This is the Littleton Public Schools District Art Curriculmn Vocabulary List.
Abstract: Portraying essentials or fundamentals without imitating appearances. An abstract painting of a tree depicts the fundamental forces and organization in a tree, but does not look like an actual tree. (See Nonobjective.)
Hannah V . - 6th Grade
Abstracted Shoe Drawing
and Realistic Shoe Drawing
The drawing on the left shows an abstracted interpertation of Hannah's shoes. The drawing on the right is done realistically
Abstract Expressionism: A trend in art that emphasizes the direct, often spontaneous expression of the artist’s inner emotions and states of mind in nonliteral forms and colors.
Accent: Any stress or emphasis given to elements of a composition which makes them attract more attention than other features which surround or are close to them. Accent may be created by brighter color, darker tone, greater size, or any other means by which difference may be expressed.
Acquatint: An intaglio graphic process in which printing plates are coated with particles of resin and then etched. The prints have grainy areas, not unlike watercolors.
Acrylic Painting: A media of painting using acrylic resin. A modern form of paint that is water soluble when wet and permanent when dry.
Action Painting: Related to Abstract Expressionism with immediacy, impulse, chance, and lucky accidents taking precedence over premeditation and deliberate planning. An action painter regards his canvas as “an arena in which to act,” and his painting is a visual record of on-the-spot creativity.
Actual: A surface which stimulates a tactile response when actually touched.
Adair Cloth:Indigo fabric is one of the most popular fabrics from Africa. Symbolic of wealth and prosperity. The cotton fabric is first hand-woven on looms and then dyed using leaves from the indigo plant that have been beaten into a pulp, rolled into balls, and then left to dry in the sun for two to three days. After this, they are mixed in an ash and water solution that acts as a fixitive for the indigo dye. The fabric is dyed using the tie-dye or plain-print method, and the excess dye is removed by hammering the fabric with rubber mallets.
Addition: A sculptural term meaning to build up, to assemble, or to put on.
Michael L . - 8th Grade
" Water Horse"
Found Object Sculpture
Water Detail on Michael L.'s horse
Additive Sculptural: term meaning to build up, assemble, or put on.
Adornment: Enhance the appearance by adding something, relieving plainness. Adornment includes architecture, landscape, interior design, jewelry, and fashion.
Aesthetics: The theory of the artistic or the “beautiful;” traditionally a branch of philosophy, but now a compound of the philosophy, psychology, and sociology of art. As a compound of the above, aesthetics is no longer solely confined to determining what is beautiful in art, but now attempts to discover the origins of sensitivity to art forms, and the relationships of art to other phases of culture (such as science, industry, morality, philosophy, and religion). Frequently used to mean concern with artistic qualities of form as opposed to descriptive form or a mere recording of facts in visual form.
American Scene Painters: Those painters who are chiefly interested in recording and documenting the ordinary life and activities of America. They may be characterized as genre painters.
Amorphous: Without definition, formless; of uncertain dimension.
Analogous: Related, or similar, in some way. Usually refers to color schemes; for example: yellow, yellow green, and green are analogous colors because they all have yellow in common.
Analogous Colors:
1) Closely related colors, especially those in which we can see one common hue.
2) Colors which are neighboring on the color wheel.
Nick B. - 7th Grade
Chalk Pastel and India Ink
This drawing has a red, red-orange and orange analogous color system for its' background.
Approximate Symmetry: The use of forms which are similar on either side of a vertical axis. They may give a feeling of the exactness of equal relationship, but are sufficiently varied to prevent visual monotony.
Apse: A projecting part of a building, usually semicircular or multiangular in place, and usually at the rear of a church.
Arcade: A series of arches supported by columns or piers.
Arch: An arch in the strict sense is a construction (usually curved) built up from wedge-shaped pieces of material with the joints between them all converging to the center (or centers) of the arch, but any curved structure is apt to be referred to as an arch even though not constructed on the true arch principle.
Archaic: Referring to objects belonging to an early, conventionalized style; more advanced than primitive.
Architrave: The lowest major division of the classical entablature resting directly on the capitals of the columns.
Armature: Framework or skeleton used to support clay or wax in modeling usually made of wood or metal.
This person is making an armature for a ceramic house.
Art Nouveau: A style of art popular during the 1890s and extending into the twentieth century, characterized by flowing lines and free, loose ornament.
Artificial Texture: Textures of products created by man; i.e., glass, steel, plastic, etc.
Assemblage: A work of art made up of one or several kinds of materials such as photographs, pieces of paper, cloth, wood, glass, or metal and/or objects such as knives, nails, shells, chairs, and tables. Assemblages may be two- or three-dimensional. A collage is one kind of assemblage.
Hawas I. - 8th Grade
Found Object Sculpture
This sculpture was done in the style of the artist Deborah Butterfield using found objects for sculpture materials.
Asymmetrical Balance: A form of balance attained when the visual units on either side of a vertical axis are not identical, but are placed in positions within the pictorial field so as to create a “felt” equilibrium of the total form concept.
Asymmetry: The type of balance in which unlike objects have equal visual weight. Creates a sense of equilibrium.
Atmospheric Perspective: The effect of air and light on how an object is perceived by the viewer.
Axis: An imaginary line passing through a design, building, etc., around which different parts are disposed. In drawing or painting, an imaginary line expressing the dominant direction of any object in the composition.
Ba(s) Relief: A carved relief projecting only slightly from its background.
Sydney L. - 8th Grade
Balsa Foam Carving
This landscape image was created by carving into 1/2" think balsa foam and then painted with acrylic paint. There is a slight change in thinkness between each level of the image.
Balance: A feeling of equality in weight, attention, or attraction of the various visual elements within the pictorial field as a means of accomplishing organic unity.
Baroque: A seventeenth century art movement that was a reaction from the academic classic tradition in the direction of greater freedom. Baroque art is often characterized by strong contrasts and elaborately twisted and curved forms.
Bat: A slab of plaster or fired clay used to work on or to dry moist clay.
Batik: An Indonesian method of printing fabric by coating with wax the parts not to be dyed.
Sarah B - 8th Grade
Batic
This is an example of paste resist batic on stretched silk.
Bauhaus: A school in Germany (1919–1933) for the integrated training of artists in many fields.
Beam: Horizontal unit, usually weight-supporting, of a structural frame.
Beauty: Those qualities that give sensuous and spiritual pleasure and exaltation.
Ben-Day Process: A mechanical method of putting stippled, or mottled, areas in photomechanically printed pictures. Often seen in colored comics.
Biomorphic Shapes: which are irregular in form and resemble the freely developed curves found in organic life.
Bisque or Biscuit Ware: Clay which has been fired without glaze.
Bone Dry: Clay which is thoroughly air dried, but not kiln fired.
Brayer:
Roller made of rubber or gelatin for rolling out and applying ink to plates or blocks for printing.
This is a brayer used for printing.
Bronze: An alloy, usually of copper and tin, but other metals are sometimes used instead of tin.
Burin: A pointed cutting tool of metal used by engravers.
Burr: The rough ridge of metal thrown up beside lines on a drypoint plate.
