The Artist as a Visual

Communicator

Why is it art?

Why do people create art?

Why is it art?

• Craftsmanship: Someone who is skilled in the use of materials and tools

to produce well made objects.

• Design: If an object displays the conscious use of the elements of design,

then the product may qualify as a work of art---Line, Color, Shapes, Texture,

Form or Mass

• Technology: An object may also be classified as a work of art because it

reflects the technological advancement of the culture which produced it.

• Imagination: Another quality that characterizes a work of art is

imagination---it cannot be pointed to, like aspects of good design, but it can

be sensed.

• Image of Society: Art pieces also serve as an image of the times in which

they were created---artisans often provide or confirm the information about

early cultures.

Why do people create art?

• Utility: A term that describes the role of objects made primarily to

be useful.

• Religion: Religious and superstitious beliefs and activities have

inspired the creation of temporary and permanent objects to aid in

worship.

• Politics: Political art is aimed at influencing both friends and

enemies.

• Information: The use of art to teach assumes great importance in

cultures where there is no written language or where the literacy rate

is low.

• Aesthetics: The creation of an object just to be pleasing to sight

and touch (as most people think of most art today) has not always

been a conscious process.

The Visual

Communication Process • Subject Matter: Most artists use things as their subjects, things

such as people, objects, or animals etc…others use ideas such as

war, love, loneliness, or joy. Still others are concerned with the

scientific or mathematical aspects of art, design, and proportion

which become their subject matter.

• Narrative Subjects: In narrative paintings, the artist is telling a

story.

• Literary Subjects: Painters may use literary sources to get ideas

for their paintings.

• Religious Subjects: Any religious figure from any religion can be

the subject of a work of art.

• Landscapes: These are artworks of the natural environment---they

were not always popular subjects for artists.

The Visual

Communication Process • Cityscapes: Views of city streets, plazas, courtyards, buildings, and

activities taking place in the urban environment.

• Historical Subjects: Historical subjects have typically been painted

on large canvases, probably to lend importance or to memorialize an

event.

• The Figure: The human figure was first used as an artistic motif by

the Greeks who saw their gods as perfect human beings. During

the Middle Ages, such subjects were abolished by the church---it

was not until the late Renaissance that the figure was revived as a

painting subject.

• The Portrait: Portraits are artworks of people---alone or in groups,

young and old.

The Visual

Communication Process • Self-Portraits: Many artists make pictures of themselves.

• Genre Subjects: Genre painting refers to subjects of normal,

everyday activities which are carried out by ordinary people.

• Social Comment: Some artists want to make visual statements

about their society or the world.

• Still Life: A still life is a painting of inanimate objects---things that

cannot move.

• Animals: Artists are often intrigued by animals. Animals have been

used to symbolize fidelity, love, or cunning.

• Expression: Artists include their feelings about the subject. When

personal feelings and emotional feelings are added to a work, it is

an expressionistic painting.

The Visual

Communication Process

• Abstraction: Abstraction is the simplification of subject

matter into basic and often geometric shapes.

• Non-Objective Artwork: Artwork that has no

recognizable subject matter. The actual subject matter

might be color or the composition of the work itself.

Media: The Tools and Materials of

the Artist

• Drawing Media: • Pencil: The pencil has always been one of the most versatile

drawing tools, tracing its history back to the Roman stylus, a silver

pointed tool which made delicate lines.

• Charcoal: Charcoal is a soft, black substance, made by burning all

organic materials from twigs and sticks.

• Pen and Wash: When India ink is applied undiluted, it makes a

solid black area; when it is mixed with water, it produces a soft

gray. Washes---a term used to describe the dilution of inks with

water.

• Pastel: Oil pastels are a dry material, almost like colored chalk,

which are applied to a paper or canvas ground.

Media: The Tools and Materials

of the Artist • Painting Media:

• Fresco: Fresco is one of the oldest painting media and

considered one of the most difficult to master. It is a method

of painting in which pigments are suspended in water and are

applied to a thin layer of wet plaster so that the plaster

absorbs the color and the painting becomes part of the wall.

• Tempera: A water based paint whose vehicle is egg yolk.

Some commercially made paints are called tempera, but are

actually gouache.

• Oil: Became popular when artists needed to work on larger

surfaces with larger brushes. Oil colors are pigments bound

to a surface of wood or canvas with either linseed or poppy

oils

Media: The Tools and Materials

of the Artist • Painting Media:

• Watercolor: Watercolor has been used since ancient Egypt, it has come into its own only recently as a major medium. The binding agent in watercolor is gum arabic, a water soluble adhesive that sticks the pigments to the paper.

• Acrylic: Instead of using natural materials for binders, acrylic paints use polymer emulsions which can adhere pigments to almost any surface. Thinned with water and easy clean up, acrylics dry rapidly and can be applied heavily like oils and transparently like watercolors.

