Lesson 13

Final Topic
Visual Art
The visual arts are art forms such as painting,
drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics,
photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts, and
architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as
performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts also
involve aspects of visual arts as well as arts of other
types
What are the 5 elements of visual art?
Traditional way of looking at art, namely the visual
arts, suggests that there are five basic elements of an
art work – line, shape, color, texture and space. You
might find form singled out as a separate category,
defined as a three-dimensional alternative to shape
The Five Elements of Art - Definition and Examples
Do you know an answer to a question What are the
elements of art exactly? Traditional way of looking at art,
namely the visual arts, suggests that there are five basic
elements of an art work line, shape, color, texture and
space. You might find form singled out as a separate
category, defined as a three-dimensional alternative to
shape. Some also mention value, which is described as a
parameter that determines the intensity of color, and
pattern, which refers to repetition. As you can already
imagine, these are supposed to be the basic units
deployed to constitute a visual arrangement, ultimately
perceived as a whole.
Thanks to the way our brain functions, we rarely
interpret these units individually, unless we
deliberately choose to focus on each of them in
particular, or in case the artist aims to emphasize a
single element in order to achieve a certain effect or
to make a statement. The latter is a phenomenon
more common for modern art, which emerged at the
turn of the 19th century when the visual
representation was challenged by an endeavor to
deconstruct the existing assumptions which
determined the way we understand the role of art
and culture. Even if most of today’s art is not
essentially based on the traditional forms of visual
arts anymore, the elements of art continue to build
our ocular perception. Hardly anything that belongs
to the domain of the visual can be achieved without
at least one of these elements.
How We Use Line in Art
Saying that the line is the most essential of all art
elements somehow comes naturally. After all, it is usually
the first and the most pristine outcome of our contact
with writing tools, pens, pencils, crayons, etc, and
typically the first thing we choose to use in order to
represent the reality around us. Even the occurrences that
do not have strictly outlined edges, such as the sun, the
clouds or water, are depicted with lines rather than
smudges of color in young children’s drawings. What this
means is that lines are, in a way, our most valuable
companions when it comes to expressing our feelings or
thoughts, both for artistic and practical reasons. It is also
a very interesting thing to observe and analyze, given that
a line is, in general, an abstract phenomenon basically
invented by humans.
The Essence of Artistic Expression
A line is mathematically defined as a path that connects
two dots or a path of an imagined moving dot. In reality,
we tend to simplify all elements that are greater in length
than in width, depth or diameter, and to perceive them as
lines. This includes the things we see in everyday life that
exhibit linear features, but also the phenomena we
perceive as lines due to our vision, which is instructed by
linear perspective.
The way objects are arranged in space offers an
image that usually consists of an endless number of
various lines, even if these lines do not exist in
physical space. An object adjacent to the surface of
another, the outline of a figure against a distant
landscape, the edges of mountains facing the sky – all
of them present themselves as “lines”, while in
reality, they are much more or less complex.
Nonetheless, the human capacity to translate these
visual stimuli into something as simple as a line
attests to the significance of abstract thinking, and
basically sums up the reasons why we are able to
create something as artificial, albeit nature-like, as
art.
The line is particularly important for one other reason
as well, and it is its potential to convey the personal
touch of an artist. As discussed above, lines are the
primary tools of artistic expression, and therefore
analogous to handwriting in terms of expressing
individuality. A freeform line drawn by a single
individual is generally inimitable, which ultimately
helps us recognize the author of a painting or a drawing
when there is no name attached. A style of painting,
brush-stroking, drawing or dripping is something each
of us does differently. It makes a Picasso differ from a
Braque.
Examples of Shape and Form in Art
Once we are able to recognize that a line is not just
a line, but that it has a certain shape, it becomes,
well – a shape. Shapes are defined as two-
dimensional figures that we can discern as familiar.
These include geometric shapes (deployed by cubists,
for example), organic (which you may find among the
examples of Art Nouveau posters and paintings),
abstract, etc. Form, on the other hand, is a three-
dimensional figure, meaning that it occupies a
certain amount of space.
The characteristics of shapes apply to forms as well, and
the only difference is represented through the engagement
of the third dimension (usually denoted as depth).