Buttress: A projection of masonry or wood to support or give stability to a wall or structure.
Byzantine: The style of art established about AD 500 and developed in the eastern division of the Roman Empire. Byzantine architecture is distinguished by the use of the round arch, dome on pendentives, cruciform plan, and rich mosaic ornamentation.
Calligraphic: Literally “handwriting,” this term is applied to drawings and paintings with free and sketchy linear forms.
Calligraphy: The use of flowing rhythmical lines which intrigue the eye as they enrich surfaces. Calligraphy is highly personal in nature similar to the individual qualities found in handwriting.
Cantilever: A construction device in which a nonvertical projecting member carries weight.
Capital: The uppermost or top member of a column.
Carport: Garage that is not completely enclosed.
Cartoon: An artist’s drawing or study drawn on stout paper at full size to serve as a model or to be transferred and carried out in paint, tapestry, mosaic, stained glass, etc. Also a comic or satirical drawing.
Cartouche : An oval frame around the name or title of a king in ancient Egypt. The oval form symbolized eternity and was thought to protect the owner of the name within the cartouche.
Ian - 6th grade student
Egypt Banner
The cartouche is the oval and symbols on the top of this image.
Jack Wolff-6th Grade
Egyptian Banner
The cartouche is on the left hand side and says "Jack".
Carve: Shaping by cutting and chipping.
Casein: A vehicle for pigment made from milk. Casein tempera lends itself to meticulous and detailed handling.
Cast: A sculptural technique in which liquid materials are shaped by pouring into a mold.
Cast Shadow: The dark area created on a surface when an object is positioned so as to prevent light from hitting the object.
Cast Stone: Stone dust mixed with a binder to form a concrete-like material. Cast stone is used in sculpture and architecture.
Celebration: Art that celebrates culture and community and reveals who we are. The art of celebration includes dance, parades, rituals, ceremonies, festivals, notable occasions, and special events.
Center of Interest: The part of a work of art that has received special emphasis and around which the rest of the work is organized.
Ceramics: Objects made of fired clay.
Chaining: A method of looping the warp as it is removed from the warping frame or reel.
Chase: A cast iron or steel frame in which type is locked up for placing in the press.
Chiaroscuro: An Italian term meaning “clear-dark” used in reference to the organization of lights and darks in drawings, paintings, and prints to suggest form and space.
China: A term often applied to a ceramic ware about midway between stoneware and porcelain.
Chromatic: Pertaining to color or colors.
Classic: Belonging to the culture and art of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Also refers to any system based on authoritative principles and methods and used according to a coherent plan.
Classic Revival (or Neoclassicism): An eclectic style, in favor from around 1785 to 1860, based on Roman and Greek models. Whereas the Renaissance was markedly creative, the Classic Revival aimed for archaeological correctness. Also used sometimes to refer to the widespread interest in classical forms at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.
Clay: An earthen material from which ceramic pieces are formed. The word is generally applied to the natural state without processing.
Melissa B - 8th Grade
Ceramics
This house is made of clay.
Closed Plan: A building plan in which the rooms or areas are sharply separated from one another, as differentiated from Open Plan.
Coil: A rope-shaped piece of clay.
Connor B - 7th Grade
Coil Pot
These clay pots are made from spiral coils and then glazed. Look carefully at 
the texture of the outer surface of the pot to see the pattern.
Jay M. - 7th Grade
Coil Pot
Collage: A composition in which such materials as paper and cloth areattached to a flat surface, sometimes in combination with drawing or painting.
Collograph: A print from a collage plate made from a variety of materials firmly glued to a base plate.
Collotype; An inexpensive yet highly satisfactory method of reproducing limited quantities of paintings, drawings, etc., in black and white or color, by means of gelatin plates.
Colonial: Refers to the period in American history before independence was established.
Colonnade: A series of columns placed at regular intervals and usually united by other architectural members such as lintels or arches.
Color: The character of surface created by the response of vision to the wavelength of light reflection.
(See Elements of Art page for more information)
Color Triad: A group of three colors spaced an equal distance apart on the color wheel. There is a primary triad, a secondary triad, and two intermediate triads on the twelve-color wheel.
Column: A supporting member usually composed of a base, shaft, and capital.
Complementary: A color or form that completes or fills out another; two colors which are directly opposite each other on the color wheel. Red and green are complementary colors.
Sarah E. - 8th Grade
Watercolor
This painting uses the complementary color systems of orange and blue.
Composition: The arrangement (unifying) of the elements in a work of art.
Concave: Recessed areas which pull back from our vision, usually curved and hollow.
Concept: A comprehensive idea or generalization which brings diverse elements into some basic relationship.
Concourse: A large space for the gathering of crowds. Concourses are generally open areas in parks or in such buildings as railway stations and air terminals.
Concrete: A synthetic stony material composed of broken stone, sand, etc., held together by a binder such as cement.
Cone: A shaped core around which threads and light yarns are sometimes wound.
Congruity: Harmony of the various parts or elements with the whole; also agreement among the parts.
Constructivism: A twentieth century nonobjective art movement in painting and sculpture which emphasized geometric organization of form and space as a hopeful acceptance of technology.
Content: The intellectual, emotional, and sensuous meaning of a work of art, especially painting and sculpture, as distinguished from the subject matter. The essential meaning, significance, or aesthetic value of an art form. The psychological or sensory properties one tends to “feel” in art forms as opposed to the visual aspects of a work of art.
Continuity: Rhythmic relation of the parts of a design to each other and to the whole.
Contour: A continuous line which creates a boundary separating an area of space from its surrounding background.
Contrast: Use of differences in elements in artwork (i.e., light/dark, large/small).
Convex: Advancing areas, the opposite or concavity, a bulging curved surface.
Cool Color: Any color in the range of blue, green and violet.
Corinthian: The most richly ornamented of the three Greek “Orders of Architecture.” The columns are slender and often fluted. The bell-shaped capitals are embellished with acanthus leaves, volutes, and so on. (See Doric and Ionic.)
Cornice: The upper portion of a classical entablature, usually with one or more projecting moldings. Also any projecting band at the top of a wall, often acting as a transition from walls to ceilings or to roofs.
Cotton: Material used extensively in weaving because it is washable, durable, and easy to work with.
Counter-Enamel: Enameling and firing a copper piece on the back.
Crackle: Deliberate crazing of glaze for effect.
Craftsmanship: Aptitude, skills, or manual dexterity in the use of tools and materials.
Haley W.- 7th Grade
Scratchboard
This is an example of high quality craftsmanship.
Crazing: Minute cracks in the glaze.
Cubism: Artistic style that uses two-dimensional geometric shapes.
Dada: Anti-everything movement, important historically as a generating force for Surrealism. Early twentieth-century use of fantastic and strange objects as subject matter.
Design Plan, organization, or arrangements of elements in a work of art.
Distortion: Stretching an object or figure out of normal shape to communicate an idea or feeling.
Dome: A type of roof developed as a form of arch construction, shaped generally like half a sphere, although there are many variations, such as stilted, squat, bulbous.
