Guyla - A Glossary of Art Terminology

Ear: In casting, a depression that receives a pin for aligning the pieces in a two-piece mold.

Earth Colors: Pigments such as yellow ochre, red iron and umber - usually metal oxides, that are obtained by mining.

Earthenware: Ceramic ware, usually coarse and reddish in color, fired in the lowest temperature ranges. Used for domestic ware, glazed or unglazed.

Easel: An upright frame for the stable display or support of a painter's canvas or panel. Sturdier easels are the more blocky and heavy ones, while portable easels are light-weight and three-legged. Most contemporary easels can be folded for storage.

Eccentric: Departing from the typical or established norm or pattern. A person who deviates markedly from an established norm, especially one exhibiting odd or unconventional behavior.

Eclecticism: A system or method in which individual elements are selected or employed from a variety of sources, systems, or styles.

Ecorché: A figure painted or sculpted to show the muscles of the body without skin.

Edge: Where two things meet. Also, edge may refer to a quality sensed in artworks which is other than a smooth decorativeness; and that may be a sense of something unusual, disturbing, controversial, or in any of many other ways more demanding of the audience.

Edition: A limited number of impressions of a print. When the edition is complete, the plate or block is often cancelled by defacing it. Edition size generally does not include artist proofs or any special edition copies that might be made, these special editions such as printer's proofs, conservation editions, etc., are all numbered separately.

Edition Number: A fraction found on the bottom left hand corner of a print. The top number is the sequence in the edition; the bottom number is the total number of prints in the edition. The number appears as a fraction usually in the lower left of the print. For instance the edition number "10/25" means that it is print number 10 out of a total edition of 25.

Effigy: A likeness or image, especially of a person, often a crude figure or dummy of someone despised; a symbolic image of a person.

Efflorescence: A formation of white crystals resulting from penetration of moisture through painted walls - especially brick, tile, or uncoated plaster. May also be produced by soluble material present in the wall itself.

Egg Tempera: Pigments ground with egg yolk which produce a strong, dull finish. A watercolor medium used for permanent, fine works.

Egg-oil Emulsion: A painting medium.

Electroplate: To coat a metal - usually iron, nickel, or copper - with brass, chrome, copper, gold, silver, or another metal. This process is often simply called plating. The base metal is placed in a container of water in which it becomes an electrode, which is then gradually coated with particles of another metal by electrolysis.

Electrotype: The reproduction of a model by coating a mold taken from it with metal, usually copper by electrolysis.

Electrum: An alloy of gold and silver, pale yellow in color.

Elegance: Refinement, grace, and beauty. Tasteful opulence in form, decoration, or presentation. Restraint and grace of style.

Elements of Art and Elements of Design: Line, shape, form, color, space, texture, and value, the basic visual symbols in art. The basic components used by the artist when producing works of art.

Elitism and Elitist: The belief that certain persons deserve favored treatment by virtue of their superior artistic or intellectual accomplishments, or because of some other real or perceived status. The sense of entitlement that follows from this attitude, and the control or dominance by a group of elitists-- the people who take this view of their position.

Elongate: Stretching an object or figure lengthwise, thus altering its proportion and making it look taller and more slender; a type of stylization.

Emblem: In art criticism, an object or a representation that functions as a symbol, or a picture associated with a verse or motto presenting a moral lesson. May also refer to a distinctive badge, design, or device.

Embossed: To create a raised design or relief on a flat surface, usually of metal, by pressing or hammering a design into the back side. Many art and watercolor papers have a raised in relief logo or identifying name pressed into one corner of the parent sheet.

Emotionalism: A theory of art which places emphasis on the expressive qualities. According to this theory, the most important thing about a work of art is the vivid communication of moods, feelings, and ideas.

Emotive: Characterized by the emotions.

Emphasis: A principal of design that refers to the use of areas that lead the eye from one part to another and then to the most important part of a composition. Any forcefulness that gives importance or dominance to some feature or features of an artwork; something singled out, stressed, or drawn attention to for aesthetic impact. A way of combining elements to stress the differences between those elements and to create one or more centers of interest in a work. Often, contrasting elements are used to direct and focus attention on the most important parts of a composition. A principles of design.

Emulsifier: A catalyst combining oil, water and varnish into media for painting.

Empirical: Relying on or derived from observation or experiment.

Empty Shape: In an artwork a shape that is left bare instead of filled with lines or color.

Emulsifier: A catalyst combining oil, water and varnish into media for painting.

Emulsion: A suspension of small globules of one liquid in a second liquid with which the first will not mix. A liquid in which small droplets of one liquid are immiscible in, but thoroughly and evenly dispersed throughout, a second liquid, eg. Acrylic Emulsion.

