2-D

A flat shape with height and width but no depth.

2-D/3-D

2-D is a flat shape with height and width but no depth. 3-D is the illusion of depth.

3-D

An illusion of depth. A form having height, width, and depth and giving the illusion of distance from the viewer.

Abstract

A work of art in which a natural object is simplified and exaggerated to emphasize important qualities.

Abstract Expressionism

An art movement that originated in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s that emphasized spontaneous personal expression in large paintings, including action painting.

Action Figure

A figure that appears to be in motion. Often diagonal lines are used to achieve this effect.

Action Painting

A style of abstract painting that uses techniques such as the dribbling or splashing of paint to achieve a spontaneous effect.

Actual

Existing, can be felt by touching.

Actual Texture

The literal tactile quality or feel of the paint or of surfaces.

Actual/Visual

Actual Texture feels rough to touch. Visual texture looks rough but is smooth to touch.

Additive

The technique of building up layers of clay.

Adire Cloth

Adire is the name given to indigo dyed cloth produced by Yoruba women of south western Nigeria using a variety of resist dye techniques.

Advertising

To announce or praise a product, service, etc. in some public medium of communication in order to induce people to buy or use it.

Aerial/Atmospheric Perspective

Showing 3-D distance or depth in a painting by representing objects further away as smaller, with lighter tones and less clarity. Also called atmospheric perspective.

Aesthetic

The quality of beauty that is perceived in a work of art.

Afterlife

The life or existence believed to follow death.

Allegory

The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.

American Realism

A turn of the 20th century idea in art, music and literature depicting urban life.

Amphora

An ancient Greek vase with a large, tapering body and two handles that was used for storage of oil, wine, or grain.

Analogous Colors

Colors close together on the color wheel, such as blue, blue-green, and green.

Angles

The space between two intersecting lines.

Angular

Having, forming, or consisting of an angle or angles.

Arabesque

Ornament or surface decoration with intricate curves and flowing lines based on plant forms.

Arcade

A series of arches supported on piers or columns.

Arch

A curved structure designed to span an opening, usually made of stone. Roman arches are semicircular; Islamic and Gothic arches come to a point at the top.

Archaeology

The study of human culture based on physical remains.

Architectural features

Pertaining to parts of a building such as a column, arch, facade, etc.

Architecture

Enclosed space for specific purposes, such as buildings. A public art form.

Art Nouveau

An international art movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, characterized by depiction of flowers, leaves, and vines. French for `new art`, the movement influenced both design and architecture.

Artist’s Signature

The signature of an artist on his or her picture.

Artistic Value

Relative worth, merit, or importance of a piece of art.

Asymmetry

A principle of design referring to an arrangement of forms that do not appear the same on either side of an imaginary line. Asymmetry adds liveliness to a composition, but to avoid lopsidedness, it is usually balanced by equilibrium.

Atmospheric Perspective

A way of suggesting distance in a painting by showing objects further away as smaller, with lighter tones and less clarity, to imply the hazy effect of atmosphere between the viewer and distant objects. Also called aerial perspective.

Attributes

Objects or characteristics that help identify a person or personality.

Automatic Drawing

Drawing that comes from the subconscious, where the artist is not drawing any particular object.

Axis

An implied straight line in the center of a form or composition, often an imaginary vertical line.

Babylonia

An ancient empire of Mesopotamia in the Euphrates River valley that flourished under Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II.

Background

The part of a picture that appears farthest away. Objects in the background are located highest on the picture plane and are smaller than objects in the middle ground or foreground.

Balance

A principle of design referring to the harmonious relationship of visual weight, including symmetrical, asymmetrical, and radial balance.

BCE

Before Common Era. (also B.C.)

Bilateral Symmetry

The balance of identical or nearly identical visual weight, size, shape, or placement on both sides of an imaginary axis.

Bird’s-Eye View

A view from above, looking down on something, as from a bird’s perspective.

Blurry

Indistinct or hazy in outline.

Body Proportions

The relationship between all parts of the body, including distance and size.A human body appears in proportion if it is approximately 7 to 8 times the height of the head.

Border

A decorative strip around the edge of something.

Bronze

An alloy of copper and tin, often used in sculpture.

Brushstroke

The lines in paint created by a paintbrush. They can be distinguished by their direction, thickness, texture, and quality. Artists may make individual brushstrokes smooth, to achieve a realistic quality, or they may make their brushstrokes obvious.

Byzantine

An artistic style from the Byzantine Empire (Byzantium), characterized by iconography, formal structure, shallow depth, and rich colors.

Calligraphy

The art of beautiful writing or printing.

Capital

In architecture, the top part or head of a column or pillar.

Cartonnage

A linen cloth or papyrus mixed with plaster and water, used to make the innermost mask or panel for the mummified body.

Cartoon

An exaggerated drawing that shows humor or makes a social comment.

Carving

A sculpture technique in which a design is made by cutting away from a block of material, such as wood, clay, plaster, or stone.

Cast Shadow

The shadow created by something blocking the light source.

Cave Painting

Cave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings, and the term is used especially for those dating to prehistoric times.

