildings, usually churches, that are designed in a specific architectural style marked by large halls and long arcades
Suspension
Cables that help to support the building.
Swastika
Carries different meanings for different people.
Chasing
Carve into a metal plate to create a design.
Porcelain
Ceramic made by mixing Kaolin with finely ground porcelain stone.
Ionic Order
Characterized by volutes (spiral, scroll-like form), capitals, columns with bases, uninterrupted frieze, base
Charcoal
Charred wood.
Pigment
Coloring material
Dada
Combination or images and letters to portray objects.
Simultaneous Contrast
Complementary colors appear more intense when placed side by side.
Triadic Harmonies
Composed of any three colors equidistant from each other on the color wheel.
Analogous
Composed of colors adjacent to one another.
Monochromatic
Composed of only one color.
Complementary colors
Composed of opposite colors.
Reinforced concrete
Concrete with iron or steel rods imbedded inside it.
Oil
Consist of pigment compound with oil, usually Lin seed oil. The oil acts as a binder, creating as it dries a transparent film in which the pigment is suspended.
Registration
Making sure all the matrixes align correctly so the colors go to all the right places.
Wood Engraving
Matrix is created on a surface across the grain. Used to create darker prints.
Metalpoint
Metal used as a drawing medium.
Collage
Mix media in art.
Plastics
Moldable and cohesive.
Corinthian Order
Most ornate of the orders- contains a base, a fluted column shaft, and the capital is elaborate and decorated with leaf carvings
Fresco
Pigments are mixed with water and applied to a plaster support, usually a wall or ceiling coated in plaster.
Lithography
Planographic printmaking method based on the fact that oil and water repel each other.
Chalk and Crayon
Powdered pigments and a kind of soft white limestone
Computer Prints
Printed by a computer.
Pointilism
Process of painting using little dots.
Cinema
Productions of movies as an art or industry.
Primary Colors
Red, Yellow, and Blue. Called primary because they cannot be made by any mixture of other colors.
Warm Colors
Red-Orange side of the color wheel due to association with sunlight and firelight.
Iconoclasm
Rejection or destruction of religious imagery as heretical
Digital
Relating to, using, or storing data or information in the form of digital signals.
Intensity
Relative purity of a color.
Narrative
Representing stories or events pictorially or sculpturally.
Arcade
Series of arches
Values
Shades of light and dark.
Implied Shapes
Shapes that aren't there but our mind constructs to create a work of art
Stained Glass
Sheets of glasses in various colors are cut into pieces and fitted together to form a pattern.
Silverpoint
Silver used as a drawing medium
Aquatint
Similar to etching, resin powder is used instead of varnish where its melted onto the metal plate then dipped in acid.
Doric Order
Simplest of all orders. It has no base, a fluted column and no ornaments on the capital
Scale and Proportion
Size in relation to a standard or "normal" size; Size relationships between parts of a whole.
Statue
Statues that you can walk around.
Frieze
Structural support
Art History
Study of the history of Art
Green Architecture
The practice of designing and building homes with environmental considerations such as energy efficiency, recycling, and conservation of natural resources in mind
Technique
The manner and ability to which an artist employs the technical skills of a particular art.
Composition
The manner of being composed structure.
Woodcut
The matrix is made of wood and is carved into. The artist pours ink on the carved wood and the presses it onto a piece of paper.
Content
The meaning or significance of an artistic work
Geodesic domes
The most stable structure a human can build.
Director
The one who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, and visualizes the scripts while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of that vision. Makes the final decision.
Producer
The one who oversees the pre-production, such as hiring, funding, and renting the studio. They supervise the making of a film before presenting the product to a financial entity.
Planographic
The printing surface is flat.
Tertiary Colors
The product of a primary color and an adjacent secondary color.
Video
The recording, reproducing, or broadcast of moving visual images.
Proportion
The relative size of parts of a whole (elements with an object)
Apse
The semicircular, protruding niche at one or both ends of the nave of a Roman basilica.
Figure
The shape we detach and focus on.
Scale
The size of an object in relationship to another object
Tracery
The stone frame the artist creates to hold the stained glass together.
