Art Appreciation Unit IV Assessment Questions (Mathguy08 ONLY)

ART 1301, Art Appreciation 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit IV Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

2. Examine the characteristics of works of art, including the purpose and structure of the work.

4. Analyze artworks using the application of media, techniques, and processes.

Reading Assignment Chapter 6: Drawing Chapter 7: Painting

Unit Lesson Chapter 6: Drawing In this chapter, we will look at the purposes and functions of drawing, as well as various media associated with drawing. To begin, let’s categorize a few purposes and functions of drawings. Drawing is the foundation for all other artforms. Before an artist begins, he or she will write down ideas and sketch a few notations to remember these ideas. This is the first function of drawing: to get the idea down (Frank, 2014c). This first sketch is quick, and sometimes acts as a memory aid. The step helps people learn to see more attentively and develops the ability to draw either from memory or from imagination. Next, the artist will prepare for the final piece, drawing and studying how to make the artwork. This step is much more in-depth: making sure the final piece will be the correct size, figuring out the materials needed, and drawing out everything needed in the final composition. This step allows the artist to start on the final piece, knowing that all the design problems have already been worked out. The artist might still make slight changes in design, but the big ideas are all worked out. The final type of function for a drawing is a complete work of art (Frank, 2014c). Some artists prefer drawing to other artforms, or perhaps a drawing will communicate the artist’s idea better than any other medium. Tools and Techniques Drawing, similar to other artforms, has various tools and techniques to use for different results. A few constants in the varying tools are the surface (what the artist is drawing on) and the binder (what makes the drawing material stick to the surface).

UNIT IV STUDY GUIDE

Drawing and Painting

ART 1301, Art Appreciation 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

Title

Dry media:

Pencil: Everyone has used a pencil, so you are probably familiar with this drawing medium. The pencil uses graphite, a crystalline form of carbon, to make marks and these marks can vary depending on the degree of hardness. In school, most standardized tests want the student to use 2H, which is a degree of hardness. The degrees of hardness can range from a 9H, very hard, all the way to 9B, very soft graphite (Frank, 2014c). The softer the graphite, the easier it is to make dark marks. If an artist wants to shade something very dark, he or she will use pencils in the B range. Pencils are not always the medium of choice if the artist wants to make something extremely dark: the graphite tends to get shiny the more it is layered and will not be as dark as the artist intends. The artist could use charcoal or conté crayon to achieve extremely dark areas in an artwork. Charcoal: Charcoal is similar to prehistoric charred pieces of wood. Like a pencil, it comes in varying degrees of hardness; the softer the charcoal, the easier it is to make dark marks. Charcoal, a choice medium for artists, can easily make dark marks, smudge, blur, or erase. This versatility comes at a price—charcoal has no binder and can easily be wiped away (Frank, 2014c). Artists can use a fixative to fix the charcoal to the surface. The fixative, similar to hairspray, can be sprayed onto a drawing and will keep the charcoal in place. Conté crayon: Conté crayon is graphite mixed with clay and pressed into sticks (Frank, 2014c). Regular crayons lack flexibility and are usually avoided by artists. Regular crayons are mainly wax, making it hard to achieve many variations. Conté crayons, however, come in a variety of colors and have the ability for a wide range of values, or lights and darks. Conté crayons resist smudging and can be hard to erase because of the clay. Pastel: Pastels are another drawing medium that comes in a variety of colors. They have very little binder and have a consistency similar to chalk. Pastels can have an acrylic binder or oil-based binder, but overall the amount of binder in pastels is very little (Frank, 2014c). Like charcoal, pastels need to be fixed onto the surface to keep the drawing intact. Wet Media Wet media is used in drawing as well as painting. A wet media drawing uses lines to define the space and objects, unlike a painting that uses areas of color and value to define space and objects. Ink is a wet drawing medium that comes in various forms such as pens, markers, and well ink used with fountain pens or brushes. Ink washes are similar to watercolor painting; brushes can be used to define areas of the drawing. Similar to watercolor, but opaque, gouache is used in ink washes to lighten areas.

(Frank, 2014a, slide 26)

ART 1301, Art Appreciation 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

Title

Resulting Art When thinking of drawing as a finished product, you might think of comics—even if you do not consider them to be fine art. In comics, lines are used to define edges and shapes, and this is a very valid form of drawing in art (Frank, 2014c). Contemporary approaches in drawing are being used in comics, but non-comic art is mostly abstract, and the artist uses very unusual materials. Some artists use tape to “draw” on walls of museums or galleries. The tape creates “lines” that appear to move back and forth in space. Chapter 7: Painting All of the painting techniques have similar basic properties. The color in paint comes from pigment, which is dry and usually in powder form. Pigment can come from various natural sources or be manmade. Binder, as in drawing, is a sticky substance that will hold the pigment particles together and attach the pigment to the surface, or support. Have you ever been to an arts and craft store looking for paint and noticed that some paints are very expensive while others are not? This is due to the pigment vs. binder ratio. The more pigment a paint has, the more expensive it is. Companies will put more binder, which is inexpensive, into a tube of paint with a little bit of pigment, and it is still a good paint; it just has less pigment. A vehicle is what makes the paint move around—usually paint comes out of the tube similar to toothpaste. For artists to get the effect they want and make the paint more liquid, they use a different vehicle depending on the type of painting (Frank, 2014c). Finally, the support is the structure or surface on which the painting is painted.