Dominance: Emphasis through position, size, character, etc.
Doric: An order of architecture developed by the Greeks and used by them in the Parthenon and later adopted and altered by the Romans. The simple capital is composed of a square block and a circular element which acts as a transition to the shaft. The simplest of the orders.
Draft: A drawing, usually on squared paper, which indicates the placement of the threads in the harnesses to form a certain pattern in weaving. A preliminary drawing.
Dry Footing: Removing the glaze from the foot or from the bottom of a piece so it can be fired in a kiln without the use of stilts.
Drypoint: A handprint, intaglio process in which lines are scratched into the surface of a metal plate with a needle. The depressions are filled with ink, which is then transferred to paper in printing.
Dusting: Method of sprinkling enamel on copper through a mesh screen.
Dynamic: Giving an effect of movement, progression, energy.
Dynamic Symmetry: A theory of design which attempts to reduce a composition to a mathematics basis.
Earthenware: Ceramic ware made from coarse clays that are fired at low temperatures (under 2,000 degrees F). It is comparatively soft and fragile, usually red or tan in color.
Eaves: The lower part of a roof which projects beyond the exterior wall of a building.
Eclectic: Selecting and combining from various doctrines, systems, or styles. Colonial, French provincial, or Tudor houses built during the twentieth century are examples of eclecticism, as are “Gothic” skyscrapers. Often, elements used in a design are derived from two or more styles.
Elements of Art: The basic visual signs as they are combined into optical units, which are used by the artist to communicate or express his creative ideas. The combination of the basic elements of line, form, space, shape, value, texture, and color represent the visual language of the artist.
(See Elements of Art page for more information)
Elevation: A drawing showing no perspective, of the front, side, or rear of a building, usually done to scale.
Emboss: To raise in relief form a surface, to ornament with raised work.
Emphasis: Dominance, accent, or principality of any portion of a design. Emphasis implies both dominance and subordination.
Enamel: A glassy, colored opaque substance fused to surfaces of metal, glass, and pottery as ornamental or protective coating. Several types are commonly used:
1. Opalescent: An enamel with a cloudy or milky appearance similar to that of an opal. 2. Opaque: Solid color enamel that does not permit light to pass through.
3. Translucent: Enamel that lets light pass through but diffuses it so that objects on the other side cannot be distinguished.
4. Transparent: Enamel that lets light pass through so that objects on the other side can be seen.
Engraving: This term has several meanings, but basically it refers to the incising of letters, figures, or designs into wood, metal, or stone. In printing, it may cover all processes except planographic and stencil; be limited to the intaglio processes; or apply specifically to line engravings.
Entablature: In classical architecture, that portion or the order which occurs between the capital of the column and the pediment; composed vertically of three major sections: architrave, frieze, and cornice.
Esthetics: Philosophy, theory, or science of beauty.
Etching: A hand-print, intaglio process in which the design is bitten (etched) into a metal plate with acid. These bitten lines are then filled with ink which is transferred to the paper in printing.
Expressionism: Art in which the emphasis is on inner emotions, sensations, or ideas rather than on actual appearances or highly ordered compositions.
Fabric: Anything which is manufactured, but usually refers to cloth.
Façade: The front of a building.
Fantasy: (in Art) Departure from accepted appearances or relationships for the sake of psychological expression—may exist within any art style, but usually thought of in connection with realism; unencumbered flights of pictorial fancy, freely interpreted or invented.
Fauvism: A name (meaning “wild beasts”) for an art movement that began in Paris about 1905. It is expressionist art in a general sense, but more decorative and with more of a French sense of orderliness and charm than is found in German expressionism.
Feeding the Press: The process of placing the paper that is to be printed in the press and removing it from the press.
Fenestration: The arrangement or windows in a building.
Ferro-concrete: Concrete reinforced with iron or steel. Commonly called reinforced concrete.
Fettling The act of removing the surface irregularities especially in ceramics and sculpture.
Finger Paint: To paint with fingers and hand rather than brushes or tools.
Form: The arbitrary organization or inventive arrangement of all of the visual elements according to principles which will develop an organic unity in the total work of art; or a three-dimensional shape.
(See Elements of Art page for more information)
Natalie C. - 8th Grader
"Old Blue Jeans"
Found Object Sculpture
This sculpture uses form to create the image of a horse.
Formal: An orderly system or organization as opposed to a less disciplined system.
Format: The general makeup of the item to be printed.
Four-color Process: A mechanical process of color printing in which four plates, similar to halftone plates, are used, The four-color process is used to reproduce, in color, paintings, drawings, and photographs with shaded areas
Free Form Shapes: that do not follow any set of rules; usually biomorphic.
Fresco: Painting executed with a medium similar to water color, on plaster, which is usually bonded to a masonry wall. True, or buono, fresco is done on fresh, wet plaster into which the pigment sinks. Fresco secco, done on dry plaster, is much less permanent.
Frieze: The middle portion of the classical entablature; also a band or strip of painted or sculptured decoration.
Function: Purpose; natural, appropriate, characteristic action.
Futurism: An art movement originating in Italy in the early twentieth century that aimed to portray the movement and change in objects rather than their appearance at any specific time.
Gable: An end of a ridged roof, generally triangular in shape.
Gargoyle: A projecting stone spout, usually grotesquely carved, used on medieval buildings to carry off rainwater. Gargoyles are frequently carved with the heads of fantastic animals.
Kaitlin S. - 7th Grade
Ceramics
These clay gargoil includes parts from many different animals and exagerated features.
Kyle L. - 7th Grade
Ceramics
Gauge: Term used to describe the thickness of metal.
Sydney L. 7th Grade
Wire sculpture
Sydney is using gage 4 wire for this wire portrait.
Genre: A style, especially of painting, illustrative of the common life of a people.
Blake N. - 7th Grade
Monet Drawing / Marker/ AcrylicPaint
This painting is done in an Impressionist style or genre.
Geometric Shapes: Those shapes created by the exact mathematical laws of geometry. They are usually simple in character such as the triangle, the rectangle, and the circle.
Paul F. - 8th Grade
Batic on Silk
Paul uses geometric shapes to form the pattern for his design on this batic.
Georgian: An architectural style developed in England and in America between 1700 and 1800 and named for the King Georges who were ruling at that time.
Gesture Draw: Line drawing done quickly to capture movement.
David - 8th Grade
Gesture Drawings
These drawing are 30 second study drawings..The image students were viewing changes evey half a minute. Students are working to capture movement, emotion and body structure.
Glaze: In ceramics, glaze is a liquid mash of finely ground minerals applied to the surface of green or bisque ware. After the glaze dries, it is fired in the kiln, which results in a glossy, glass-like covering over the clay. In oil painting, glazing is the application of a thin, transparent wash of oil paint over more opaque colors to increase the depth and luminosity of the painting.
Gothic Revival: A movement, beginning in the late eighteenth century and lasting into the present century, in which the Gothic style was used as a model by architects and designers.
Gothic: A style of art prevalent in Western Europe from the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries. Gothic architecture has a highly dynamic system of construction developed from such elements as pointed arches, values, and buttresses.
