A
Abstract: artwork where objects have been changed or modified so they no longer look realistic. An abstract work of art does, however, use a recognizable object or thing as its reference or origin.
Abstraction - A technique of depicting observable phenomena such as figures, places, or objects in a simplified or modified form (for example, as geometric shapes, stick figures, shapes and spaces composed of tonal areas). (See also abstract art, non-objective art, style, and stylize.)
Abstract art - Art that achieves its effect by simplifying the visual elements (for example, line, shape, colour) of images. Although people and things may not be recognizable as such in abstract art, they are the inspiration behind the simplified shapes and forms. (See also abstraction, non-objective art, style, and stylize.)
acrylic paint: a water-based paint with a polymer binder; dries to a permanent finish.
Advancing colour - Warm or vivid colour that appears to come forward in the picture plane and forward from the surface.
Aesthetics - The study or theory of the beautiful in art. - The area of knowledge that deals with the nature and value of art objects and experiences. It is concerned with identifying the features within works that can be used to understand, evaluate, and defend judgments about those works. Originally, any activity connected with art, beauty and taste, becoming more broadly the study of art’s function, nature, ontology and purpose.
allegory: the symbolic representation of truths about human traits and existence - The use of symbolic figures, images, events, narratives or actions to represent abstract ideas and concepts
alternating rhythm: repeating motifs but changing the position, content, or spaces between them.
analogous: colors that are next to each other on the color wheel and are related by a single hue; e.g., red, red-orange, orange, and red-violet. - Any two or more colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel and are closely related. For example, blue, blue-green, and green all have the colour blue in common. Families of analogous colours include the warm colours (red, orange and yellow) and the cool colours (green, blue and violet). Analogous colours are sometimes referred to as adjacent colours or harmonizing colours. (See also colour, cool colours, and warm colours.)
Analysis - (1) The separation of the parts of a subject for individual study, in order to find out their nature, function, and meaning. Exercising the ability to break down learned material into its component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood. (2) A stage in art criticism, following the description of an artwork, and preceding its interpretation and judgment, in which one focuses on the relationships between the elements of art and principles of design in hopes of gaining an understanding of the work's design qualities, or how well the work is ordered, or put together. This understanding enables one to determine if a work has an overall sense of unity. (3) The fourth level of learning outcomes in Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain—the level of understanding just beyond comprehension and application because they require an understanding of both the content and the structural form of the material. Analysis may include the identification of the parts, analysis of the relationships between parts, and recognition of the organizational principles involved.
analyze: in visual art, to examine the features of an artwork as they relate to the elements of art and principles of design.
Angle of view - The angle from which the viewer sees the objects or scene. Angles of view include high angle, low angle, and bird’s eye view. Also known as point of view or camera angle (in photography and film-making particularly).
Animation - The process of creating the illusion of movement through a series of images (for example, drawings, digital images, paper cut-outs, photographs, puppets, sculpted figures) that show slight, progressive changes sequentially in time using various techniques (for example, claymation, cut-out/collage animation, flipbook, thaumatrope, pixilation, rotoscope, stop motion, digital processes).
Appropriation - The taking or borrowing of elements to recontextualize them or create new works. The borrowed elements may include images, forms, or styles from art history or from popular culture, or materials and techniques from non-art contexts (for example, everyday objects). The audience or viewer may or may not be aware of the intertextuality of the imagery.
armature: basic structure on which to build a sculpture.
art criticism: the process and result of critical thinking about art; usually involves the description, analysis, and interpretation of art, as well as some kind of judgment or determination of the quality of the piece.
Artifact - (1) An object produced or shaped by human craft, especially a rudimentary art form or object, as in the products of prehistoric workmanship. Only in the last 10 or 20 years works of various native peoples have been considered art rather than artifacts, and displayed in museums of art as well as of ethnography. (2) In digital imagery, visual effects introduced into an image in the course of scanning or compression that do not correspond to the image scanned.
Artist’s statement - A concise summary in which artists reflect on and/or analyse what they have done, in order to help the viewer understand the artist’s purpose, priorities, and techniques
assemblage: sculpture consisting of different objects and materials arranged in a unified 3-D composition - such as textiles and found objects or parts of objects.
asymmetry: a way of organizing the parts of a design so that one side differs from the other without destroying the overall balance and harmony; also calledinformal balance - Inequality in size, shape, and/or position between parts or elements or objects. An asymmetrical arrangement may still produce a balanced visual effect or weight.
Atmospheric perspective - The intensity of colour and the distinctness of detail are gradually lessened to indicate an increase in the distance between objects and the viewer. The technique is based on how atmosphere affects the appearance of distant objects (for example, dust and other substances in the air make background elements less distinct than the same things close to the viewer). Also referred to as aerial perspective.

B
Background: the part of the picture plane that seems to be the farthest from the viewer - In a conventional two-dimensional representation of space, the part of a composition that appears to be farthest from the viewer or behind the other objects. (See also foregroundand middle ground.)
Balance: the principle of design that refers to the visual equalization of the elements in a work of art. The three major forms of balance are asymmetrical balance (where equilibrium is achieved by the balance differences in the art elements within a composition), symmetrical balance (where the art elements in a composition are balanced in a mirror-like fashion), and radial balance (a kind of balance where the elements branch or radiate out from a central point).
Baroque: The conflict between the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation set the stage in the Baroque period (1580-1700 CE) for competing types of art. In general, the countries of northern Europe rejected religious imagery as a result of the Protestant Reformation. (Protestants believed that religious paintings violated the 2nd Commandment against graven images.) Thus, much Baroque art from those countries includes landscapes, portraits, and still-life paintings. In other parts of Catholic Europe, artists of the Baroque period painted dramatic images, including religious themes, characterized by energy, tension, and sharp contrasts of light and dark intensity.
Body of work - The total collective creative output of an artist. Also known as an œuvre.
Breadth - In terms of the Visual arts guide (March 2014), a wide range or scope. This could be used to describe a range of critical methods used, the range of media experimented with, the scope of critical or historical investigations into artists, styles and movements, the scope of ideas explored in a body of work or the range of curatorial practices considered.