Keystone
The stone that is in the middle of an arch.
Iconology
The study of an artwork in its historical context.
Semiotics
The study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation.
Ground (ground line)
The surrounding visual info the figure stands out from in the background.
Animation
The technique of photographing successive drawings to create an illusion of movement when the movie is shown as a sequence.
Clerestory
The topmost part of a wall, extending above flunking elements such as aisles, and set with windows to admit light. In a basilica or church, the clerestory is the topmost zone of the nave.
Capital
The tops of columns.
Culture
The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work.
Foreshortening
The type of distortion to give depth to 2 objects to make them appear 3D.
Realism
When an artist is showing the social realities of their time to bring about a change.
Audience
The people the artwork was meant for.
Point of view (Perspective)
The position from which something is observed or considered a standpoint.
Optical Color Mixture
When small patches of different colors are close, the eye may blend them together to produce a new color.
Fresco Secco
Where the plaster is dry.
Silkscreen, Seriography
Writing with holes.
Flying Buttress
a buttress that stands apart from the main structure and connected to it by an arch
low relief
a sculptural relief in which forms extend only slightly from the background
Installation
a space is presented as a work of art that can be entered, explored, experienced & reflected upon.
Squinches
a system shaped like an octagon that supports a dome using arches, corbels or lintels to bridge the corners of the supporting wall and form the octagon inscribed in the square
Theme
a unifying, dominant idea in a work of art
Groin Vault
formed at the point at which 2 barrel vaults intersect at right angles
Propaganda
ideas deliberately spread widely to help or harm groups or movements.
Barrel-vault
the simplest form of vault consisting of an unbroken series of arches; it forms a tunnel like shape
Arete
Idea of excellence.
Nave
In an ancient Roman basilica, the taller central space flanked by aisles.
Bays
In architecture, a modular unit of space, generally cubic and generally defined by four supporting columns.
ILM
Industrial, Light, and Magic
Imitation (mimicry)
Influence
Puddle Iron
Iron that is more malleable.
Chroma
Latin word for color.
Contour Lines
Lines that give us a sense of shape.
Movement
Lines that our eyes follow to see where they go.
Implied Lines
Lines used to direct our attention to implied shapes.
Human experience
Looking inward
Elevation
A 2-dimensional plan that shows the height and width of the building.
Mosque
A Muslim place of worship.
Broken color
A technique where they use a line of color instead of blending colors.
Fine Art
Art that was made with the intention to be seen.
Carving
Artist cuts, chips, and gouges away into a block of material until a sculpture appears.
Colorfield Painting
Artist focuses on large areas of color.
Abstract Expressionism
Artist is expressing their own sentiments with abstract designs.
Embossing
Artist is pushing out the metal to make a three-dimensional design.
Mosaic
Made of small, closely spaced particles called tessera embedded in a binder such as mortar or cement.
Linocut
Made out of linoleum. Easiest to cut into in any direction. Has less tone and modeling.
Contrapposto & S-Curve
"Counterbalance" which sets the body in a gentle S-shaped curve through a play of opposites.
Neo-Classicism
(1775-1900) A development from the Renaissance. More intellectual and based on historical, religious, mythological, and political ideas. Emphasis on tradition and western civilization.
Modernism
(1800-1930) The 19th century saw a rapid change in artistic movements and tastes that paved the way of diversity of art we see today.
Mihrab
(Islam) a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the direction of Mecca.
7 Virtues
1. Justice 2. Prudence (Wisdom) 3. Temperance (Moderation) 4. Fortitude (Courage) 5. Faith 6. Hope 7. Love
Daguerrotype
A camera process that used a pewter plate, photosensitive compounds (silver iodide), and lots of concentrated light. It was expensive, a monotype, and was very difficult to do.
Shade
A color darker than the hue's normal value.
Tint
A color lighter than the hue's normal value.
Japanese Prints
A color print executed from wood blocks in water based inks.
Cantilever
A constructed building with only one end grounded in the earth.
Layout
A designer's blueprints for an extended work in print, such as a book or a magazine.
