Art & Creativity
Purposes & Functions of Art
The Visual Elements
The Principles of Design
Evaluating Art
100
This term refers to the visual expression of an idea or experience, formed with skill, through a medium.
What is a work of art?
100
Art made primarily to be beautiful or pleasing to look at, without a practical use, serves this function.
What is aesthetic (or "art for art's sake") function?
100
The most basic visual element, defined as a point moving through space.
What is line?
100
This principle refers to the equal distribution of visual weight in a composition, whether symmetrical or asymmetrical.
What is balance?
100
This term describes an artwork's physical, visual structure — its line, color, and composition — as opposed to its subject matter.
What is form?
200
A particular material along with its accompanying technique, such as oil paint or bronze casting.
What is a medium?
200
Cave paintings, religious icons, and ritual masks are often created to serve this kind of purpose, connecting people to belief systems or the unseen.
What is spiritual/ritual function?
200
This element refers to a two-dimensional, flat area enclosed by an implied or actual line.
What is shape?
200
Repetition of elements to create a sense of organized movement across a composition demonstrates this principle.
What is rhythm?
200
This term refers to the subject matter and meaning of an artwork — what it's "about," beyond its visual structure.
What is content?
300
This ability to generate new ideas and connect them in original ways is considered essential to both art-making and problem-solving in general.
What is creativity?
300
Propaganda posters and protest murals are examples of art used for this purpose — to persuade or influence public opinion.
What is a political/social function?
300
Hue, value, and saturation (intensity) are the three basic properties of this visual element.
What is color?
300
An artist uses this principle when making one part of a composition stand out as the focal point.
What is emphasis?
300
This branch of philosophy is concerned with the nature of beauty and art.
What is aesthetics?
400
Historically, artists learned their craft this way, working under an established master before formal art schools existed.
What is an apprenticeship?
400
A carved wooden bowl or a well-designed chair demonstrates this function of art, where beauty and usefulness are combined.
What is functional/utilitarian art?
400
This element describes the actual or implied surface quality of a work — rough, smooth, bumpy, etc.
What is texture?
400
When all the parts of a composition work together as a satisfying whole, the work has achieved this principle.
What is unity?
400
Critics use this method — describing, analyzing, interpreting, and judging — as a structured approach to evaluating art.
What is art criticism?
500
This self-taught artist built the towering "Nuestro Pueblo" (Watts Towers) out of steel, mortar, and found objects like tile and glass.
Who is Simon Rodia?
500
Art created to record a person's likeness or a historical event serves this documentary purpose.
What is a narrative/historical (record-keeping) function?
500
An artist creating the illusion of a three-dimensional object on a flat canvas is working with this element, distinct from actual three-dimensional form.
What is implied volume/form (or space)?
500
This principle relies on differences — such as contrasting light/dark or smooth/rough — to create visual interest and keep a composition from feeling monotonous.
What is variety (or contrast)?
500
The study and interpretation of symbols and subject matter within a work of art is called this.
What is iconography?