Elements of Art
An enclosed line that has 2-dimensions; width and height.
Shape
The distribution of visual weight
Balance
A single material an artist may use
Medium
The process of adding value to an image to create the illusion of light and form.
Shading
Artistic creations of ancient civilizations from the beginning of human history, until the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476 CE)
Ancient Art
The light that reflects off an object and is perceived by the human eye.
Color
Creates a sense of harmony, completeness and cohesion, so all elements of a composition appear to belong together.
Unity
A work of art that depicts the artist that produced it
Self Portrait
Balancing elements so that both sides or an artwork are identical.
Symmetry
A Mexican Icon and artist who’s very popular work is still inspiring artists everyday, she is well known for her surrealist self portraits.
Frida Kahlo
An element of art that is three dimensional and encloses, the physical structure of a shape to include volume as well as height and width.
Form
It uses the repetition of elements to create a visual “beat”.
Rhythm
The art of arranging text to make it visually appealing
Typography
A horizontal line that, usually at eye level that separates the sky from the ground.
Horizon Line
A Japanese contemporary artist who works across many mediums, painting, sculpture, installation and fashion. She is best known for including polka dots that appear infinite on almost every piece of art she makes.
Yayoi Kusama
A mark made on a surface that joins different points.
Line
The consistent reuse or recurrence of visual elements such as lines, shapes, colors or motifs within a single artwork.
Repetition
The study of the depiction of the human figure
Anatomy
The point on the horizon line where parallel lines appear to get smaller or vanish.
Vanishing Point
An Art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and the US featuring recognizable imagery from popular culture, mass media and commercial design, blurring the lines between “high” and “low” culture. It used bold colors and Irony.
Pop Art
The lightness or darkness of a color
Value
Uses diverse and differing elements, to create visual interest and complexity.
Variety
A work of art that depicts inanimate objects, such as fruit, flowers, or utensils, arranged in a visually pleasing composition
Still Life
A compositional principle where visual elements such as lines, shapes or colors radiate out from a central point.
Radial
American Artist who makes paintings and sculptural works that are playful and nostalgic, as well as impressive in scale and in materials. He is well known for his large metallic balloon animals.
Jeff Koons
The perceived surface quality of a work of art
Texture
Creates a focal point that draws the viewer’s attention to a specific area through contrast, color, placement or size.
Emphasis
A spiritual and meditative practice featuring intricate, geometric and symmetrical designs usually created within a circle representing wholeness, infinity and the universe.
Mandala
The arrangement of elements within a work of art, and how they relate to each other to create a whole.
Composition
A Dutch artist, who made drawings and prints inspired by mathematics. He is best known for his impossible staircases and hyperrealistic distorted reflections.
MC Escher
The area around, between, and within the elements of a composition
Space
The comparative, harmonious relationship between the sizes of different parts or elements within a composition.
Proportion
A depiction designed to explain, clarify, decorate or narrate a text or concept.
Illustration
A collection of letters, numbers and other symbols that share a common design that are intended to be displayed together to form words and numbers
Typeface
Emerged in the late 1950s and 60s as a reaction against expressionism, focusing on extreme simplification and the “less is more” principle.
Minimalism
A practice that combines the emotional power of art with a call to action for social, political, or environmental causes.
Activism as Art
A tool that artists use to organize and represent the range of light and dark values in an image.
Value Scale
Artistic works produced roughly from the 1860s to 1970s characterized by a deliberate rejection of traditional academic realism styles.
Modern Art
A drawing medium composed of pigment mixed with non drying oil and wax binder resulting in vibrant, creamy crayon-like sticks.
Oil Pastel (Cray-Pas)
A drawing technique where parallel lines converge toward two separate vanishing points on the horizon line.
Two Point Perspective
An American artist, largely considered a Pop Artist, whose work is inspired by comics and ads.
Roy Lichtenstein
A painting or drawing medium composed of pure powdered pigment mixed with a minimal amount of binder typically gum or resin.
Soft (Chalk) Pastel
A drawing method that shows how things appear to get smaller as they get further away, converging towards a single "vanishing point" on the horizon line.
One Point Perspective
An American Minimalist artist famous for creating sculptures and installations from commercially available fluorescent light fixtures.
Dan Flavin