RVA

• TWO-DIMENSIONAL ART - OCCURS ON FLAT SURFACES, LIKE PAPER, CANVAS, OR EVEN CAVE WALLS
• Drawing


  Describes both a visual object and an activity. The term implies something more, "to draw an object is to observe its appearance and transfer that observation to a set of marks." It is a combination of observation and mark making.
• Charcoal


  • Made from wood or other organic material that has been burned in the absence of oxygen
  • Compressed charcoal is used to make very dark marks, usually on paper, and is challenging to erase
  • Willow or vine charcoal leaves a very light mark as it is simply burned twigs, and is generally used for impermanent sketches because it does not readily stick to paper or canvas and is easily erased
• Conté crayon


  • A hand-held drawing material similar to compressed charcoal, made of graphite or charcoal combined with wax or clay, coming in a variety of colors and hardness
  • Harder Conté is used for details, softer varieties for broad areas
• Metalpoint


  The use of malleable metals like silver, pewter, and gold to make drawing marks on prepared surfaces
• Graphite


  A crystalline form of carbon, originally thought to be a form of lead though there is no actual lead in pencils
• Pastels


  • Similar to compressed charcoal but use finely ground colored pigment and a binder to create handheld colored blocks
  • Edgar Degas is famous for the subtle yet distinct layering of color he was able to achieve in his pastel drawings
• Oil pastels


  Semi-solid sticks of high pigment oil paint that are used like crayons, originally invented to mark livestock but artists realized their aesthetic potential, a convenient way to apply and blend heavily textured oil-based pigment onto any surface without using traditional brushes
• Ink


  The combination of a colored pigment, usually black carbon or graphite, and a binder suspended in a liquid and applied with a pen or brush
• PAINTING - IS A SPECIALIZED FORM OF DRAWING THAT REFERS TO USING BRUSHES TO APPLY COLORED LIQUIDS TO A SUPPORT, USUALLY CANVAS OR PAPER, BUT SOMETIMES WOODEN PANELS, METAL PLATES, AND WALLS
• Paint


  • Composed of three main ingredients: pigments, binders, and solvents
• Colored pigments


  Suspended in a sticky binder in order to apply them and make them adhere to the support
• Solvents


  Dissolve the binder in order to remove it but can also be used in smaller quantities to make paint more fluid
• Oil painting


  • Discovered in the fifteenth century and uses vegetable oils, primarily linseed oil and walnut oil, as the binding agent
  • Linseed oil was chosen for its clear color and its ability to dry slowly and evenly
  • Turpentine is generally used as the solvent
• Acrylic painting


  • Relatively modern and uses water-soluble acrylic polymer as the binding agent, with water as the solvent
  • Dries very quickly and can be used to build up thick layers of paint in a short time
• Watercolor painting


  Suspends colored pigments in water-soluble gum arabic distilled from the acacia tree as the binder, mixed with water and brushed onto an absorbent surface, usually paper
• Encaustic


  • Uses melted beeswax as the binder and must be applied to rigid supports like wood with heated brushes
  • Encaustic paintings from ancient Egypt dating to the period of Roman occupation (late first century BCE-third century CE) are as brilliantly colored as when they were first painted
• Fresco


  • The process of painting onto plaster, a long-lasting technique
  • Buon fresco, or "good" fresco, is painting on wet plaster
  • Fresco secco, or dry fresco, is done after the plaster has dried
• Tempera painting


  • The most popular version of painting during the Middle Ages in which dry colored pigments were mixed with egg yolk and applied quickly to a stable surface in layers of short brushstrokes
  • Egg tempera is a difficult medium to master because the egg yolk mixture dries very quickly, and mistakes cannot be corrected without damaging the surface of the painting
• PRINT - AN IMAGE MADE BY TRANSFERRING PIGMENT FROM A MATRIX TO A FINAL SURFACE, OFTEN BUT NOT ALWAYS PAPER. PRINTING ALLOWS MULTIPLE COPIES OF AN ARTWORK TO BE MADE
• Edition


  Multiple copies of an individual artwork
• Relief prints


  Made by removing material from the matrix, the surface the image has been carved into, which is often wood, linoleum, or metal. The remaining surface is covered with ink or pigment, and then paper is pressed onto the surface, picking up the ink
• Letterpress


  A relief printing process that transfers ink to paper but also indents an impression into the surface of the paper, creating a texture to the print that is often considered a sign of high quality
• Intaglio prints


  Made when a design is scratched into a matrix, usually a metal plate. Ink is wiped across the surface, and collects in the scratches. Excess ink is wiped off and paper is pressed onto the plate, picking up the ink from the scratches. Intaglio prints may also include texture
• Planographic prints


  Made by chemically altering a matrix to selectively accept or reject water. Originally, limestone was used for this process since it naturally repels water but can be chemically changed to absorb it
• Stone matrix lithography


  Black grease pencil drawings are made on a flat block of limestone, which is then treated with nitric acid
• Stencil prints


  Made by passing inks through a porous fine mesh matrix
• Silkscreen printmaking


  Silk fabric is mounted tightly on a rigid frame, and areas of the fabric are blocked off to form an image
• Original prints


  Handmade prints
• Reproductions


  Mechanically produced
• Giclee


  A new kind of print that is essentially a digital inkjet print, using only acid-free paper and archival inks
• THREE-DIMENSIONAL ART - GOES BEYOND THE FLAT SURFACE TO ENCOMPASS HEIGHT, WIDTH, AND DEPTH
• Installation


  A form of three-dimensional art that emerged in the twentieth century, a work in which the viewer is surrounded within a space or moves through a space that has been modified by the artist
• Sculpture


  • Can be either freestanding—"in the round"—or it can be relief—sculpture that projects from a background surface
  • Low relief has limited projection from the background surface
  • High relief sculpture has more than half of the sculpted form projecting from the background surface, creating an undercut effect where some of the projected surface is separate from the background surface
• Modeling


  An additive process in which easily shaped materials like clay or plaster are built up to create a final form
• Armature


  A rigid inner support, often made of wire, that allows a soft or fluid material like wet clay to be shaped
• Three-dimensional art


  Goes beyond the flat surface to encompass height, width, and depth
• Sculpture


  Can be either freestanding—"in the round"—or it can be relief—sculpture that projects from a background surface
• Low relief


  The amount of projection from the background surface is limited
• High relief sculpture


  Is when more than half of the sculpted form projects from the background surface, this method generally creates an effect called undercut