Education

Articles Index

lacuna

From the Latin for "gap," a lacuna is a blank spot.

assemblage

Assemblage is a form of sculpture comprised of "found" objects arranged in such a way that they create a piece.

armature

In art, an armature is an underlying, unseen, supporting component (usually of wood or metal) for something else.

ignudi

The Ignudo is the phrase coined by Michelangelo to describe the twenty seated male nudes he incorporated into the Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes.

texture

Texture, another element of art, is used to describe either the way a three-dimensional work actually feels when touched, or the visual "feel" of a two-dimensional work.

"Bosse" simply translates to "bump," which leads us to "with the bump" and "according to the bump." These are (atypically) cute French ways of saying "learning how to draw via carefully executed studies of plaster casts."

thumbnail

A thumbnail is a tiny sketch, so called because it is typically about the size of an actual adult thumb's nail.

kiln

A kiln is an oven or furnace capable of holding hot fires and maintaining the heat necessary to drive nearly all moisture out of something heated in its interior.

khachkar

"Cross-stone (or rock)" in Armenian; they are unique to Armenia, though now found in other spots of the globe in tribute and memorial to Armenians. A khachkar - usually formed from basalt or tuff - may be freestanding or in relief, but either type of stone is carved.

Jugendstil

Jugendstil literally means "Youth Style."

hue

"Hue" is what we call any color that can be plucked, in a pure state, out of the light spectrum.

grisaille

Monochromatic painting done entirely in shades of gray, not unlike a black and white photograph.

tint

A tint is a color to which white has been added to make it lighter.

tone

Tone is a quality of color.

trompe l'oeil

Trompe l'oeil literally translates from French to mean "fools the eye." Hard to paint, the trompe l'oeil piece requires meticulous attention to detail on the part of the artist.

unity

A principle of art, unity occurs when all of the elements of a piece combine to make a balanced, harmonious, complete whole.

value

An element of art, value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color.

vanitas painting

A vanitas painting was a particular type of still life immensely popular in the Netherlands (and Paris, to a lesser extent), beginning in the 17th century.

Venus pudica

"Venus pudica" is a term used to describe a classic figural pose in Western art. In this, an unclothed female (either standing or reclining) keeps one hand covering her private parts.

verdigris

Verdigris is a green or bluish-green pigment.

Golden Ratio

Golden Ratio is a term (with an astounding number of aliases) used to describe aesthetically pleasing proportioning within a piece.

greenware

A term used in ceramics, greenware is clay that is mostly dry ("leather hard").