Groundplan
A diagram of the stage/set from a birds eye view.
Pen and ink
A drawing
Primitive
A genre of art & outdoor constructions made by untrained artists.
Hue
A gradation or variety of a color; tint.
Wash
A layer of paint or metal spread thinly on a surface.
Footage
A length of film made for movies or television.
Casting
A liquid is poured into a mold of some kind and is allowed to harden.
Medium
A liquid that holds the particles of pigment together without dissolving them.
Line
A mark or stroke long in proportion to its breadth on a surface.
Mold, Armature
A matrix for a sculpture.
Gesso
A mixture of white pigment & glue that sealed the wood and could be sanded & rubbed to a smooth ivory like finish.
Film
A motion picture; a movie.
Romanticism
A movement in Western art of the late 18th and early 19th century, generally assumed to be in opposition to Neoclassicism. Romantic works are marked by intense colors, turbulent emotions, complex composition, soft outlines, and sometime heroic or exotic subject matter.
Triptych
A painting in three sections
Style
A particular kind, sort, or type as with reference to form, appearance, or character.
Studio
A place where movies are made or produced.
Fiber
A pliable, threadlike strand.
Portico
A porch, the roof of which is supported by columns, often marking the entrance to a building
Ground primer
A preliminary coating.
Monotype
A print with only one copy.
Screenprinting
A process where holes have been cut out where color is squeezed through the screen to the paper.
Coffers
A recessed, geometrical panel in a ceiling often used in multiples as a decorative element.
Elevation
A scale drawing of the side, front, & rear of a structure
Lens
A screen through which artist's focus light.
Earthwork
A sculpture made out of the land.
Mobile
A sculpture that moves.
3-Dimensional
A sensation of space which seems to have thickness or depth as well as height and width.
Unity and Variety
A sense of oneness and a sense of difference.
Edition
A set of prints made consecutively at the same time.
Mass
A shape or 3-dimensional that has or gives the illusion of having weight.
Cast-Iron Construction
A skeleton and skin (if covered with an exterior material); Eiffel Tower
Figurine
A small sculpture.
Typeface
A style of type.
Binder
A substance that allows it to be shaped into sticks.
Adobe
A sun-dried, mud brick
Buttress
A support or prop
Paper
A support system that the artist writes upon.
Matrix
A surface on which a design is prepared before being transferred through pressure to a receiving surface such as paper.
Mandala
A symbol of harmony & a symbol of symmetry.
Signs
A symbol used to convey information or embody ideals.
Alla Prima
A technique where artists work directly in opaque colors on the white ground.
Post-Impressionism
A term applied to the work of several artists--French or living in France--from about 1885 to 1905. Post-Impressionists were united in rejecting the relative absence of form characteristic of Impressionism. The group included Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, and Georges Seurat.
Mass
A three dimensional form that occupies a volume of space.
Tone
A tint or shade of value.
Minarets
A tower forming part of a mosque and serving as a place from which the faithful are called to prayer.
Shape
A two dimensional form.
Lacquer
A type of painting technology developed in Asia.
Jade
A type of stone.
Skyscraper
A very tall building of many stories.
Tapestry
A wall hanging of heavy handwoven fabric with pictorial designs
Brush and Ink
A wash
Perspective
A way of portraying 3 dimensions on a flat, 2-dimensional surface by suggesting depth
Site-specific (Earthwork)
A work of art made for a specific place using natural materials found there, especially the earth itself.
Minimalism
Abstract art that focuses on minimalizing things down.
Abstraction
Abstract qualities or characteristics of a work of art.
Ground
Acid resistant substance made from beeswax, asphalt and other materials.
Isometric Perspective
All dimensions are parallel to each other. Mostly used for architectural drawings.
Subtractive (Pigment)
All the colors put together to make black.
Additive (light)
All the colors together make white.
Balance
All things symmetrical are balanced. Asymmetrical image can be balanced.
Tempera
An aqueous medium that dries into a tough, insoluble film whose colors retain their brilliance and clarity.
Marfa, Texas
An art exhibit.
Installation
An artist takes an entire room and installs something in there that people can walk into.
