glossary

aesthetic

type of human experience that combines perception, feeling, meaning making, and appreciation of qualities of produced and/or manipulated object, acts, and events of daily life. Aesthetic experience motivates behavior and creates categories through which our experiences of the world can be organized

artistic associations

include self-defined groups, workshops, academies, and movements.

artistic changes

are divergences from tradition in artistic choices demonstrated through art-making processes, through interactions between works of art and audience, and within form and/or content. Tradition and change in form and content may be described in terms of style.

artistic traditions

are norms of artistic production and artistic products. Artistic traditions are demonstrated through art-making processes (utilization of materials and techniques, mode of display), through interactions between works of art and audience, and within form and/or content of a work of art.

attribution

is identifying or categorizing an unknown work based on similarities to other works’ artist, culture, art-historical style, or object type.

audiences

are those who interact with a work of art as participants, facilitators, and/or observers. Audience characteristics include gender, ethnicity, race, age, socioeconomic status, beliefs, and values. Audience groups may be contemporaries, descendants, collectors, scholars, gallery/museum visitors, and other artists.

claim

n observation or assertion, usually stated in a thesis, that expresses an idea or point of view and is art historically defensible.

composition

consists of interactive communicative elements of design, representation, and presentation within a work of art and the way the elements within the work are arranged to create the desired relationship of these elements in the work.

content

of a work of art typically includes subject matter: visible imagery that may be formal depictions (e.g., minimalist or nonobjective works), representative depictions (e.g., portraiture and landscape), and/or symbolic depictions (e.g., emblems and logos) and may also include other visual properties involving abstraction or other non subject-driven work. Content may be narrative, symbolic, spiritual, historical, mythological, supernatural, and/or propagandistic (e.g., satirical and/or protest oriented).

context

includes original and subsequent historical and cultural situation of a work of art. Context includes information about the time, place, and culture in which a work of art was created, as well as information about when, where, and how subsequent audiences interacted with the work. The artist’s intended purpose for a work of art is contextual information, as is the chosen site for the work (which may be public or private), as well as subsequent locations of the work. Modes of display of a work of art can include associated paraphernalia (e.g., ceremonial objects and attire) and multisensory stimuli (e.g., scent and sound). Characteristics of the artist and audience—including intellectual ideals, beliefs, and attitudes, and aesthetic, religious, political, social, and economic attributes— are context. Patronage, ownership of a work of art, and other power relationships are also aspects of context. Contextual evidence may include audience response to a work of art. Contextual evidence may be provided through records, reports, religious chronicles, personal reflections, manifestos, academic publications, mass media, sociological data, cultural studies, geographic data, artifacts, narrative and/or performance (e.g., oral, written, poetry, music, dance, dramatic productions), documentation, archaeology, and research.

corroborate

to confirm or support the claim and/or thesis by providing evidence; adding proof or discussing examples that support or further the thesis and/or claim. Those examples can be derived from an analysis of a work of art, reference to other works of art, the context in which the work was produced, or subsequent valid scholarly interpretations.

design elements

are line, shape, color (hue, value, saturation), texture, value (shading), space, and form.

design principles

balance/symmetry, rhythm/ pattern, movement, harmony, contrast, emphasis, proportion/scale, and unity

form

describes component materials and how they are employed to create physical and visual elements that coalesce into a work of art. Form is investigated by applying design elements and principles to analyze the work’s fundamental visual components and their relationship to the work in its entirety.

function

includes the artist’s intended use(s) for the work and the actual use(s) of the work, which may change according to the context of audience, time, location, and culture. Functions may be for utility, intercession, decoration, communication, and commemoration and may be spiritual, social, political, and/or personally expressive.

materials

(or medium) include raw ingredients (e.g., pigment, wood, and limestone), compounds (e.g., textile, ceramic, and ink), and components (e.g., beads, paper, and performance) used to create a work of art. Specific materials have inherent properties (e.g., pliability, fragility, and permanence) and tend to accrue cultural value (e.g., the value of gold or feathers due to relative rarity or exoticism).

presentation

the display, enactment, and/or appearance of a work of art

qualify

is to refine the claim and/or thesis by explaining relevant connections, providing nuance, or considering diverse views. This includes, but is not limited to, addressing valid scholarly counterarguments to the claim and/or thesis.

response to/reception of a work

is the reaction of a person or population to the experience generated by a work of art. Responses from an audience to a work of art may be physical, perceptual, spiritual, intellectual, and/or emotional.

style

is a combination of unique and defining features that can reflect the historical period, geographic location, cultural context, and individual hand of the artist

techniques

include art-making processes, tools, and technologies that are used to manipulate, transform, and/ or repurpose materials. Techniques vary across cultural contexts, time, and materials, and may be practiced by one artist or architect or may necessitate a group effort.

thesis

expresses an art historically defensible claim that responds to a prompt rather than merely restating or rephrasing the prompt. A thesis consists of one or more sentences located in one place.

work of art

is created by the artist’s deliberate manipulation of materials and techniques to produce purposeful form and content, which may be architecture, an object, an act, and/or an event. A work of art may be two-, three-, or four-dimensional (timebased and performative). A work of art is considered to be a primary source.