Praxis Art: Content and Analysis (5135)

The elements of art are the basic visual ingredients of any work: line, shape, form, value, color, texture, and space. They are what an artist uses; the principles of design describe how those ingredients are arranged. On the exam, expect to identify which element dominates a described work or to choose the element a student should adjust to solve a visual problem.

Balance is the distribution of visual weight. Symmetrical (formal) balance mirrors equivalent parts across an axis; asymmetrical (informal) balance uses unlike parts of equal visual weight, such as a small bright shape offsetting a large dull one; radial balance radiates from a center, as in a rose window or mandala. Emphasis creates a focal point through contrast, isolation, placement, or convergence of lines.

Movement is the path the viewer's eye follows, while rhythm is a sense of visual tempo created by repetition of elements, often organized as pattern. Proportion compares the sizes of parts within a whole; scale compares an object's size to a standard, usually the human body. Unity makes parts feel like they belong together, variety adds interest through difference, and contrast places opposing qualities side by side.

In 2-D work, form and space are illusions built with value and perspective. In 3-D work they are actual: a sculptor shapes positive mass and the negative space it encloses, and the work changes as the viewer walks around it. Balance in sculpture is also physical, since a top-heavy figure must be engineered with an armature or a broad base.

On the traditional painter's wheel, the primary hues are red, yellow, and blue; mixing two primaries yields a secondary (orange, green, violet), and mixing a primary with an adjacent secondary yields a tertiary (such as red-orange). Every color has three properties: hue (its name), value (lightness or darkness), and intensity or saturation (brightness or dullness). Adding white makes a tint, adding black makes a shade, and adding gray or a complement lowers intensity to make a tone.

Complementary colors sit opposite each other (red and green); placed side by side they intensify each other, and mixed together they neutralize. Analogous schemes use neighbors on the wheel. A split-complementary scheme pairs a hue with the two colors beside its complement, and a triadic scheme uses three hues evenly spaced. Warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows) tend to advance; cool colors (blues, greens, violets) tend to recede. Simultaneous contrast means a color's appearance shifts depending on its neighbors, the effect Josef Albers explored in his color studies.

Additive color mixes light: the primaries are red, green, and blue (RGB), and all three combined produce white. Screens, projectors, and digital cameras work additively. Subtractive color mixes pigments or inks that absorb wavelengths: printing uses cyan, magenta, and yellow plus black (CMYK), and combining them moves toward black. The painter's RYB wheel is the traditional subtractive model used in most art classrooms.

Know each element and principle well enough to name it from a short description of an artwork. Distinguish symmetrical, asymmetrical, and radial balance, and proportion from scale. Be ready to identify color schemes by their positions on the wheel and to separate tint, shade, and tone. Expect at least one item contrasting additive RGB light with subtractive CMY or RYB pigment mixing.