Ceramic

Objects made of clay hardened into a relatively permanent state by firing.

Ceremony

A formal event performed on a special occasion.

Character

The aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing.

Cheyenne

A group of North American Indian people of the western plains, formerly in central Minnesota and North and South Dakota, and now divided between Montana and Oklahoma.

Chiaroscuro

Italian word for the strong contrast of light and shade.

Chinese Brush Painting

Traditional Chinese painting that shows the artist’s conception of a scene from nature. It is usually painted with with fine tipped brushes using tones of black ink and few, if any, colors.

Chroma

The intensity of a color, from bright to dull.

Circle

A round shape where all points are at the same distance from its center.

Classical

A style based on the ancient Greek and Roman models in literature or art, or to later systems modeled on them.

Codex

Manuscript pages held together by stitching: the earliest form of book, replacing the scrolls and wax tablets of earlier times.

Coffer

In architecture, a decorative sunken panel on the underside of a ceiling.

Coil Construction

A ceramic technique in which objects are constructed by winding clay in concentric rings or spirals.

Collage

A composition made of cut-up materials, such as paper, cloth, photographs, or found materials, to form a design. From the French word coller, to paste or glue. Also called relief sculpture, assemblage, and construction.

Colonnade

A row of columns, usually spanned or connected by beams (lintels).

Color

Element of art—also called hue.

Color Field Painting

A style of painting begun in the 1950s to 1970s, characterized by abstracted areas of color meant to evoke emotional responses. Helen Frankenthaler and Mark Rothko developed this style.

Color Wheel

A circular diagram in which primary and secondary colors are arranged sequentially so that related colors are next to each other and complementary colors are opposite each other.

Column

A cylindrical pillar, often fluted, that usually supports a building, but can be ornamental or free standing too.

Combine

A term coined by Robert Rauschenburg to describe his work in which painting and sculpture are combined.

Commemorate

To honor the memory of someone or some event.

Complementary Colors

Colors located opposite each other on the color wheel: red/green, yellow/purple, blue/orange. When mixed together, they produce a neutral color, and when placed next to one another, they make each other appear more intense.

Composite

A figure or structure composed of a variety of distinct parts. Composite animals combine the head of one animal, and the body, legs, and tail or details of other animals.

Composition

The arrangement of different elements of art, including line, color, shape, and space, into a unified whole by means of principles of design, such as balance, emphasis, and movement.

Concave

Having a surface that is curved or rounded inward.

Concentric

Circles or spheres having a common center.

Consumable

Objects and materials that are meant to be used up.

Consumerism

Attachment to materialistic values or possessions.

Container

Any object that can be used to hold things. Containers in paintings often show textures, such as metal, ceramics, or weaving, that reveal the skill of the artist.

Continuous narrative

An episodic representation of a story in which a certain figure appears more than once in a single scene.

Contour

The outer edge of an object that separates one area from another. Contour implies a 3-D form, while outline implies a 2-D, flat shape.

Contour/Outline

The outer edge of an object that separates one area from another. Contour implies a 3-D form, while outline implies a 2-D, flat shape.

Contrast

A principle of design referring to the difference in brightness between the light and dark areas of a picture.

Converging

Lines that come together (intersect) from different directions.

Convex

Having a surface that is curved or rounded outward.

Cool Colors

The hues on the side of the color wheel containing blue and green. Cool colors include green, blue-green, blue, blue-violet, and violet.

Costume

A style of dress, including garments, accessories, and hairstyle, especially as characteristic of a particular country, period, or people.

Crescent

The shape of a new moon: curved, with a point at either end.

Criteria

A standard of judgment or criticism for evaluating something.

Crosshatching

A series of parallel lines going in one direction, with an overlapping set going in a different, often perpendicular, direction. Indicates lights and darks, or shading.

Cube

A three dimensional solid object with 6 square faces.

Cubism

A style of art developed in early 20th-century Paris by Picasso and Braque based on simultaneous views of a single object, in which the subject is broken apart and reassembled in abstract form. It emphasizes geometric shapes.

Cultural Tradition

Customs or practices associated with a particular culture and passed on to generations.

Curvilinear

An organic shape formed or characterized by curving lines.

Curving

Bending without angles, as if following a rounded form.

Curving

A continuously bending line, without angles.

Depth

The sense of 3-D distance on a 2-D surface. See Distance, Perspective.

Design

Both the process and the result of structuring the elements of art; composition.

Detail

A small, elaborated element of a work of art.

Diagonal

Slanted. Diagonal lines contrast with vertical and horizontal lines, giving a feeling of movement or action.

Diamond

A figure with four equal sides forming two inner obtuse angles and two inner acute angles; a rhombus or lozenge.

Distance

The space between two objects, or the illusion of depth on a flat picture plane.

Dome

In architecture, a hemispherical roof made of an arch rotated 360 degrees on its vertical axis.

Drawing

An artwork usually completed with dry materials, such as pencil, charcoal, chalk, crayon, pastels, or pen and ink.

Dust Bowl

A period during the 1930’3 when severe dust storms caused major damage to crops in drought stricken plains of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

Dynamic

Pertaining to vigorous activity, energetic.

