SECTION 1

Visual art is difficult to define as it is a malleable process that may change from culture to culture, era to era, and artist to artist.  Although the definition may be ephemeral there are certain concepts that seem to remain true to most art making situations: 

    *  Art is a communication between the artist and the viewer. 
    *  Art includes some type of an ability to create and one or more creative processes. 
    *  Art has an end results either intended or unintended and which may or may not be an object. 
 

Art is a Communication 

If we hold to the view that art is a communication between an artist and the viewer we need to outline the role and the responsibilities of both sides of that communication. 

Who is an artist? 
An artist can be someone who is highly trained and experienced in his or her art processes or someone who has had no training or experience.  There is no final exam passage that bestows the title of artist.  For our discussion we will define the artist as someone who uses their abilities to create art by employing one or more art processes for one or more purposes. The role of this artist may change from culture to culture and from era to era. 

ART PROCESSES: Drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, architecture, performance, video, conceptual, and digital.

PURPOSES OF ART: 
    *  Create beauty, true, order
    *  Provide decoration
    *  Uncover truth
    *  Immortalize
    *  Express values, ideas, chaos, fantasies
    *  Reflect social and/or cultural context
 

What are the artist's responsibilities? 

Because art making is a communication the artist bears the responsibility of being a good communicator.  The artist needs to use the language of art to the best of their ability to speak clearly  concerning their intentions or purposes.  The artist begins the communication by creating art.  The viewer completes the process by receiving the visual information and responding. 

LANGUAGE OF ART encompasses the FORMAL ELEMENTS and PRINCIPLES of visual expression.  The ELEMENTSare: LINE, SHAPE, FORM, TEXTURE , PATTERN, and COLOR.  The PRINCIPLESare: STRUCTURE (composition), SPACE, and RHYTHM.
 

What are the viewer's responsibilities?

The viewer could be anyone from an experienced art historian-critic who is seeking out specific visual creations to anyone who wanders in front of an art object, image or happening.  For our discussion you are the viewer.  What is your (or any viewer's) responsibility in the art communication process?  Simply put it is DAIJ:  Describe, Analyze, Interpret, and Judge.  It is important that you fulfill your responsibility in that order. 

DAIJ: 
    *Describe  Use the language of art to describe the work.  To accomplish that task you must
      know and understand the elements and principles of design.
    *Analyze   Base your analysis on the facts.  What are the facts?  The facts are the language of
      art combined with the history of the work.  You may need to do some research to understand
      the history of the work.  You need to know what the artist was trying to say or accomplish.
      You also need to know as much as possible about the intended purpose of the work.
    *Interpert Once you have analyzed you can begin to interpret.
    *Judge Judgments are made after the description, the analyzation, and the interpretation.  To
      judge before completing the first three processes would be to do so without gathering, viewing,
      and understanding all of the evidence.  And to judge prematurely would be a negation of the
      responsibilities of the viewer.

CLASS OUTLINE    SYLLABUS     TUESDAY EVENING CLASS OUTLINE