Types of Painting Watercolor: In watercolor, pigments are mixed with the binder gum arabic (or acrylic polymer), paper or canvas is the support, and water is the vehicle. To use watercolor, artists use a staining technique similar to staining wood. When staining wood, the stain is permanent. There is no going back if a mistake is made; you have to find a way to use the mistake. The same goes for watercolor, the artist will have to find a way to use or cover the mistake. Acrylic: Acrylic paint is very versatile; pigments are held together using a manmade acrylic polymer, and water is the vehicle for moving the paint (Frank, 2014c). Acrylic is versatile because an artist can paint very thick, or impasto, or acrylic paint can be watered down and used similar to watercolor. Also it can be applied using an airbrush on any surface. Acrylic paint will not yellow over time like oil paint may; however, many artists choose not to use acrylic paint because they are unsure of the long-term effects of acrylic paint. Acrylic paint is manmade and has not been around for hundreds of years like oil paint.

(Frank, 2014b, slide 26)

ART 1301, Art Appreciation 4

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

Title

Oil paint: Oil paint is made of pigments mixed with various vegetable oils and must be applied over a gessoed surface. A gessoed surface is a surface, such as wood, canvas, or paper that has been painted with primer. Since oil can eat through unprimed material—think about oily food on a paper plate—artists must prep the surface with gesso or primer before they paint (Frank, 2014c). Water is not able to be used as a vehicle for oil paint, but artists are able to use turpentine to get the paint to move. Turpentine breaks down the stickiness of the oil and can also be used to clean brushes afterwards. Artists can apply paint thickly (impasto), or they can glaze the surface. Oil paint can be thinned with turpentine and applied thinly in layers to create a glazed effect. Traditional tempera: Traditional tempera is made from mixing pigments with egg yolk as binder. Since egg yolk is yellow, tempera must be applied with very thin glazes (Frank, 2014c). Most tempera paintings take years to finish. If an artist needs to thin the paint further, they can use water as the vehicle. The surface must be primed because egg yolk can eventually eat through wood or cloth. Tempera paint was used before oil paint was invented. Today’s tempera paint is made with an acrylic polymer and does not need to have the surface primed. When you go into an arts and craft store, the tempera or poster paint is not made with egg yolk. Encaustic: Encaustic paint is different from any other type of paint because the pigments are suspended in wax (Frank, 2014c). An artist will melt an encaustic block of color and apply the now-liquid wax onto a surface. The surface, or support, should be fairly rigid since wax will break if bent. Many artists choose not to work with encaustic paint because it is a difficult medium, and the materials are very expensive. The wax needs to be heated to a certain degree but cannot go over that temperature or it will give off toxic vapors. The wax starts cooling as soon as it is removed from the hot palette, so it is already drying before it hits the surface and can break easily in transport (Frank, 2014c). The results of encaustic paintings can be amazing, but difficult to achieve. Fresco: Fresco is an ancient painting technique where the paint does not come straight out of a tube. With fresco painting, the pigments are suspended in water and then added to the lime-plaster binder, which has already been layered on a wall or surface. With fresco, the artist is basically painting a new layer onto a wall. This medium can be extremely difficult to work with; working in small sections, the artist is applies wet plaster to a wall but only in a section that the artist can finish before it dries (Frank, 2014c). Joints, or the small sections that the artist is working on, are usually arranged along the edges of major shapes in the composition. Plaster dries fairly quickly, so the artist must work fast to finish. For this reason, many fresco muralists draw out the entire mural onto the wall before they start; this ensures that everything is correct. The artist must have all details worked out beforehand, because after the plaster dries, the artist cannot go back and fix anything. If a portion of the fresco is incorrect, the artist must chisel away that area and hope that the correct portion is not chiseled as well.

References Frank, P. L. (2014a). Chapter 6: Drawing [PowerPoint slides]. Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Frank, P. L. (2014b). Chapter 7: Painting [PowerPoint slides]. Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Frank, P. (2014c). Prebles’ artforms: An introduction to the visual arts (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Suggested Reading If you would like to learn more about this unit’s reading, review the below chapter presentations that align with the textbook required readings: Click here to access the Chapter 6 PowerPoint Presentation. Click here for a PDF version of the presentation. Click here to access the Chapter 7 PowerPoint Presentation. Click here for a PDF version of the presentation.

ART 1301, Art Appreciation 5

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

Title

Learning Activities (Non-Graded) Consider viewing graffiti in your community and/or on the Internet. If you wish to search the web, below are a few sites that you might find helpful: Graffiti.org. (n.d.). Art crimes: The writing on the wall. Retrieved from http://www.graffiti.org/ Patel, N. (n.d.). 30 great examples of graffiti art. Retrieved from

http://slodive.com/inspiration/showcase/graffiti-art/ Non-graded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in their course of study. You do not have to submit them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further guidance and information.