C
Camera angles - Various positions of the camera with respect to the subject being photographed, each giving a different viewpoint and perspective. (See also angle of view.)
Camera shot: (1) The view that is seen or filmed through a camera’s viewfinder. (2) The composition of key elements within a frame used to support the story or idea indicated in a storyboard. Different types of shots include extreme close-up, close-up, medium shot, wide angle, tracking shot and so on.
Canon: (1) The body of significant Western artists and works. Until recently the canon was seldom challenged, and changed at a sluggish pace. Now it is being relentlessly challenged by art historians and critics recovering forgotten and ignored artists (especially by women, non-whites, and outsiders) both within and outside the Western world. The scope of what is considered art has been widening as new fields, including photography, performance art, video, crafts, and design, are added to what amounts to an ever-increasing canon. Postmodernism, however, has put in question the very idea of an irreducible list of masters and masterpieces. (2) A rule or convention for representation such as ideal human proportions, so as to produce a harmoniously formed figure.
Captured image: A form of image making in which the image is produced through the means of a lens-based device such as a camera.
canvas: linen or cotton cloth tightly stretched over and attached to wooden stretcher bars to create a taut surface for oil or acrylic painting.
carving: shaping wood, stone, or marble by scraping, cutting, and chipping.
ceramics: the process of creating functional and nonfunctional art forms out of clay. (1) Objects made of clay and fired in a kiln. The term refers to functional and decorative objects, as well as sculpture made from clay. (2) The art of making ceramic objects.
chiaroscuro: using the contrast and transitioning of light and dark areas to create the illusion of three-dimensional form on a two-dimensional surface.
classicism: imitating, referencing, or having the general characteristics of the art and culture of ancient Rome or Greece. Classical characteristics include idealized beauty, restraint, harmony, and balance.
collage: artwork made by attaching pieces of paper or other materials to a flat surface - A form of art in which a variety of materials (for example, photographs, fabric, found objects, bits and pieces of originally unrelated images including commercial images) are arranged and attached to a flat background, often in combination with painted or drawn areas. Also known as découpage.
Collagraph: A print made from a surface that has been constructed as a collage of objects and textures. The surface requires low-relief texture in order to print.
color: the various visual phenomena that are the results of the reflection or absorption of light by a surface.  The particular wavelength of light seen by the eye when an object reflects or emits light. The four characteristics of colour are hue (name), value (lightness and darkness), intensity (saturation, or amount of pigment), and temperature (warm and cool). (See also cool colours, elements of design, secondary colours, value, and warm colours.)
color groups: groupings of colors that have certain likenesses or differences; sometimes called color families or relationships.
color harmonies: color groupings that have a pleasing visual effect (as opposed to colors that clash with one another).
color theory: as used in the Kentucky Core Content, the study of pigmented color (subtractive color theory) as opposed to light (additive color theory).
color wheel: a tool for organizing color that shows the visible light spectrum organized in a circular format; a tool that helps to chart the relationships between colors (hues). On a color wheel, the primary colors of magenta red, yellow, and cyan (turquoise) blue are the fundamental hues from which a great number of other colors can be mixed. For instance, mixing combinations of two of the primary colors results in the secondary colors of green, purple, and orange. Similarly, the mixture of a primary color and a secondary color can result in the creation of a tertiary color such as yellow-orange or blue-green. These relationships, as well as the concepts of warm/cool colors andanalogous colors are easily illustrated on a color wheel chart.
complementary colors: pairs of colors that are opposite one another on the color wheel. Red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and violet have the greatest degree of contrast. Red-violet and yellow-green, red-orange and blue-green, and yellow-orange and blue-violet are also complementary colors.
composition: the arrangement of the elements of art and the principles of design within a given work of art - The organization of the elements of design in an artwork, following principles of design. (See also design process, elements of design, and principles of design.)
computer design: any visual expression (original art, functional graphics, scientific illustrations) created with a computer.
Concept: The idea, thought, notion, meaning or purpose that is behind the production of a work of art or a body of work.
Conceptual art: Art that is intended to convey an idea or a concept to the perceiver, often rejecting the creation or appreciation of a traditional art object such as a painting or a sculpture as a precious commodity. The idea or concept is given primacy over accurate mimetic representation or technical refinement.
Conceptual practice: Encompasses the intentions and processes used by an artist to build meaning and significance into their art-making. It addresses the mental or cognitive activities involved in the production of works of art.
Construction: A form of sculpture in which the form is built by adding on material such as a sculpture produced by joining blocks of timber. Also called additive sculpture.
Contemporary art: Art produced in the current time.
contour drawing: a continuous line drawing where the student draws the interior and exterior contours of the subject. In the process, students keep their eyes on the contours of their subject more than they do on their drawing, and the results are drawings that are often randomly abstracted or distorted - An outline drawing that represents the edge of a form. In “blind” contour drawing, the artist slowly draws each bump and curve on the edges of an object without looking at the paper.
Contour lines: Lines that define the edges, ridges, or outline of a shape or form.
contrast: design principle that emphasizes differences between the art elements. For example, a painting may have bright colors that contrast with dull colors or angular shapes that contrast with rounded shapes. Sharp contrast draws attention and can direct a viewer to a focal point within a work of art. - The juxtaposition of different elements of design (for example, complementary colours such as red and green, textures such as rough and smooth, values such as dark and light) in order to highlight their differences and/or create balance, visual interest, or a focal point. (See also principles of design.)
Conventions: Generally accepted standards, norms, criteria or custom pertaining to both representation and technical procedures in art-making (for example, in Western art history, the Modernists repeatedly challenged the long-held conventions of painting.)
cool colors: a color group associated with blue that includes blue-green, blue-violet, green, yellow-green, and violet. Cool colors appear to recede in space and have a general psychological association with coolness.
Craft: Technical skill, manual dexterity, considered apart from the fine arts, or from the cerebral, expressive, or aesthetic aspects of them. Also, any of the manual activities performed by artisans or craftspeople, as distinguished from the specific group of techniques that are practised by artists in the making of fine art. In the West, the term is highly loaded and political, resulting from various differentiations between art and craft. In many non-Western traditions, there is no distinction between art and craft.
Critical analysis: An appraisal based on careful analytical evaluation. There are several models used in education to critically analyse work of art. Most involve several stages that often include an initial reaction (involving initial identification) to a work; a description identifying subject matter in a work; an analysis, identifying order (organization) in a work and how elements and principles of design have been used to arrange the elements of art in a work; an interpretation of the artist's expression/communication of feelings, moods, and ideas in a work and an evaluation, assessing the meaning and artistic merit in a work.
Critical methodologies: Any number of strategies employed to critique works of art or the œuvre of an artist, or a style or movement such as deconstruction, feminist perspectives, formalism, hermeneutics, iconology, LGBT perspectives, Marxist perspectives, materialist perspectives, post-colonial perspectives, post-structuralism, psychoanalysis, semiotics, structuralism and so on.
Critique: A review of a finished artwork, or constructive feedback that can be used by the artist for further revision of an artwork in progress.
Cropping :The trimming or cutting away of unnecessary or unwanted edges of a picture, or the reframing of an area of an image to create a stronger composition.
Cross-hatching: Drawing technique for shading using numerous crossed sets of parallel lines, and usually resulting in darker values. The darker values are created by frequency rather than thickness of line: fewer lines create a light image, while more lines, closely spaced, create a darker image. (See also hatching.)
Culture: For the purposes of the Visual arts guide (March 2014), “culture” is defined as learned and shared beliefs, values, interests, attitudes, products and all patterns of behaviour created by society. This view of culture includes an organized system of symbols, ideas, explanations, beliefs and material production that humans create and manipulate in their daily lives. Culture is dynamic and organic, operating on many levels in the global context—international, national, regional and local, as well as among different social groups within a society. Culture is seen as fluid and subject to change.
Culture can be seen as providing the overall framework within which humans learn to organize their thoughts, emotions and behaviours in relation to their environment. Within this framework, “cultural context”—which specifically appears in both the taught syllabus and assessment tasks of the visual arts course—refers to the conditions that influence and are influenced by culture. These include historical, geographical, political, social and technological factors.
Culture jamming: Refers to forms of art and other activities involving social agitation. Culture jammers take a number of sociopolitical issues as their primary focus, including media literacy, consumerism, television addiction, television violence, pollution, social laziness, use of sweatshops, and various hazards of corporate dominance of media, government, and daily life. The term was coined in 1984 by the San Francisco audio-collage band Negativeland, but the concept dates back to the suffrage and avant-garde movements of the early 20th century.
Curator: Traditionally, a person responsible for the collection of works of art and cultural artifacts. In contemporary art, the title curator is given to a person who selects and often interprets works of art for display or exhibition. In addition to selecting works, the curator often is responsible for writing labels, catalogue essays, and other supporting content for the exhibition, but also suggests and constructs relationships among artists, artworks, exhibition spaces, and audiences.
Curatorial practice: Primarily concerned with presenting collections of art in an appealing fashion. An increasing array of curatorial approaches exists and includes historical (chronological), discipline-based, retrospective, thematic and conceptual. Many curatorial approaches suggest associations, meanings and narratives to an audience independent of the artist. It raises questions as to which is more important: the way in which a work of art is presented and contextualized or what the artwork itself is trying to convey.

D
depth: the actual dimension of depth within a work of art or the illusion of showing distance in a work of art - In terms of the Visual arts guide (March 2014), the intensity, detail, complexity, strength, seriousness or importance of one’s work, including the complexity or detail of investigation into an artist, style or movement, or the sophistication of the ideas conveyed through a body of work or work or art.
design: plan, organization, or arrangement of elements in a work of art - (1) A plan, or to plan. The organization or composition of a work; the skilled arrangement of its parts. An effective design is one in which the elements of art and principles of design have been combined to achieve an overall sense of unity. (See also composition.) (2) The production of attractive and well-crafted functional objects. Subcategories of the design arts include: architecture, fashion design, furniture design, graphic design, ikebana, industrial design, interior design, landscape architecture, stagecraft, textile design, and web page design. (See also craft.)
Design process: Any one of many problem-solving models that involves the concrete manipulation of images, materials, and technology for the purpose of solving a design problem. The technical design process can be open-ended when the student designs all the steps, or it can be teacher-directed to varying degrees. Most models fit one of two broad categories: reason-centric and action-centric. Reason-centric models tend to be cyclical in nature and use defined stages such as identifying design problem, research, prototype development, prototype evaluation, modification, final product development. In action-centric models, the design process is more improvised and fluid.
Dimension: An object’s extent in space. A two-dimensional object has length and width. A three-dimensional object has length, width, and depth.
dimensional: measurement in one direction. A two-dimensional (2-D) work of art has the two dimensions of length and width; a three-dimensional (3-D) work of art has the three dimensions of length, width, and depth.
Diminishing perspective: Objects are depicted as smaller in size as their distance from the viewer increases.
Direct sources: In art-making, a direct source is where an artist produces images based on the simultaneous observation of the actual subject matter, rather than relying on memory, imagination or secondary source images. For example, in life drawing, the artist’s model is the direct source for the image produced.
Drawing; The process of marking a surface by applying pressure on a tool (for example, pencil, marker, computer drawing tablet) and moving it across the surface to record observations, thoughts, feelings, and ideas, or to explore the artistic possibilities of the drawing material(s). Dry drawing materials include charcoal, conté, crayon, ink, marker, pastel, pencil, scratchboard, software, and watercolour pencils. Wet drawing materials include black or coloured ink applied with a pen, soft brush, nib, or other stylus.
Dry brush: A technique that involves the use of thick paint and little water on the brush. The relative dryness causes the brush to skip on the surface of the paper, producing a broken or textured appearance.
Dry point: An intaglio printing process in which burrs are left on the plate by the pointed needle (or “pencil”) that directly inscribes lines. A kind of engraving that has a soft, fuzzy line because of the metal burrs. (See also intaglio printing.)
Dye: A colorant or pigment that dissolves completely and is translucent. Textile fibre and fabrics are typically dyed in vats of the stuff. Because dyes are mixed with liquids just before their use, commercially produced dyes are highly concentrated. Natural dyes have been derived from a wide range of plant and animal sources, and are sometimes referred to as dyestuff. Dyes colour by penetrating substances, in contrast to drawing and painting colours, which must simply adhere to surfaces. There are many types of dyes, varying in their effects, the means of their use, and permanence.