Emphasis

A principle of design referring to something of special importance, usually shown by prominent positioning or through repetition or color.

Empty Space

Space that is left blank.

Equilibrium

A balance of elements in a composition resulting from symmetry or from a balance of visual weight on one side and special interest, such as intense color or complex texture, on the other.

Etch

To make a drawing or design on metal or glass using a wax or acid process. To stand out and be clearly defined.

Expression

An indication of feeling, spirit, character, seen on the face or in a gesture, or heard in the voice.

Expressionism

Art style. A 20th-century style in which artists showed bold, emotional, and personal feeling in their art using symbolic or invented color.

Expressive

The lines, colors, shapes or composition that effectively convey, or express, the feelings or meaning of its creator.

Expressive Line

Lines that show movement and emotion.

Eye Level

The height of the viewer’s eyes above the ground plane.

Facade

In architecture, the front exterior of a building.

Facial Features

Pertaining to parts that make up the face, eyes, nose, ears lips etc.

Fancy

Ornamental, decorative, not plain; extravagant.

Fantasy

A creation of the imagination; an illusion or daydream.

Fauvism

Art style. A style of painting using bright, contrasting color and simplified shapes, introduced in Paris in the early 20th century. The name `les fauves` is French for `the wild beasts.`

Fayum

Realistic portraits painted on wood and placed on mummies commonly found in Fayum, Egypt.

Features

The distinct parts of a face or a landscape.

Feminist art

From the late 1960’s, art that reflects and celebrates women’s lives and experiences.

Figure/Ground

The relationship of the picture surface (ground) to the images (figure). The figure is the positive space and the ground (also called background) is the empty, or negative, space.

Fine Art

Art created for purely aesthetic expression. Painting and sculpture are the best known fine arts.

Flat

Having little or no illusion of depth, usually a single color without highlights or shading filling a space.

Focal Point

The visual center of interest, or focus.

Folk Art

Art style. Art made by people who have had no formal, academic training but whose works are part of a local or regional style. Folk painters often record the ordinary activities of life using simple, flat figures and decorative designs.

Font

A complete assortment of printing type of one size.

Foreground

The part of an image that appears to be closest to the viewer. Objects in the foreground appear larger and brighter than those farther away. They occupy the lower portion of the picture.

Foreground/Background

Foreground is the part of a picture that appears closest; it is usually at the bottom of the picture. The background is the part of a picture that appears furthest away; it is usually closer to the top of the picture.

Foreshortening

Perspective applied to a single object in an image for a 3-D effect. Often results in distortion, with the long axis appearing to project toward the viewer.

Form

An element of art referring to a shape that is 3-D and appears to have volume.

Formal Elements

Components in the making and analyzing of art. They vary somewhat but typically include the following: color, value, form, line, space, shape, and texture.

Format

The relative length, width, and shape of an artwork’s surface.

Frame

An open structure used to hold a painting or a closed border of drawn or printed lines.

Fresco

Wall painting in water-based paint on moist plaster. Mostly from the 14th to the 16th centuries, before the development of oil paints.

Frontal

A pose in figure drawing or sculpture in which figures face forward.

Fulcrum

A prop, or pivot point at the center of balance.

Full Scale

Actual size or life size.

Fuzzy

Blurred or indistinct.

Genre

Scenes of everyday life popular from the 17th century to the 19th century.

Geometric

Regular shapes, such as squares, circles, rectangles, triangles, spirals, zigzags, etc.

Geometric Shape: Rectangle

A four-sided figure with four right angles and where one set of parallel sides is longer than the other.

Geometric Shapes: Circle, Oval

A circle is a round shape where all points are at the same distance from its center. An oval is an egg-shaped or eliptical form or figure.

Geometric/Organic

Geometric refers to common shapes such as squares, circles and triangles. Organic refers to free-form shapes that are often based on natural forms.

Geometric: Circle, Oval, Square, Rectangle, Triangle, Crescent

Employing the simple rectilinear or curvilinear lines or figures used in geometry.

Gesture

The action of a figure in its position or its movement.

Gilded

Covered with gold foil, gold colored.

Glaze

In ceramics, a glassy coating applied to seal and decorate surfaces. Glaze may be colored, transparent, or opaque.

Gods or Goddesses

Beings with supernatural attributes and powers, idealized or worshipped by humans in some religions.

Golden Mean

The division of a given unit of length into two parts such that the ratio of the shorter to the longer equals the ratio of the longer part to the whole.

Gòngshí (Scholar Rocks)

Natural occurring rock forms admired for their sculptural and spiritual properties.

Graphic Design

Based on line drawing rather than color, it is often called commercial or advertising art. Includes the design of posters, labels, booklets, and packages.

Greenware

Unfired clay objects dried to room temperature.

Grid

A geometric construct of squares or rectangles used to enlarge an outline or drawing.

Grisaille

Painted in monochrome, usually gray or brown, to represent relief.

Habitat

The natural environment of an organism.

Hard Edge

Shapes that are precisely defined by sharp edges. A term first used in the 1950s.

