Lesson 1: What is Art? Flashcards
It is a highly diverse range of human activities engaged in creating visual, auditory, or performed artifacts— artworks—that express the author’s imaginative or technical skill, and are intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power.
Art
The oldest documented arts
Visual Arts
Is architecture considered as arts?
Yes, but it falls under formalism.
A concept in art theory in which an artwork’s artistic value is determined solely by its form, or how it is made.
Formalism
What are the elements of art?
Color, Line, Shape, Form, Value, Space, Texture
What are the principles of art?
Balance, Symmetry, Asymmetry, Radial Symmetry, Contrast, Emphasis, Movement, Pattern, Rhythm, Unity
Refers to the visual weight of the elements of the composition. It is a sense that the
painting feels stable and “feels right.”
Balance
Both sides of a composition have the same elements in the same position, as in a mirror-image, or the two sides of a face.
Symmetry
The composition is balanced due to the contrast of any of the elements of art.
Asymmetry
Elements are equally spaced around a central point, as in the spokes coming out of the hub of a bicycle tire.
Radial Symmetry
The difference between elements of art in a composition, such that each element is made stronger in relation to the other.
Contrast
When the artist creates an area of the composition that is visually dominant and commands the viewer’s attention.
Emphasis
the result of using the elements of art such that they move the viewer’s eye around and within the image.
Movement
Ideally, you want areas of interest in your composition along with places for your eye
to rest.
Unity/Variety
Created by movement implied through the repetition of elements of art in a non-uniform but organized way.
Rhythm
uniform repetition of any of the elements of art or any combination there-of.
Pattern
Too much unity creates ____, too much variety creates ____. You need both.
Monotony, Chaos.