Gouache: Opaque water color paints made by grinding opaque pigments in water and adding such substances as gum Arabic and honey to form a thick paste. The effect is somewhere between transparent watercolor and oil paint.
Gradation: A gradual step or place on a scale; passing from one tint or shade to another.
Graphic: Originally referring only to writing, the term graphic has been extended to drawing and, sometimes, to painting. It is also used specifically in reference to hand and mechanical printing.
Gravure: The intaglio process of printing, such as etching and engraving, where the printing areas are depressed. The plate is loaded with ink and wiped, with the ink remaining in the depressions in proportion to their depth. It has the unusual ability to print all the way from delicate detail to dense solids.
Greek Revival: A period in art, from about 1820 to 1860 in America, when the Greek influence was predominant, chiefly in architecture. Characterized by exterior Greek porticos and general severity and chastity of detail.
Green Ware: Clay pieces which have not been fired. Moistening could return clay to the plastic state.
Grog: Clay which has been fired and ground; used in clay bodies to reduce shrinkage, to give a rough texture, to prevent warping, and for stability.
Grotesque: Specifically and correctly, a fanciful type of ornamentation that combines geometric and natural forms based on ancient art found in grottoes. Nowadays, it also refers to that which is awkward or incongruous.
Ground: In painting, a coating of prepared gypsum, chalk, or oil pigment applied to the painting surface before the painting is begun, In printing, a waxy coating applied to the printing plate to protect parts of it from the action of the mordant (or acid). Gum Tragacanth Adhering solution; holds enamel to copper before firing.
Gyotaku: printing process in which an image or design is produced with a fish. Originated in Japan.
Half-timber: A type of architectural construction in which the main supporting members are wood timbers, and the spaces between are filled with masonry and sometimes plastered. The structural timbers form a conspicuous design on the exterior of the building.
Halftone: A photoengraving process used for the reproduction of photographs, drawings, and paintings in newspapers, magazines, and books in which different values are printed as dots of varying sizes.
Harmony: Agreement among parts of a composition tending to produce unity.
Harness: The heddles, heddle rods, and harness frames of a loom.
Hatching: A shading technique using fine parallel lines.
Hieroglyphics: Picture writing of the ancient Egyptians, Mexicans, etc. Symbols represent sounds, ideas and/or words.
Megan W. - 6th Grade
Egyptian Banner
The writing in the cartouche is written in hieroglyphics.
Highlight: A spot of bright light or high value on an object, usually produced by a reflection of the source of light.
Hue: The name of a color; actually refers to its position in the spectrum.
Idealism: A philosophy that emphasizes ideas and de-emphasizes materials and emotions. Typically in art this entails a search for the perfect form for each intellectual concept.
Illusionism: The imitation of visual reality created on the flat surface of the picture plane by the use of perspective, light and dark shading, etc.
Illustration(al): An art practice, usually commercial in character, which stresses anecdote or story, situation, subject in preference to serious considerations of aesthetic quality; nonformal easily understood, and temporal rather sustained or universal.
Image: An arresting aspect; a mentally envisioned thing or plan given concrete appearance through the use of an art medium; the general appearance of a work (en toto).
Imagination: Art that questions possibilities and is innovative. The art of imagination includes fantasy, dreams, surrealism, and futuristic art.
Impressionism: A movement in art, particularly painting, in which one aim is to record the effect (or impression) that one receives from the first impression of a scene. Impressionism is often associated with broken color, whereby complex colors are rendered by juxtaposed strokes of their component colors that blend in the eye of the observer.
Hannah L. - 7th Grade
Monet Drawing
Marker and Acrylic Paint
The brush strokes in this painting are loose like the Impressionist painters. The subject of this painting is light and color in the sky.
Informal: Irregular; emphasis on naturalism rather than on strictly ordered forms and compositions.
Inking Press: The process of applying ink to the printing press.
Intaglio: Printing Done from an engraved or incised surface; the opposite of relief printing.
Integration: The formation of a complete, unified whole.
Intensity (of Color): The degree of purity or saturation of a color, brightness.
International Style: Although there have been art trends in the past that were sufficiently widespread to deserve being called international, this phrase today usually refers to a style of architecture begun in the 1920s. Great precision and regularity, geometric forms, smooth surfaces, and lack of ornamentation are distinctive characteristics. Local materials and regional forms play little, if any, part in the buildings.
In-The-Round: Sculpture which is intended to be viewed from all sides, front and back.
Intuitive: Knowing or recognizing by an instinctive sense rather than by the application of exact rules; sensing or feeling something without a specific reason.
Ionic: An order or architecture with columns more slender than the Doric and capitals decorated with volutes. Developed by the Greeks and adapted and altered by the Romans.
Justification: Spacing the lines of type out to a uniform width so that the alignment will be even on the right side.
Juxtaposition: To place side by side, the state of being so placed, unexpected combinations of colors, shapes, and ideas, intentionally or unintentionally.
Keystone: The central stone of an arch, sometimes given a highly decorative treatment.
Khasma (Hasma): Downward hanging hand. The hand can be suspended above doorways, included in wall paintings and incorporated into architecture. Arabic.
Josh L. - 6th Grade
Khasma Hand
This is a foil relief sculpture of a Khasma Hand.
Faithful S. - 6th Grade
Khasma Hand
This foil relief hand uses the traditional Khasma hand pattern.
Kiln: An oven or furnace used to fire ceramic products.
Kiln (Enameling): Small oven for baking enamel.
Kiln Wash: A solution of refractory material painted on the floor and shelves of kilns to keep glaze from sticking.
Knead: A method of working clay with the fingers or the heel of the hand to obtain a uniform consistency. Also a method of wedging.
Laminate: Layers of paper, wood, etc., bonded together, usually by heat and pressure to make a tough, homologous material. Plywood is a laminated product.
Landscape: A painting , or other representation, of a view of natural forms, open countryside, parkland or forest, often covering a considerable range of distance. Figures may be includedto give a sense of scale, but they are subordinate to the view as a whole.
2. The broad category , or genre of works of this type
Karri K. - 7th Grade
Marker/ Acrylic on Plastic
Kari uses a soft analogous color scheme for her Impressionist styled ocean landscape.
Layout: In printing and in commercial art, a term referring to the arrangement of pictures and words on the page which are marked to show such things as placement and spacing of text, margins, and size and kinds of type to be used.
Leather Hard: Clay which is still moist enough to be carved or burnished easily, but is too dry to be plastic.
Light Pattern: The typical relationship of light and dark shapes appearing on a form as a result of its physical character and the kind and direction of light falling upon it.
Line: Line does not exist in nature, but we interpret edges or contour as line. A shape may be compact and closed, or spiny, rough, and open. We relate ourselves to line and tend to move with it. A line is the path of a moving point, that is, a mark made by a tool or instrument as it is drawn across a surface. It is usually made visible by the fact that it contrasts in value with the surface on which it is drawn.
(See Elements of Art page for more information)
Tyler B. - 7th Grade
Scratchboard
This drawing makes use of lines to create the image.
