What are the features of art and craft? Which material is used in art and craft?

FEATURES OF ART AND CRAFT

In Features of Art and Craft there are seven most common features used in it  which is  line, shape, texture, form, space, color and value. When analyzing these intentionally utilized elements, the viewer is guided towards a deeper understanding of the work.

• Line
• Shape
• Form
• Color
• Space 
• Texture
• Value

Lines

Lines are marks moving in a space between two points whereby a viewer can visualize the stroke movement, direction, and intention based on how the line is oriented. Lines describe an outline, capable of producing texture according to their  length and curve. There are different types of lines artists may use, including, actual, implied, vertical, horizontal, diagonal and contour lines, which all have different functions.  Lines are also situational elements, requiring the viewer to have knowledge of the physical world in order to understand their flexibility, rigidity, synthetic nature, or life.

Shapes

A shape is a two-dimensional design encased by lines to signify its height and width structure, and can have different values of color used within it to make it appear three-dimensional. There are different types of shapes an artist can use a geometrical shape, or organic shapes, created by an artist. Simplistic, geometrical shapes include circles, triangles and squares, and provide a symbolic and synthetic feeling, whereas acute angled shapes with sharp points are perceived as dangerous shapes. Rectilinear shapes are viewed as dependable and more structurally sound, while curvilinear shapes are chaotic and adaptable.

Form

Form is a three-dimensional object with volume of height, width and depth. These objects include cubes, spheres and cylinders. Form is often used when referring to physical works of art, like sculptures, as form is connected most closely with those three-dimensional works.

Color

Color is an element consisting of hues, of which there are three properties: hue, chroma or intensity, and value. Color is present when light strikes an object and is reflected back into the eye, a reaction to a hue arising in the optic nerve. The first of the properties is hue, which is the distinguishable color, like red, blue or yellow. The next property is value, meaning the lightness or darkness of the hue. The last is chroma or intensity, distinguishing between strong and weak colors.  Color is divided into various classes, primary color, secondary color. Primary colors are fundamental colors and can't be achieved by mixture of other colors (they are not mixable) and they are red, yellow and blue. Secondary colors are colors produced when two primary colors (of equal rate) are mixed together.

Space

Space refers to the perspective (distance between and around) and proportion (size) between shapes and objects and how their relationship with the foreground or background is perceived. There are different types of spaces an artist can achieve for different effect. Positive space refers to the areas of the work with a subject, while negative space is the space without a subject. Open and closed space coincides with three-dimensional art, like sculptures, where open spaces are empty, and closed spaces contain physical sculptural elements.

Texture

Texture is used to describe the surface quality of the work, referencing the types of lines the artist created. The surface quality can either be tactile (real) or strictly visual (implied). Tactile surface quality is mainly seen through three-dimensional works, like sculptures, as the viewer can see and/or feel the different textures present, while visual surface quality describes how the eye perceives the texture based on visual cues.

Value

Value refers to the degree of perceivable lightness of tones within an image. The difference in values is often called contrast, and references the lightest (white) and darkest (black) tones of a work of art, with an infinite number of grey variants in between. While it is most relative to the greyscale, though, it is also exemplified within colored images.

MATERIAL USED FOR ART AND CRAFT

 Art and Craft material is used by artist. To make an art and craft we use different materials some of these materials are paint, paper, pastels, silk, wool, glass, cotton, drawing, clay, chalk, brush and ink, and many others. The materials that an artist uses when creating his or her works are commonly known as bases and media. Bases are surfaces on which the artist applies the media, including, canvas, wood, and paper. A medium is the material that is applied to the base, such as paint, chalk, or tile.   A “medium” can refer to the materials used to make a work of art (such as clay, wood, paint, fabric, charcoal, etc.) and also refer to creation techniques such as sculpture, printmaking, watercolor, or pottery.

Paint

 Paint is a combination of a binder and color, mixed to form a liquid drying as a solid. Various types of paint were invented throughout the centuries, including oil, acrylic, and watercolor, in addition to the traditional paints of early civilizations. Paint can also be contained in pressurized cans, released when the valve is pushed down, releasing a fine mist of paint.

Paper

 Paper was invented in ancient China but did not become popular in Europe until the 14th century. Paper made from linen rags left to rot in large vats of water. They stamped until the linen became pulp, poured into molds, and left to dry. The results were large pieces of paper suitable to use in the newly invented printing press. Paper was also inexpensive to produce and was a way to create information for more people than the expensive vellum.

Pastels

 A pastel is a finely ground powdered pigment mixed with some type of binder. Modern pastels invented in the 17th century were manufactured by machines yielding a standard product.

Silk

Silk is a fiber from the cocoon of a silkworm, which is on a diet of mulberry leaves and then spins a cocoon. The cocoon is washed in hot water, which kills the silkworm leaving a thin prism-like structure called silk thread. Rewashed and spun into silk thread and dyed thousands of colors. The thread ships on the Silk Road around Asia and Europe.

Wool

Wool is a fiber from shearing sheep, llamas, or yak and woven into clothing that retains its warmth even when wet. The coats of the animals are sheared off, washed, and spun into yarn, which is one of the warmest fabrics even when wet. The wool is dyed and usually woven on large looms.

Glass

Silica is the most common component in glass, an amorphous solid material, also known as sand, and when heated is transparent even with the addition of color. Glass can be floated in a flat frame to make a sheet of glass or blown. Glass blowing has been around for 3,000 years and is the art method of melting glass on the end of a long metal tube and blowing through the tube, causing the glass to expand.

Cotton

Cotton  is used for clothing or weaving. The cotton plant provides a cellulose thread washed and dyed to weave into cotton material. It does not stretch, making it a very durable fabric for clothes.

Drawing

 Drawing is the foundation of all art. Drawing is intuitive and part of the function of our brains used to apply marks to a surface. Most people have drawn sometime in their lives, whether in school or at home. Drawing is a simple exercise to convey a thought or share an experience with another person. Drawing can also be challenging and complex, and only with time and practice could one get better.

Clay 

Over millions of years, the earth's crust has been melted, moved, squeezed, cracked, pounded by weather to create a layer of topsoil with various deposits of rock, and clay. The rivers near the first civilizations cut through the topsoil, exposing the layers of clay and providing easy access to the raw product. The fine particles of silt in the clay give the material its plasticity, and when water is added, it is a cohesive product. Silt consists of feldspar (the most abundant mineral on earth), silica, and alkalis like iron which give clay its reddish-brown color.

Chalk

 Chalk is very similar to pastels, but instead of grinding the rock into a fine powder, the chalk is in its natural state. Chalk is limestone made about 100 million years ago when it was initially under the sea. Today, chalk is mined from the earth, and the chalk is compacted into cylinder shapes familiar in classrooms today.

Brush and ink

 Brushes were made from many materials including bamboo, wood, bone, feathers with metal tips to control the flow of ink. Iron gall ink is purple-black and made from tannic acids and iron salts from various vegetables. Dip pens were used to transport the ink from the bottle to the paper for drawing.