Defining the Visual Arts
By: J. Adam Hendricks
February 10th, 2014
ART 230
Dr. Martha Cawley
Defining the Visual Arts
Visual art defined
Visual arts can be defined in many ways. The textbook answer was unobtainable for this class. Visual literacy seems to be the focus of the textbook. Online research has yielded slightly better insight: “The visual arts are art forms that create works that are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, photography, video,filmmaking and architecture. These definitions should not be taken too strictly as many artistic disciplines (performing arts, conceptual art, textile arts) involve aspects of the visual arts as well as arts of other types. Also included within the visual arts are the applied arts such as industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design and decorative art.” [1] Basically, visual art would be any type of art that can be appreciated visually.
Differentiation from other creative expression
The visual arts set themselves apart from other art forms due to their very name and meaning. Literally, it refers to art work which can be appreciated visually, not audibly, or theoretically, but tangibly visible. Visual arts are very expansive and do not only include unique or fine art, but also practical things such as standard building design and practical objects like Aboriginal tools or other artifacts. In some people’s eyes, something as plain as a school bus could be considered visual art.
Visual arts media types
The Visual arts have many different media types with which visual artists can “paint.” Some of the types are: Dry Media & Liquid Media – Encaustic painting is one example of a type of liquid media, Drawing media, Mixed media, Printed Media, and many more. Virtually any way one can create visual art is derived from a type of Visual arts media.
Meaning of visual arts values
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