Final Exam Flashcards
Media/Medium
The material on or from which an artist chooses to make a work of art, for example canvas and oil paint, marble, engraving, video, or architecture.
Drawing
A form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surfaces. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, erasers, markers, styluses, and metals.
Silverpoint/Metal Point
A piece of silver wire set in some type of holder, usually wood, to make the wire easier to grasp and control. The artist hones the end of the wire to a sharp point to create finely detailed drawings, typically on wood primed with a thin coating of bone.
Charcoal
Smudges easily, creates lines that can be easily shaped and altered, usually has strong dark value, and is soft compared to metal-based drawing material. Artists choose charcoal when they want to express strong dark tones, add interest to a surface, and make something look solid rather than linear; Two common types: Vine and compressed.
Graphite
Looks and writes like lead just without the weight. Has different degrees of hardness, longevity, and darkness.
Pastel
A powdered pigment mixed with gum and used in stick form for drawing.
Wash
A wash is a term for a visual arts technique resulting in a semi-transparent layer of colour.
Ink
An ancient writing and drawing medium in liquid or paste form, traditionally black or brown – though it can also contain colored dyes or pigments; Different types of drawing inks: carbon or gall; Painting inks are slightly different from drawing inks because they have a binder, usually gum arabic, rather than simply being suspended in water.
Paper
Invented in China around the end of the first century by someone who manufactured it out of pounded plant fibers and can be classified by surface texture and weight.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface.
Pigment
The colored material used in paints. Often made from finely ground minerals.
Gesso
A substance similar to white acrylic paint, used to make the surface smooth for painting.
Support
The material on which a painting is executed.
Binder
A substance that makes pigments adhere to a surface.
Glaze
The illusion of translucent color is achieved by several thin layers called glazes; In oil painting, adding a transparent layer of paint to achieve a richness in texture, volume, and form.
Impasto
Paint applied in thick layers.
Tempera
A fast-drying painting medium made from pigment combined with water and egg yolk.
Encaustic
A painting medium that primarily uses wax, usually beeswax, (and a damar resin binder) as the binding agent.
Fresco
Frescos are a form of wall painting using wet plaster; Piment plus lime water and wet plaster. From the Italian word “fresco,” meaning fresh.
Watercolor
Suspended pigment in water with a sticky binder, usually gum arabic, which helps the pigment adhere to the surface of the paper when dry. Watercolor is transparent and usually used on paper.
Acrylic
A liquid polymer, or plastic, which is used as a binder for pigment in acrylic paint.
Mixed-Media
The use of a variety of materials to make a work of art.
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces.
Matrix
An origination point such as woodblock, from which a print is derived.
Edition
All the copies of a print are made from a single printing.
Relief Printmaking
A print process where the inked image is higher than the non-printing areas
Intaglio Printmaking
Any print process where the inked image is lower than the surface of the printing plate; from the Itialian for “cut into.”
Lithography
A print process executed on a flat, unmarred surface, such as stone, in which the image is created using oil-based ink with resistance to water.
Planographic
A print process–lithography and silkscreen printing– where the inked image area and non-inked area are at the same height.
Serigraphy
Printing that is achieved by creating a solid stencil in a porous screen and forcing ink through the screen onto the printing surface.
Sculpture
Sculptures allow for a different viewing experience; One of the oldest forms of art; Can experience sculptures by looking at them, walking around them, entering them, or being immersed in an environment; All sculptures exist in 3-D space.
Low Relief/Bas Relief
This is a shallow form of relief. The raised areas of the sculpture stick out from the surface but not very deep; Shallow depth.
Subtractive Process
A sculptor begins with a mass of material larger than the finished work and removes the material, subtracting from that mass until the piece is finished.
Additive Process
The sculptor builds the work, adding material as the work progresses, until the piece is complete.
Armature
A framework or skeleton used to support a sculpture.
Casting
Involves using a liquid or pliable material to create a mold that can repeat forms
Contrapposto
A shift in body weight- Usually shown in hips. Depending on the distribution of weight, one leg is straight (load bearing) and the other is bent; Has to do with sculpting and how the body works.
Patina
A color of something. Basically, a color coating that protects the metal. The patina can be thick, thin, applied on parts, or the entire piece. Artists can use a wide variety of colors and finishes.
