General Overview of Art Terms

1. General Overview of Art Terms

2. Printing techniques Printmaking is a type of artmaking in which multiple originals are created by transferring an image from one surface to a different surface. The different printing methods are: Intaglio; Relief Lithography; Stencil; and Monoprint.

3. Intaglio The print surface of an intaglio print is incised. Once the surface has been inked, you rub the ink off the flat part and then use a press to press the paper into the inked grooves.

4. Engraving An engraving is a kind of intaglio print where the marks have been made with a tool and actually carved into the surface.

5. Drypoint A drypoint is just a specific kind of engraving in which the burrs, or little ridges left as you carve into the metal surface are left on the plate. This creates a soff, fuzzy line. Drypoint plates wear out more quickly as the metal wears down, meaning you have to make a smaller series.

6. Burin A tool used to create an engraving. The artist cuts grooves directly into the surface of a metal plate. Soft, blurred lines are sometimes created when a burr of metal is left on the plate.

7. Etching An etching is a type of intaglio print where the incised surface is created with acid. A “ground” is applied to the metal plate and the artist uses different methods to cut through the ground. Where the ground is thinner more acid reaches the plate, leaving a deeper “bite.” The bottom artwork is a good example of an “aquatint.”

8. Relief or Woodcut In a relief print, the print surface is raised. The artist carves away areas to be left white, and the raised areas accept the ink.

9. Brayer A tool used to spread ink on a print plate.

10. Lithography A lithograph is created on the concept of grease repelling water. Special materials are used to create the image on a stone (litho). Before inking the stone is wet so the ink adheres only to the image area.

11. Stencil - screenprinting Stencil, or screen printing is when the image is created by cutting away an area, the ink goes through the part of the screen where the material has been cut away – the other areas remain white. The concept is negative space. Silk-screen prints and serigraphs are both done this way. Silk-screen prints use a screen made of silk, serigraphs are just the same kind of print but done using a fine mesh screen that isn’t silk.

12. Monotype Monotype refers to a printing method where just a single print is created.

13. Burnish Rubbing the surface. It can refer to rubbing away the burrs created in the engraving process; rubbing the back of a relief print to transfer the ink from the print to the paper; or rubbing the surface of a clay pot to create a shiny surface.

14. Cartouche • A structure or figure, often in the shape of an oval shield or oblong scroll, used as an architectural or graphic ornament or to bear a design or inscription. • An oval or oblong figure in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics that encloses characters expressing the names or epithets of royal or divine personages.

15. Enamel An artmaking technique in which powdered glass is adhered to a surface and melted in a furnace. Many cooking pots are coated with enamel.

16. Cloisonne’ A method in which very thin ridges of metal are used to separate different colors of enamel.

17. Conte A brand of crayon made of graphite and clay, usually in black, red, or brown

18. Chiaroscuro • The technique of using light and shade in pictorial representation. • The arrangement of light and dark elements in a pictorial work of art.

19. Foreshortening To shorten the lines of (an object) in a drawing or other representation so as to produce an illusion of projection or extension in space.

20. Frottage A technique where texture is created by rubbing lead, charcoal or some other material over paper laid on a textured surface. It can also refer to a work of art containing shapes and textures produced by frottage.

21. Contrapposto The position of a figure in painting or sculpture in which the hips and legs are turned in a different direction from that of the shoulders and head; the twisting of a figure on its own vertical axis.

22. Megalith A very large stone used in various prehistoric architectures or monumental styles.

23. Cromlech A circle of standing stones, such as Stonehenge.

24. Mihrab A niche in the wall of a mosque or a room in the mosque that indicates the direction of Mecca.

25. Onion dome A bulb-shaped dome resembling an onion; characteristic of Russian and Byzantine church architecture.

26. Crenellation The notched top of the wall built around a castle. These regular gaps were originally used for firing arrows.

27. Columns Doric Ionic Corinthian

28. Colonnade A structure created by, or a series of columns in line and evenly spaced.

29. Caryatid A column in the form of a woman.

30. Frieze Part of a classical entablature (between the architrave and the cornice) usually decorated with sculpture in low relief, or a decorative band on an outside wall with lettering, decoration, sculpture, etc.

31. Entablature The upper part of a Greek or Roman Order, comprising architrave, frieze, and cornice.

32. Tracery Ornamental work in the upper part of a Gothic window.

33. Campanile A bell tower, either alone or attached to a building.

34. Earthworks Large-scale artworks created from the earth itself and designed for a specific location or site.

35. Embossing To mold or carve in relief, such as the design on a coin.

36. Encaustic A paint consisting of pigment mixed with beeswax and fixed with heat after its application – or the technique of painting with this material.

37. Fresco The art or technique of painting on a moist, plaster surface with colors ground up in water or a limewater mixture.

38. Loom Hand-operated or power-driven apparatus for weaving fabrics, containing harnesses, lay, reed, shuttles, treadles, etc.

39. Warp & Weft Warp fibers run lengthwise in a weaving. You “dress” or “warp” a loom. The weft fibers are those woven across, or through the warp.

40. Genre A particular class or category of art having a particular form and content. Can also refer to artworks with a subject matter of everyday life.

41. Gild Coat with a thin layer of gold leaf.

42. Golden section The Golden Section is a Law of Proportionality. It is a Law that occurs frequently in nature and its use is particularly useful in Art. First developed by Vitruvius, it is most famously known from Leonardo Da Vinci's 1509 drawing 'The Divine Proportion' The Golden Section is a Law of Proportionality. It is a Law that occurs frequently in nature and its use is particularly useful in Art. First developed by Vitruvius, it is most famously known from Leonardo Da Vinci's 1509 drawing 'The Divine Proportion' (see above). Essentially the law states that two unequal parts of a whole must be in relationship to each other to create a satisfactory image to the eye. Numerically Golden Section is approx. 1.618034 or 38% to 62%. This proportion reoccurs throughout our lives and can be said to create an ideal proportion between two objects or two parts of a whole.

43. Vanishing point The point on the horizon where parallel objects seem to intersect (such as a road).

44. Gouche Gouche is an opaque watercolor paint. Unlike transparent watercolor, gouache can be applied in an opaque layer, allowing the artist to use it much like acryilic. It dries to a matte finish, which makes it easily reproducible.

45. Impasto The thick application of paint, leading to a rich, textured surface.

46. Grisaille A style of monochromatic painting in shades of gray, used especially for the representation of relief sculpture.

47. Illumination Decorative representation of a letter in a manuscript.

48. Maquette A small model of a sculpture, a preliminary 3D sketch for a larger artwork.

49. Kore A sculpture representing a standing young woman clothed in long robes, especially one produced in Greece before the fifth century B.C.

50. Kouros A sculpture representing a standing nude young man, especially one produced in Greece before the fifth century B.C.