Pencil
An artist's brush especially a fine one.
Stylization
An artist's way of stylizing things.
Afterimage
An image that persists after the visual stimuli that first produced it has ceased.
Hypostyle Halls
An interior space filled with row of columns.
Box Office
An office that counted how many people went to the movies and keep track of how much money was earned.
Oculus
An opening at the top of a dome.
Forging
Ancient technique where metal is shaped by hammer blows.
4th-Dimensional
Another dimension along with length, width, & depth.
Relief
Any printing method in which the image to be printed is raised from any background.
2-Dimensional
Any space that is flat, possessing height & width, but no depth such as a piece of paper.
Pointed Arches
Arches with a point at the top.
Hatching (cross-hatching)
Areas of closely spaced parallel lines. (Additional sets of parallel lines cross the 1st).
Composition and Design
Arrangement and organization applicable to all types of art.
"Public Art"
Art everyone pays for and is put on display.
Fine Arts
Art forms such as architecture, paintings, sculptures, drawings and printmaking.
Minor Art
Art forms that show skill and beauty.
Prehistory Art
Art from the period of time with no documentation survives.
What is Art?
Art is something made by humans.
Outsider Art
Art produced by untutored artists by themselves for themselves.
Encaustic
Consists of a pigment mixed with wax and resin. When the colors are heated, the wax melts & paint can be brushed easily. When the wax cools, the paint hardens.
Watercolor
Consists of pigment in a vehicle of water and gum Arabic, a sticky, plant substance that acts as the binder.
Symbols
Convey Information or embody ideals.
What is Creativity?
Creativity is the ability to take an intangible notion and translate it into a tangible object.
Drypoint
Cutting into copper with a dry point needle to create burs.
Engraving
Cutting into metal surfaces, the matrix, to apply the ink.
Camera Obscura
Darkroom, which was used to create pictures.
Illustration
Defined by its context
Texture
Description of how the object feels when touched.
Nonrepresentational
Doesn't exist in the real world.
International Style
Emphasized clean lines, geometric (usually rectilinear) form and avoidance of superficial decorations
Chiaroscuro
Employing values to record contrasts of light and shadow in the natural world.
Balance and Harmony
Equal Parts.
Erotic Art vs. Pornography
Erotic art was to be displayed to one person & Pornography is to be hidden. The difference is due to the artist's intention. A real person can be exploited but an idea cannot.
Arete
Excellence and Virtue
Representational
Exist in reality
Numinous
Fear of the unknown or uncanny
Sunken Relief
Figures are further into the background.
Auteur
Filmmaker who does all the work in the creative process.
High relief
Forms project more boldly from the background
Cartoon
Full size drawing of the entire project used to guide work.
Volume
Fullness or quantity of tone
Aisle
Generally, a passageway flanking a central area. In a basilica or cathedral, aisles flank the nave.
Modeling
Giving objects a three dimensional appearance
Terracotta
Hard-baked clay, used for sculpture and as a building material. It may be glazed or painted.
George Eastman
He invented a camera that uses celluloid film instead of glass. He understood celluloid was cheaper than glass and that it could be used to make strings of pictures. He had the idea that every American deserved to have one in their home.
Value (Monetary)
How much an artwork is worth.
Tactility
How something feels.
Conceptually vs Optically
How things are compared to how you see them.
Celluloid
Motion pictures as a genre.
Rhythm
Motion.
Naturalistic versus idealistic
Natural vs. Idealized imagery.
Action Painting
Nonrepresentational painting in which the physical act of applying paint to a support in bold, spontaneous gestures supplies the expressive content.
Terra Cotta
Oldest medium used for making sculpture.
Plane
One of several images
Tessera
One piece of stone that makes up a mosaic.
Intaglio
Opposite of relief, where areas meant to print are below the surface of the printing plate.
Secondary Colors
Orange, Green, and Violet. Each of them are made by combining two primary colors.
Minor Arts
Other art forms such as jewelry.
Emphasis and Subordination
Our attention is drawn more to certain parts of a composition than to others; Certain areas of the composition are visually made less visually interesting so that areas of emphasis stand out.
