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Lesson 7 - Medium and Technique in The Arts
Lesson 7 - Medium and Technique in The Arts
Medium and
Technique in
the Arts
MEDIUM AND TECHNIQUE
✗ MEDIUM- refers to the materials which are used by
an artist to create works of art to interpret his feelings
or thoughts. It denotes the means by which an artist
communicates his idea.
✗ The plural of MEDIUM is MEDIA.
✗ Many materials have been used in creating different works of
art, thus, MEDIUM is very essential in the arts.
✗ Without a MEDIUM, there is no ART.
✗ However, each medium has advantages/disadvantages
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The artist thinks, feels, and gives shape
to his vision in terms of his medium.
When the artist chooses his medium, he
believes that he can best express the
idea he wants to convey.
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The medium an artist chooses
for a given work has an
important bearing on how the
work is going to look, and not
all media lend themselves to the
same expressive ends.
For example, Monet’s haystack To go a long way to
ward an appreciatio
an artist’s wor, ther n of
pictures would not be effective efore, some discus
media is in order
sion in
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MEDIA USED IN PAINTING,
SCULPTURE AND ARCHITECHTURE
✗ In PAINTING, media refers to both the type of paint
used and the base or ground to which it is applied.
✗ A paint’s medium refers to what carries a paint’s
pigments, and is called a “vehicle” or “base”.
✗ A painter can mix a medium with solvents, pigments,
and other substances in order to make paint and
control consistency.
✗ Common examples of common paint media: acrylic
paint, encaustic, fresco, gouache, magna paint, oil
paint, pastel, tempera, and water color.
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In sculpture, sculptors use a variety of materials to
create their art. These include: hard materials,
sound and light
HARD MATERIALS
✗ The most recognizable and most popular form of sculpture has been created with hard
materials. This is the oldest form of literature.
✗ Statues, kinetic sculptures, and environmental sculpture are all examples of sculptures that
use hard materials as medium.
✗ Some materials used are concrete, bronze, clay, stone, marble, granite, limestone, alabaster,
sandstone, schist, soapstone, wood, glass, stainless steel, aluminum, antimony, chrome,
copper, gold, iron, lead, nichrome, nickel, palladium, platinum, silver, tin, titanium, zinc,
diamond, jade, ivory and ceramics. Some of the alternative media used by contemporary
artists are ice, sand, plastic, and found objects.
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These sculptures may be often
representational
(Michelangelo’s David), or
may be created in abstract
forms as well (Henry Moore’s
Interlocking).
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2. SOUND
✗ Some experimental artists create sound
sculptures, meaning the three-dimensional
structures also produce sounds.
✗ This art may also be known as a sound
installation because the sculptures are regularly
installed in art galleries.
✗ Some famous artists who are known for their
sound sculptures are Alexander Calder, Hugh
Davies, and Nigel Helyer.
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Nigel Helyer
Alexander Calder Hugh Davies
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2. SOUND
✗ Sound sculptures differ from musical
instruments in that they are not manipulated
by a human player to make sound, they
simply make a sound on their own due to
their design.
✗ This medium that makes this type of
sculpture unique is the element of sound.
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3. LIGHT
✗ Light sculptures are unique type of medium because they
use a various form of light or lighting to create aesthetic
effect.
✗ The medium of light may use fractal manipulations or
gaseous forms of light (electricity) to produce an image.
✗ Some light sculptures produce light due to hard materials in
a sculpture while others are nothing but light. The most
famous light sculptors are: Olafur Eliasson and Dan Flavin
(the creator of light sculptures made fluorescent lights)
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3. LIGHT
✗ In architecture, an architect uses building materials as
its media in the construction of buildings and other
physical structures. Many naturally occurring
substances, such as a clay, rocks, sand, and wood,
even twigs, and leaves, have been used to construct
buildings.
✗ A man-made material is a material that is
manufactured through human effort often using
natural raw materials.
✗ A list of this man-made materials would be glass,
steel, and concrete cement. They provide the make-up
of habitats and structures including homes.
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Thank you!☺
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