Line Engraving: A hand process of producing prints from a metal plate on which the image has been incised by pushing a V-shaped graver into the metal.
Line Gauge: A printer’s rule, usually divided into both picas and inches.
Line-cut: A type of photoengraving in which only one value is reproduced. Black and white comic strips are usually line-cuts.
Linocut: See Linoleum Block Printing
Linoleum Block Printing: A relief printing process in which an image or design is cut into the surface of a block of linoleum (lino).
Lintel: Horizontal architectural member of wood, stone, etc., to span openings, supported at ends by piers or walls.
Lithography: Method of surface printing from a plate of stone or metal and greasy ink.
Local Color: A tone which takes its color from the nature of the actual object portrayed (green grass, blue sky, etc.).
Local Value The characteristic tone quality of an area or surface which is determined by its particular pigmentation. For example, a shape painted with gray pigment will reflect only a certain amount of light even when that light strikes it directly.
Lock Up: Fastening the type tightly in a chase so that it may be inserted in the press for printing.
Lost Wax Process: Method of casting in metal, objects made from clay or other plastic materials.
Lowercase: Small letters of a type font, as distinguished from capitals.
Lumps Enamel in chunks.
Lyrical: A term borrowed from poetry which attempts to define a quality of a special aesthetic or sensory experience in the visual arts (as opposed to a dramatic experience, for example). A songlike outpouring of the artist’s experience usually accomplished in form by graceful rhythms, light color tonalities, and spontaneous drawing or brush work. The term poetic is sometimes used in place of lyrical, for the same kind of meaning.
Madonna: Italian word meaning “my lady,” usually referring to the Virgin Mary.
Magic Realism: A type of painting, the subject matter of which is objectively portrayed, but which has strong nonrational overtones (surrealism).
Majolica: A type of ceramic usually decorated with large, bold floral patterns. Most majolica comes from Italy, but was introduced there from Spain by way of Majorca—hence the name.
Manipulation: To shape by skilled use of the hands (sometimes used to mean model).
Margin: The part of a page outside the main part of the printed matter.
Masonry: Construction made from such materials as stone, brick, tile, and plaster.
Mass: Solidity of form which seems permanent and massive; a threedimensional form or body which stands out from the space surrounding it because of difference in color, value, or texture.
Media, Mediums: The materials and tools used by the artist to create the visual elements perceived by the viewer of the work of art.
Medieval: Referring to the Middle Ages, during which the Romanesque and Gothic styles of architecture developed.
Metope: Space between two Triglyphs in a Doric frieze; often enriched with sculpture.
Mobile: A kind of sculpture, usually suspended in which the parts move.
Model (See Manipulate and Modeling.)
Modeling: The representation of solid forms in either sculpture or painting. Modeling refers either to the actual shaping of clay or other materials in sculpture, or the use of colors and values to represent forms in painting.
Modeling Wheel or Bench Whirler: A small wheel revolved by hand. Originally used for decorating and banding pottery. Also used in hand building to obtain symmetry.
Module: Standard or unit of measurement.
Mold: A hollow form or pattern usually made of plaster of Paris and used for casting or pressing clay and other media into a definite shape.
Moldings: Ornamental projecting strips with varied contours.
Monochromatic: Using only one hue. An example of a monochromatic color scheme is one based on various tints and shades of green.
Monolithic: Literally means “one stone,” but it is used to refer to structures on homogeneous and continuous materials, such as concrete.
Monoprint: A type of surface printing in which a sketch is done on glass or metal with oil paint or ink and then transferred by contact to paper. Only one print can be made of each design. Also called monotype.
Mordant: In etching, any fluid, usually a strong acid, used to eat away the exposed portions of the plate; in dyeing a substance used to fix the color.
Mosaic: A type of inlaid design, composed of small pieces of stone or glass, generally used for the decoration of walls and floors.
Motif: A distinctive principle idea or element of a work of art.
Movement: The principle of design that creates the illusion of action or physical change in position. An artist can control the way a viewer looks at a work of art.
Mural: Literally meaning wall, this term is now used for painting, sculpture, mosaics, etc., that are definitely joined with a wall.
Narrative Art: A form of art which depends on subject matter to tell a story. At its best, such art would be more concerned with aesthetic qualities than with the story; at its worst, it would be a documentary description of the facts of the story without regard for aesthetic form.
William B - 6th Grade
Aboriginal Dot Painting
Austraian Aboriginal Dot painting uses a story.
Natural Texture: Texture existing as a result of natural processes.
Naturalism: The approach to art in which all forms used by the artist are essentially descriptive representation of things visually experienced. True naturalism contains no interpretation introduced by the artist for expressive purposes.
Nave: A term applied either to the long portion of a church leading to the choir, or to the central aisle as distinguished from the side aisles.
Negative Space: Empty spaces surrounding positive spaces.
Neutralized Color: A color which has been “grayed” or reduced in its intensity by mixture with a neutral or a complementary color.
Neutrals: Tones which do not reflect any single wavelength of light. Neutrals create only effects of darkness and lightness as in black, white, or gray.
Niche: A hollow recess in a wall, generally intended for a statue or ornament.
Nonobjective: Referring to paintings or sculpture that show no resemblance to natural objects as they are ordinarily perceived. An approach to art in which the visual signs are entirely imaginative and do not derive from anything ever seen by the artist. The shapes, their organization, and treatment by the artist are entirely personalized and consequently not associated by the observer with any previously experienced natural form.
Objective: Applied to paintings and sculptures in which the portrayal of subject is mimetic/realistic.
Oil Painting: A technique of painting with pigments ground in such oils as linseed, poppy, or nut. The characteristic slowness of drying is often hastened by adding turpentine or other dryers.
Oil Pastel: A drawing medium consisting of pigment mixed with an oil binder and compressed into a stick form.
Mathew S. - 7th Grade
Oil Pastel
Mathew created this image of a badger using oil pastels.
Amanda M. - 7th Grade
Amanda's fox is also drawn using oil pastels.
Open Plan: A building plan in which some rooms or areas are not sharply divided from each other.
Optical Color Mixing : Small dabs or dashes of color that when veiwed from a distance blend to form a different color. Colors are blended in the viewer's eye.
Optical: Perception A way of seeing the mind seems to have no other function than the natural one of providing the physical sensation of recognition by sight.
Order: A term used in connection with classical architecture to signify a type of column with the entablature which it supports. The three Greek orders—Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian—were taken over and altered by the Romans, and two more—the Tuscan and Composite—were developed.
Organic: Having a complex structure of vitally interdependent units as is found in living organism
Organization: The purposeful relation of parts to each other and to the whole.
Orientation: The location of a building in relation to the points of the compass; usually means paying attention to wind and outlooks as well as to the sun.
Ornament: Something that embellishes or enriches an object.
Overfiring: Firing enamel until it becomes overmature or burned out.
Overglaze: Colors applied and fired at a low heat after the piece has been glazed.
Palette: A flat, thin piece of metal, wood, porcelain, or glass on which a painter mixes color; also, the assortment of colors used by a painter.