Harlem Renaissance

An African American literary and art movement in the uptown Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem in the mid- and late-1920s.

Harlequin

Having a pattern of brightly colored diamond shapes.

Harmony

A principle of design that refers to a way of combining elements of art in a consistent, orderly, or pleasing arrangement.

Hatching

Parallel lines in a series used to darken the value of an area.

Hieroglyphic

Writing symbols that represent objects and objects and ideas rather than sounds. Hieroglyphic forms of writing were used in ancient Egypt, Crete, Asia Minor, and Central America.

High Horizon Line

A high horizon line places an emphasis on objects in the foreground.

High Renaissance

The artistic style of early 16th century painting in Florence and Rome; characterized by technical mastery and heroic composition and humanistic content.

Highlight

An area or a spot in a drawing, painting, or photograph that is strongly illuminated.

Historical Painting

A term for paintings which depict an event in history.

Horizon Line

The implied or actual line where the earth and sky meet. The horizon line matches the eye level on a 2-D surface.

Horizontal

Parallel to the horizon.

Hue

A color or a wavelength of light, such as green or red. The spectrum is usually divided into six basic hues: red, yellow, purple, blue, green, and orange.

Humanism

A cultural and intellectual movement of the Renaissance that emphasized secular concerns as a result of the rediscovery and study of the literature, art, and civilization of ancient Greece and Rome.

Icon

A graphic or simple descriptive picture that represents recognizable objects or people.

Idealized

Portraits or objects that have been altered or modified to present perfect or ideal types.

Illusion

The effort of an artist to represent the visual world. The representation of depth on a flat surface is an illusion.

Impasto

A thick application of paint resulting in visible brushstrokes. An Italian term.

Implied Line

A line that is visually suggested by the arrangement of forms or lights and darks.

Impressionism

Art style. A painting style originating in France about 1870 that emphasizes the momentary effect of light on color, casual subjects, outdoor painting, and expressive brushstrokes.

Intensity

The brightness or dullness of a color.

Interlace

To connect or interweave by or as if lacing together.

Islamic

Of the people, language or culture following the principles and beliefs as stated in the Qu’ran. Typically, though not entirely, Islamic art has focused on the depiction of patterns and Arabic calligraphy, rather than on figures.

Ivory

Type of dentin present in the tusks of elephants, and the teeth of hippos and walruses. It can be carved into a vast variety of shapes and objects such as jewelry, sculpture and furniture inlay. Ivory trade is banned in much of the world.

Jagged

An uneven line with sharp points or protrusions.

Japanese Art

A broad term including wood block prints, scrolls, jade carvings, screens and textiles created by artists of Japanese heritage.

Kachina Doll

A Hopi Indian doll carved from cottonwood root in representation of a kachina and given as a gift to a child or used as a household decoration.

Kente Cloth

Colorfully patterned cloth traditionally woven by hand in Ghana.

Kiln

An oven in which pottery or ceramic ware is fired.

Landscape

A painting whose subject is natural scenery, such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and lakes.

Layout

A specific plan for a design.

Light Source

The direction from which visible light appears, usually the sun, a window, or a lamp.

Limner

An itinerant painter of 18th-century America who usually had little formal training.

Line

An element of art that may be 2-D (pencil on paper), 3-D (wire), or implied (the edge of a shape or form). Also the direction implied by the angle of an object, such as vertical, horizontal, or diagonal.

Linear Perspective

A system of drawing a mathematically derived series of converging lines that intersect at a vanishing point on the horizon to give the illusion of depth on a 2-D surface. It determines the relative size of objects from foreground to background.

Lithograph

Printing from a metal or stone surface on which the printing areas are made ink-receptive.

Long ago

A time well before the present; the distant past.

Loom

A piece of equipment used in weaving.

Low Relief

A relief in sculpture that protrudes only slightly from the surrounding surface material.

Manuscript

A book or document written by hand.

Maquette

A small model of a figure, sculpture, or building.

Mask

A covering for all or part of the face, worn to conceal one’s identity.

Mass Production

The manufacture of goods in large quantities using standardized designs and assembly-line techniques.

Medium, Media

A material and technique used by an artist, such as oil pastels, watercolor, or collage.

Mesopotamia

An ancient region in Western Asia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers: now part of Iraq.

Metaphor

A situation in which a word or thing that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison.

Middle Ages

The time in European history between classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance (from about 500 A.D. to about 1350.)

Middle Ground

The area between the foreground and background in a picture. Often the area showing action.

Mihrab

A niche in the wall of a mosque or a room in the mosque that indicates the direction of Mecca.

Mimbres

Part of the American Indian Mogollon culture which settled in southwest New Mexico and produced distinctive pottery in 1000-1150 A.D.

Miniature

A small painting executed with great detail.

Minimalism

Art style. A nonrepresentational style of sculpture and painting using restricted visual elements, such as simple geometric shapes and limited colors. The style became popular in the late 1960s.

Mixed

Blended together into one unit or mass.

Mixed Media

A technique using two or more artistic media, such as ink and pastels, combined in a single composition or artwork.