E
Elaboration: A technique in which the shapes or forms are decorated with additional features such as lines, dots, circles, and patterns.
elements of art: the basic components or tools of visual communication; include line, space, shape/form, value, color, and texture.
embroidery: decorating fabric with stitches.
Emerging technologies: Recently (late 20th century and beyond) developed digital technologies that can be used to create such artworks as digital animation, interactive video-based displays, installations incorporating new media, and web-based art.
emphasis: the principle of design that is concerned with dominance; the development of a main idea or center of interest (focal point). - Special attention or importance given to one part or element in an artwork (for example, a shape of darker value in a light composition). Emphasis can be achieved through placement, contrast, colour, size, and repetition, among other means. (See also principles of design.)
Etching: (1) An intaglio printing process in which an etching needle is used to draw into a wax ground applied over a metal plate. The plate is then submerged in a series of acid baths, each biting into the metal surface only where unprotected by the ground. The ground is removed, ink is forced into the etched depressions, the unetched surfaces wiped, and an impression is printed. (2) The design etched on a plate (3) An impression made from an etched plate. (See also intaglio printing.)
Exaggeration: A technique of increasing, distorting, or enlarging an element, object, or figure.

F
Fashion design: In applied art, which applies design and aesthetic principles to the design and production of clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social latitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion design can be broadly categorized into haute couture (high sewing), prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear) or mass market.
fiber: a type of art using fibers, yarn, and fabric as the medium to create tactile forms and images through surface design, weaving, and construction techniques.
fibers: natural or synthetic filaments, such as cotton or nylon, which can be used in the construction of textiles.
Figurative art: (1) Drawings and paintings of the human figure. (2) Art that depicts recognizable subjects such as landscapes, still life, portraits, and figures.
Film-based photography: Refers broadly to any form of non-digital photographic process that usually involved the use of light sensitive film, which is developed with chemicals, usually as a transparent negative, and is then used through either contact printing or enlarged projection onto a light sensitive paper to produce a positive print. Also referred to as wet photography or analogue photography.
fine art: works made to be enjoyed, not functional, and judged by the theories of art.
fire: to apply heat to harden clay.
Flipbook: A book of pictures in which the sequential images vary slightly from one page to the next. When the pages are turned (flipped) rapidly, the sequence of changes in the pictures simulates motion. Persistence of vision creates the illusion that continuous motion, rather than a series of discontinuous images, is being seen.
focal point: the area within a composition at which the emphasis is greatest and where the eye of the viewer continually comes to rest (the center of interest) - The centre of interest in an artwork (that is, the elements or area in an artwork on which the viewer’s attention is focused). The artist directs the viewer’s eye using a variety of means, including directional lines, contrast, location, isolation, convergence, and the unusual (for example, areas that are light in value, or bright in colour, or highly detailed).
folk art: generally refers to artworks created by individuals who have little or no formal academic training in fine art.
foreground: the part of a picture which appears closest to the viewer and often is at the bottom of the picture - In a conventional two-dimensional representation of space, the area of a picture that appears to be closest to the viewer and in front of the other objects. It is often at the bottom of the picture plane. (See also background and middle ground.)
Form: element of art that refers to the three-dimensional quality/qualities of an artwork.  (1) The total structure of an artwork; a synthesis of all the visible aspects of that structure and of the manner in which they are united to create its distinctive character. The form of a work is what enables us to perceive it. (2) An element of design. Concerned specifically with three-dimensional shape (height, width, and depth) and encloses volume. Its use can be either physical, such as in a sculptural work or representational, such as in a drawing or painting. (See also elements of design.) (3) All of the elements of a work of art independent of their meaning. Formal elements are primary features, which are not a matter of semantic significance—including colour, dimensions, line, mass, medium, scale, shape, space, texture, value—and the principles of design under which they are placed— including balance, contrast, dominance, harmony, movement, proportion, proximity, rhythm, similarity, unity, and variety. (4) A particular art-making discipline within the visual arts in which a work is created (for example, painting, printmaking, sculpture).
Formal qualities: The characteristics, constraints and limitations of a particular medium. For example, the formal qualities of painting are the canvas texture, colour, and brush texture. The formal qualities of an interactive multimedia work are non-linearity, interactivity and virtual presence.
formalist: a philosophical approach that is primarily concerned with the effective organization of the elements and principles of design.
found objects: common or unusual objects that may be used to create a work of art; specifically refers to scrap, discarded materials that have been “found” and used in artworks.
Found-object sculpture: A type of sculpture made of materials and objects found in the environment. The materials and objects are reorganized and reassembled into a new form with or without surface decoration.
Function: Refers to the intended use or purpose of an object, artifact or artwork. The term is often applied to manufactured products, particularly crafts, and when discussing designs for architecture. Although sometimes said to be non-functional, art is expected to function in various ways, including: to beautify, to adorn, to express, to illustrate, to mediate, to persuade, to record, to redefine reality, to redefine art, to provide therapy, to give unselfconscious experience, to provide paradigms of order and/or chaos, and to train perception of reality.
functional art: functional objects such as dishes and clothes that are of a high artistic quality and/or craftsmanship; art with a utilitarian purpose.

G
Genre: The depiction in art of subjects and scenes from everyday life, ordinary folk and common activities.
Genres: The various categories of subject matter in the traditional academic hierarchy, in descending order of importance: history, megalography, mythology, religion, portraiture, genre, landscape, still life, rhopography, and vernacular.
Gestural drawing: Drawing done quickly to capture the action and movement of the subject. It is most concerned with the essence of the pose and economy of means in representing it rather than careful depiction of anatomy or form.
gradation: principle of design that refers to the use of a series of gradual/transitional changes in the use of the elements of art with a given work of art; for example, a transition from lighter to darker colors or a gradation of large shapes to smaller ones -  In a drawing or painting, a small, subtle change from one shade, tone, or colour to another.
graphic design: visual communication intended to be used with commercial printing/reproductive processes in both two- and three-dimensional presentations -  (1) The art of communication, stylizing, and problem-solving through the use of graphics, usually for commercial purposes. Various methods are employed to create and combine words, symbols, and images to create a visual representation of ideas and messages. A graphic designer may use a combination of typography, visual arts and page layout techniques to produce a final result. (2) The products (designs) that are generated by graphic designers, which include logos and branding, publications such as magazines, newspapers and books, print advertisements, posters, billboards, website graphics and elements, signs and product packaging.
Graphics: Any image that is especially linear in character, such as a drawing, and any image made by or for printmaking or digital imaging.
grid: pattern of intersecting vertical and horizontal lines.
gouache: opaque water-based paint that dries to a dense matte finish; similar to the appearance and quality of poster paints.

