The document provides an introduction to visual art, defining it as the use of skill and imagination to create aesthetic objects or experiences that can be shared. It examines how art is perceived and classified, exploring elements like style, composition, and seeing. Key terms related to art are defined, and the purposes and importance of art are discussed, including how it can create beauty, enhance environments, influence society, and express beliefs, fantasy, protest, and more. Art is analyzed using components, elements, principles of design, and underlying concepts.

1. What is Art?An Introduction to Visual Art

2. Objectives of the ActivityDetermine a definition of visual artExamine how we see and perceive artDefine terms related to the viewing of artExamine images critically

3. What is Art?

4. What is Art?Britannica Online defines art as: "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others.“Visual Art has been defined as a language of visual signs which conveys ideas, feelings, or moods.

5. The Meaning of the Word Art…The word art encompasses many meanings, including ability, process, and product.Ability - The human capacity to make things of beauty and things that stir us; skill, mastery, and creativity.Process - The different classifications of art such as drawing, painting, sculpting, architecture, music, and photography; methods and processes.Product - The completed work; painting, sculpture, . . Whatever the definition, it is important to know the vocabulary of art in order to understand it.

6. How is Visual Art Classified?

7. How is Visual Art Classified? Traditional and contemporary art encompasses activities as diverse as: painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, illustration, cartoons, ceramics, stained glass, photography, installation, video, film, and architecture, to name a few.

8. StyleOver time, an artist’s body of work can reveal an expressive character unique to the individual artist, like a signature. This expressive quality is known as an artistic style. Individual Style is the characteristic manner of expression used by a particular artist.For each piece, the artist makes choices about the structure, media (materials and tools), techniques (methods of using the media), and treatment of subject matter that will best express his or her idea. Young artists are often tempted to prematurely impose a style on their work, instead of allowing it to mature naturally. However, they must remember— just like a signature—one’s expressive style truly only develops through time and repeated practice. Some styles, once unique to individual artists, have been adopted by generations of artists and have broader historical application. Period style is the general characteristics common to much of the work from given period of time or cultural phase.Regional style is the manner of expression common in the work of artists working in the same country or area. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, artists often confounded the public by the increasingly abstract treatment of subject matter. Contemporary artists, too, make expressive choices that the public often doesn’t understand or find personally relevant. In many cases, a single artist’s style changes as his or her body of work develops and grows. One prime example is the work of Piet Mondrian whose final style has influenced artists in other fields.

9. Piet Mondrian. The Grey Tree The Trees

10. Composition - The act of organizing the visual elements of art. The organization of the visual elements in a work of art.Piet Mondrian. Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow

11. Seeing – Visual Perception awareness: intuitive, rational, informative

12. Art and Perception

13. Art and Perception

14. Art and Perceptionfigure ground reversal

15. Art and Perceptioncamouflage

18. Why do artists make art?

19. The Three SearchesThe three basic searches in which artists are involved:Search for understanding of:Nature,the Supernatural,and Self.

20. What are the purposes of art?

21. Art Creates BeautyAesthetics – the search for beautyIdealism – the representation of forms according to a concept of perfection Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa

22. Art can be used toReplicate nature (naturalistic)Depict reality (realistic, objective, perceptive)Record an artist’s own experiences (representational)Gustave Courbet Burial at Ornans

23. Art Enhances Our Environment5th century Byzantine MosaicsMausoleum of Galla Placidia Ravenna, Italy

24. Art Enhances Our Environment Dale Chihuly. Fiori di Como (detail)Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV

25. DALE CHIHULY. Fioridi Como (1998). 70’ x 30’ x 12’

26. Dale Chihuly

27. How does art influence society?

28. Art Reveals TruthIn her self-portraits, the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo used her tragic life as an emblem for human suffering.Frida Kahlo. Diego in My Thoughts

29. ArtImmortalizesPop Art – an art style originating in the 1960s that uses commercial and popular images and themes as its subject matterAndy Warhol. Marilyn screen print

30. ANDY WARHOL. Four Marilyns (1962). Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas. 30" × 23⅞".

31. Looking at ArtIs this art? Why or why not? Warhol. Campbell’s Tomato Soup

32. Why is art important?

33. Art Expresses Religious Beliefs Hagia Sophia Istanbul, Turkey Christ Pantocrator Byzantine Art

34. Art Expresses FantasyMarc Chagal, I and the Village, (1911) oil on canvas

35. Art and the PsychoanalyticMany 20th Century artists looked to the psychoanalytic writings of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, who suggested that primeval forces are at work in the unconscious reaches of the mind. Artist’s sought to use their art as an outlet for these unconscious forces.

36. Max Beckman. The Dream

37. 0ART, INTELLECT, AND EMOTIONArt can make you think.Art can make you feel.Art can trigger associations.

38. Art Simulates the Intellect Buckminster Fuller stands in front of his geodesic domeLeonardo. Polyhedron

39. Art Creates Order and HarmonyIctinos and Callicrates, The Parthenon, Acropolis, AthensApplication of the Golden Section Design - The combination of the visual elements according to principles of design such as proportion and harmony.

40. 0Art is harmony.–Georges SeuratArtists and scientists try to find the underlying order of nature.Zen - A Buddhist sect that seeks inner harmony through introspection and meditation.

41. Ryoanji Zen Temple, Japanese sand garden, Kyoto, Japan.

42. Art Protests InjusticeEugene Deacroix. Liberty Leading the People oil on canvasAllegory - A narrative in which people and events have consistent symbolic meanings; extended metaphor.

43. Conceptual ArtConceptual art does not represent an external object. It also challenges the traditional view of the artist as creative visionary, skilled craftsperson, and master of ones media. The “art” lies in the artist’s concept or idea.

44. Art Elevates the CommonplaceReadymade – found objects that are exhibited as works of artAssemblage – a work of art that consists of assembled three-dimensional objectsDuchamp. Fountain

45. Art Elevates the CommonplaceGustave Courbet. The Stonebreakers, oil on canvas

46. Art Reflects the Social and Cultural ContextEdward Hopper. Night Hawks (1942) oil on canvas

47. Art Meets the Needs of the Artist Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The Gates, Central Park, New York, NY 2005 Christo. The Gates drawing

48. A Structure for Understanding ArtComponents of Art

49. Elements of Art

50. Principles of Design

51. Underlying Concepts Picasso’s Garçon à la pipe

52. The Components of ArtSubject

53. Content

54. Form

55. Style

56. Media

57. Technique Van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet

58. * The Visual Elements – Used by artists to create imageryValue

59. Color

60. Line

61. Shape

62. Mass

63. Texture Hokusai. The Great Wave color wood-cut