ELEMENTS & PRINCIPLES

The elements of art and principles of design are important, foundational materials for understanding and creating art. They are known as "essential knowledge" or "common visual language" in art. This year, we will talk about many different styles of art, artists, and time periods, and all of the art that exists in the world has some combination of these seven elements and seven principles. It is essential that students have a good grasp of that knowledge in order to understand how and why the artwork was created and also how to make our own artwork better.



We can see the art elements in nature in this photograph: line in the road and the fence, shape of the barn and the road, color of the cool blue sky, green grass, and red barn, form of the building, trees, and clouds, texture of the trees, grass, road, and sky, and space between us and the horizon.



In this painting we can see several examples of the principles of design being used. The tree branches set up a rhythm. Emphasis is on the reed door on the house. There is movement in the brush strokes on the leaves. Unity is created with the cool color dominance. Contrast is seen in the warm and cool color differences. The large tree trunk on the right balances the smaller trees on the left.

The Art of Education website has great reference handouts for the elements and principles!