This means that even when a painting aims to
illustrate a single form, such as a cube, for example, it
actually depicts the shape taken up by the form, as seen
from a certain angle. It represents the cube’s perceived
volume (which, from the front angle, turns out to be the
square). Obviously, form is much more frequently deployed
in plastic arts, sculpture and architecture than in painting
and drawing, however the communication between the two
– the shape and the form – is the crucial aspect of many art
genres. Most of today’s architecture would have never
been built if there wasn’t for it. Even more obviously, the
ability to transfer forms into shapes on paper makes the
most of the entire painting process.
There is one interesting observation that examines
the way we perceive certain shapes and why we
perceive them as such, for that matter. While the
reference to the organic and the geometric ones
should be obvious the former we see in our natural
surroundings, the latter was invented by humans
themselves our ability to recognize the abstract is not
as easily explained. While growing up and
building experience, we learn to detect or dismiss objects
and their forms in time, meaning that our brain organizes
the percept in our memory. This helps us identify those
that cannot be named or attributed to the organic ones,
and perceive closed or almost-closed lines as shapes, and
not lines. The principle to organize particles into a whole,
and to prefer the whole to a “sum” of units is what
psychologists call Gestalt, which we will get back to later
in this article.
Space in Art
All art is placed within a certain space
(aren’t we all, in the end). But when it
comes to visual arts, there are several
ways in which we tend to use the term
space. Space is often illusively recreated
in a painting or a drawing, realistically or
in a distorted manner.
As much as the representation of space is an
important part of all visual arts, especially when
being trained for painting or when studying
architecture for example, it is the least engaging way
to refer to the term as an art element at this point,
since it functions on the same principle as
shape/form analogy does. At times, the word-space
is used conditionally, to refer to the two-dimensional
negative space left in the piece of canvas or paper. A
“blank”, or simply negative space, is sometimes a
constituent part of an artwork, but rarely in an
explicit manner. The intact part of the paper is very
often deliberately left that w ay, in order to create
the desired context and to suggest the right scale for
observing the subject matter, which thus occupies
the so-called positive space.
 Meanwhile, graffiti reflects the controversial political
debate in Egypt post revolution and during Muslim
Brotherhood ruling era. On one hand, the streets around
Tahrir square have become a graffiti gallery of opposing the
current regime of Mohamed Morsi who is accused of failing
to reform post-revolution Egypt while consolidating power in
the hands of his Muslim Brotherhood.On the other hand, in
some districts inside Cairo and Assiut, only pro- Morsi graffiti
exist in streets' walls.
The Physicality of the Created Space
Of course, this analogy is derived from the real,
physical space that we inhabit as well. Consequently, a
piece of art, be it a sculpture, an assemblage, an
installation or even a painting, occupies a particular
physical space with a certain purpose. More often than
not, the decision to surround a work of art with
certain elements or to position it against a particular
backdrop is intentional and integral to the artwork.
The distance from which we may be able to observe
a painting and the possibility to circle around an
exhibit are almost as relevant as the content of the
artwork itself. This is specifically important for art
installations, since the concepts behind them are
usually site-specific, or at least site-suggestive,
meaning that the venue is dictated by the character
of the installation. The idea of negative and positive
space applies here as well, but it tends to create
confusion when it comes to large-scale pieces and
art installations. One of the masters of this inversion
of negative space is Anish Kapoor, whose pieces
often literally become the space itself.
“Sculpture isn't simply an object in
space. It lives through the processional
or returning view. In a normal-scale
object-a[n Auguste] Rodin or [Donald]
Judd for example, the living process is
the walking around its three-
dimensionality. We're accustomed to the
mise en scène in which the first view is
the whole view, but you have to keep
reviewing the medium, just as you do
with Rodin because the front of Balzac is
not the same as the back." - Anish
Kapoor
Finally, two qualities that strike us in everyday life
and serve as an inexhaustible source of inspiration
are color and texture, both of which have been
studied, both in arts and science, for centuries. Color
is the light reflected off objects, perceived in
different hues depending on the wavelength. Thanks
to the so-called cone and rode cells, our eyes are
able to absorb the light and to distinguish three
channels of colors that consequently burst into
millions of tones, which makes our world appear so
beautiful and vivid.
Allegedly, colors are able to induce the widest range of emotions out
all the visual art elements, which is why they are often seen as
enigmatic and cryptic as if they truly possess a power to affect our
emotional state.
The use of colors in contemporary psychology is therefore
numerous, as both through our experience and our innate physical
responses each color becomes associated with a variety of feelings,
and lately even with certain social and political significations as well.
