Art Appreciation Reviewer
Art Appreciation Reviewer
Art Appreciation Reviewer
Artist – a person who exhibits exceptional skills in the visual and/or the performing arts.
Artisan – a person who is in a skilled trade that involves making things by hand.
Painting - This is best described as the application of pigment to a surface. It is a two-dimensional art
form.
Sculpture - An art form that is best described as three-dimensional.
Architecture – The most functional of all the art forms. It involves creating designs for buildings and
infrastructures.
Music - The art of sound expressed through song, through the use of instruments or combination of both.
Dance – The art of body movements that is attuned to a musical piece.
Literature – The art of using words to express thoughts, ideas, and feelings.
Theatre – The performance of drama. Typically, actors perform on stage in front of live audience.
2-Dimensional Art – any art that has length and width, but no depth. Paintings, drawings, etchings,
scratchboard, photography, graphic design work (ads, etc.)
Drawing
Intimate form of art in that is frequently the artist’s private note-taking process.
Sketching, doodling, intricate drawing
Materials
Pigment – powdered color material
Pigment is mixed with substances that enable it to adhere to the drawing surface
Dry Media and Liquid Media are used in drawing
Dry Media
Pencil
Graphite Pencil
Cheap, readily available, easily erased
All art begins with an idea and a sketch
Metalpoint - Not used a lot anymore. Much like scratchboard
Charcoal - Very dark, sometimes harsh value and line. Made by burning stick of wood.
Chalk Pastels – pigments and nonfat binders. Blend better and can be overlaid to produce shaded
effects.
Oil Pastels and Crayons – Pigment and fatty or greasy binders. Adhere better to be drawing
paper. Wider variety of colors. Difficult to blend.
Liquid Media
Pen and Ink – Can have variety of line width depending on tip of pen. Also used for writing
(Asian calligraphy artists)
Brush and Ink – Often used in the east for writing purposes. Broader, more intense lines than pen
and ink.
Digital Drawing
Computer based drawing – Faster, easier drawing. Less realistic often times.
Architecture & Engineering
Uses programs to create building and structure plans
Encaustic
Must be heated to paint on easily. Paint Hardens when cools. Used mainly by Roman and Greek
Artists.
Fresco
Wall-painting technique often used for large scale murals.
Tempera
Made with water and pigment. Bright colors that last longer than oil paint. Can be mixed with
egg yolk to make it thicker and not crack. Gesso (base paint mixed with glue that helps paint stay
on a support.
Oil Paint
Used on large, bold projects. Dries VERY slowly. Pigment mixed with oil.
Alla Prima – spontaneous painting approach
Impasto – Thick, layered paint
Watercolor
Pigment with water and gum Arabic. Most used on paper.
Gouache
Watercolor with white inert pigment added
Inert pigment – pigment that becomes colorless in paint
Acrylic
Synthetic artist color, also called polymer
Collage
French word that means “pasting” or “gluing”
Henri Matisse – Famous painter who was diagnosed with cancer at age 78
Art and Humanitie
Science
Seeks to describe reality
Attempts to create a universal concept
Measurable and quantitative
Humanities
Seeks to describe humankind’s experience of reality
Gives form to emotion
More analytical approach
Concerns of art
Creativity
Aesthetic communication
Symbols
Fine art – lauded for its aesthetic quality
Applied art – includes architecture or handicrafts with a decorative purpose
Art’s purposes:
1. Provide a record
2. Give visible or other form to feelings
3. Reveal metaphysical or spiritual truths
4. Help people see the world in new or innovative ways
Art’s functions:
1. Enjoyment
2. Political and social commentary
3. Therapy
4. Artifact
Evaluating Art
Formal criticism – considers no external conditions or information
Contextual criticism – considers related information outside the artwork, such as facts about the artist,
social and political conditions, etc.
Communication – Evaluate what the artwork tries to say and if it was worth the effort.
Artisanship – Is the work well made? Understand the medium and the style
Art brut, or “outsider art”
Idea developed by Jean Dubuffet in the 1940s and Roger Cardinal in 1972
Work created by those outside of mainstream art culture