Studio Arts Vocabulary
Subject: The literal, visible image in the artwork such as a
portrait, landscape, still life, or abstraction.
Content: What we can infer about the meaning of the artwork.
This includes the connotative, symbolic, and suggestive aspects.
Context: The circumstances that surrounded the making of the
artwork (such as historical, cultural, financial, etc.)
Medium: The materials used to convey the artwork. Plural form
is “media”.
The “ingredients” or
components used by artists
to create a work of art.
A line is a continuous mark made on a
surface by a moving point.
“
A line is a
dot that
went for a
walk.
“
Characteristics of Line:
Width- thick, thin, tapering, uneven
Length - long, short, continuous, broken
Direction- horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curving, perpendicular,
oblique, parallel, radial, zigzag
Character- sharp, blurry, fuzzy, choppy, sharp, jagged, graceful,
smooth
Keith Haring
-Paul Klee
Colors are light reflecting off of
a surface being perceived by
an eye.
The 3 main components of color:
Hue- pure color
Intensity- saturation or dullness. A
tone is a color + grey
Value- lightness or darkness
Wassily Kandinsky
“Color Study”
Value describes the lightness or
darkness of a subject.
Tint is a hue + white
Shade is a hue + black
“Migrant Mother”
Dorothea Lange
“Rouge Triomphant”
Circles, squares, rectangles and
triangles, etc. These shapes are
often seen in architecture and
manufactured items.
Organic Shapes- Leaves,
flowers “blobs,” etc. These
shapes are seen in nature
and with characteristics that
are free flowing, informal
and irregular.
“La Gerbe”
Henri Matisse
“Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue”
Shapes are when
lines intersect to
enclose a space.
Shapes are twodimensional and
have height and
width, but no
depth.
Geometric Shapes-
Piet Mondrian
“Alexander Calder
Salvador Dali
Barbara Hepworth
“Bird in Space”
“Lobster Telephone”
Constantin Brancusi
A form is 3-dimensional with
length, height, and width.
Marcel
Duchamp
Space is distance
or area between,
around, above,
below, or within
things.
Positive Space- the object itself (the “donut”).
“Nighthawks”
Edward Hopper
Negative Space- the space around an object or holes within the object (the “donut
hole”).
Picture Plane- the area within the “window frame” through which viewers see your
work (usually defined by the actual paper or canvas).
Composition- the organization and placement of the elements on your picture
plane.
Texture is the surface quality or “feel” of an object.