Buon fresco
Paint made simply of pigment and water is applied to wet lime support.
Vanishing point
Parallel lines receding into the distance seem to converge until they meet at a point where they disappear.
Saturation
Part of intensity.
Photo-sensitive paper.
Dry Media
Pigment added onto a support.
Pastel
Pigment bound with a non greasy binder such as a solution of gum Arabic in water.
Nature
Subject and material for art
Glass
Super heated sand.
Iconography
Symbolic representation, especially in the conventional meaning attached to images.
Logo (brand)
Symbols of an organization or a product.
Acrylic
Synthetic artist's colors or polymer paints. It dries quicker than oil paints.
Straight Photography
Take a picture of what's there without editing or manipulation.
Restoration
Technique used to roll back the effects of time on artworks.
Grisaille
Technique where you paint from dark colors to lighter colors in many layers.
Imagination
The ability to form mental images of something that is not performed as real or present to the senses.
Tensile strength
The amount of stress a material can withstand before it breaks.
Visual weight
The apparent "heaviness " or "lightness" of the forms arranged in a composition, as gauged by how insistently they draw our eyes.
Ceramics
The art of making objects from clay
Impressionism
The artist is focusing on color to give you a sense of the natural world without showing it in a naturalistic way.
Atmospheric Perspective
The artist is using the air itself to give a sense of depth.
One-Point Linear Perspective
The artist uses lines to give perspective.
Impasto
The artist works with a heavily loaded brush, piling the paint up in a thick texture.
Refracted
The bending of a ray of light when it passes through a prism.
Support
The canvas, paper, wood panel, wall, or other surface on which the artist works.
Still Life
The category of subject matter in which inanimate objects are represented as in paintings.
Space
The design and surface of a picture.
Typography
The design of letters.
Space
The designed and structured surface of a picture.
Fantasy
The forming of mental images especially wondrous & strange fantasies.
Lead Cames
The glue that hold each piece of glass together in stained glass windows.
Taiji (yin-yang)
The idea of balance.
Pareidolia
The imagine perception of a pattern or meaning where does it not actually exist
Vehicle
The liquid used to mix the binder.
Picture Plane
The literal surface of a painting imagined as a window.
Greek Architecture
The use of post and lintel construction and symmetrical balance. Included 6 main parts of a temple: cornice, pediment, frieze, capitol, shaft, and base. The three columns types were Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.
Hierarchal Scale
The use of scale to indicate relative importance.
Column Shaft
The vertical segment of a column between the base and the capital.
Form and Shape
The way a work of art looks.
Glaze
Thin veils of translucent color applied over a layer of opaque paint.
Definition
To limit.
Modeling
To make a three-dimensional object using clay or plastic.
Memento Mori
To remember death
Most common commemorative art?
Tombstones are the most common form of commemorative art.
Pediment
Triangular element in Greek Architecture.
Trompe l'oeil
Tricks the eye into thinking something is real.
Two-Point Linear Perspective
Two vanishing points in the perspective.
Mezzotint
Use of a rocker to create hole which would be filled with ink and then a burnisher would be used to cover the holes.
Photo-Journalism
Use of photographs to create a significant body of work around an event, a place, or a culture.
Landscape
Used to construct imaginary landscapes for viewers to wander through in the mind's eye.
Organic Architecture
Uses landscapes as incorporated into the heart Uses local materials Designs the building to use natural light
Etching
Using acids to "eat" lines and depressions into a metal plate.
Balloon-Frame Construction
Using beams to build a framework or skeleton of a building that allows it to shrink and expand.
Steel-Frame Construction
Using beams to create a steel "cage" that is capable of sustaining the entire weight of the building.
Nouve Realisme
Using the environment to create an installation.
Lost-Wax (Cire Perdue)
Wax is layered on a model where clay & nails cover it before heating it and draining the wax. Molten metal is then poured into the mold. After it has cooled the mold is broken off.
Iconology
the branch of art history that deals with description, analysis, & interpretations of icons.
Pendentives
the concave triangular section of a vault that forms the transition between a square or polygonal space and the circular base of a dome