H
Harmony: A principle of design. The combination of elements so as to highlight their similarities and produce a unified composition. (See also principles of design.)
Hatching: A drawing technique used to create a sense of depth or three-dimensionality on a flat surface. Areas of darker value and shading are created by using numerous repeated strokes of an art tool (for example, pencil, marker) to produce clustered lines. The lines are usually parallel, but may also be curved to follow the shape of the object. Fewer lines create a lighter image, while more lines, closely spaced, create a darker image, since less white paper shows. (See also cross-hatching.)
hue: property of color that refers to the intrinsic “color” of a color. Distinguishing between a color that is more red-orange than red-violet is referencing the property of hue.
Hybridization: The technique used in creating hybrid artworks. Hybrid art is art in which genres, styles, concepts, materials, media, and cultural forms are combined to create new forms.

I
Impressionism: 19th-century art movement that rejected the historical themes and nostalgic images favored by the academic and romantic painters of the day. The Impressionists looked to the life around them as the inspiration for their paintings of sunlit landscapes, middle-class people at leisure, and mothers with children. The many inventions of the Industrial Revolution included portable oil paints and easels that allowed the artist to break free of the studio and paint en plein air (out of doors), or from sketches done directly on the spot. This approach encouraged the use of spontaneous, unblended brushstrokes of vibrant color by these artists.
impressionistic: showing the effects of light and atmospheric conditions of an artist’s work that spontaneously captures a moment in time.
intensity: the property of color that refers to the brightness or dullness of a color; how pure the color is.
interpret: to respond to art work by identifying the feelings, moods, and ideas communicated by the work of art. Interpretation also calls for the investigation of the influence of time and place upon the artist who created the work of art.
Icon: (1) A symbol, image, motif, emblem, or object that is generally recognized as representative of a person, place, era, or culture. (2) A picture, a sculpture, or even a building, when regarded as an object of veneration.
Identity: The characteristics by which a thing (for example, a product, event, fictional character, concept), a person, or a people (a culture, a company, government, or other organization) is definitively known. It refers to individuality in some ways, and sameness (identical) in others. Any person’s identity can be understood only as shifting and ever-changing in two ways. First, identity is not fixed: it changes over the course of a lifetime. Second, identity is how one is perceived by others. Resemblance is relative to the culture and the purpose of classification. Many artists have explored issues concerning their own as well as other people's identities, sometimes in the context of interpersonal, intrapersonal, gender, feminist, racial, spiritual, class, or political issues.
Illustration: A visual representation made by an artist, such as a drawing, painting, photograph, or other kind of image of things seen, remembered or imagined, using a graphical representation. The purpose of an illustration is often to elucidate or decorate a story, poem or piece of textual information by providing a visual representation of something described in the text. Illustrations can also represent scientific images of flora, medicine or different processes, biological or chemical processes or illustrations to give information on how to use something.
Implied line: A line that is not drawn but suggested by the way elements have been combined in an artwork.
Inquiry learning cycle: Any number of simple models based on John Dewey’s philosophy that education should emerge from the curiosity of the learner. Most models include stages of inquiry, investigation or research, followed by an action, followed by reflection.
Installation: A two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or time-based artwork (or a combination of these) made specifically for a chosen site or environment, arranged in place either by the artist or to the artist’s specifications, and often involving interaction between the work, its audience, and the site. Installations are relatively large, and may be temporary or permanent and created for indoor or outdoor settings. (See also land art.)
Intaglio printing: The collective term for several printmaking processes in which prints are produced from the ink trapped in the grooves in an incised, usually metal, plate. Etchings and engravings are the most typical examples.
Intaglio sculpture: A sculptural form where an image is fully modelled in a “negative” manner such as seen in engraved gem seals. The image goes into the surface, so that when impressed on wax it gives an impression in normal relief. Also known as counter-relief.
Interactive media: Generally refers to artworks produced with electronic media or digital media, which respond to the audiences’ actions by presenting content such as text, graphics, animation, video and sound. Any form of interface between the audience and the medium may be considered interactive. Interactive media is not always limited to electronic media or digital media. Artist books are an example of printed interactive media.
Interpretation: A stage in the work of art criticism that follows the describing and analysing of an artwork, in which one identifies the work's expressive qualities, or the meaning, or the mood, or idea communicated to the audience.

J
Juxtaposition: The placing of items in an image close to one another to reveal some contrast or similarity that conveys a message.Kkiln: a furnace in which clay is fired.
Kinetic art: Any work of art that includes natural or mechanical movement as one of its defining properties or as part of its intended purpose.

L
landscape: the subject matter category in which the main theme of the work is natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and lakes. Traditionally, the space depicted in a landscape is divided into three parts. Theforeground is the part closest to you, the viewer. Objects in the foreground are usually larger and more detailed than other objects; they overlap other objects. Objects in the middle ground appear to be behind objects in the foreground. The background is the part of the painting farthest from the viewer. Objects in the background are usually smaller and less distinct than other objects in the work.
line: element of art which refers to the mark(s) made on a surface by a moving point. The element of line has a wide range of qualities and expressive possibilities: curved lines, diagonal lines, dotted lines, straight lines, etc.
Land art: Refers to art that involves the creation or manipulation of a large or enclosed space, effectively surrounding its audience. Also referred to as environment art, earth art or earthworks.
Landscape:  (1) A painting or drawing in which rural scenery is the main feature. Cityscapes, streetscapes, and seascapes are variants of the landscape genre. (2) The physical orientation of a two-dimensional artwork, where the width is greater than the height.
Layering: A technique of applying one layer of opaque or transparent material (for example, tissue paper, paint, glaze or digital images) on top of another.
Layout: The arrangement and positioning in a design of text, illustrations, photographs, and/or diagrams.
Line: An element of design. The visual path left by a moving point; also, a mark, guide, or boundary that leads the eye in an artwork. Differences in the type, orientation, and/or quality of lines can be used to suggest a variety of ideas, states, or moods. For example, horizontal and curving lines can feel restful or inactive, and vertical and diagonal lines can imply movement or action; combinations of horizontal and vertical lines can suggest stability. (See also elements of design.)
Linear perspective: The parallel lines of buildings and rectangular shapes or objects are drawn so as to converge at a point on the horizon or eye-level line called the vanishing point. There can be as many vanishing points in a painting as there are sets of converging parallel lines. In one-point linear perspective, parallel lines converge at a single point on the horizon or eye-level line. In two-point linear perspective, parallel lines converge at two vanishing points on the horizon or eye-level line. In three-point perspective, parallel lines converge at two vanishing points on the horizon or eye-level line while a third vanishing point extends above or below the horizon to conveying the convergence of vertical lines to communicate extreme height or depth.
Logo: A typographic or graphic form or image used as an emblem to identify an individual, club, organization, project, or product. Also called a logotype.