Modeling

In painting, the use of light and shadow to give the appearance of 3-D forms. In sculpture, a technique in which a material like clay is shaped to produce a form.

Modern

Referring to recent times or the present.

Monochromatic

Consisting of a single color and may include its tints and shades.

Monoprint

A single print produced by pressing paper on a flat surface over a design prepared with ink or paint.

Mood

An impression or feeling in a painting created by the use of color and line.

Mosaic

A work of art consisting of pieces of colored marble or glass (tesserae) embedded in plaster.

Motif

A specific design that is repeated to create a pattern.

Movement

A principle of design referring to the arrangement of parts that directs the movement of the viewer’s eyes around the work.

Multimedia

A combination of two or more media, such as textiles and paint, for 2-D or 3-D compositions.

Mummy

Deceased body that has been embalmed or preserved, especially as prepared for burial in ancient Egypt.

Mural

A large painting on a wall, generally on a public building. A fresco mural is painted on wet plaster.

Museum

A public building where works of art are exhibited. A gallery is a small museum where works of art are for sale.

Muted Colors

Colors or shades softened by adding the color complement.

Myth

A traditional story explaining aspects of the natural world or cultural and societal ideals.

Narrative

A story or account of events or experiences.

Natural Materials

Materials found in nature, such as stone, clay, bark, roots, and wood.

Natural Pigment

A fine powder made from organic materials such as yellow ochre and red iron oxide that are used as the coloring agent for paint, crayons, chalk, and ink.

Naturalism

Art style. Art based on the direct observation of a scene or figure and which uses colors and shading to give an appearance of reality.

Nature Symbols

Symbols that represent objects from the natural world, such as the sun, moon, and water.

Negative Space

The area around the objects in a painting, sometimes called the background or empty space. Seen in relation to foreground or figure shapes, it is the opposite of positive space, which is space actually occupied by forms.

Neoclassical

A French art style and movement inspired by Ancient Greek and Roman art and architecture popular in the mid 18th century.

Neutral Colors

Colors not associated with any single hue. Blacks, whites, grays, and dull gray-browns. A neutral can be made by mixing complementary hues.

Non-objective

Art that has no recognizable subject and might be based on color or on abstract or idealized shapes.

Nude

An unclothed human figure.

Ochre

The reddish color of iron oxides in natural clay and pigments.

Oil Pastel

Pigments mixed with gum and water, and pressed into a dried stick form for use as crayons.

Omen

A phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. Omens may be considered good or bad, but the term is more often used in a foreboding sense.

One-Point Perspective

A mathematical system for showing the illusion of spatial distance on 2-D surfaces, in which diagonal lines converge toward a single vanishing point located on the horizon line. Developed in 15th-century Italy.

Onomatopoeia

A word that imitates the sound it represents.

Op Art

Art style. A 20th-century movement in which the artist includes optical illusions in the design to expand the visual sensations of the observer.

Optical Illusion

A visually perceived image that differs from objective reality.

Organic

Free-form curving shapes that are not mechanical or geometric but based on natural forms, such as curvilinear, irregular, or biomorphic.

Orthogonal

Straight diagonal lines drawn to connect points around the edges of a picture to the vanishing point.

Outline

A line marking the outer contours or boundaries of an object or figure.

Oval

An egg-shaped or elliptical form or figure.

Overlap

A technique for creating the illusion of depth by placing one object in front of another.

Painted

Represented in paint.

Painting

An artwork made by applying paint to a surface.

Parallel

Lines or shapes in a series, in which every part of the line or shape is an equal distance away from the one next to it.

Parthenon

The temple of Athena Parthenos on the Acropolis at Athens, completed c. 438 BCE by Ictinus and Callicrates and decorated by Phidias; regarded as the finest Doric temple.

Pastel Chalk

A drawing stick made of pigments ground with chalk mixed with gum water. Pastels are generally applied in masses, like paint, rather than lines, like crayons. First popular in Paris in the 18th century.

Pattern

A principle of design in which combinations of repeated lines, colors, and shapes are combined.

Pearls of light

White dots to show the sparkling effect of light.

Perpendicular

Meeting a given line or surface at right angles.

Persian/Iranian

Of the people, language, or culture of Persia or the Persian Empire, now called Iran, which was an ancient Asian empire, at its height extending from Egypt and the Aegean to India.

Personalities

The embodiment of human-like characteristics in animals, plants, and other objects.

Perspective

The suggestion of 3-D (all around) space on a 2-D (flat) surface.

Photo Journalism

A form of journalism that uses images as part of a narrative to tell a news story.

Photo Silkscreen

Method of applying inks to paper or similar materials using a nylon stencil produced by photographic means.

Pigment

A substance, usually a powder, that supplies the coloring agent for paint, crayons, chalk, and ink.

Placement

The location or arrangement of an object in its environment.

Plain

Ordinary, simple, or unostentatious; with little or no ornamentation or decoration.

Point of View

A position from which something is observed.

Pointillism

Art style. A system of painting developed by Georges Seurat in the nineteenth century using tiny dots or points of color in which colors are systematically painted in areas of analogous or complementary colors, producing a vibrant surface.