Palette Knife: A thin flexible knife used by painters for mixing oil colors or applying them to a canvas.
Papier Collé: A technique of visual expression in which scraps of paper having various textures are actually pasted to the picture surface to enrich or embellish areas.
Papier Mâché: French word for “mashed or chewed paper.” Material made of newspaper or paper and liquid paste or glue applied over a supporting structure called an armature.
Karen G. - 8th Grade
Papier Mâché
This papier mâché monster also uses mixed media techniques by adding found objects and ceramic elements to the sculpture.
Matt S. - 8th Grade
Papier Mâché
This sculpture was also made from papier mâché.
Pastel: Crayons made of ground colors and a binder (usually gum Arabic). Pastel is also used to describe colors that are light in value and somewhat neutralized.
Patina: A film or encrustation on the surface of copper or bronze produced naturally by oxidation by treatment with acids. Also includes any mellowing of surfaces resulting from age and use.
Pattern: The obvious emphasis on certain visual form relationships and certain directional movements within the visual field. It also refers to the repetition of elements or the combinations of elements in a readily recognized systematic organization.
Grace T. - 6th Grade
Aboriginal Dot Painting
The dots in this painting demonstrate irregular pattern in art.
Pediment: In classical architecture, the triangular area above the entablature, forming the gable of a two-pitched roof; also, similar areas on doorways, furniture, etc.
Perception: The act of taking notice; recognition of an object, quality, or idea through the use of the physical and/or mental faculties.
Peripherals: Accessories and equipment to support computers.
Perspective: A mechanical system of creating the illusion of a three - dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface.
Perspective - Areal / Atmospheric: representation of space by the weakening of hues and value contrasts and the softening of edges of objects in proportion to their distance from the observer. The apparent haziness of distant objects is an example of aerial perspective.
Perspective - Bird’s Eye: The representation of a building or some scene as it would look if viewed from the air.
Lance L. - 8th Grade
1Point Perspective Drawing
This one point perspective drawing of a city is done using a bird's eye view.
Perspective—Linear:
Representation of space and distance in drawing and painting through the convergence of parallel lines and the diminution of objects in relation to their distance from the foreground. Developed during the Renaissance.
Photogram: A photograph made without a camera by placing objects on light sensitive paper and exposing it to light.
Photogravure: A method of printing pictures from intaglio plates made photomechanically.
Photomechanical: Pertaining to a number of printing processes in which the plate is photographically prepared and the copies printed on mechanical presses.
Pica: The printer’s standard of measurement. It is equal to 12 points (about 1/6 inch).
Pickle: Acid solution used to clean metal.
Pictorial Area: The area within which the design exists; generally of measurable dimensions and bounded by mat, frame, or lines.
Picture Frame The outermost limits or the boundary of the picture plane.
Picture Plane: The actual flat surface on which the artist executes his pictorial image. In some cases it acts merely as a transparent plan of reference to establish the illusion of forms existing in a threedimensional space.
Picturesque: Originally this term referred to a landscape that looked like a painting. Now used chiefly to describe anything that is characterized by informal irregularity and roughness.
Pier: A support of metal or masonry, or both, occurring between openings, as supports for arches or lintels, at ends of bridges, as enlarged portions of a wall, etc. A column is a specialized type of pier.
Pigment: Powdery color substances that are used with liquid vehicles to produce paint.
Pilaster: A building pier, rectangular in plan, that is a part of, but projects slightly from, the wall. Pilasters generally mark points of special support in a wall and are treated as columns with base, shaft, and capital.
Plane: A shape which is essentially two-dimensional in nature, but whose relationships with other shapes may give an illusion of a third dimension.
Planer: In printing a block of wood which is placed on the type and tapped before final lockup to ensure that the type faces are all even.
Planographic (or Surface Printing): Printing done from a flat plate, the design being neither raised nor lowered.
Lithography: is a type of surface printing.
Plaster of Paris :A white powder (calcium sulfate) which when mixed with water forms a quick-setting paste used for molds in casting dishes, sculpture, etc.
Plastic: Capable of being formed, molded, or modeled.
Plasticine: A term applied to those materials or products made from various organic and inorganic substances which lend themselves to molding in various forms. Bakelite, Formica, Celluloid, Pilofilm, and Lucite are trade names of various plastics.
Plasticity: The capacity of yielding to pressure and of holding the form given by that pressure. A quality of clay.
Platen: A printing press on which the paper rests on a flat surface and is pressed against the type which is also held flat.
Ply :The number of single strands which are twisted together to form a thread or cord.
Plywood: An odd number of sheets of thin wood glued together with the grains of adjacent sheets at right angles to each other.
Point: A unit of measurement used to size type, ½ of a pica, or .01384 of an inch, about 1/72 of an inch.
Pointillism: A method of painting in which the paint is applied in dots or “points” that are more or less the same size and shape in any one painting. A somewhat formalized, systematic development of the broken or divided color techniques of Impressionism.
Emily L. - 7th Grade
Pointalism / Marker
This drawing is made completely out of small dots of color. Look at the variation of color Emily uses to create depth and interest.
Pointing The mechanical measuring of an original piece of modeling or sculpture in order to reproduce it in some other material. Stone cutters make use of pointing to copy accurately the model supplied them by the sculptor. Also, the filling and finishing with mortar joints in masonry.
Porcelain A ceramic product made from a fine, even-grained clay and fired to a high temperature; a tough, beautiful ware that is translucent when thin.
Positive Space: Shapes/forms in two- and three-dimensional art.
Post and Lintel: A system or architectural construction base on upright columns or posts and horizontal beams or lintels.
Post Impressionist: A general term used to describe the progressive painters in the latter part of the nineteenth century who departed from the Impressionist approach to find their own ways of seeing and painting what they saw and felt.
Prefabricated: Generally used in architecture to describe those parts of a building that are manufactured before delivery to the building site where they are incorporated in the building or assembled. Increasingly, entire houses are being prefabricated.
Prestressed Concrete: Concrete in which cables, rods, wires, etc., are so embedded that structural burdens are deflected and made to travel in predetermined directions. The reinforcement is held under tension until the concrete is hard. When the tension is released, the metal contracts and compresses and strengthens the concrete.
Primary Colors: The three colors in the spectrum which cannot be produced by mixture of pigments—red, yellow, and blue.
Primitive Art: The art of people with a tribal social order or a Neolithic stage of culture. This kind of art is characterized by a heightened emphasis on form and a mysterious, but vehement expression and content. A secondary meaning is found in the work of artists such as Henry Rousseau and Grandma Moses which shows a naivete of expression and form closely related to the untrained by often sensitive forms of folk art.
Principles of Design: Principles of order or design are used by the artist to create order or unity and increase attention. Principles include balance, unity, movement, contrast, pattern, emphasis, proportion, variation repetition, and juxtaposition.
Printmaking: The design and production of prints by an artist. A print is a mark made by pressure.
Proof: A trial printing of the type or plate.
Proofreading: Reading the proof to correct such errors as type, spelling, and punctuation.
