artelements

ART ELEMENTS are the visual ingredients within a work of art.

Every work of art can be broken down into these basic elements.

Artists choose and arrange these elements into compositions.

The Art Elements are:

point - a small mark, dash, or dot. It is the smallest element within a work of art. It can be alone, or can be combined with other points to make another element such as line or shape.

Example: The style of Georges Seurat, detail of "Le Grande Parade"

line - a mark with length and direction. A line defines or encloses space.

> Lines can create a sense of movement, texture, or pattern.

Example: Vincent Van Gogh: Starry Night

> A contour line describes the edge of a form, and outline describes the edge of a shape.

Example: Hokusai, The Great Wave

> A line can be two dimensional (drawn on paper) or three dimensional (a wire in a sculpture.)

Examples: clip art drawing of an ammonite (2D);

Line sculpture by Dan Zaretsky (3D)

> An implied line is created when two shapes are side by side but are not outlined.

Example: Stuart Davis: Owh! In San-Pao

>Line quality describes the characteristics of a line, such as bumpy, rough, smooth, thick, etc.

Example: Rembrandt van Rijn Two Studies of Birds of Paradise

shape - an area of enclosed space. It is an area filled with other art elements such as line, color, value, and texture. Shapes can be described as:

> organic (curvy and life like)

Example: Georgia O'Keefe: White Rose with Larkspur

> geometric (made with straight lines)

Example: Antique Quilted Table Cover

form - the appearance of volume and three dimensionality in a two dimensional work of art, or the actual volume of a three dimensional object. Sculptures have form, paintings have shape or the illusion of form.

Example: Henry Moore: Recumbent Figure (3d form)

Example: Leonardo DaVinci: Woman with Ermine (2D, illusion of form)

value - the amount of light or dark in a color. "Shading" by recording lights and darks in a scene is using value.

Example:Carl Brenders: Den Mother Sketch

color - the hue seen by the eye.

Colors can be described in terms of

> temperature (warm or cool)

Example: Phyllis Ely: Landscape in Warm Colors (warm colors)

Example: Pablo Picasso: The Old Guitarist (cool colors)

> intensity (bright or dull)

Example: Keith Haring: DJ (Bright, intense color)

Example: Claude Monet: Water Lillies (soft, blended & muted color)