Polo

A game played on horseback by two teams of three or four players with long-handled mallets for driving a small wooden ball through the opponents’ goal.

Polynesian

Of the people, language, or culture of Polynesia, or “many islands”, in the central and southern Pacific Ocean, including Hawaii, Tahiti, and Samoa.

Pop Art

Art style. A style in the 1950s that magnifies popular symbols, visual cliches, and everyday subject matter in both serious and satirical ways. Subjects are derived from mass media such as comic strips and brand-name packages.

Portrait

The image of a person’s face, made of a 2-D medium or sculpture.

Pose

To assume or hold a particular position or posture.

Positive Shape

The areas of a picture that show objects or figures as opposed to the background or space around the objects.

Post-and-Beam System (Post and Lintel)

In architecture, a structural system that uses two or more uprights, or posts, to support a horizontal beam, or lintel, which spans the space between them.

Post-Impressionism

A movement of artists, mostly in France, from about 1885-1900, whose work was based on the importance of form, symbols, expressiveness, and psychological intensity as a reaction to Impressionism, which concentrated on the effects of light.

Poster

A form of graphic design used to promote a product or announce an event through a brief message.

Prehistoric Art

Art work that was created in an era before written history, including cave paintings and pottery.

Primary

The hues (red, yellow, and blue) from which all other colors are made.

Primary/Secondary

Primary colors are red, blue and green. Secondary colors are made by mixing primary colors (red and blue make purple, red and yellow make orange, and yellow and blue make green).

Principles of Design

Describes the general ways in which artists arrange the parts of their compositions. These organizers include balance, unity, emphasis, contrast, pattern, movement, and rhythm.

Print

One of multiple impressions of a work of art, usually on paper, made from a master plate or block.

Printing

Reproducing a design or pattern by stamping.

Profile

The side view of an object, especially the human head.

Profile/Frontal

Profile is a view seen from the side. Frontal is the front view of a face or object.

Project

To extend or protrude beyond something else.

Proportion

The relation of one part to the whole or to the other parts (e.g., the size of a head relative to a body). Proportion also refers to the relative sizes, or scale, of the visual elements in a composition.

Proportion-Face

The relation of one part to the whole or to the other parts (e.g., the size of a head relative to a body). Proportion also refers to the relative sizes, or scale, of the visual elements in a composition.

Proportions-Face

The distance and size relationships between the eyes, nose, lips, ears, chin, and forehead.

Protrude

To project or thrust forward.

Purpose

The reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc.

Push/Pull

A term used in abstract expressionist art to describe a tension where things push together and pull apart.

Queen of Sheba

A queen in biblical times who was famous for her beauty, splendor, and wealth. She lived in Abyssinia, a kingdom on the Red Sea in the vicinity of modern Ethiopia and Yemen.

Radial

A type of balance based on a circle with rays extending from a point or central focus. Examples: petals of a daisy, spokes of a wheel, the iris of an eye, a star.

Rawhide

The untanned hide of cattle or other animals.

Realism

Art style. A type of representational art in which the artist shows as closely as possible what the eyes see.

Realism

Pertaining to, characterized by, or given to the representation in literature or art of things as they really are.

Realistic

Representing familiar things in a way that is accurate or true to life.

Recede

To move away or be perceived as moving away from an observer, giving the illusion of space.

Recede/Project

An object appears to project, or come forward, because of perspective or bright color. A receding object is one that appears to be farther away, giving an illusion of space or distance. Dark colors may appear to recede.

Rectilinear

Unnamed geometric shapes characterized by straight and angular lines.

Regionalism

Art style. A collection of styles from the 1930s that celebrates life in small-town, rural America. Regional artists include Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood.

Regionalist

Artists in the 1930 such as Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton who painted rural Americans and scenes depicting the of values of hard work and perseverance.

Register

A vertical or horizontal line or pattern band that marks a section of hieroglyphics.

Relief

Sculpture in which the image is raised by carving or scraping away the surface materials.

Renaissance

Period from 1400–1600 after the middle ages when importance was placed on human beings and their environment, science and philosophy. Artists used scientific principles to develop linear perspective, foreshortening in architecture and oil painting.

Repetition

The recurring use of a line, shape, or color in a work of art, often used to create a pattern.

Represent

To stand for; symbolize.

Representational Art

Based on images found in the objective world that can be named or recognized.

Reproduction

A mechanically produced copy of an original work of art.

Revoluntionary War

The war for American independence from Britain, 1775-1783.

Rhythm

A principle of design in which ordered repetition of shapes, lines, or colors indicates a type of movement.

Romanticism

An 19th Century artistic and intellectual style which stressed emotion, freedom and individual imagination rather than classical styles and conventions.

Rough

Either a texture that is not smooth with projections or irregularities, or an approximated style that omits certain details.

Rough/Smooth

Rough texture shows surfaces that would feel rough to touch such as sandpaper, bark, or bread crusts. Smooth Texture shows surfaces that would feel smooth, such as glass.

Round

Shaped like a circle or a ball.

ROY G BIV

An acronym used for representing the order of colors in a color wheel. R is for red, O for orange, Y for yellow, G for green, B for blue, I for indigo and V for violet.

