EDU403 Glossary

 Abstract

Art that looks as if it contains little or no recognizable or realistic forms from the physical world. Focus is on formal elements such as colors, lines, or shapes. Artists often "abstract" objects by changing, simplifying, or exaggerating what they see.

 Aesthetic

Belonging to the appreciation of the beautiful and in accordance with the accepted principles of good taste.

 Architecture

Architecture is frozen music. Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, space and ambience to reflect functional, technical, social, environmental and aesthetic considerations. It requires the creative manipulation and coordination of materials and technology, and of light and shadow.

•  Art

The completed work of an artist which is the expression of creativity or imagination, or both that portrays a mood, feeling or tells a story; works of art collectively.

 Art deco

A style of design and decoration popular in the 1920's and 1930's characterized by designs that are geometric and use highly intense colors, to reflect the rise of commerce, industry and mass production.

 Art nouveau

A decorative art movement that emerged in the late nineteenth century; art characterized by dense asymmetrical ornamentation in sinuous forms, it is often symbolic and of an erotic nature.

 Artist

A practitioner in the arts, generally recognized as a professional by critics and peers.

EDU403 · Glossary ·  Balance

Distribution of interest or visual weight draws viewer’s attention symmetric, asymmetric, and radial. Balance is the concept of visual equilibrium, and relates to our physical sense of balance. It is a reconciliation of opposing forces in a composition that results in visual stability. Most successful compositions achieve balance in one of two ways: symmetrically or asymmetrically. Balance in a three dimensional object is easy to understand; if balance isn't achieved, the object tips over. To understand balance in a two dimensional composition, we must use our imaginations to carry this three dimensional analogy forward to the flat surface.

 BAROQUE

A 17th Century union of painting, sculpture and architecture associated with Catholicism designed to emotionally overwhelm the spectator. Subjects were generally religious (such as the agonies and ecstasies of the saints) richly executed in an unidealized, naturalistic style.

 BLOCK

The surface which contains the image that is to be printed. It may have been worked directly by the artist, it may have been mechanically produced by photographic methods, either way it is contained within the PRESS, receives the INK and carries the image onto the PAPER.

 Brush

A tool used to apply paints and inks to a surface, consisting of hairs, or bristles held in place by a ferrule attached to a handle. The quality of the hair determines the brush's quality and cost. Each type of brush has a specific purpose, and different fibers are used for different mediums.

 Brushstroke

The mark left by a loaded (filled) brush on a surface. Brushstrokes can be distinguished by their direction, thickness, texture, and quality. Some artists purposefully obscure individual brushstrokes to achieve a smooth surface. Other artists make their brushstrokes obvious to reveal the process of painting or to express movement or emotion.

 Canvas

A heavy, closely woven fabric; an oil painting on canvas fabric; the support used for an acrylic or oil painting that is typically made of linen or cotton, stretched very tightly and tacked onto a wooden frame. Linen is considered far superior to the heavy cotton for a canvas.

 CANVAS BOARD

Canvas mounted on board used as a SUPPORT for paintings.

 CARICATURE

A drawing, often comical, created on the principles of exaggerated characteristic features with the intention of stressing traits of personality.

 CARTOON

This has nothing to do with Disney or Loony Toons. It’s a drawing of the principle forms of a COMPOSITION drawn to the same scale as the final painting.

 CAST PAPER

Hand made paper applied to a mold to produce a picture in relief within the main body of the paper.

 CHALK

Originally this term referred to chalks found in nature which were used for drawing purposes. The chalk was broken into small lumps and inserted into metal holders. This term has also come to refer to colored pigments made into sticks with a binder. See PASTEL.

 CHARCOAL

Wood reduced to carbon in an oxygen starved heated chamber made into sticks or pencils.

 CLASSIC ART

This term is used to refer to forms of art derived from the study of antique and scholarly art.

 COLLAGE A COMPOSITION

of shaped pieces of paper or material, usually painted, drawn or printed, glued to a supporting surface.

 Color permanence

Refers to a pigment's lasting power. Tubes and other containers of paint are sometimes labeled with a code indicating a color's degree of permanence (AA - highest; A - standard; C - Less than permanent, thought fairly durable; C - fugitive).

 Color separation

A traditional photographic process of separating artwork into component films of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black in preparation for printing to ultimately create a full-color printed product. Recent computer innovations have obviated the need for separated film negatives in certain applications.

 Color wheel

A round diagram that shows the placement of colors in relationship to each other. It is from the color wheel that "color schemes" are defined.

 Complementary colors

Two colors directly opposite one another on the color wheel. When placed next to one another, complementary colors are intensified and often appear to vibrate. When mixed, brown or gray is created. Red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and violet have the greatest degree of contrast.