Art 103 – Week nine – Revision

What is a drawing?

A drawing is a representation of an object or idea using line with any media.

Name some common surfaces artists use for drawing?

Paper is the most popular.  Other surfaces include boards, fabric, plastic, canvas, glass, leather, walls or rocks.

Name some media used for drawing?

The most popular is the graphite pencil.  Some other media are charcoal, chalk, pen and ink, crayons and pastel.

There are six very popular drawing techniques:

1. The Outline: This can be light or heavy and can be drawn with a ruler or free-hand.  Hold the pencil at an acute angle – the top of the pencil facing the direction you are moving and then use a pulling technique to help it flow easier.  Heavy outlines are drawn by holding the pencil closer to the nib for better control, increasing the pressure for the desired shade.

2. Hatching: This is marking out small lines bunched together.  It is a shading technique and can be light or heavy like outlines by reducing or adding pressure.

3. Cross-hatching:  This is similar to hatching but another layer is placed on top of the first layer in the opposite direction.

4. Stippling:  This is just making dots.

5. Back and Forth Stroke:  move the pencil in a back and forth motion at a more rapid speed towards the same direction.

6. Scumbling: move the pencil in small, circular motions keeping them very compact.

What is a still life drawing?

A Still Life drawing is a drawing of inanimate objects arranged in a particular way to create meaning.

How do we do a still life drawing?

First do an outline of the objects with pencil on paper and then use other shading or drawing techniques to create the objects as observed.

The Human Figure

Figure Drawing or drawing of the Human Figure is artwork representing the human body and its form.

Use the eight heads rule to create a drawing of a human figure.

1. Plan your drawing – Measure the figure and see how many times the head fits into the body height.  The average adult human is eight heads tall.

2. Draw basic shapes to represent the different parts of the body.  Use circles, rectangles, ovals and triangles.

3. Sketch the outline of the human figure.

4. Draw the details

 

Local and International Artists

1. Who was Canute Caliste?

He was a primitive painter from Carriacou who painted surrounding local and political issues of the island.

Why did he paint mermaids/What is the story about Canute Caliste and mermaids?

At the age of nine he had a vision of a mermaid who gave him a bible and told him that if he followed it closely he could achieve anything he wanted in life.

Who is a primitive or a naive painter?

A primitive or a naive painter is one who were not given formal lessons on how to paint.

What is the words used to describe Canute Caliste’s paintings?

Unique and Child-like.

2. Who was Edna Manley?

An english-born Jamaican sculptor.

What materials did she use to make her sculptures?

Cedar, mahogany, redwood and bronze.

What themes did she paint around?

Blackness, the cultural life of Jamaica, the new consciousness and Jamaican independence.

Name one of her most important works.

Negro Aroused cast out of bronze.

What did Negro Aroused symbolise?

The struggle of the black man to break free from slavery into freedom and Jamaica’s struggle for independence.

Describe Negro Aroused?

A man pushing himself out of the ground with his face looking towards the sky.

3. Who was Le Roy Clarke?

He was a Trinidadian aritst who was one of the Caribbean’s premier artists.

Describe his work?

They were symbolic and represented his understandings as a person, in a place and through time.  He used a lot of colour and motifs reflecting the energy and vibrancy of our people and the Caribbean region.

Name one of his works.

Towards the Apotheosis of El Tucuche – one can see various human and animal figures interwoven appearing like a vision.  Geometric figures such as triangles and spades can be seen.

4. Who was Peter Minshall?

He was known for the art form know as mas – costumed masquerade as seen in Trinidad.

Name one of his pieces?

The dance macabre is a chilling death masque.

5. Who was Jean Michel Basquiat?

He was a graffiti artist who started off with images of New York city and then with skeleton-like figures and masked faces.

What influenced his work?

His work was influenced by his African Identity and events in African-American history.

Name one of his works.

Pyro.

Art History

1. What is Caribbean Art?

Caribbean Art is a reflection of our society, its history, beliefs and aspirations.  It is what we experience, know and feel.  Caribbean people have migrated to other parts of the world bringing an awareness of Caribbean Art with them.

2. What is the name of the group of people who brought Art to the Caribbean during the Pre-Columbian period?

The Taino Arawaks.

Where can their art be found and what form did it take?

They created their art on cave walls and these included drawings and carvings of birds, fishes and reptiles.

What did they make their paint from?