M
mat: to frame a picture or drawing with a cardboard border. The “mat” used in matting an art work can be made of cardboard, acid-free papers, or archival cotton fibers.
media: the material used by the artist to produce art (i.e., paint, clay, fibers).
middle ground: area in a picture between the foreground and thebackground.
mimetic: artwork whose purpose is to “mimic” or imitate nature; often refers to work that is highly realistic.
mixed media: any art work that uses more than one medium.
mobile: a hanging sculpture that has free-moving parts.
Modernism: refers to the overall art movement from the late 1800s to the early 1970s in which artists were primarily interested in how they presented their artistic ideas and issues rather than reproducing the world as it appears visually. This focus on the cultivation of individual style and artistic process led many modern artists toward an abstracted use of the elements of art. The new creative possibilities encouraged a great diversity of activity, and artists experimented with new visual formats and ideas. Reflecting this artistic diversity, Modernism can be considered as a larger heading under which a number of different art movements such as Impressionism, Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism all flourished in succession.
monochromatic: a color scheme that uses one color and all of the tones, tints, and shades that can be derived from it.
motif: a unit repeated to create visual rhythm.
movement: the design principle that uses some of the elements of art to produce the look of action or to cause the viewer’s eye to sweep over the art work in a certain manner.
mural: surface treatment or decoration that is applied directly to a wall. A painted fresco is one form of a mural.
Maquette: A small-scale preliminary work made as a “trial run” in preparation for a larger sculpture or architectural work.
Materials: The substances out of which something is or can be made, including various media (for example, acrylic paint, chalk, modelling clay, canvas, paper, wood) and found objects (for example, leaves, shells, wire). (See also medium.)
Medium (plural: media): (1) The material(s) used by an artist to produce a work of art. A medium may be two-dimensional (for example, graphite, ink, paint, photographic paper, canvas), three-dimensional (for example, fibre, clay, wood, metal, glass, plastic), or time-based (for example, animation, video), and may have wet properties (for example, paint, ink, dye, wash) or dry properties (for example, pencil, charcoal, conté, crayon). (2) A substance that is added to paint to alter the properties of the paint (such as an impasto medium to thicken the paint, a clear polymer or acrylic gel or emulsion used for glazing or varnishing in painting, in image transfer processes, or as an adhesive in collage). (3) The liquid with which powdered pigments are mixed to make paint (for example, in oil paints, linseed oil is the medium). (See also materials and mixed-media work.)
Metalanguage: Any language or symbolic system used to discuss, describe, or analyse another language or symbolic system.
Methodologies of inquiry: Any number of systems and strategies in which art-making, artworks, artists, styles and movements can be investigated. Art can be explored technically, contextually and critically.
Middle ground: In a conventional two-dimensional representation of space, the part of a composition that lies between the foreground and the background. (See also foreground and background.)
Mixed-media work: An artwork in which more than one medium is used (for example, acrylic paint, collage, and oil pastels, in combination).
Modulation: Drawing technique for depicting levels of darkness on paper by applying a medium (for example, pencil) more densely or with a darker shade for darker areas, and less densely or with a lighter shade for lighter areas.
Monochromatic: A colour scheme in which only one hue is used, along with its tints and shades (see also modulation, shades, tints and value).
Monoprint: One of a series of prints in which each has some differences of colour, design, texture, and so on applied to an underlying common image, such as a block print using a chine collé technique. Not to be confused with a monotype.
Monotype: A unique print made by painting on a smooth metal, glass or stone plate and then printing on paper. The pressure of printing creates a texture not possible when painting directly on paper. Not to be confused with a monoprint.
Mosaic: An artwork made with small pieces of a material, such as coloured stone, glass, paper, or tile that are usually laminated onto a stable substrate with some form of adhesive or cement.
Motif: A design or theme that may be repeated in a larger overall composition for decorative or narrative purposes. (See also icon, sign and symbolism.)
Movement:  A principle of design. The way in which the elements of design are organized so that the viewer’s eye is led through a work of art in a systematic way, often to the focal area. Movement can be directed, for example, along lines and edges and by means of shape and colour within the work. (See also principles of design and line.)
Moving image: The product of a number of processes that create the illusion of movement through a series of images (for example, drawings, digital images, paper cut-outs, photographs, puppets, sculpted figures) that show slight, progressive changes sequentially in time using various techniques (for example, claymation, cut-out/collage animation, flipbook, thaumatrope, pixilation, rotoscope, stop motion, digital processes).
Multimedia applications: Computer software programs that combine a variety of elements such as sound, animation, text, and graphics and can be used to create a multimedia production. Multimedia applications that provide hypertext links among elements such as computer text, visual material, and sound files are called hypermedia applications. Multimedia applications may be non-linear. They allow students to compose, communicate, and create in innovative ways.

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narrative artwork: a work of art whose primary purpose is to tell a story.
naturalistic: art work that looks like the subject it is trying to represent.
negative space: the areas of space that are in and around the subject matter. The negative spaces define the subject matter.
Neoclassicism: “new” classicism movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Neoclassicism was inspired by the classical style of ancient Greece and Rome, and the classical ideals of harmony, idealized realism, clarity, and reason are all generally found in examples of neoclassical architecture, painting, and sculpture.
neutral colors: Black, white, gray, and brown are considered to be “neutral” colors because they are (theoretically) neither warm nor cool colors. Some neutral colors may be achieved by mixing a complementary color pair—which “neutralizes” them.
nonobjective/nonrepresentational: artwork that contains no recognizable objects or forms.
Negative space: The empty or open areas within or around an object or form (in two-dimensional and three-dimensional artwork). When these areas have boundaries, they also function as design shapes in the total structure.
Naturalism: Art in which objects, figures, or scenes are drawn or painted as they appear in nature or in real life. (See also realism.)
Neutral colour: Colours such as black and grey that are created by mixing equal proportions of complementary colours. The proportions may be altered to create variable colours such as blue-grey, green-grey, or purple-grey or red-brown, yellow-brown, or green-brown. (See also complementary colours.)
Non-objective art: Art that achieves its effect by using the elements of line, shape, and colour in a non-representational way rather than to depict recognizable objects or figures. It is often focused on exploring colour, form, and texture as formal concepts or shapes and forms produced from the imagination. (See also abstract art, abstraction, and stylize.)

O
Opaque: A material or colour that does not let light pass through. Strong opacity will prevent the colour below from showing through.
Organic shape: Non-geometric, irregular, or free-flowing shapes or forms that are based on shapes or forms found in nature.
Original artwork: An artwork created by hand using techniques such as drawing, printmaking, painting, and sculpture, singly or in combination.Ppapier-mâché: sculpture medium that uses paper or rags dipped in wheat paste (wallpaper paste) over an armature.
oil pastels: media with similar color pigments as chalk pastels, but an oil-and-wax composition.
pastels: pigments pressed into sticks and used as a dry medium on paper; sometimes referred to as hard or soft chalk pastels.
pattern: repetition of an element of art (i.e., shapes, lines, or colors) to achieve decoration or ornamentation.
perspective: system of representing three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface, giving the illusion of depth in space. Linear perspective deals with drawing, and atmospheric perspective attempts to use color and value changes to get the effect of distance.
portrait: subject matter category in which the main purpose of the art work is to communicate a likeness of an individual or group of individuals.
positive space: the primary subject matter in a work of art, as opposed to the background or unoccupied spaces.
primary colors: hues that cannot be produced by a mixture of other hues: magenta red, yellow, and cyan (turquoise) blue.
principles of design: concepts for combining the elements of art into successful art forms, including balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, repetition, rhythm, proportion, unity, and variety.
printmaking: the process of reproducing images on a flat surface; three types are relief block (linoleum, wood), intaglio (etching, engraving), and stencil (silkscreen).
processes: both art methods and the media used for visual communication in a variety of art forms.
proportion: the relationship in size of one component of a work of art to another.
Pastel: (1) A drawing medium consisting of pigment compressed into a stick. Pastels are usually categorized into chalk pastels, such as conté crayons, and oil pastels such as wax crayons. (2) An artwork created using pastels. (3) An adjective for certain soft, light shades of colour.
Pattern: (1) A principle of design. A regular arrangement or sequence of alternated or repeated elements (shapes, lines, colours) or motifs. (2) A template, model, or guide for making something. (See also principles of design.)
Performance art: A series of events or happenings performed or staged by an artist for an audience.
Perspective: The representation of space and three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface so as to convey the impression of height, width, depth, and relative distance. The illusion of depth, distance, and so on, is created through methods such as the depiction of faraway objects as smaller in scale and positioned closer to the top of the art paper and the use of overlapping objects, vertical placement, diminishing size, and shadows and shading. In linear perspective, the parallel lines of buildings and rectangular shapes or objects are drawn so as to converge at a point on the horizon or eye-level line called the vanishing point. In atmospheric perspective, the intensity of colour and the distinctness of detail are gradually lessened to indicate an increase in the distance between objects and the viewer.
Photography: The act of creating durable images by recording light either chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film, or electronically by means of an image sensor. Photography may produce still or moving images, and may be lens-based (such as when using a camera) or non-lens based (such as rayographs or photograms). The common feature is always light (or other forms of electromagnetic radiation) and time (from a fraction of a second to much longer periods of time).
Photomontage: A form of collage in which photographs are used to create a composition. The subject matter and arrangement of the individual photographs combine to express a new meaning conceived by the artist. Assembly can be done through cut and paste or digitally.
Planographic printing: The collective term for several printmaking processes in which prints are produced from a flat surface, often relying on the principle that water and oil do not mix. Lithography and offset printing processes are examples of planographic printing, but monotype could also be considered as a simple form of planographic printmaking.
Popular culture: Art, objects, images, artifacts, literature, music, fashion, and so on, intended for, consumed by, or representing the taste of the general public.
Portrait: (1) An artwork that depicts a person. Portraits may be life size, or smaller or larger than life, and may depict heads, torsos, or full-length figures. They may be abstract or realistic and executed in a variety of media. A self-portrait is an artist’s depiction of him or herself. (2) The physical orientation of a two-dimensional artwork, where the height is greater than the width.
Pose: The position of a figure. The artist may position a subject to suggest the subject’s mental attitude or a physical movement or action.
Primary colours: An element of design. The colours yellow, red (magenta), and blue (cyan) from which it is possible to mix all the other colours of the spectrum—also known as the subtractive or colorant primaries. Thus, pigments that reflect light of one of these wavelengths and absorb other wavelengths may be mixed to produce all colours. Also, the additive primaries: lights of red, green, and blue wavelengths may be mixed to produce all colours. Additive primaries (or RGB primaries) are used in theatrical stage lighting, and in colour video and computer screens.
Principles of design: Generally accepted ideas about the qualities that contribute to the effectiveness of an artwork that are used as guidelines in composing an image and analysing how viewers are likely to perceive it. The qualities include but are not limited to the following: balance, emphasis, harmony, movement, proportion, repetition, rhythm, unity, and variety.
Print: An image created and reproduced by hand, mechanically or digitally, on paper, fabric, or other support, using a printmaking technique, photographic reproduction or other mechanical means.
Printmaking: An artistic method or process that uses a printing plate, screen, stamp, or stencil to create one or a series of prints. Printmaking processes include intaglio, relief and planographic. (See also intaglio printing, relief printing, serigraphic printing and planographic printing.)
Proportion: A principle of design. Refers to the comparative, proper, or harmonious relationship of one part to another or to the whole with respect to size, quantity, or degree; a ratio. Also known as scale. (See also principles of design and scale.)
Purpose: (1) An artist’s specific intent in creating an artwork, the end or goal that is aimed at. Outcomes that are not anticipated and not foreseen are known as unintended consequences. (2) The intent for which an artwork has been created. The purpose of an artwork could include affective, religious, narrative, decorative, social comment, analytical, expressive, aesthetic and anti-aesthetic.