Printmaking Media

Various printmaking techniques began as a

way to furnish art to the masses at

reasonable prices. Even though copies

are made by the artist each copy is signed

and numbered---each edition is kept to a

limited number of copies, thus assuring

the value would remain constant.

Printmaking Media

• Woodcut: Parts of a flat block of wood are cut away and ink is rolled onto the raised remaining area, the surface can be printed to reveal a mirror image of the original cut-out design.

• Intaglio: Intaglio prints are made from the lines or crevices in a plate---produced an a metal plate, usually zinc or copper, by making lines and scratches in the plate.

• Lithograph: Lithograph or “stone writing” is made by drawing a design in a limestone slab with greasy crayon or ink---water will adhere only to where there is no greasy substance, is spread over the stone.

• Serigraph: Serigraphy “silk screen printing” requires a screen of silk or similar material, stretched on a frame. With a stencil attached to the silk, ink is forced through the stencil with a rubber squeegee. The open parts of the stencil allow the ink to pass through onto the paper or other printing surface.

6-color woodcut print: Kent Ambler, On the Hunt, 2008

Woodcut Print

M.C. Escher: Day and Night, 1938

Intaglio (etching) Print Albrecht Dürer, Rhinoceros, 1515

Intaglio (etching) Print Odilon Redon, The Shapeless Polyp Floated along the

Bank, a Sort of Hideous, Smiling Cyclops, 1883

Lithograph Keith Haring, Chocolate Buddha, 1988

Lithograph Joan Miró, Femme, lune étoile, 1963

Serigraph (silkscreen) Eelus, At-At-Ball, 2009

Serigraph (silkscreen)

Bob Masse, Bob Dylan concert poster

Sculpture Media

Sculptures work in a number of ways: by

cutting away (subtractive),

by putting parts together (additive),

by forming with hands (modeling),

and by producing from a mold (casting).

Sculpture Media

• Marble: One of the earliest forms of art was carving figures from wood or hard stone. Marble is an excellent sculptural material because it can be polished to a glass-like finish or left rough and textured.

• Bronze: Used in the casting process by making a mold---molten bronze would be poured into the mold, allowed to cool and then the surface cleaned and finished.

• Wood: Wood is very versatile and can be used in both additive construction and subtractive carving. It can be carved and nailed, filed and drilled, sanded and glued.

• Steel: Artists typically use an additive process with steel. Steel can be cut and welded together.

• Clay: Clay can be used in all four of the forming techniques: additive, subtractive, molding and casting.

Marble Sculpture Michelangelo, Pieta, 1499

Marble Sculpture Constantin Brancusi, Bird in Space, 1923

Bronze Sculpture Alberto Giacometti, Woman With Her Throat Cut,

1932

Bronze Sculpture John Wilson, Eternal Presence, 1985

Wood Sculpture Louise Nevelson, Untitled, 1964

Wood Sculpture Craig Nutt, Concorde, 1996

Steel Sculpture Richard Serra, Tilted Arc, 1981

Steel Sculpture Alexander Calder, Flamingo, 1974

Crafts: Media and Forms

In primitive cultures, people had-crafted objects for the daily activities of

cooking, carrying, and storing; for personal adornment; and for

seeking the favor of their gods or some supernatural forces. In trash

heaps and digs around the world, archaeologists have uncovered

pots, baskets, tools, utensils, ornaments, idols, weapons, and

decorative objects. Since these humble beginnings, crafts have

become more decorative, carefully designed, and durable. The

sophistication of these crafts has been a valuable aid in determining

the cultural advancement of a particular society. First and most

important to the craftsperson is the usefulness of an object and its

functional design (Form follows Function).

Crafts: Media and Forms

• Clay: Before humans learned to weave cloth, they wore animal

skins and made objects of clay. Clays of various types are dug from

the earth, and when formed, dried, and fired become extremely

durable.

• Fibers: The early processes of weaving and twining resulted from a

need for containers, clothing, and protective coverings for walls and

floors. Materials were available to twist, knot, twine, and loop into

forms that helped meet the basic needs. At a later time, weaving

was developed—the process of making textiles on some type of

loom.

• Glass: Glass is such a common item today that it’s difficult to think

of it as a precious metal. Yet the Egyptians used glass and precious

gems in jewelry, and it was an important part of King Tutankhamen’s

burial mask.

Greek Vases

Chinese Ming Vase

King Tuts Funeral Mask

Tlingit Indian Tribe

Southern Alaska

Tlingit Blanket

Joan Miro Tapestry

Egyptian Glass

Hand-Blown Glass

Italian Hand-Blown Glass

Mold-Made Glass

Crafts: Media and Forms

• Jewelry: Millions of pieces of jewelry have been made by excellent

craftspersons around the world---in nomadic societies, wealthy

families invested in jewelry and other portable items. Noblemen and

rulers in later years acquired great wealth, their collections of jewelry

until fine jewelry, gems, and wealth became synonymous. Simple

jewelry, on the other hand, can be made of any material that

enhances personal appearance---string, seeds, or basic metals like

copper. It satisfied the need for personal adornment in primitive

societies.

