What is Visual Arts

WHAT IS VISUAL ARTS?

Works that are primarily visual in nature
Include the most ancient forms, such as painting and drawing
Also include later art forms - sculpture, printmaking, photography, and installation art
Past definition - FINE ARTS and DECORATIVE ARTS
These days, Visual Art pertains to all art forms that our eyes can absorb. These are the arts that meet the eye and evoke an emotion through an expression of skill and imagination.

WHO IS AN ARTIST?

Old definition - a person working in the fine arts (such as painting, sculpture, or printmaking)
Arts and Crafts Movement definition - someone who values vernacular art forms as much as high art forms

WHEN DID VISUAL ARTS START?

hand stencils and simple geometric shapes & cave representations of animals, from Upper Paleolithic era between about 40,000 to 35,000 years ago
ink drawings on papyrus, often depicting people in ancient Egypt
geometric images and then human forms were drawn in ancient Greek vases and other pottery pieces in 7th century BC
In Europe, drawing was adopted by masters such as Sandro Botticelli, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci by the 15th century

THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF ART

“Good design…is intelligence made visible.”

BUILDING BLOCKS
OF VISUAL ARTS

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

RHYTHM

EMPHASIS

SCALE

PATTERN

There are roughly a dozen basic principles of design that beginning and veteran artists alike should keep in mind when working on their projects. In addition, there are another dozen or so “secondary” design principles that are sometimes included as basics.