Sans serif

A typeface without serifs, or embellishments.

Scale

The relative size of an object compared to others of its kind, to its environment, or to humans.

Score

To roughen a clay surface in order to firmly attach it to something else.

Screen

A partition that protects or divides a room or space, sometimes used as a wall or door.

Scribe

One who made copies of a manuscript before the invention of printing.

Scroll

A painting or text on silk or paper that is either displayed on a wall or held by the viewer and is rolled up when not in use.

Sculpt

To shape, mold, or fashion with artistry.

Sculpture

A 3-D work of art formed by carving, modeling, or casting.

Seascape

A sketch, painting, or photograph of the sea.

Secondary Colors

The hues orange, green, and violet or purple, produced by mixing equal parts of two primary colors.

Self-portrait

A portrait of the artist created by the artist.

Serif

A typeface with A fine line finishing off the main strokes of a letter.

Sfumato

A delicate gradation of light and shade in the modeling of figures; often ascribed to da Vinci’s work. From the Italian term meaning smoke.

Sgraffito

A technique in which a design is scratched through one layer of color to another.

Shade

A hue with black added, as opposed to a tint, which is a hue with white added.

Shadow

An area that is either not illuminated or only partially illuminated.

Shape

An element of art that is 2-D and is defined by a line or an edge.

Shape/Form

The flat shape or the rounded form that creates a 2-D or 3-D appearance of an object.

Sharp

Clearly defined or distinct.

Shui-Mo Hua (Chinese Brush Painting)

A Chinese ink and wash painting, similar to Chinese calligraphy, in which only black ink is used in the painting. Sumi-e is a similar style of Japanese brush painting

Silkscreen/Serigraphy

A printing process in which ink or paint is forced through a fine screen onto a surface. A coating on the screen allows color to pass through in some places but not others.

Sinuous

Characterized by a series of graceful curves, bends, or turns; winding.

Size

The physical dimensions, proportions, magnitude, or extent of an object.

Sketch

A preliminary drawing for a painting or a work.

Smooth

Texture lacking irregularities, roughness, or projections.

Social Commentary

A statement about the conditions of human life, usually focusing on people who are socially, politically, or economically disenfranchised.

Space

An element of art referring to methods of indicating distance, depth, or volume.

Spatial Cues

Cues indicating an object’s position in relation to the picture plane and to other objects, reflecting 3-D space on 2-D surfaces. Techniques include overlap, relative size or scale, highlighting/shading, aerial and vanishing-point perspective.

Spirits

Supernatural beings.

Square

A shape with four equal-length sides intersecting at four right angles.

Stained Canvas

A method of applying paint directly to a canvas by pouring or rolling rather than by brushing.

Stained Glass

Glass that has been colored, enameled, painted, or stained by having pigments baked onto its surface was used in church windows in the early Renaissance.

Star

A figure usually having five or six points radiating from a center.

Static

Lacking movement or vitality.

Stela

A freestanding decorated stone slab set upright in the ground that commemorates a person or event; often used at burial places.

Still Life

A group of inanimate objects arranged to be painted or drawn, or a painting of the arrangement.

Stippling

A method of employing dots instead of lines, using brushes, pens, or other art tools.

Stone Carving

A carving made in stone.

Straight

Without a bend, angle, or curve.

Straight/Curving

Straight lines follow a series of points without a bend or curve. Curving lines have a rounded bend without sharp angles.

Style

A particular, distinctive appearance or character. A personal mode or execution in any work of art.

Stylized

Simplified or exaggerated visual form that emphasizes particular design qualities.

Subtractive

The technique of removing layers of clay, stone, wood, or other material from a whole.

Surrealism

Art style. A modern style of art in which artists combine distorted or unrelated objects in dreamlike surroundings, using the subconscious as a source of creativity.

Symbol

An object or image that represents an idea or thing.

Symbolic

Relating to or using or proceeding by means of symbols.

Symbolic Color

Color is sometimes used to represent a feeling or emotion that is commonly associated with that color. For example, the color red sometimes indicates anger, fear, or bravery.

Symbolic Color

A color that represents a meaning or association such as white for purity or orange for wealth.

Symbolism

The use of symbols to represent ideas or things.

Symmetrical/Asymmetrical

Symmetrical refers to the balance of identical or nearly identical visual weight, size, shape, or placement on either side an imaginary line. Asymmetrical refers to an arrangement of forms that do not appear the same on either side of an imaginary line.

Symmetry

The balance of identical or nearly identical visual weight, size, shape, or placement on either side of an imaginary axis.

Symmetry/Asymmetry

Symmetry in an object happens when both sides of a central axis are identical or nearly the same, as in a face. Asymmetry is when an object is not the same on both halves, as in a side-view of an animal.

Synagogue

A Jewish house of prayer.

Tapa Cloth

A cloth of the Pacific islands made by pounding mulberry or similar barks flat and thin, used for clothing and floor covering.

Tapestry

A wall hanging of textile fabric painted, embroidered, or woven with colorful ornamental designs or scenes.