The list of artists who researched color and its implicit language is
quite a long one, and it involves the Bauhaus mystic Johannes Itten,
the color-field painters Rothko, Newman and Klein, the minimalist
Frank Stella and the Op Art pioneer Bridget Riley, the aforementioned
Anish Kapoor.This could basically go on for hours, given that the
significance and impact of color is crucial for arts, meaning that even
when there is no color, it becomes a subject of why there is no color.
Similarly, when the colors are not imitating the ones from real life,
they express the creator's own assessment of reality, given from a
specific standpoint. For this reason, it was frequently incorporated as
an element most apt to deliver a sentiment, either intuitively or
intentionally. As the fascination goes beyond art, people have been
struggling to recreate pigments from nature, to synthesize unnatural
values and tones of color, and even to see the "forbidden colors" that
cannot normally be seen in nature.
Texture and the Materiality of an Artwork Texture is
the quality of a surface, which is a sensation
perceivable by the skin rather than the eyes. However,
we have been able to build a knowledge of how
particularly looking surfaces and materials feel, thanks
to their palpable qualities and our experience with
them. This means that translating the characteristics
of a surface onto a plane makes us experience texture
through vision, as the painters exhibit their skill in
representing the texture truthfully.
Texture can also be a special quality relating to the
body of painting itself, one that displays the visible
brush strokes as an integral part of the painting, like
the one of Wayne Thiebaud below. Nonetheless, the
concept of a material's roughness, softness or hardness
is also frequently seen in other media, such as
sculpture. The illusion of the material's original quality
is often achieved by manipulating crafted materials,
such as clay or wood. On the other hand, the artwork
might be playing with our expectations from it, since
various materials are commonly used to create illusions
of a texture that they do not possess such as the
increasingly popular marble-looking foam rubber in
furniture design, or the transparent stone in the
architecture of Kengo Kuma.
 Elements of Art and Their Meaning Today
Before we conclude this article, it would be
useful to reflect on the basic art elements and their
relevance to today’s art and art education. At some point,
the difference between arts and crafts became drastic,
and this “intellectualized” approach to art is a trend that
remains to this day. However, the means of expressing an
idea are still based on the capacities of human senses,
which haven’t changed significantly since the beginning of
humanity as we know it.
The digitally informed environment might bring some
improvements to our senses, or even some decreases for
that matter, but until that happens, everything we are
able to feel and experience is still going to be served for
the same receptors, our eyes, our skin, and ears.
The Everlasting Change in Perception

The subject matter and the way we explore each of the

elements of art changed over time, which led to an altered
approach to these features.
Gestalt psychology was mentioned in this text, due to
its main principle that points out how human perception
acknowledges the whole as other than a sum of parts. It
recognizes the anthropological tendency to group
similar traits and to categorize information, to connect
parts and to deduce meaning rather than merely
observe without contemplation. It could be said that
visual representation functions according to this theory,
but so does our cognitive ability to consider different
ideas and phenomena.
 Hence, it is important to mention that modern art was a
time of exploration, a time of departure from tradition, and
also a moment to abandon everything we know and to grasp
the uncanny, which at times meant separating each of these
elements and challenging the Gestalt. We can see the
outcomes of these intents through many historical
movements, such as De Stijl, the Bauhaus, Abstract
Expressionism, Minimalism, and so further. The elements
were finally reduced to their essential notions in abstract art.
Finally, now that we've overcome the modern era, and
probably the postmodern as well, we are beginning to find
new purpose for each of the classic elements of art, aware of
how they were reinvented in the era of modernism. This
means that everything can be brought into question, and the
possibility of a single meaning no longer exists, just like the
post-structuralist philosophy suggests. Our beautiful visual
world is richer than ever, and so are the ever-progressing
means of representation.
Lesson 13 Visual Art
Name: _______________________________ Section : __________ Date: _________
Professor: _____________________________ Score : _________________________
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Evaluate artwork
Visual Art
lesson 14
The visual arts are art forms
that create works that are
primarily visual in nature,
such as ceramics, drawing,
painting, sculpture,
printmaking, design, crafts,
photography, video, film
making and architecture.
Is writing a visual art?
Writing Is a Visual Art
Illustrated manuscripts, calligraphy,
and tapestries are but a few of the
art forms in which distinctions
between word and form are blurred
to the point of meaninglessness.