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random rhythm: visual rhythm in which a motif is repeated in no apparent order.
Realism: 19th-century art movement in which artists focused attention on ordinary people, such as peasants and laborers, who had not been pictured in art up to that time. Realists depicted real scenes from contemporary life, from city street scenes to country funerals. They tried to show the beauty in the commonplace, refusing to idealize or gloss over reality as Neoclassical and Romantic artists had.
realistic: art work that attempts a photographic likeness of the subject matter; sometimes refers to the choice of subject that is commonplace as opposed to courtly and idealized.
regular rhythm: visual rhythm created through repeating the same motif with the same distance between placements.
relief sculpture: three-dimensional forms attached to a background.
Renaissance: literally means “rebirth.” The Renaissance period in Europe lasted from the 14th century through the 16th century and was distinguished by a renewed interest in classical art, architecture, literature, and philosophy. While the Renaissance began in Italy, over time its influence eventually spread to other areas of Europe, laying the intellectual and cultural groundwork for the modern world. The artists and scholars of the Italian Renaissance were primarily interested in the Roman classical period, as they identified with it as both their ancestral heritage and their intellectual guide. The Renaissance culture’s embrace of classical learning and values came at a time when a significant growth in trade and commerce was replacing the feudal economy of serfs and lords. An unprecedented period of exploration occurred, with the discovery of unknown continents and new ways of understanding the Earth’s place in the universe. Parallel to the many technological and scientific discoveries of our own age, the development of paper and the printing press brought unprecedented social changes in literacy and the spread of information.
repetition: a way of combining art elements so that the same elements are used over and over to achieve balance and harmony.
representational art: artworks whose primary purpose is to depict the visual appearance of objects and things.
rhythm: refers to a way of utilizing art elements to produce the look and feel of rhythmic movement with a visual tempo or beat.
Romanticism: late 18th- and early 19th-century movement that emphasized the values of passionate emotion and artistic freedom. Romanticism was a philosophical attitude that emphasized emotion, imagination, mystery, and the pursuit of one’s unique destiny. The Romantics had a deep fascination with historical literature and artistic styles that stood in contrast to a world that was becoming increasingly industrialized and developed. The Romantics’ artistic approach was, in part, a rejection of the classical artistic values of the Neoclassical movement. Rather than finding their artistic guidance in the classical principles of harmony, idealized realism, or clarity, the Romantics sought inspiration from intense personal experiences.
Realism: (1) Art in which objects, figures, or scenes are drawn or painted as they appear in nature or in real life. (See also Naturalism.) (2) A style of art, developed in 19th century France and influenced by the advent of photography, that based its depictions on direct observation of reality without the addition of personal emotion associated with romanticism.
Relief printing: Any method of printmaking where the surface to be inked is raised (“in relief”). The printing plate (for example, woodblock, polystyrene, glue line, linoleum, rubber) is adapted, cut, incised, or built up to create a low-relief image, and the image is then transferred to a surface (for example, paper or fabric) after a colour medium (for example, ink) is applied. Also called block printing.
Relief sculpture: A type of carving or sculpture in which the form projects from a background (for example, high relief, low relief/bas-relief, sunken relief). Unlike other types of sculpture, relief sculpture is intended to be viewed from one side.
Repetition: A principle of design. The repeated use of similar elements and visual effects in a composition. Repetition may produce the dominance of one visual idea, a feeling of harmonious relationship or unity, a pattern, or a rhythmic movement of the viewer’s eye (for example, a repeated pattern of similar colours, brushstrokes, and textures can lead the eye through the artwork). (See also principles of design.)
Representational art: Art that depicts the physical appearance of recognizable images from “real” life.
Rhythm: A principle of design. The use of recurring elements to direct the movement of the viewer’s eye through the artwork and give a sense of unity to the composition. There are five kinds of rhythm: random, regular, alternating, progressive, and flowing. (See alsoprinciples of design.)