Proportion: The relation among parts and of parts to the whole; ratio among parts. Sometimes used specifically for shape relationships.
Pyrometric Cones: Pyramids made from clay and auxiliary fluxes used as an indicator of heat within the kiln. The composition of the cone determines the melting point and the cone number indicates the temperature at which fusion takes place.
Radial Balance: Branch out from a central point or axis, circular in nature.
Realism: Applied chiefly to painting and sculpture that rather closely approximate the natural appearance of objects, but emphasize the most distinctive visual characteristics of forms, colors, textures, and space.
Rectilinear Shape: A shape which may be regular or irregular in character, but is basically composed of straight lines.
Regional Planning: An extension of city planning to include a considerable area of land around cities. Sometimes entire counties, states, or geographic regions are involved, as in the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Relief : Sculpture which projects from the background, to be seen only from the front and sides (bas-relief where there is little projection).
Relief Printing: Printing done from a raised surface, in contrast to Intaglio and Planographic Printing.
Relief Sculpture: Sculpture in which the forms project from a background to which they are attached.
Pierce L.. - 7th Grade
Valley of Trees
Balsa Foam - Bas Relief Sculpture
This sculpture uses different heigths to create the illusion of depth. The mountain sticks out from the sky aproximatly 1/8 of and inch.
Remembrance: Art that is reflective and nostalgic, persuades and moves us. The art of remembrance includes storytelling, monuments, and propaganda.
Renaissance: The great rebirth in art and learning that began in Italy in the fifteenth century and quickly spread to other European countries. Sometimes called the Age of Discovery, it was the period in which the achievements of the Classical Age were intensively studied and the dignity of individual man was freshly appreciated. In art, it involved the rejection of the Gothic style and the development of a new style based on Roman precedent.
Repetition: The use of the same element or motif more than once in one or more directions.
Representation: A manner of expression by the artist in which the subject matter is naturalistically presented so that the visual elements seen by the observer are reminiscent of actual forms previously perceived.
Revision: To look over again, to correct or improve.
Rhythm: Movement or continuity typically achieved by recurrence or sequential change.
Rib: A wood base or metal tool used to refine shapes being thrown on a potter’s wheel.
Rococo: An eighteenth century art movement that was both a reaction to and an outgrowth of the Baroque. Reaching it height in France, rococo art is characterized by delicate, playful lightness. Rocks, shells, and fantastic curves are favorite motifs.
Romanesque: A style or art that flourished from about 775 to 1200, the architecture of which is characterized by round arches, heavy massive construction, rich, concentrated, and free decoration, and the development of vaulting that led into Gothic style.
Romanesque Revival: An American style from about 1870 to 1900, begun by H. H. Richardson. The buildings are generally of masonry, with richly ornamented stonework and sturdy, round arches.
Romantic: Emphasizing imagination, sentiment, and individual expression; opposing the restricting formality of classical standards.
Romanticism: A philosophical attitude toward life which may occur at any time. In art, the romantic form is characterized by an experimental point of view which extols spontaneity of expression, intuitive imagination, and a picturesque rather than a carefully organized, rational approach. The Romantic movement of nineteenth century artists such as Delacroix, Gericault, Turner, and others, is characterized by such an approach to form.
Rose Window: A circular window filled with a design that radiates from the center. Rose windows are often found in Gothic cathedrals.
Rotary: A printing press which prints from curved plates on a cylinder. The paper is usually in a roll, but may be in sheets.
Saturation (See Intensity.)
Scale: The size of the parts in relation to the whole object. Also, the size relation of the representation of an object to the object itself; for example, architects draw plans in which the scale is one inch to four feet, eight feet, etc.
Scratchboard: A drawing material consisting of a good quality paper coated with a chalky white ground and finished with a dense black drawing ink. Fine knives and pointed metal tools are used to scrape into the black layer, producing a white image. Also called scraperboard.
Padric R. - 7th Grade
Scratchboard
This drawing is done on scratchboard paper.
Sculpture: Three-dimensional work of art, seen from all sides.
Luke M. - 6th Grade
Ceramics
This clay sculpture is in the style of storytellers (see storytellerin glossary). It is designed to be viewed from all sides.
Section: The representation of the way anything would look if cut straight through and one portion removed. A Section of a building shows the interior and its relation to the exterior along a given line.
Selvage or Selvedge: The edge of the cloth.
Sgraffito: A form of decoration in which the body is covered with a coating of contrasting color. The design is cut through the first layer to the contrasting body. Also, scratching lines into the surface of a work of art to show what is below.
Shades, Shadows: The area of a form which is dark in value because little or no light strikes it directly.
Shape: An area having a specific character defined by an outline, or by a contrast of color, value, or texture with the surrounding area.
(See Elements of Art page for more information)
Shape Engineering (See Structural Skin.)
Shrinkage: Contraction of a clay piece due to evaporation and expulsion of water during drying and firing—maximum of 25 percent.
Shuttle: The stick or boat-like container which holds the weft threads.
Significant Form: A phrase applied to works of art, especially paintings, whose handling of form, space, color, and texture are markedly expressive, meaningful, or vital. Cézanne’s paintings are examples.
Silk-screen Printing: A type of printing in which a silk fabric is used as a stencil. Used for printing fabrics and reproductions of paintings. Original prints made by this method are called serigraphs.
Simplification: Limiting the number of variations of an element.
Simulated: A representation of an actual texture created by a careful copying of the light and dark pattern characteristic of its surface.
Simultaneous Contrast: The direct contact between two colors tends to reduce the similarities and intensify the differences of the colors.
Sizing: Application of a coating to prevent two pieces, usually plaster, from sticking together.
Skeleton Construction: A system of building in which the weight is carried by comparatively slender, widely spaced structural members of metal, reinforced concrete, or wood. Contrasts with masonry buildings in which solid walls carry the weight.
Sketch: Quick, rough drawing without much detail, used for later work.
Slip: Clay and water mixed to a cream-like consistency; used for casting, for slip painting, or for sticking clay parts together.
Slip-casting: The process of pouring slip into a mold for shaping.
Sludge: Scrap enamel.
Slurry: Thick slip used frequently for gluing two pieces of clay together.
Slush Colors: Enamels finely ground and suspended in water. Used for painting on enamel.
Snitch Knot: A knot frequently used in gaiting the loom.
Social Context: Relating to society, interaction of the individual and the group
Software: Computer programs.
Space: 1) The interval between preestablishing points, 2) measurable distances, 3) “denoting time or duration” (Oxford Universal Dictionary) two-dimensioned. An extent (surface) possessing measurement as to length and breadth, but lacking in thickness or depth. (All three-dimensional arts involve space, which may be thought of as void. Three-dimensional arts exist in width, length, and depth, displace air, reflect light, and cast shadows, atmospheric, perspective, and/or overlap.)
(See Elements of Art page for more information)
Spectrum: The band of colors resulting when a beam of light is broken up into its component wavelengths of hues by a prism.
Split Complementary: A hue and the two hues on either side of its complement.
Stacking: Placing shaped pieces in the kiln for firing.
Static: At rest or in complete equilibrium; suggesting no movement; opposite of dynamic.