Why is visual art important?
Human beings have an essential drive
to create and understand visual
imagery. The power of the visual arts
to enrich human experience and
society is recognized and celebrated
throughout the world. Art and the
visual arts are part of the historical
record of every culture and historical
period known to human beings.
3 types of art
The three classical branches of visual art are painting, sculpture
and architecture. Music, theatre, film, dance, and other
performing arts, as well as literature and other media such as
interactive media, are included in a broader definition of the arts.
How do you define a painting?
A painting is an image (artwork) created using pigments (color) on
a surface (ground) such as paper or canvas. The pigment may be in
a wet form, such as paint, or a dry form, such as pastels. Painting
can also be a verb, the action of creating such an artwork.
How is a sculpture made?
When carving stone or wood, the sculptor chips away with a
hammer and chisel. When sculpting clay, artists may use their
hands. Clay models may be cast in bronze to create a strong,
permanent sculpture. Other techniques include welding metal,
molding plastic or concrete, and using fiberglass.
Architecture is the art and science of designing buildings and
other physical structures. A wider definition often includes
the design of the total built environment from the macro level
of town planning, urban design, and landscape architecture to
the micro level of construction details and, sometimes,
furniture.Jul 31, 2018
Art: A History of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture is a two
volume collection of general art history written by Frederick
Hartt. Volume I goes from the paleolithic cave paintings to
late medieval art. Volume II starts at the Renaissance and
ends with modern art. It was originally published in 1976 by
Harry N. Abrams. Incorporated, New York, with 1,271
illustrations, including 157 in full color and 28 with gold, 34
maps created especially for this work. Six timelines, 3 in each
volume, relate important historical and cultural events to the
arts of their period.
Forms, genres, media, and styles
The creative arts are often divided into more specific
categories, typically along perceptually distinguishable
categories such as media, genre, styles, and form.Art form
refers to the elements of art that are independent of its
interpretation or significance. It covers the methods
adopted by the artist and the physical composition of the
artwork, primarily non-semantic aspects of the work (i.e.,
figurae), such as color, contour, dimension, medium,
melody, space, texture, and value. Form may also include
visual design principles, such as arrangement, balance,
contrast, emphasis, harmony, proportion, proximity, and
rhythm
In general there are three schools of philosophy
regarding art, focusing respectively on form,
content, and context. Extreme Formalism is the
view that all aesthetic properties of art are formal
(that is, part of the art form). Philosophers almost
universally reject this view and hold that the
properties and aesthetics of art extend beyond
materials, techniques, and form. Unfortunately,
there is little consensus on terminology for these
informal properties. Some authors refer to subject
matter and content – i.e., denotations and
connotations while others prefer terms like
meaning and significance.
Extreme Intentionalism holds that authorial intent
plays a decisive role in the meaning of a work of art,
conveying the content or essential main idea, while all
other interpretations can be discarded. It defines the
subject as the persons or idea represented,[and the
content as the artist's experience of that subject. For
example, the composition of Napoleon I on his
Imperial Throne is partly borrowed from the Statue of
Zeus at Olympia. As evidenced by the title, the
subject is Napoleon, and the content is Ingres's
representation of Napoleon as "Emperor-God beyond
time and space". Similarly to extreme formalism,
philosophers typically reject extreme intentionalism,
because art may have multiple ambiguous meanings
and authorial intent may be unknowable and thus
irrelevant. Its restrictive interpretation is "socially
unhealthy, philosophically unreal, and politically
unwise".
Finally, the developing theory of post-structuralism
studies art's significance in a cultural context, such
as the ideas, emotions, and reactions prompted by a
work.The cultural context often reduces to the
artist's techniques and intentions, in which case
analysis proceeds along lines similar to formalism and
intentionalism. However, in other cases historical and
material conditions may predominate, such as
religious and philosophical convictions, sociopolitical
and economic structures, or even climate and
geography. Art criticism continues to grow and
develop alongside art.
Link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art:_A_History_of_Paintin
g,_Sculpture,_and_Architecture
Lesson 13
Name: _______________________________ Section : __________ Date: _________
Professor: _____________________________ Score : ____________
Time started : ________ Time Finished : _______Working Time: _____

Relevance work
What is the relevance contributions of this artwork.
What is the importance of relevance in research?
Thank you for listening
by:
Maria Josefa C. Orcega