Explore the World of Visual Arts

Visual Arts: A Brief Overview

• Visual arts include painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture.

• The term "visual arts" now includes fine art, applied or decorative arts, and crafts, but it was previously restricted to people working in the fine arts only.

• The distinction between the fine arts and crafts was emphasized by artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

• Painting and sculpture have been privileged over other arts in Western and East Asian art because they rely heavily on the imagination of the artist.

• Training in the visual arts has been through variations of the apprentice and workshop systems, and art schools at tertiary levels.

• Drawing is the means of making an image, illustration, or graphic using various tools and techniques.

• Painting is the practice of applying pigment suspended in a carrier and a binding agent to a surface in combination with drawing, composition, or other aesthetic considerations.

• Printmaking is creating an image on a matrix that is then transferred to a two-dimensional surface by means of ink or another form of pigmentation.

• Photography is the process of making pictures by means of the action of light.

• Architecture is the process and product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings or other structures.

• Filmmaking is the process of making a motion picture from an initial conception and research through distribution to an audience.

• Computers have been used as an ever more common tool in the visual arts since the 1960s.Overview of Visual Arts

• Visual arts include traditional fine arts such as drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, film, and printmaking.

• Digital technologies have blurred the lines between traditional and new media art forms, such as algorithmic art, video games, and website art.

• Computer usage has led to multi-skilled image developers, and the use of computer clip art has made the distinction between visual arts and page layout less obvious.

• Plastic arts involve physical manipulation of a plastic medium such as sculpture or ceramics, and also include materials that can be carved or shaped such as stone, concrete, and steel.

• Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard or plastic material such as stone, clay, metal, glass, or wood, and can also be made with 3D printing technology.

• Public art is often in the form of sculpture, and many sculptures together in a garden setting may be referred to as a sculpture garden.

• The US copyright law has a more restrictive definition of visual art.

• The term "visual arts" can refer to traditional fine arts, digital art, and plastic arts.