Terms and Elements of Art

This past week we have been working on the Art Merit Badge. One of the requirements has us learning about the following terms and elements of art. Currently this is requirement 2

Line

Lines are the building blocks of all art and are a good place to start when making, looking at or analyzing works of art.

Shape

An element of art that is a two-dimensional area that is defined in some way. A shape may have an outline around it or you may recognize it by its area.

Form

Something that is three-dimensional and encloses volume, having length, width, and height, versus shape, which is two-dimensional, or flat. A form is a shape in three dimensions, and, like shapes, can be geometric or organic.

Space

The distances or areas around, between, and within components of a piece. Space can be positive or negative, open or closed, shallow or deep, and two-dimensional or three-dimensional.

Texture

The way an object feels to the touch or looks as it may feel.

Value

The gradual change of lightness or darkness of a color. It is created when a light source shines upon an object creating highlights, form shadows and cast shadows.

Color

We see color because light waves are reflected from objects to your eyes. Color wheel - color spectrum bent into a circle. Primary colors - The most basic colors on the color wheel, red, yellow and blue.