Art Elements: Biological, Global and Interdisciplinary Foundations
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2011
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Why Is Visual Communication and Design Important in Contemporary Society?
Visual images are the foundation for communication in most forms of fine art popular media. Visual technologies such as television, film, World Wide Web, digital cameras, and videos are omnipresent forms of communication in developed nations. For better or worse, the images we view contribute to the knowledge we have of the world. Visual media contribute to the images we create of ourselves. We make images to tell about our experiences.
Art Elements: Biological, Global, and Interdisciplinary Foundations begins with consideration of formalist design traditions and histories, illustrated with contemporary ideas about perception, interdisciplinary links to other content areas, creativity, personal narratives, visual culture, and built environment.
Art Elements: Biological, Global, and Interdisciplinary Foundations:
- Examines how art and design are the visual documentation of our knowledge, perceptions, feelings, histories, and ourselves.
- Gives definitions and brief histories of the art elements from art and design theories.
- Features Try It! studio projects at the end of each chapter give the student an opportunity to explore ideas in the text.
- Includes art work throughout the text to help students gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of images.
- Includes an accompanying CD with art element introductory songs, basic studio skills video clips, supplementary lessons for the art elements, instructor resources, and internet links.
Chapter 1 Line
For the Reader: General Introduction
Formal Elements in Art
Line as Sign: Developing Symbol, Icon, Index
Line: Index (Marks)
Lines: Icons (Pictorial Representations)
Lines: Symbols (Representing Ideas and Language)
Lines Represented in Maps and Geometric Relations
An Early Definition of Line
Lines in Art-Making Theory Manuals
Line in Contemporary Design Theory
William Morris
Bauhaus
Seeing Line
Illusion of Line Where No Lines Are Drawn
Line and Computers
Line in Contemporary Images
Line in Cartoons
Summary
Try It!
For Further Study
References
Chapter 2 Form
Forms as Tools
Methods to Study Tools
The Changing Social Lives of Functional Forms: Arrowheads and Shells
Contemporary Tools
Geometric and Mathematical Form
Neolithic Platonic Solids: An Anachronism
Social Life of Carved Stone Balls (CSBs)
Figurines: Mimetic Forms
Technique and Materials and Mimesis
Technology and Sculpture
Neurobiology: Sculpting Geometric and Mimetic Forms
20th and 21 st Century Form-Making: A Sensory Approach
For Further Study
References
Try It!
Chapter 3 Color
Finding and Describing Light and Color
Describing Light
Color of Things
Creating and Valuing Pigments
Using/Creating Pigments
Artists Valuing and Creating Paint
How Many and Which Colors?
Selected Mechanisms of Color Perception
Retinal Processes
The Where and the What
Equiluminant Colors
Complementary Colors (Color-Polarity)
Afterimage Complements
Three Dimensions of Color
Color Structures
Color in Art
Modern Color in Painting
Color Field Painters
For Further Study
References
Try It!
Chapter 4 Texture
Classifying Texture
Difference between Texture and Pattern
Classifying Pattern
Qualities of Texture
Painting
Tactile Texture in Three Dimensions in Painting
Illusory or Visual Texture
Texture in Printmaking
Actual Texture as a Design Element
Texture Standards, Collections, and Creation
The Biology of Seeing Texture
Two Categories of Binocular Vision
Summary
For Further Study
References
Try It!
Chapter 5 Value/Luminance
Shading and Shadows
Development of the Perception and Representation of Shadows
Early Writing about Shadows and Developing Value in Painting and Drawing
Roman Art
Renaissance Theory of Light and Shadows: Leonardo
Enlightenment Eighteenth Century: Roger de Piles
Shadows as Entertainment
The Photograph: Permanently Catching Light and Shade
A New Vision
Digital Images and Value
The Element of Value and Photography
Value and Visual Processes
Luminance
Summary
For Further Study
References
Try It!
Chapter 6 Space and Pictorial Perspectives
Diagonal Lines
Shallow Window Perspective:Orthographic Views
Nomadic Perspective
Illusory Effects of Diagonal Lines
Na'ive Perspective
The Science of Linear Perspective 1400-1800
Biological Complications
How Linear Perspective Relates to Design, Color Perspective and Saccadic Vision
Elements of the Biology of Perspective
Color Space
Texture Space
One Possible Biological Location of Perspective/Space Perception
Non-Euclidean Spaces
Summary
For Further Study
References
Try It!
Chapter 7 Artistic Stance: Design and Expressive Research Processes
Reference
Design Education as Community Outreach
Dwellings: Material Culture Study
Photorealist Painting: 20th Century Realism
Window and Mirror: Rediscovering Cultural Identity through Digital Art
Exquisite Corpse Pro;ed: A Collaborative Venture
Passion, Experience, and Pradice Redefining Inventiveness and Teaching
Subjective Visual Phenomena {Non-objective Art}: Exploring Entoptic Imagery
Chapter 8 Art, Perception, and Neurobiology
21st Century Seeing
Becoming Aware of Visual Experience: Consciousness
Beginning Perception
Paths to the Brain: Developing Meaning
Face Cells
Mirror Cells: Human Action
Forming an Art Image from the Art Elements
References
If you wonder about the biological and neurological reasons to explain visual perception and image making, this book is for you. The author, Cynthia Bickley-Green introduces interdisciplinary approaches to understanding how we perceive, understand, and create images. Drawing upon a number of disciplines in the arts and sciences (visual art, neurobiology, and neuropsychology) as well as art history and aesthetic theory, Bickley-Green weaves theory, relevant research, images and illustrations with opportunities for the applied and contextualized study of the elements and principles and design (line, color, form, texture, value, and space).
Eight chapters are organized by the elements and principles of design and that include illustrated essays, sample projects, artist information, chapter review questions and references. The varieties of end of chapter projects focus on the demonstration of main chapter concepts. All of these chapter components aim to guide teachers and students in the areas of art and design with a framework that will allow them to “consider more carefully how and why images are constructed” (p.ix).
The last two chapters include essays by art educators that address the contextual, sensory, and temporal dimensions art and design. The last chapter “Art, Perception and Neurobiology” is worth noting and gets you thinking about the influences on perception, such as, how the brain processes information relative to sight, and what it means “to see.”
Throughout the text, terms are identified and explained clearly. Black and white illustrations and photographs of historical and contemporary art works are generously provided. There are numerous website links also provided to lead a motivated reader to explore additional resources, and color images.
The scientific concepts and diagrams that are presented, particularly, in the color, value, texture and space/perspective chapters, provide a historical/scientific basis for understanding relationships among the elements and principles of design as well as how we experience the three dimensional world.
The CD-ROM that accompanies this text is authored by educators (Dr. Robert Quinn and Audrey Kilgore), and includes folders with lesson plans, links, additional chapter supplementary materials, and videos (MP4) of art demonstrations for each chapter. This allows for the integration of this text using new technologies. The CD could easily be used along with the text in an online teaching and learning environment.
Overall, this book is well researched. It is recommended for university level art and design teachers and students, or other readers, who are concerned with taking a biological and interdisciplinary approach toward understanding the visual world. The reliance on situating visual perception in the world of biology also makes this book very appropriate for non-art majors who may be taking a visual art course, such as, medical and/or health care professionals.
Reviewed by: Dr. Sheri Klein, Ph.D., MFA, University of Wisconsin-Stout