• Mosaics: Mosaics can be made of glass (Byzantine and Venetian

glass), stone (various colored marble bits), bits of ceramic tile,

pieces of wood, or even seeds and paper.

16th Century Jewelry

17th Century Jewelry

Crown Jewels of Britain

Crafts: Media and Forms

• Furniture: Like glass, furniture is taken for granted. Craftspersons

working with wood have produced such astounding results that they

often signed their pieces as painters and sculptors do.

Contemporary craftpersons are working with metal, glass, plastics,

leather, fibers, and wood to create furniture for offices, homes, and

public spaces, using modern production methods and finishing

techniques.

• Metalwork: Craftspersons working with metals have been

producing work for their societies ever since bronze could be

worked. As with other crafts, the competence of the craftspersons

provides a good indication as to the sophistication of the society and

its level of technology. Working in gold, silver, copper, bronze, iron,

steel, and aluminum, artisans have created their metal magic for

years.

Quaker Furniture

Shaker Blanket Chest

Louis XIV Furniture

Louis XIV Chair

Sterling Silver Sconce

Bronze Vessel

Gold Candelabra

Crafts: Media and Forms

Most crafts were made to be useful and not

simply to look at and enjoy. Some,

however, are of such high quality that their

aesthetic value outweighs their

usefulness---and they must be called art.

Design

A lot of artists have produced excellent work that seems

well planned and carefully designed, yet they might not

have had any formal training. Most artists and craftsmen

have an innate sense of design so that when they work

on a painting, sculpture, or ceramic piece, they intuitively

know what is right and comfortable. After centuries of

looking at paintings, sculptures, crafts, and buildings, art

historians and theoreticians have discovered that certain

aspects of good art are repeated.

This is called DESIGN!

Design

Design is really the structure of art---the grammar of visual language. Just as verbal language needs structure to make it understandable and effective (random words strung together are confusing), visual language needs structure to make it comprehensible. The elements of design are the vocabulary with which artists work; the principles of design are the grammar, suggesting how these elements can be used most effectively. These features are rarely used in isolation. Artists usually use all the elements and principles in concert to produce an effective visual statement.

The Elements of Design

The elements of design are everywhere, not just as paintings or sculptures. Lines are seen everyday. They can be two-dimensional like those on a sheet of writing paper or three-dimensional like the branches of tree or the cracks in a rock.

If a line on paper wanders around and finally crosses itself, the enclosed area is called a shape. Shapes have two dimensions. They can be geometric or organic.

A form is three-dimensional and encloses volume. Like shapes, forms can be geometric, irregular, or free form.

Value refers to the light or dark quality of a color or shape in a painting. Black is the darkest value; white is the lightest. When a basic red color is mixed with white, its value is lightened; if black is added, its value is darkened.

The surfaces of things have texture. Sandpaper, wool, cloth, leather, and asphalt have texture. A painting may simulate textures by using color and value contrasts.

Space is where people live. The volume of air around us is negative space (space not occupied by solid forms). But space also refers to the illusion of depth in a painting or drawing. Real space is three-dimensional while space in a painting is two-dimensional.

Design: Line

Line: An element of design that may be

two-dimensional (pencil or paper), three-

dimensional (wire), or implied (the edge of

a shape or form). Lines can be horizontal,

vertical, dotted, bold, or fine. Lines can

show direction, lead the eye, outline an

object, divide a space, and communicate a

feeling or emotion.

Design: Shape

A shape is an element of art. Specifically, it is an enclosed space, the boundaries of which are defined by other elements of art (i.e.: lines, colors, values, textures, etc.).

Shapes are limited to two dimensions: length and width. Geometric shapes - circles, rectangles, squares, triangles and so on - have the clear edges one achieves when using tools to create such shapes. Organic shapes have natural, less well-defined edges (think: an amoeba, or a cloud).

Design: Form

Form, the volume of mass objects have, is

the most important art element for

sculptors.

• Form is an element of art. At its most

basic, a form is a three-dimensional

geometrical figure (i.e.: sphere, cube,

cylinder, cone, etc.), as opposed to a

shape, which is two-dimensional, or flat.

Legos

Wood

Marble

Paper

Design: Texture

Texture, another element of art, is used to

describe either the way a three-dimensional

work actually feels when touched, or the visual

"feel" of a two-dimensional work.