Steel Cage: Refers to the steel framework that serves as the basic structure in most large buildings; a kind of skeleton construction.
Still Life : Varied objects such as fruits, flowers, and vases used as the subject matter of a painting; also, a painting made of such objects.
Stilts: Refractory material upon which pottery is placed in the kiln during firing to prevent the flowing glaze from sticking to the kiln furniture.
Stipple: A shading technique using dots.
Stoneware: Ceramics made from comparatively fine clays and fired at moderately high temperature. Stoneware is more refined than earthenware, but less refined than porcelain.
Storyteller Dolls: Native American figurative sculpture
Zoe Z. - 6th Grade
Ceramics
This sculpture is done in the style of Native American Storyteller
Dolls. This grouping of people are dressed in modern clothing.
Anya C. - 6th Grade
Ceramics
These two pictures illustrate how sculpture is often desisgned to be viewed in - the - round.
Structural Skin : Sheet materials placed and held under stress to assume a structural form. The “skin” and “skeleton” of the building are one and the same, as they are in such animals as crabs and lobsters.
Style: The manner or mode of execution or presentation in art as distinguished from the content.
Stylobate: Base of a classical building.
Subject Matter: The objects represented in painting or sculpture such as persons, landscapes, or flowers. (See Content.)
Subjective: Applied chiefly to paintings and sculpture in which the expression and usually the technique are highly personal.
Subjective Colors Tones: which are chosen by the artists without regard to the “real” color of the object. They have nothing to do with the objective reality.
Subtraction: A sculptural term meaning to carve or cut away and reduce.
Subtractive: Sculptural term meaning to reduce or cut away.
Superblocks: A term used in city planning to designate blocks that are much larger than those which ordinarily appear in communities.
Surrealism: A movement that developed after World War I in which artists derived their inspiration from the subconscious. The results usually have a dreamlike irrationality.
Symbol: A visual image that stands for or represents something else.
Symbolic Representation: by symbols rather than direct imitation.
Symmetry: A balancing of parts in which those on one side of the center are the exact reverse or duplicate of those on the other. Symmetry is the most obvious form of balance.
Tabby Thread: The thread inserted between pattern threads.
Tabby Weave: The plain weave formed by interlacing of single warp and weft threads.
Tactile Values: An expression used to describe the quality of a work of art that appeals to the sense of touch.
Technique: The manner and skill with which the artist employs his tools and materials to achieve a predetermined expressive effect. The ways of using the media can have an effect on the aesthetic quality of the artist’s total concept.
Tempera: A thin, but opaque, paint in which the pigment is carried in a milk-like emulsion of oily and watery components.
Template: An outline or pattern used to shape the profile of a piece.
Tenebrism: A style of painting which exaggerates or emphasizes the effects of chiaroscuro. Larger amounts of dark value are placed close to smaller areas of highly contrasting lights in order to concentrate the attention on certain important features.
Tension: Stretching, straining, or pulling as opposed to compression. Tensions in architecture are the actual straining forces in various members; tensions in painting are the representations of the pulling forces between forms, colors, etc.
Tension Box: A device designed to maintain even tension and to guide the warp threads being put on the warp beam.
Terra Cotta: A low-fire ceramic body used both for construction decoration in architecture, for sculpture, and flowerpots, planters, etc.
Texture: The roughness or smoothness of surface may be conveyed through the use of touch, or solely through visual means. Tool marks and the indigenous quality of the material, screen wire, or soft velvet, contribute eye appeal as well as hand appeal.
(See Elements of Art page for more information)
Colin R. - 6th Grade
Khasma Hand - Foil Relief
This project makes use of texture with the lines and patterns.
Three-color Process: A photoengraving process in which unshaded areas are printed in colors.
Three-dimensional: Having height, width, and depth (sculpture).
Thrust: An outward force produced by an arch or vault. In Gothic architecture, the buttresses provide counter thrusts to the thrusts of the vaulting.
Tonality: The general quality of a painting produced by the color scheme. Generally, tonality is developed from the predominance of one hue or from closely related values.
Traditional: Anything handed down from earlier periods.
Transept: In churches with cruciform plan, the portion of the building that transverses the major dimension. Sometimes, as in most Gothic cathedrals, the transepts project conspicuously beyond the nave.
Triad: A group of three. A triad color scheme has three colors, generally forming an equilateral triange on the color wheel, such as red, blue, and yellow.
Trompe I’oeil : a painting technique involving the copying of nature with such exactitude that the painted objects may be mistaken for the actual forms depicted.
Truss: An architectural form in which beams, bars, etc., are combined in a rigid framework, the shape of which cannot be altered without deformation of one or more of its members. Trusses are usually triangular or are made up of triangular forms because the triangle is the only polygonal form that cannot be altered without changing the length of one or more sides.
Two-dimensional: Having height and width .
Typeface: The character, shape, or design of the type used in printing.
Underglaze: Colored decoration applied on green ware or on bisque ware before the glaze is applied.
Unity: Oneness; singleness; all means or elements adapted to a single purpose or end.
Value: The degree of lightness or darkness. Values range from white to black, from light pink to dark maroon, etc.
Vault An arched masonry covering over a building or room. Vaults are of many kinds—barrel, groined, ribbed, etc.
Victorian Period: Takes its name from Queen Victoria of England who reigned from 1837 to 1901. For the most part, designers of the era were inspired by Gothic and baroque motifs, but were inventive in developing new forms and in free use of vigorous, if often, crude detail.
Volume: Interior space like that of a teacup.
Warp: The lengthwise threads in a woven fabric. Warp threads are strung on the loom before the weaving begins.
Warping (Clay): Loss of the original shape of a piece as a result of uneven drying and/or firing.
Warping (Weaving): The process of preparing and threading the warp for weaving. Also referred to as dressing.
Warm Colors: Any color included in the range of red-violet, red, red- orange, orange, yellow orange, or yellow.
Wash: A transparent layer or coating of color applied to a surface allowing underlying lines, shapes, or colors to show through.
Cooper C. - 8th Grade
Watercolor
This is a good example of the use of watercolor wash.
Watercolor: A painting material made from pigments held together with a water-soluble binder. Although usually thought of as being transparent, it can also be translucent or densely opaque.
Weaving: The interlacing of two sets of parallel materials held at right angles to each other.
Wedging: Cutting, pounding, slapping, and kneading clay to obtain a uniform texture and to remove all air pockets.
Wedging Board: A wood or plaster-covered surface used for wedging clay.
Weft: The crosswise threads in a woven fabric; also called filling or woof. Weft and warp threads are interlaced in weaving.
Wheel: A vertical lathe used by potters for throwing and turning pottery.
Wood Engraving: The process of engraving designs on the end grain of wood for printing; also, a print made from this engraved surface. Wood engravings generally show finer detail than woodcuts.
Woodcut: A graphic print made from a block of wood cut to produce an illustration or design in relief. Often referred to as wood block.
Zoning: Restricting the use of land areas in city or regional planning.
Resources The Dictionary of Art and Artists, 1996. Thames and Hudson.