Art Terms

Question	Answer
The center of focus or the most important part of a work of art; where the eye lands first and usually lands last.	Focal point.
Where the viewer is visually in the composition - above, below, or with a head on view.	Point of view.
A term applied to what the eye sees when light is reflected off an object.	Color.
A continuous mark from one point to another.	Line.
Lines used to suggest 3-dimensionality.	Crosshatching.
Any visually perceived area of value, texture, color, or line.	Shape.
Shapes with straight edges.	Geometric shapes.
Shapes taken from nature that usually have curvy lines.	Biomorphic.
The interval or measurable distance between points or images.	Space.
Occurs when objects that are closer to the viewer prevent the view of objects that are behind them.	Overlapping space.
A dark area or shape made by an object blocking rays of light.	Shadow.
A shadowing technique that adjusts degrees of light and ark to create the illusion that an object/figure has mass and occupies three dimensional space.	Shading.
The combination of color, line, and shape that gives a sense of balance.	Composition.
The type of composition in which the figure is completely in the frame.	Closed composition.
The type of composition in which the figure is extending past the borders of the piece.	Open composition.
The surface character of a material that can be experienced through touch or the illusion of touch.	Texture.
A work on paper can be mass produced.	Print.
A process where protruding surface faces of the printing plate or block are inked; recessed areas are ink free.	Relief printing.
The image is incised into a surface and the incised line or sunken area holds the ink.	Intaglio printing.
Printing from a flat surface, as opposed to a raised surface (as with relief printing) or incised surface (as with intaglio printing).	Planographic printing.
A term given to the visual effects that derive from their appearance from natural objects but which have been simplified and/or rearranged from natural objects.	Abstract.
The expression, essential meaning, significance, or aesthetic value of a work of art.	Content.
The material(s) used by the artist to create the visual elements perceived by the viewer.	Medium.
A type of art that is entirely imaginative and not derived from anything visually perceived by the artist.	Nonobjective (nonrepresentational).
A type of art that is based, as nearly as possible, on physical actuality or optical perception so the observer is reminded of actual objects.	Objective (representational)
Three dimensional art forms such as architecture, sculpture, and ceramics, or the use of elements to create the illusion of a third dimension.	Plastic (in art).
The person or things represented (as well as the artist’s experiences) that inspire the work of art OR, as in abstract or nonobjective forms of art, the visual signs used by the artist.	Subject.
Literally, a “trick of the eye;” a technique that copies nature with such exactitude that the subject depicted can be mistaken for natural forms.	Trompe l'oeil.

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	Created by Why Ask? about 8 years ago