Visual and Plastic Arts Overview

Visual Arts

• Painting - applying pigment to a surface for artistic expression. Various mediums including oil, tempera, and watercolor are used on surfaces such as canvas, wood, and paper.
• Drawing - lines, shading, and textures are used to represent an object or concept on a surface. Pencil, pen, ink, crayon, brush, and charcoal are mediums for drawing.
• Graphic Processes - multi-reproduction methods used to create graphical works based on a master image. Processes can be categorized by the printing surface: raised (relief), depressed (intaglio), or flat (surface, plane).
• Commercial Art - involves the design of books, ads, signs, posters, and other displays to sell a product, service, or concept.
• Mechanical Processes used to reproduce words and images efficiently in large quantities.
• Photography uses light to create images on a sensitized surface. Reproductions can be in black and white or full color.

Plastic Arts

• This group includes all visual arts that use materials to create three-dimensional forms.
• Architecture involves the design and construction of buildings and other structures. Materials used include stone, concrete, brick, wood, steel, glass, and plaster. When these elements are mass-produced, it is known as industrial design.
• Industrial Design refers to the design of objects intended for machine production. Automobiles and household appliances are examples.
• Dress and Costume Design involves creating clothing of all sorts, including skirts, jackets, suits, and ties.
• Theater Design involves designing the settings for dramatic productions.

Film

• The art of putting together a series of still images to create the illusion of movement. Filmmaking is complex, requiring consideration of lighting, musical score, visual effects, direction, and others.

Performance Art

• A live art form using the artist's body as the primary medium. May also incorporate other visual art mediums like props or sound.
• Four important elements:
  • Time
  • Location of the performance
  • The performer's body
  • The relationship between the audience and the performers

Poetry Performance

• An art form that uses words to express emotions. Words are carefully chosen for clarity and beauty, stimulating various emotions like joy, anger, love, and sorrow. Movement, tone, volume, and intensity add to the artistic value of the poem.

Dance

• Ballet - Either solo or concerted dances with mimetic acts accompanied by music. They are typically constructed around a theme or plot.
• Modern - Often referred to as modern or interpretive dances. These dances are a rebellion against classical ballet formalism, emphasizing the personal communication of moods and themes.
• Musical Comedy - A form of dance that involves a combination of ballet, modern, tap, and acrobatics performed by soloists, groups, or choruses in theaters, nightclubs, motion pictures, and TV.

Literary Art

• Artists in this field use words for self-expression and emotional communication.
• Literary art goes beyond professional, academic, journalistic, and other technical writing forms.
• It focuses on unique styles, not specific formats or norms.
• Includes fiction and non-fiction, such as novels, biographies, and poems.

Literature

• Drama - A tale recreated in front of an audience by actors on stage. Common forms include tragedy, melodrama, and comedy.
• Essay - Nonfiction, expository writing ranging from casual, personal subjects to objective treatments of significant topics, closely reasoned.
• Prose Fiction - Includes narratives generated by the author, distinguished from true accounts. Traditionally split into novels, novelettes, and short stories. Authors invent the characters and incidents.
• Poetry - Highly expressive literature that uses unique forms, word choice, and emotional images.
• Narrative forms include epics, romances, and ballads.
• Lyric forms include sonnets, odes, elegies, and songs.

Explore the diverse world of visual and plastic arts, including painting, drawing, graphic processes, and commercial art. This quiz covers mediums, techniques, and the application of these art forms in various contexts. Test your knowledge and discover more about artistic expression and mechanical processes in art.