Take rocks, for example. A real, 3-D rock might

feel rough or smooth, and definitely feels hard

when touched or picked up. A painter, depicting

a rock, would create the illusions of these

qualities through use of color, line, shape, etc.

Design: Space

Over the years artists have devised ways of showing depth or space in a painting—a process called perspective. When two objects overlap on a flat surface, and one is clearly behind and the other is in the front, a sense of depth is created.

Painters, drawers, and other 2-D artists also use atmospheric perspective (The effect produced by diffusion of light in the atmosphere whereby more distant objects have less clarity of outline and are lighter in tone) to show depth. The darker values are up close and the lighter values are far away; the colors also are more intense up close while the edges become softer farther away.

Figure Ground Reversal

One point Perspecitve

One-Point Perspective

Two-Point Perspective

Three Point Perspective

Atmospheric Perspective

Foreground and Background

Design: Color

Color is the one phase of art that is also a

science. There are three terms that artists use

in talking about color: hue, value, and intensity.

Hue is the name of the color—yellow is a hue.

Value is dark or light quality of a color—pink is

light value of red because white has been added

to it. Intensity is the brightness or saturation of a

color—the pure color is the most intense; if one

adds the compliment and grays it, it is less

intense.

Ray of Light

Prism

The Spectrum

Complimentary Colors

Design: Value

Value is the relative lightness or darkness of an object. The position of an object in relation to the light source has an impact of the relative value gradations. A gradation is a gradual change of color or shade such as from light to dark. An example of a gradation can be seen in a Grey Scale. Artwork that have mostly light values are called high-keyed and those of mostly dark values, low-keyed.

Josef Albers

Victor Vasarely

Principles of Design

The principles of design describe the general ways in which artists arrange the parts of their compositions (or sculptures, pots, weavings, buildings, or woodcuts). These organizers are balance, unity, emphasis, contrast, pattern, movement, and rhythm. The principles are never used in isolation but always in concert. A design may use balance to achieve equilibrium, but it may also contrast certain areas, emphasize one part of the design, achieve rhythm and movement, or produce an overall pattern. One principle may dominate, but when an overall unity is achieved, all the principles have probably been employed.

Principles of Design:

Balance • Symmetrical: Symmetrical (or formal) balance is a

roughly even distribution of visual weight or activity on each side of a central axis—like two equally sized children on a teeter-totter. Most paintings are perfectly balanced symmetrically as one side would be a mirror image of the other.

• Asymmetrical: Asymmetrical balance means the larger masses on one side of the painting may be balanced by smaller, contrasting, or more intensely colored parts on the other side. The asymmetrically painting is informally balanced and is usually more exciting than a formally balanced composition.

Symmetrical Balance

Symmetrical Balance

Asymmetrical Balance

Asymmetrical Balance

Principles of Design

Unity

• Unity: Unity combines the principles of design and the physical aspects of a painting to create a single, harmonious work. It can be compared to bringing together all of the instruments, tonal movements, and chords to make a single passage of sound. Artists can use various means to achieve unity—ie: Values are mostly high-keyed, specific brushstrokes appear throughout, all forms are rendered in the same fashion, and a consistent palette an insure unity because of the relationships they create.

Principles of Design

Emphasis

• Emphasis: Emphasis is a way of developing

the main theme in a work of art. It answers the

question: “What is the artist trying to say?” The

answers can be obvious or obscure. Artists may

emphasize one or more of the art elements---

such as color, line, or texture---and subordinate

the rest. Artist may also emphasize a particular

subject or concept—symbolism, daily life,

material magnificence, or historical fact.

Vermeer

Officer and the Laughing Girl

1655-1660

Principles of Design:

Contrast

• Contrast: Contrast refers to the to the differences in values, colors, textures, and other elements to achieve emphasis and interest. If all the parts of painting were alike, it would be monotonous and the viewer would lose interest quickly. To avoid monotony and to make the painting as visually interesting and exciting as possible, artists use contrasts of various kinds.

Tiepolo

Adoration of the Magi

1753

Contrast: artist: El Lissitzky

Principles of Design:

Pattern

• Pattern: Pattern can be produced by the

repetition of motifs, colors, shapes, or lines

in a painting.

Gustav Klimt:

Forest of Beech Trees, 1903

Islamic Art

Principles of Design

Movement

• Movement: Visual movement in art

directs the eyes of the viewer through the

work to a point of interest.

Van Dyck

Samson and Delilah

1628

Hokusai:

The Great Wave at Kanagawa

•

Principles of Design

Rhythm

• Rhythm: Rhythm is established in a

painting or other work of art when

elements of the composition (such as

curves, angles or vertical or horizontal

lines) are repeated. Repetitions can occur

at either regular or irregular intervals.

Rhythm and movement, like rhythm and

pattern are inseparable.

Giacomo Balla:

Speed of a Motor, 1913

Donald Judd:

Untitled, 1977