Tempera

Water-based paint that uses egg, or casein, as a binder.

Temple

A building or place dedicated to the service or worship of a deity or deities. The Greek temple, designed according to set mathematical rules, was the main form of Greek public architecture.

Terra Cotta

Brownish red clay or “baked earth” used in ancient times for sculpture and pottery, and later in architectural detail. Its reddish color comes from the iron oxides found in clay.

Tertiary

A color resulting from the equal mixture of a primary color with either of the secondary colors adjacent to it on a color wheel.

Tessera

Bits of colored glass or stone used in making mosaics.

Textile

Any cloth or goods produced by weaving, knitting, or felting.

Texture

The element of design that refers to the actual or visual roughness of a surface.

Thick

Having relatively great extent from one surface or side to the opposite.

Thin

Having relatively little extent from one surface or side to the opposite.

Three Dimensional (3-D)

A form having height, width, and depth and giving the illusion of distance from the viewer.

Tint

A hue diluted with white; a color of less than maximum purity, chromo, or saturation.

Tint/Shade

Tints are made by adding white or light colors. They show highlighted areas that appear to project. Shades show shadowy areas that appear to recede; they are made by adding black or dark colors to a hue.

Tlingit

Of the people, language, or culture of the northernmost group of Native Americans who live on the Northwest Coast, Western Canada, and southern Alaska.

Tone

A quality of color with reference to the degree of absorption or reflection of light; a tint or shade; value.

Torso

A statue of the human body with the head and limbs omitted or removed.

Tortillon

A tightly rolled paper stump, used for drawing and blending charcoal.

Triangle

A shape formed by three connecting lines not in a straight line.

Triangular Composition

A composition based on the outline of a triangle or pyramid, popular in Renaissance art, which gives the impression of stability and balance.

Trompe L’Oeil

A 2-D representation that is so realistic it looks 3-D and may convince the viewer that it is the actual subject, not a painting. From the French for `fool the eye`.

Two Dimensional (2-D)

A flat shape with height and width but no depth.

Two-Point Perspective

A way of drawing an object seen from an angle by using two vanishing points to give a more naturalistic representation of space.

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Ukiyo-e

A genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings popular in 17th-20th c. depicting landscapes, tales of history and scenes from the entertainment district. Ukiyo refers to the rising urban culture in Japan in the late 17th c.

Undertone

A color applied or seen through another color.

Unity

A principle of design that gives oneness to a work of art through the repetition and balance of lines, shapes, colors, and textures in a composition. Unity balances variety.

Value

The lightness or darkness of an area. White is the lightest value; black is the darkest.

Vanishing Point

An imaginary point on the horizon line at which parallel lines appear to converge.

Variety

A principle of design that provides liveliness through differences in the assortment of colors, lines, shapes, and textures in a composition. Variety balances unity, or the sameness of the elements.

Vault

An arched structure, usually made of stones, concrete, or bricks, forming a ceiling or roof over a hall, room, or other wholly or partially enclosed construction.

Vertical

Being situated at right angles, or perpendicular to the horizon.

Vertical/Horizontal

Vertical: being situated perpendicular to the horizon. Horizontal: being situated parallel to the horizon.

Victorian

Pertaining to a style of architecture and furnishings in the period of Queen Victoria’s reign in the mid to late 1800’s characterized by heavy ornamentation, elaborate mouldings and dark woodwork.

Viewpoint

The position from which the viewer looks at an object or scene.

Visual

Perceptible by the sense of sight; visible.

Visual Texture

The illusion of having physical texture.

Vocabulary

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Volume

The amount of space occupied by a 3-D object.

Warm Colors

Hues in the red to yellow range on the color wheel, including red-violet, red, red-orange, orange, and yellow-orange. Warm colors appear to be close to the viewer.

Warm/Cool

Warm colors include red, yellow and orange; they show excitement and feel more active. Cool colors include blue, green and violet; they show quiet and feel calmer.

Warp/Weft

The vertical (warp) and horizontal (weft) threads on a loom.

Wash

A thin layer of dilute paint, particularly in watercolor. Also, to cover a paper with color.

Watercolor

Paint that uses water-soluble gum as the binder and water as the vehicle. Characterized by transparency. Also, the resulting painting.

Weaving

Interlacing the threads of the warp (vertical threads) and weft (horizontal threads) on a loom.

Weft

The horizontal threads on a loom.

Whimsical

Fanciful, capricious, arbitrary.

Whimsical

Colorful paintings of flowers, southern scenes, animals and musicians.

Wood Block Print

A type of relief print made from an image that is raised on a block of wood.

Worm’s-Eye-View

A perspective seen from below, looking up at something, as a worm’s perspective. The horizon line is usually low in the picture.

WPA Murals

Named in 1939, the Work Projects Administration was the largest New Deal agency, employing millions to carry out public works projects, including construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects.

Yin/Yang

In Chinese philosophy and religion, two principles, Yin represents the negative, dark, and feminine, and Yang represents the positive, bright, and masculine, which combine the interaction of opposite and complementary principles.

Yoruba

Of the people, language, or culture of the West African people living mainly in Nigeria.

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