ARTS MIDTERMS

• Components of art

  • They exist
  • They have substance
  • They are either flat or in the round
  • They use (or do not use) line, shape, mass, value, color, and texture
• The possible combinations in visual art are infinite, but the visual arts have traditionally been practiced and categorized in only a few broadly termed ways
• Every discipline has its "jargon," and the visual arts are no different
• Visual artists use a variety of materials and processes to produce their work and art critics use specialized terms to describe that work
• Categories of art objects

  • Two-dimensional art
  • Three-dimensional art
  • Four-dimensional art
• Two-dimensional art


  • Occurs on flat surfaces, like paper, canvas, or even cave walls
• Three main categories of two-dimensional art

  • Drawing
  • Painting
  • Printmaking
• Drawing


  Describes both a visual object and an activity
• Drawing


  • Usually—but not always done with monochromatic media, that is, with dry materials of a single color such as charcoal, conté crayon, metalpoint, or graphite
  • Color can be introduced using pastels
  • Ink is 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


  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
• Painting


  • Paint is composed of three main ingredients: pigments, binders, and solvents
  • The colored pigments are 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, acrylic, watercolor, encaustic, fresco, and tempera are some of the different kinds of painting
• Printmaking


  A print is an image made by transferring pigment from a matrix to a final surface, often but not always paper
• Printmaking


  • Printing allows multiple copies of an artwork to be made
  • Multiple copies of an individual artwork are called an edition
  • There are four main types of printmaking: relief, intaglio, planographic, and stencil
• Three-dimensional art


  Goes beyond the flat surface to encompass height, width, and depth
• Four main methods used in producing art in three dimensions

  • Carving
  • Modeling
  • Casting
  • Assembly
• Carving


  A sculptural technique that involves using tools to shape a form by cutting or scraping away from a solid material such as stone, wood, ivory or bone
• Carving

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


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


  • Some modeled forms begin with an armature, or rigid inner support often made of wire
• Casting


  A process that replaces, or substitutes, an initial sculptural material such as wax or clay with another, usually more permanent, material such as bronze, an alloy, or mixture of copper and tin
• Assembly


  Also called assemblage, is a fairly recent type of sculpture
• Four-dimensional art


  Also called time-based art, is a relatively new mode of art practice that includes video, projection mapping, performance, and new media art
• Video art


  Uses the relatively new technology of projected moving images
• Video art


  • These images can be displayed on electronic monitors or projected onto walls or even buildings; they use light as a medium
• Projection mapping


  Another use of video projection where one or more three-dimensional objects (often buildings) are spatially mapped into a virtual program that then allows the image to conform to the surface of the object upon which it is projected
• Performance art


  Art in which the artist's medium is an action
• Performance art


  • Performance artworks are generally documented by photography, but the artwork is in the act itself
• New media art


  Usually refers to interactive works such as digital art, computer animation, video games, robotics, and 3D printing, where artists explore the expressive potential of these new creative technologies
• The international connectivity of the Internet has ushered in a globalization of information exchange which includes the arts
• Formal or critical analysis


  An examination of the elements and principles of design present in an artwork and the process of deriving meaning from how those elements and principles are used by visual artists to communicate a concept, idea, or emotion
• Types or categories of art

  • Representational
  • Non-representational
• Representational art


  Visual reference to the experiential world
• Representational art


  • The work of art can be further characterized using terms such as naturalistic, idealized, or abstract
• Non-representational art


  Art that does not attempt to present an aspect of the recognizable world
• Non-representational art


  • Meaning is communicated through shapes, colors, and textures
• Style


  The general appearance of a work or a group of works that were created in accordance with a specific set of principles about form or appearance
• Aspects of formal analysis

  • Description
  • Analysis
  • Interpretation
  • Evaluation
• Description


  Noticing and describing the basic elements and features of an artwork
• Analysis


  Examining how the elements and principles of design are used in the artwork
• Interpretation


  Deriving meaning from the artwork based on the description and analysis