Abstract: Art that places emphasis on the distortion of reality.
Abstract Expressionism: A post WWII art movement in which artists used motion to guide the principles and elements of arts in their compositions.
Additive Sculpture: Make by joining together materials to build up a sculpture.
Aesthetics: The study of beauty in all its forms; an awakening of the senses.
Architect: An artist who plans and designs building.
Architecture: The art of designing and making buildings.
Asymmetrical: Balance that does not look the same on both sides.
Baroque: 17th century art movement that emphasized perspective, strong contrast and ornamentation.
Background: Parts of a picture that look farther away or behind other objects.
Balance: When all sides of an artwork go together to create a feeling of evenness.
Calligraphy: The art of beautiful writing.
Cartoon: A visual image which emphasizes humor.
Center of Interest: The part in a work of art to which your eye is first drawn to.
Collage: An artwork made by pasting a variety of objects or paper to a flat surface.
Color: The element of art that stimulates the eye the most. Also called “hue”.
Color Wheel: A circle divided into sections of different colors. It shows how colors can be mixed or used together.
Complementary Colors: Colors found opposite one another on the color wheel.
Contour Drawing: Inside and outside movement of an object.
Contrast: Differences in relation to each other.
Cool Colors: Colors that remind you of cold. Blue, green, violet and their
related colors.
Critique: To describe, analyze, interpret, and judge works of art with the ability to back up your opinions.
Cubism: 20th century art movement that emphasizes structure and design. Three-dimensional objects are pictured from many points of view at the same time.
Curve: Lines that bend and change direction slowly.
Depth: The appearance of distance on a flat surface.
Design: The organization of art elements & principles into a structure.
Dominant: Prevailing over all others in a composition.
Elements of Art: The important things artists see in the world that are put together to create an artwork. Line, shape, color, texture, form, value and space.
Emphasis: When important elements in a composition are focused on.
Evaluate: To measure, classify, or judge.
Exaggerate: To make much larger than actual size.
Expression: The act of putting thought or feelings into words, images or actions.
Fauvism: A French art movement in which the painters, called "wild beasts,” used vigorous line and intense color.
Focal Point: The main area of interest.
Foreground: The part of a picture that looks the closest.
Form: Created when shapes are joined together to enclose space.
Free-Form Shape: Any shape that is not geometric.
Geometric Shape: Circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles.
Gesture Sketch: A quick sketch to capture movement or action of an object.
Harmony: An arrangement of elements that is pleasing to the eye.
Hatching: A type of shading in which fine lines placed at different distances apart create lights and darks.
Hieroglyphics: Characters in the picture writing systems of the ancient Egyptians.
Highlight: A small area of white used to show the very brightest spot on an object.
Horizon Line: The line where water or land seems to end and the sky begins.
Hue: Another word for “color”.
Illustrator: An artist who creates pictures for books, magazines or ads.
Implied texture: Using lines to represent textures, e.g., lines that represent hair, or lines that represent scales on a fish.
Impressionism: Late 19th century art movement that emphasized the effects of light on an everyday subject.
Interior Designer: An artist who decorates the inside of a building.
Intermediate Color: Color created by mixing one primary color and one secondary color, that are next to each other on the color wheel.
Jeweler: An artist who designs jewelry.
Jewelry: 3-dimensional art made for people to wear.
Kiln: An oven for firing ceramics.
Kinetic Art: Art which moves.
Line: A path a point has followed.
Logo: A visual symbol for a business, club or group.
Media: The materials used by an artist.
Middle Ground: The area between foreground and background.
Mobile: A delicately balanced sculpture that has movement and is suspended in space.
Monochromatic: Using one color, including the lights and darks of that color.
Mood: The feeling created by a work of art.
Mosaic: A picture made by fitting together tiny pieces of colored tiles, stones, paper on other materials.
Motif: A shape or object that is repeated.
Movement: Using various elements to give the illusion of motion in a composition.
Mural: A large work of art painted on a wall.
Negative Shape: The area around positive shapes.
Negative Space: The space around the object often called the background.
Neutral Colors: Colors used to create values of other colors. White, gray, black.
Non-Objective Art: A modern style of art that does not represent an image.
One-Point Perspective: A way to show depth in which everything disappears at one point (vanishing point) on the horizon line.
Overlap: Occurs when parts of an artwork somewhat cover other parts.
Papier Mache: Torn paper strips soaked in paste and molded together to create a sculpture.
Perspective: Showing distance in a picture that is made on a flat surface.
Pointillism: A form of art created by dots.
Pop Art: Artistic style used in the 1960’s featuring subject matter from popular culture.
Portrait: A picture of a person.
Positive Shape: The solid objects in a composition.
Positive Space: The space inside of the object.
Primary Colors: Colors from which others can be made: red, yellow and blue.
Principles of Design: Laws or rules that help in making good designs. A way to organize the elements of art in an artwork. Balance, movement, variety, proportion, rhythm, unity, and emphasis.
Print Relief: A print that is created off of a raised surface.
Printmaking: The process of producing an image by applying pressure to transfer ink from a prepared plate to paper.
Proportion: The relation of two or more things compared to each other.
Radial Pattern: A pattern that comes out from a central point.
Random Rhythm: When a motif is repeated in no particular order.
Realism: Mid 19th century style in which artists painted familiar scenes as they actually were.
Relief: A form of 3-dimensional art that is flat on one side and projects out on the other side.
Renaissance: Period of awakening at the end of the Middle Ages characterized by an interest in classical art, development of perspective, and realistic rendering of the figure.
Repetition: When an artist repeats line, colors or textures in a composition.
Rhythm: A regular repeating of lines, shapes, colors, or patterns.
Romanticism: Early 19th century art movement featuring dramatic scenes, exotic settings, loose composition, and emphasized the feelings of the artist.
Rubbing: A design made of pressing a crayon or soft pencil over a paper covering a textured object.
Sarcophagus: A mummy case.
Sculptor: An artist who makes sculpture.
Sculpture: Three-dimensional works of art.
Secondary Colors: Colors made by mixing two primary colors. Green, orange, and violet.
Shade: Any dark value of a color.
Shape: A flat figure created when lines meet and enclose a space.
Silhouette: An outline of a shape without any details inside, like a shadow.
Space: The area around or inside shapes and forms.
Stabile: A rigid mobile mounted on a platform so it stands up.
Still Life: An arrangement of objects that do not move.
Stitchery: Art made with yarn or cloth.
Subtractive Sculpture: Taking away from a medium to create a composition.
Symmetry: A kind of balance in which the two sides of a picture are exactly alike. Mirror Image.
Tactile Texture: Texture you can feel.
Tempera: An opaque, water soluble paint.
Tertiary Colors: Colors made by using 3 analogous colors (e.g. yellow-green).
Texture: The way a surface feels to the touch or appears to feel.
Three-Dimensional: Having a front & back, top & bottom, and sides. Three dimensional art has height, width and depth.
Two-Dimensional: Artwork on a flat surface.
Unity: When all the parts of an artwork look like they belong together.
Value: The lightness or darkness of a color.
Vantage Point: The position or angle from which you look.
Visual Texture: What in a picture appears to have texture (e.g., a photograph of a cactus) - simulated texture.
Visualize: To picture in the mind’s eye.
Warm Colors: Colors that remind you of heat. Red, orange, yellow and their related colors.
Warp Threads: Vertical threads attached to a loom.
Weft Threads: Threads that are woven over and under the warp threads.
Zigzag (line): Diagonal lines that connect and change direction sharply.
