MTLE Visual Arts (Grades K-12) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Elements of art

Line, shape, form, value, color, texture, and space. These are the basic visual components artists manipulate to build any image or object.

Principles of design

Balance, emphasis, rhythm, proportion, unity, variety, and movement. They describe how elements are organized into a coherent composition.

Complementary colors

Pairs opposite each other on the color wheel, such as red and green or blue and orange. They produce maximum contrast and neutralize when mixed.

Value and chiaroscuro

Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. Chiaroscuro uses strong light-dark contrast to model three-dimensional form and dramatic depth.

Linear perspective

A system in which parallel lines recede to vanishing points on a horizon line, making objects appear smaller with distance. One-, two-, and three-point variants exist.

Positive and negative space

Positive space is occupied by the subject; negative space is the surrounding empty area. Both are composed deliberately, and negative shapes define silhouettes.

Prehistoric cave painting

Paleolithic images such as Lascaux and Altamira, made with earth pigments on rock walls. They mostly depict animals; function is debated as ritual or sympathetic magic.

Egyptian composite view

A convention showing the head in profile, eye frontal, and shoulders frontal. Figure scale signals social rank, and proportions follow a strict canon.

Contrapposto

A classical Greek pose in which weight rests on one leg, tilting hips and shoulders in opposition. It creates naturalistic balance and relaxed tension.

Gothic architecture

A medieval style using pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and flying buttresses to raise walls and admit large stained-glass windows, as at Chartres.

Renaissance perspective and humanism

Fourteenth-to-sixteenth-century European revival of classical antiquity, featuring linear perspective, anatomical study, and secular patronage alongside religious commissions.

Ukiyo-e influence

Japanese woodblock prints with flat color and bold cropping that strongly influenced Impressionist and Post-Impressionist composition in nineteenth-century Europe.

Cubism

An early twentieth-century movement, led by Picasso and Braque, that fractures form into multiple viewpoints and flattens space into geometric planes.

Graphite hardness scale

Pencils range from 9H (hard, light) to 9B (soft, dark), with HB mid-range. Softer grades smudge easily; fixative can protect finished drawings.

Watercolor characteristics

A transparent water-based medium applied in washes; whites come from the paper, and paper is usually stretched to prevent buckling.

Relief printmaking

In woodcut or linocut, the artist cuts away non-image areas; raised surfaces take ink and print. It is the simplest and oldest printmaking family.

Intaglio printmaking

Etching and engraving incise lines into a plate; ink sits in the grooves and is pressed onto damp paper under high pressure.

Lost-wax casting

A bronze casting method in which a wax model is coated in a mold, melted out, and replaced by molten metal, producing a hollow metal form.

Ceramic firing sequence

Greenware dries and is bisque-fired, then glaze is applied and a higher glaze firing fuses it. Clay shrinks and must be wedged to remove air.

Exposure triangle

Aperture controls depth of field, shutter speed controls motion blur, and ISO controls sensor sensitivity. Together they determine photographic exposure.

Raster versus vector

Raster images use pixels and lose quality when enlarged; vector images use scalable paths defined mathematically and stay sharp at any size.

Four-step art criticism

Describe what is visible, analyze how elements and principles work, interpret meaning, then evaluate success against stated criteria.

Formalism

An aesthetic theory judging art primarily by significant form, design, and visual relationships rather than subject matter or emotional effect.

Imitationalism

An aesthetic theory valuing fidelity to observed reality, judging a work by how convincingly it represents its subject.

Emotionalism

An aesthetic theory valuing a work by the intensity and quality of feeling it evokes in the viewer.

Objective versus subjective judgment

Objective statements cite observable visual evidence; subjective statements report personal response. Strong criticism grounds judgment in evidence.

Art and mathematics

Symmetry, the golden ratio, tessellation, and perspective geometry connect visual art to mathematical structure and proportional systems.

Visual literacy

The ability to interpret images, advertisements, and media by analyzing composition, color, symbol, and intended audience.

Conservation versus restoration

Conservation stabilizes and preserves original material with minimal intervention; restoration aims to return a work to an earlier appearance.

National Core Arts Standards

The 2014 voluntary standards organize visual arts into four processes: Creating, Presenting, Responding, and Connecting, with grade-level performance standards.

Studio habits of mind

Eight dispositions from Hetland and colleagues, including develop craft, engage and persist, envision, express, observe, reflect, stretch and explore, and understand art worlds.

Lowenfeld developmental stages

Scribble, preschematic, schematic, drawing realism, and pseudo-naturalistic stages describe how children's representation changes with age and experience.