S
secondary colors: violet, green, orange; hues that can be produced by mixing two of the primary hues. Magenta red and cyan (turquoise) blue make violet. Yellow and cyan blue make green. Magenta red and yellow make orange.
shades: colors created when black is added to a hue to darken a color.
shape: element of art that refers to an enclosed area of 2-D or 3-D space that is defined by its external edge. Almost everything you see has one main shape. A shape can be created within an artwork by enclosing an area with a line, or it can be achieved by making changes in value, colors, forms, or one of the other elements of art.
space: element of art that refers to the perceived distance or area between, around, above, below, or within a given area. Artworks can deal with actual physical space or the illusion of space (depth), depending on the aims of the artist; major divisions within the composition of an artwork include areas of positive and negative space.
still life: the subject matter category in which the main purpose of the art work is to show inanimate objects.
style: a characteristic manner of presenting ideas and feeling in visual form; may also refer to an individual artist or a group of artists whose work has certain features in common.
symbolic: works of art that have forms, images, or subjects representing meanings other than the ones with which they are usually associated.
symmetry: a way of organizing the parts of a design so that one side duplicates or mirrors the other.
Salt resist: A technique that involves sprinkling coarse salt on washes of damp, water-based paint. The salt crystals gradually take up the pigment, creating a multiplicity of light, starlike shapes on the surface of the paper.
Scale: (1) A ratio used in determining the dimensional relationship between a representation to that which it represents (its actual size), as in maps, architectural plans, and models. This is often expressed numerically as two quantities separated by a colon (:). For example, a scale noted as “1:50”. This scale would be read “one to fifty”, meaning “one unit of measurement [inches, feet, meters, etc] here represents fifty of the same units at full size”. A size equal to actual size is full-scale. Sometimes scale is called “proper proportion”. (2) A principle of design, proportion refers to the comparative, proper, or harmonious relationship of one part to another or to the whole with respect to size, quantity, or degree also known as proportion. (See also Principles of design andproportion.)
Sculpture: (1) A work of art in three dimensions (that is, with height, width, and depth), usually intended to be viewed from all sides. (2) The technique of creating three-dimensional forms or figures by carving, cutting, hewing, casting, moulding, welding, or assembling materials. Materials may include clay, found objects, modelling clay, papier mâché, plaster bandages, wire, and wood. Types of sculpture include in the round, intaglio, relief and found-object.
Sculpture in the round: A self-supporting three-dimensional form surrounded by space and designed to be viewed from all sides. Also called free-standing sculpture.
Scumbling (drawing): A drawing technique that uses layers of small, calligraphic, scribbled marks to build up value and texture.
Scumbling (painting): (1) Originally (Venetian school of painters c.1488–1576), a broken passage of opaque or translucent colour (most often paint) skimmed or dragged across the surface in such a way that each colour is visible, each modifying the other, or, to apply a colour in this way. (2) More recently, to smudge or smear the lines, edges, or colours in an image by rubbing lightly. This use appeared in the mid-19th century.
Secondary colours: Colours that are created by mixing two primary colours (for example, in subtractive or colourant colours orange is made by mixing red and yellow; green is made by mixing blue and yellow; violet is made by mixing blue and red).
Sequential art: The term credited to Will Eisner to describe the use of a train of images in sequence to graphic storytelling or to convey information. The best-known example of sequential art is comics, which are a printed arrangement of art and balloons, especially comic books and comic strips. The term is sometimes applied to other time-based media, such as film, animation or storyboards. (See time-based.)
Sgraffito: A method of mark making used in drawing, painting and ceramics in which a sharp instrument is used to scratch through the outermost surface to reveal the underlying surface.
Shade: A dark value of a colour is created by adding black. (See also value.)
Shape: An element of design. The external form or outline of an image produced by the use of line, value, colour, and/or texture. Shape may be geometric or organic, positive or negative. Shapes have two dimensions, length and width. (See also elements of design.)
Serigraphic printing: A stencil method of printmaking in which an image is imposed on a screen of silk or other fine mesh, with blank areas coated with an impermeable substance, and ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface. Also called silkscreen process and screen-printing.
Sign: An image used to represent or point to something (for example, a concept or object) other than itself.
Significance: (1) The intrinsic value of a work of art either within the culture (as in time and place) it was created or within the culture it is now viewed. The judgment can be based on artistic merit, cultural importance or commercial value. (2) The meaning assigned to a sign or symbol used to communicate meaning in a work of art.
Sketch: Quick drawing that may be a reference or plan for composition or later work.
Space: An element of design. The area around, within, or between images or elements. The appearance of space can be created on a two-dimensional surface by means of techniques such as the overlapping of objects, the varying of object size or placement, the varying of colour intensity and value, and the use of detail and diagonal lines. (See also elements of design.)
Stamp: (1) A piece of clay, rubber, polystyrene, or similar material on which a design has been carved or incised. When its surface is inked, it can be used to print the design onto another surface (for example, paper, fabric). (2) A created or found texture tool (for example, shells, lace, textured rolling pins) with a raised, low-relief surface used to impress a design onto the surface of clay.
Stencil: Thick paper, cardboard, or other stiff material with a cut-out design used as a template in printmaking. The stencil is held above a surface, and paint or ink is brushed over it to reproduce the design on the surface below.
Still life: An artwork depicting a grouping of inanimate objects.
Style: The way of creating art that is characteristic of a particular person, culture, historical period, or group. In an artwork, the type and use of materials, methods of work, subject matter, and so on, may reflect a particular style. The following are some major artistic styles: abstract art, cubism, expressionism, impressionism, modernism, naturalism or realism, non-objective art, op art (optical art), postmodernism, and surrealism.
Stylize: To alter natural appearance of the subject matter in order to make a representation in a pre-set style or manner. This may be achieved through processes of simplification, exaggeration or distortion.
Subject matter: The ideas, objects, figures, feelings, and understandings represented in a work of art.
Substitution: The technique in which the qualities of an object are changed to create an incongruous effect.
Symbolism: The use of something (for example, an object) to represent something else (for example, an idea or person). In art, a style that uses symbolic images to suggest abstract ideas or intangible things or states.
Symmetry: Equality in size, shape, and/or position between parts or elements or objects.
Synthesis: (1) Generally refers to a combination of two or more entities that together form something new; alternately, it refers to the creating of something by artificial means. (2) In Bloom’sTaxonomy of Educational Outcomes, a level of learning in which a student can combine the part of a process in new and useful ways.

T
tempera paint: water-based paint that traditionally had pigment mixed with an egg binder. Sometimes called poster paint, this opaque medium now has a chemical binder.
tertiary colors: red-violet, red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet; colors that can be created by mixing a primary and a secondary color. The tertiary colors fall between primary and secondary colors on the color wheel.
textiles: art works that are created from natural or manmade fibers. Weaving, basketry, stitchery, and knitting are just a few of the processes involved in textile design.
texture: element of art that refers to the perceived surface quality or “feel” of an object—its roughness, smoothness, softness, etc. Artworks can deal with the actual physical texture of a surface or the illusion of texture, depending on the aim of the artist.
tints: colors obtained by adding white to the hue to lighten it.
tones: colors obtained by adding gray to the hue of a color.
transition: the principle of art that refers to a way of combining art elements by using a series of gradual changes in those elements (gradation).
triadic: a color group or color scheme using three colors of equal distance from one another on the color wheel, forming an equilateral triangle. Red, yellow, and blue form a triadic color group.
Technique: A method or procedure of using a tool or material to produce a work of art or achieve an expressive effect (for example, using the side of a pencil to shade light and dark tones; using the point of a pencil to create a fine line).
Tertiary colours: (1) The third level in a colour wheel where colours are produced by mixing unequal amounts of two primary colours (or a secondary colour and one of the primaries used to produce it). For example, adding more red to the combination of red and yellow will produce the intermediate colour of red-orange). (2) Any colour produced by a combination of a primary and a secondary, including the neutral colours produced when mixing a primary with its complementary secondary colour (such as orange and blue).
Textile: Fibre or yarn usually woven into cloth.
Textiles and fibre: An art-making form in which works are produced using animal-based fibres (or protein fibres), plant-based fibres (or cellulosic fibres), mineral-based fibres or synthetic fibres. Works of art created could include various forms of needlework, wearable art, paper-based works, weaving and so on.
Texture: An element of design. The feel, appearance, thickness, or stickiness of a surface or substance. Texture may be illusory or physical. Where illusory texture is employed in an artwork a visual effect is used in which the eye is tricked into seeing three-dimensional materials (for example, wood, fur, glass, metal, fabric) on a two-dimensional surface. Also called simulated texture or the illusion of texture. Where physical texture is employed in an artwork, the three-dimensionality of surfaces and materials is perceptible by touch as well as sight (for example, smooth, rough, silky, furry).
Theories: A set of abstract rules, ideas, and principles that explain a particular subject, as opposed to actual practice, or, an unproved assumption; a hypothesis or conjecture assumed for the sake of argument (for example, aesthetics, androgyny, archetypes, chaos, deformalism, emotionalism, empiricism, entropy, feminism and feminist art, formalism, game theory, idealism, imitationalism, LGBT theory, optical mixing, right brain, and subliminal message).
Thumbnail sketch: A small, quick sketch that records and communicates ideas and very basic information. Thumbnail sketches are often used as examples of possible layouts, showing combinations of pictorial elements of various heights and widths, different vertical and horizontal treatments, and/or close-ups and distant views.
Time-based: Artistic forms that use the passage of and the manipulation of time as the essential element with specific reference to experimental film, video art and installation, sound, performance and multimedia computing.
Tint: A light value of a colour is created by adding white. (See also value.)
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U
unity: refers to the visual quality of wholeness or oneness that is achieved through effective use of the elements of art and principles of design.
​Vvalue: element of art that refers to the degree and qualities of lightness or darkness. In color theory, value refers to the lightness (tint) or darkness (shade) of a color; i.e. pink is a tint of red.
vanishing point: in perspective drawing, a point or points on the horizon where receding parallel lines seem to meet.
vanitas: a theme in painting that flourished in 17th-century Holland. The vanitas was a symbolic representation of the fleeting nature of life and a reminder that spiritual redemption should be at the center of a person’s life. A typical symbol in a vanitas painting would be the human skull, but other symbols, such as a disordered pile of dishes or books, hint at the foolishness of a life focused on earthly concerns versus one focused on the soul’s redemption.
variety: quality achieved when the art elements are combined in various combinations to increase visual interest. For instance, an assortment of shapes that are of a variety of sizes attracts more attention than an assortment of shapes all the same size. -  Variety may be achieved by opposing, changing, elaborating, or contrasting the elements of design. (See also principles of design.)
Vector graphics: A digital image encoded as formulas that represent lines and curves. Vector graphics can be reduced and enlarged (zoomed in and out) with no loss of resolution.

W
warm colors: a color group that is associated with red that includes red-orange, red-violet, orange, yellow-orange, and usually yellow. Warm colors appear to advance in space and have a general psychological association with warmth.
watercolor: transparent water-based paint that uses gum arabic as a binder.
weaving: fiber construction predicated on a right-angle relationship. In a weaving, the warp is a unit of strong taut cords running vertically on a loom, and the flexible weft fibers are “woven” in and out horizontally of the warp strings. When the weaving is completed, the warp strings are cut from the loom, and warp and weft fibers have created a solid piece of woven cloth.
Wash: A technique that involves broadly applying thin layers of diluted pigment to a surface, producing an almost transparent effect.
Watercolour techniques: Painting techniques using water-soluble paint or mimicked by other types of paint. Types of watercolour techniques include dry brush, salt resist, wash, wet on dry and dry on dry.
Wet on dry: A technique that involves letting each layer dry before applying another layer of colour on top.
Wet on wet: A technique that involves applying layers of wet paint to previous layers of wet paint.