Vegetable pigment and animal fat.

This group was followed by the Indigenous American people.  They were the Arawaks, Caribs and Taino tribes.

Name one piece found in Jamaica in 1792 done by the Indigenous Americans.

Birdman.

Who was the person who brought the European influence of Caribbean Art to the Caribbean?

Christopher Columbus.

How does Caribbean Art show itself in the Caribbean today?

The architecture of the region.

What form did the African influence of Caribbean Art take?

Ceremonial tools, furniture and utensils.

They mixed religions with the Europeans which resulted in religions such as the Orisha, Santeria, Shouter Baptist and Voodun.

Name an art style in the Caribbean which was heavily influenced by the Africans.

Naive art style in Haiti.

What was the period called when the East Indians came to the Caribbean?

Indentureship or hired labour.

What contribution did they make to Caribbean Art?

They brought their religions and cultures.

How can their contribution be seen in Caribbean Art presently?

In their religious images, clothing, jewellery, musical instruments, tools, utensils and pottery.

What religions did they bring to the Caribbean?

Hinduism and Islam.

Name three watercolor techniques and describe them:

Flat wash: Wet a flat brush and move it in a straight line across the page applying more paint and water and continuing where you left off.

Graded wash: begin with a flat wash with a flat brush and with each stroke add more paint or water depending on if you are going from light to dark or dark to light.

Wet in Wet: apply water onto the paper spreading it evenly.  Then wet a brush and apply paint over it.

Dry brush: the opposite of wet in wet.  Apply dry paint using a dry brush.

When do we use the dry brush technique?

For objects in the foreground or for objects in the background which are prominent.

Spray: use a large flat brush or toothbrush with appropriate amounts of paint and water and pull back the bristles.  The paint will splash all over the paper.

Color lifting: use a wet brush or tissue to remove color from a painting.

When do we use color lifting?

To create clouds.

Edge softening: Paint a line and then use a wet brush and paint along it.  This softens the sharp edges of the line.

The elements of art are line, shape, form, space, value or tone, colour and texture.

Line: This is a point in motion.  They can be verticial, horizontal, diagonal, curved and zigzag.

Shape: This is created when a line returns to its point of origin.  A shape is two-dimensional limited to height and width.

Form: The space occupied by a three-dimensional artwork.  We use this element of art when describing sculptures.  (It renders a three-dimensional artwork in two-dimension).

Space: the areas that a shape or form occupies.  Positive space is the area an object occupies.  Negative space is the area around that object.  This element of art and design can also be used when talking about sculptures.

Value or tone: The effect light has on an object.

Colour: light reflected from an object to the viewer.

Texture: the way the surface of an object feels.  It may be suggested or actual.  (How an element in a composition would look as if feel or touched.)

The principles of Art and Design:

Rhythm: indicates movement by the repetition of elements.

Movement: actions or the path the viewer’s eye follows through an artwork.  (The elements of art moving the viewer’s eyes around and within a specific work of art).  (It creates the look and feeling of action in a work of art).

Pattern: a two-dimensional and decorative surface quality.  (An element repeated in a planned way to create unity).

Harmony: accentuating similarities in an artwork to create unity.

Balance: steadying the artwork by creating countering visual weights.  Balance can be symmetrical, asymmetrical or radial.

Proportion: the relation between the space occupied by parts of an object or an entire object in an artwork when compared to other parts of that object or other objects in that artwork.  This can be linear, refer to area or volume.

Emphasis: one part of a work is dominant over the other parts.  It allows an object or area of artwork to stand out.  (An area of the composition is more dominant than the other areas.  It must also command the viewer’s attention.)

Contrast: differences in the use of an element of art.

Variety is the use of different colours, shapes and sizes in a work of art.

Gradation: subtle changes achieved by manipulating an element of art in an artwork.

Unity: binds all elements and principles into a finished work of art.  (Using the elements to create wholeness or visual completion in an artwork).

https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Art/A_World_Perspective_of_Art_Appreciation_(Gustlin_and_Gustlin)/01%3A_A_World_Perspective_of_Art_Appreciation/1.06%3A_What_Are_the_Elements_of_Art_and_the_Principles_of_Art

https://horacemannptsa.ourschoolpages.com/Doc/Art/12.%20Elements%20of%20Art%20and%20Principles%20of%20Design.pdf

https://www.thoughtco.com/principles-of-art-and-design-2578740