Elements of Art
Line – Lines have names that describe their place in space. They may be diagonal, vertical or horizontal. They may be thick or thin, solid or broken. Lines can create an infinite number of configurations.
Art Activities – Drawing abstract lines: listen to music, create a collection of lines on the paper; Printmaking: discover how many different kinds of lines can be made with available tools; Painting: extend the image; Sculpture: draw a continuous line drawing of a free form, use wire or pipe cleaners to recreate the line.
Shape – Lines creates outlines of shapes. Some shapes fit definitions and can be given a name: circles, ovals, crescents, squares, rectangles, triangles and trapezoids. Some shapes are irregular and don’t fit a definition.
Art Activities – Six points of view: choose one object and draw it from six points of view; Printmaking: Cut a shape from a piece of foam, dip it in ink and make a repetition of shapes; Painting: tonal silhouette; Sculpture: roll out clay with a rolling pin, use a knife to cut out various shapes.
Colour – colour is a sensation produced by rays of light on different wavelengths. There are three primary colours: red, yellow and blue. Colour relationships create the foundation of the colour wheel.
Art Activities – Drawing: prism design, use pencil crayons to create a design on paper. Printmaking: choose a colour grouping and use found objects to create an interesting pattern; Painting: colour matching; Sculpture: draw a design into the clay and paint it using primary and secondary colours.
Value – Value is the lightness or darkness of any colour. When colours are used at full value, they appear strong and light. When colours are mixed with white paint or water, they appear as muted, lighter tones. When colours are mixed with black paint, they appear as darker tones or shades.
Art Activities – Drawing: landscape drawing; Printmaking: create a simple line drawing of mountains and use crosshatching to define light and dark areas; Painting: monochromatic study; Sculpture: Make a papier-mache sculpture and paint a landscape on it in one colour using 5 different values.
Space – Space in artwork makes a flat image look like it has form. There are several ways an artist adds space to artwork: overlapping, changing size and using perspective.
Art Activities – Drawing: vocabulary of emotions; Printmaking: show positive and negative space by cutting into a cardboard stencil of a simple shape; Painting: distorted image; Sculpture: use a shoebox to create a setting for an imaginary dream bedroom.
Form – When a flat, two-dimensional shape is bent, a third dimension is created (height, width, length). The shape becomes a form. Some forms commonly used are cylinders, cones, spheres, cubes, pyramids and prisms.
Art Activities – Drawing: shoe drawing; Printmaking: use the collograph technique to build up interesting shapes cut randomly from carboard; Painting: edible still life; Sculpture: look at sculptures by Henry Moore.
Texture – The world is full of a variety of textures. Students have first hand experiences with many textures. They know about rough rocks and smooth marbles. Texture can be created in pictures by using repetition of lines and shapes.
Art Activities – Drawing: scribble image; Printmaking activities: produce different textures by using a collage approach of overlapping various rubbings made from wax crayons; Painting: abstract image; Sculpture: Use a variety of carving tools to incise 5 different texture patterns.
Tone – An element of art and design that pertains to the effect of lightness and darkness in an image.
Principles of Art
Balance – A principle of art and design concerned with the arrangement of one or more of the elements so that it gives the sense of equilibrium in design, proportion, shapes etc.
Contrast – A principle of art and design that juxtaposes strongly differing uses of one or more of the elements for effect.
Emphasis – A principle of art and design concerned with making one or more elements stand out in such a way as to appear more important or significant.
Pattern and Repetition – Pattern is the principle of art and design concerned with the planned repetition of one or more elements. Repetition is the principle of art and design in which one or more of the elements of an image appear again and again for effect.
Rhythm – A principle of art and design that uses the regular movement or repetition of one or more elements and image for effect.
Movement – A principle of art and design concerned with creating a feeling of action or a series of actions and with guiding a viewer’s eye through an image.
Unity – A principle of art and design concerned with the arrangement of the elements of an artwork to create a coherent whole.
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