​Writing about Color
Primary colors: red, yellow and blue. Primary colors can be used to mix a wide range of colors. There are cool and warm primary colors. (i.e. warm cadmium red and cool vermilion red OR warm primary yellow and cool lemon yellow.
 Secondary colors: orange, green and purple. Secondary colors are mixed by combining two primary colors
Complementary colors: pairs of opposite colors on the color wheel: green-red, blue-orange and yellowpurple. Complementary colors are as contrasting as possible (i.e. there is no yellow at all in the color purple). Painters like Andre Derain and van Gogh often made use of the contrasts of complementary colors in their paintings.
Tertiary colors: A wide range of natural or neutral colors. Tertiary colors are created by mixing two complementary colors. Tertiary colors are the colors of nature: skin, plants, wood, stone etc.
Tones: are created by adding black to any color. (i.e. maroon is a tone of red).
Tints: are created by adding white to any color. (i.e. pink is a tint of red).
Palette: the choice of colors an artist makes; i.e. ‘Van Gogh uses a vivid palette to paint his Arles landscapes’. 
Limited palette: the selection of only a few colors within an artwork; i.e. ‘In this drawing, Matisse has used a limited palette of ultramarine blues and purples to create a moody, subdued atmosphere.’
Broad palette: the use of a wide range of different colors within an artwork; i.e. ‘Kandinsky’s paintings are instantly recognizable for their use of geometric shapes, but also for the broad palette of colors he employs.’ 
Tonal range: the range of tones in an artwork from light to dark. A wide tonal range would include all tones from white to black. A narrow tonal range would include only pale tones, only mid tones or only dark tones; i.e. ‘Kathe Kollowitz’s etchings make powerful use of a narrow tonal range to create oppressive, dark images.’ 
Opacity: the density or thickness of the color used; if the color is strong and nothing can be seen beneath it, the color is said to be opaque. Acrylic and oil colors are often opaque.
Transparency: thin, transparent color, with perhaps other colors, shapes and lines visible beneath it. Watercolor paintings typically use transparent color.
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Writing about Painting
Alla Prima: the paint is applied in one layer only; there are no under-layers or over-working. The work of the Fauves was often alla-prima; their energetic, spontaneous style suited this method of working.
Gestural: A loose, energetic application of paint which relies on the artist’s movements to make expressive marks on the canvas. This is supposed to be a very personal and unique way of working - almost like handwriting. Look at artists like Cy Twombly or Antoni Tapies for examples.
Glaze (or Wash): a semi-transparent layer of thinned paint. Many traditional painters like Michelangelo made use of this technique to create the subtle tones of skin or fabric. For a more modern use of the glazing technique, look at the abstract, gestural paintings of Helen Frankenthaler.
Impasto: a thick layer of paint, often applied in several layers with a brush or palette knife. Look at the dense, textural brushwork of paintings by artists like Gillian Ayres or Frank Auerbach.
Plein-aire: a painting which has been made outside, often quite quickly, to cope with changing weather, light effects etc. The Impressionists were the first artists to paint outdoors, rather than in their studios. Before this, however, many artists had sketched outdoors in preparation for painting; the oil sketches of Constable are an excellent example.
Pointillist: the use of many tiny dots of pure color which seem to ‘blend’ when seen at a distance. Georges Seurat’s work is the most famous example of this almost-scientific technique. Look also at the paintings of his pupil, Paul Signac.
Scumbling: a thin glaze of paint dragged over a different color, so that both layers of paint can be seen, giving a luminous, glowing effect. Abstract painters like Mark Rothko made use of this technique.
Sfumato: literally means ‘smoked’ in Italian; the use of heavy, dark tones to suggest mystery and atmosphere. Rembrandt’s late self-portraits are a superb example of this technique in practice.
Support: The surface that a painting or drawing is produced on. Supports can be paper, card, wood, canvas, metal etc. i.e. ‘Antoni Tapies’s paintings sometimes look as if they have been attacked. The support is often violently torn, ripped and stabbed into.’

Art Movements and Periods
Abstract Expressionaism Movement in painting, originating in New York City in the 1940s. It emphasized spontaneous personal expression, freedom from accepted artistic values, surface qualities of paint, and the act of painting itself. Pollock, de Kooning, Motherwell, and Kline, are important abstract expressionists.
Art Deco Design style prevalent during the 1920s and 1930s, characterized by a sleek use of straight lines and slender form.
Art Nouveu A decorative art movement that emerged in the late nineteenth century. Characterized by dense asymmetrical ornamentation in sinuous forms, it is often symbolic and of an erotic nature. Klimt worked in an art nouveau style.
Ash Can School Group of American artists active from 1908 to 1918. It included members of The Eight such as Henri and Davies; Hopper was also part of the Ash Can group. Their work featured scenes of urban realism.
Baroque A movement in European painting in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, characterized by violent movement, strong emotion, and dramatic lighting and coloring. Bernini, Caravaggio and Rubens were among important baroque artists.
Byzantine A style of the Byzantine Empire and its provinces, c. 330-1450. Appearing mostly in religious mosaics, manuscript illuminations, and panel paintings, it is characterized by rigid, monumental, stylized forms with gold backgrounds.
Color Field Painting A technique in abstract painting developed in the 1950s. It focuses on the lyrical effects of large areas of color, often poured or stained onto the canvas. Newman, Rothko, and Frankenthaler painted in this manner.
Conceptual Art A movement of the 1960s and 1970s that emphasized the artistic idea over the art object. It attempted to free art from the confines of the gallery and the pedestal.
Cubism A revolutionary movement begun by Picasso and Braque in the early twentieth century. It employs an analytic vision based on fragmentation and multiple viewpoints.
Dadism A movement, c. 1915-23, that rejected accepted aesthetic standards. It aimed to create antiart and nonart, often employing a sense of the absurd.
Fauvism From the French word fauve , meaning "wild beast ." A style adopted by artists associated with Matisse, c. 1905-08. They painted in a spontaneous manner, using bold colors.
Gothic A European movement beginning in France. Gothic sculpture emerged c. 1200, Gothic painting later in the thirteenth century. The artworks are characterized by a linear, graceful, elegant style more naturalistic than that which had existed previously in Europe.
Impressionism A late-nineteenth-century French school of painting. It focused on transitory visual impressions, often painted directly from nature, with an emphasis on the changing effects of light and color. Monet, Renoir, and Pissarro were important impressionists.
Minimalism A movement in American painting and sculpture that originated in the late 1950s. It emphasized pure, reduced forms and strict, systematic compositions.
Pop Art A movement that began in Britain and the United States in the 1950s. It used the images and techniques of mass media, advertising, and popular culture, often in an ironic way. Works of Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Oldenburg exemplify this style.
postimpressionism A term coined by British art critic Roger Fry to refer to a group of nineteenth-century painters, including Cezanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin, who were dissatisfied with the limitations of expressionism. It has since been used to refer to various reactions against impressionism, such as fauvism nd expressionism.
Renaissance Meaning "rebirth" in French. Refers to Europe c. 1400-1600. Renaissance art which began in Italy, stressed the forms of classical antiquity, a realistic representation of space based on scientific perspective, and secular subjects. The works of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael exemplify the balance and harmony of the High Renaissance (c. 1495-1520).
Rococo An eighteenth-century European style, originating in France. In reaction to the grandeur and massiveness of the baroque, rococo employed refined, elegant, highly decorative forms. Fragonard worked in this style.
Romanticism A European movement of the late eighteenth to mid nineteenth century. In reaction to neoclassicism, it focused on emotion over reason, and on spontaneous expression. The subject matter was invested with drama and usually painted energetically in brilliant colors. Delacroix, Gericault, Turner, and Blake were Romantic artists.
Surrealism A movement of the 1920s and 1930s that began in France. It explored the unconscious, often using images from dreams. It used spontaneous techniques and featured unexpected juxtapositions of objects. Magritte, Dali, Miro, and Ernst painted surrealist works.
Symbolism A painting movement that flourished in France in the 1880s and 1890s in which subject matter was suggested rather than directly presented. It featured decorative, stylized, and evocative images.


More Useful LinksSPARK - Visual Arts Vocabulary
TATE - Glossary of Art Terms
MSDE - Glossary of Art Terms
Source: ​KET Visual Arts Toolkit
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