Enamel: A vitrous, usually opaque, protective or decorative coating. A colored glassy substance, opaque or translucent, applied in powder form to a metal surface and fused to it by firing. Two main techniques developed: "champleve" (from the French for raised field), in which the areas treated are dug out of the metal surface; and "cloisonne" (from the French for partitioned), in which compartments or "cloisons" to be filled are made on the surface with thin metal strips.

Enameling: The process of firing special powder or enamel pigments on copper or silver in a kiln.

Encaustic: Literally, to burn in. A painting technique in which pigment is mixed with a binder - melted wax and resin - and then applied to a surface while hot.

Engobe: A colored slip used in decorating ceramics.

Engraving: The process of cutting or otherwise incising a design in a hard material, such as metal. In metal work and sculpture, engraving is used primarily for surface decoration. A type of intaglio printing in which a metal or wooden plate is cut with a tool called a "graver" or "burin," which cuts a V-shaped trough. Engraved lines are cut so they are sharp and clean, and can be distinguished from etched lines, which are slightly irregular since they are bitten unevenly by the acid.

Environmental Art:
  1. Art that is large enough for viewers to enter and move about in.
  2. Art designed for display in the outdoor environment.
  3. Art that actually transforms the natural landscape.

Epitome: An example of a class or type; a representative or typical example. This does not mean the best example, but rather one which is typical of what's available.

Epoxy Resin: A thermosetting plastic resin, used for resin casting. Epoxy is also used in the manufacture of adhesives which bond firmly.

Eraser: A tool used in the erasure of parts of drawings. Graphite pencil drawings are erased with any of several types of rubber. It was after this use that the substance called rubber received its name. Lighter parts of charcoal drawings can be erased with either a kneaded eraser (also called putty rubber) or a kneaded piece of fresh bread. Wax crayons and lithographic crayons cannot be erased unless they are on non-absorbent surfaces.

Erasure: Removal, usually of written or drawn marks, by rubbing, wiping, or scraping. The goal of erasure is typically to remove all traces of something, although one finds it practical to compromise at partial erasure.

Ersatz: Describes an artificial and inferior substitute or imitation.

Escutcheon: In heraldry, a shield or a shield-shaped emblem bearing a coat of arms.

Etching: The process of rendering an image upon a metal plate by using nitric or other acid to dissolve portions of the metal surface. An intaglio printing technique that uses a resist liquid or ground to cover a metal plate. An image is drawn into the ground, expossing metal that is then eaten away by an acid bath. This leaves a depression line in the surface of the plate. Ink is then rubbed into the depression and printed with an intaglio or etching press. The image is transferred to paper in much the same manner as a dry point. The paper, which is dampened, is squeezed thorough a press under enormous pressure and receives ink from the incised marks. Unlike lithography, the finished impression is often raised slightly from the paper surface.

Ethnic: Art inspired by a specific culture. Relating to sizable social groups sharing a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage.

Ethnocentrism: The tendency to see one's own ethnic group as the norm and all others as marginal.

Evaluation: The ability to judge the value of material (work of art, statement, writing, music, etc.) for a given purpose. Evaluation represents the sixth level of learning outcomes in the cognitive domain - the level of understanding just beyond analysis and synthesis. The judgments are to be based upon definite criteria. These may be internal (organization) or external criteria (relevant to the purpose).

Exemplar: Something that serves as an example; typical or representative of its type; especially an example that is worthy of imitation; a model or ideal. As opposed to an exemplum, an exemplar can be both an ideal model as well as one in a range of examples in a group.

Exemplum: Something that serves as an example; typical or representative of its type. As opposed to an exemplar, an exemplum is not so much an ideal model as it is simply one in a range of examples of a type.

Exergue: A space on the reverse of a coin or medal, usually below the central design and often giving the date and place of its production.

Exhibit and Exhibition: An organized display of works of art. A public showing of a piece or a collection of objects. A depiction of an exhibit of paintings.

Exothermic: A material which gives off heat as it cures is described as exothermic.

Expression: A quality of inner experience, the emotions of the artist (expressive qualities) communicated through emphasis and distortion, which can be found in works of art of any period.

Expressive Qualities: The feelings, moods, and ideas communicated to the viewer through a work of art. This aesthetic quality is favored by emotionalism.

Exquisite: Showing intricate and beautiful design or execution, and so beautiful or delicate as to arouse delight. Also, acutely perceptive or discriminating. Sometimes used to refer to a person who is excessively fastidious in appearance, manners, or taste.

Extender: Material used to increase the bulk of a medium; the act of adding such a material. Often used in less expensive paints. Sometimes called filler.

Extrusion: The process of making shapes by forcing material such as clay or dough through dies.

Ex Voto: Latin for "out of thankfulness." A charm or milagro, a votive offering, typically an object presented at shrines, sometimes pinned to images of Saints, etc.

Eye-hand Coordination: Movement of the hand as directed by the eye and brain.

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