Elements of Art: Texture | KQED Arts

Summary

KQED Art School delves into the element of texture in art, illustrating how artists engage multiple senses through their creations. While many artworks are designed to be visually admired, they also stimulate our sense of touch, even when not physically felt. This exploration covers actual and implied textures and various techniques artists use to implement them, such as line work, shapes, and layering. The episode emphasizes texture's expressive power and its role in conveying deeper artistic messages, encouraging viewers to incorporate meaningful textures in their works.

Highlights

• Art isn't just about looking; it's also about feeling through implied and actual textures. 🎨
• Sculptors and ceramists use textures to engage more than our eyes, making art a multi-sensory experience. 👩‍🎨
• Artists create 'actual textures' you can touch, and 'implied textures' that only look tangible. 👈
• Chuck Close's paintings show smoothness, while Giacometti's sculptures exhibit roughness—both unique textural experiences. 👨‍🎨
• Klimt's paintings play with shapes to build intricate textures, inviting viewers to 'feel' the art visually. 👩‍🏫
• Textures in paintings can be elevated by layering materials, turning flat art into a three-dimensional marvel. 🌟

Key Takeaways

• Texture isn't just seen, it's felt—an essential element of art beyond the visual realm! 🎨
• Actual textures can be physically touched, like the rough bronze of Giacometti's sculptures. 🤲
• Implied textures trick the eye, offering varied sensations without physical touch, as seen in oil paintings. 👀
• Artists use lines, shapes, and layering to craft diverse textures, enriching the viewer's experience. 🖌️
• Texture serves as a powerful expressive tool, enhancing the overall message of the artwork. 🖼️
• Incorporate textures that resonate with your feelings and messages in your art! 🖍️

Overview

The world of art goes beyond what meets the eye, engaging us through diverse textural experiences. At KQED Art School, the spotlight is on texture, one of the seven key elements of art, which artists exploit to awaken multiple senses through their creations. Sculptors and illustrators alike ponder deeply on how textures can bring a different dimension to the viewer's experience, often integrating textures that feel both palpable and imagined.

Textures can be tangible, as in Giacometti's rough bronze sculptures, or entirely visual, like in Chuck Close's smooth self-portraits. Techniques like cross-hatching in Roy De Forest's paintings and the repetitive shapes in Gustav Klimt's work reveal how artists weave a complex tapestry of textures that tell a story all on their own. These elements come alive through careful manipulation of materials and artistic techniques, enhancing the viewer's engagement and interpretation.

Artists deftly layer paints, fabrics, and even found objects to craft richly textured pieces that transcend typical two-dimensional art. Whether elevating a canvas into a sculptural statement or using natural material textures, the ingenuity of these methods uncovers textures as an expressive force in artwork. KQED encourages viewers to embrace textures in their creations, turning personal stories and emotions into tactile expressions that resonate on a deeper level.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Texture in Art This chapter introduces the concept of texture in art, highlighting that art is not solely visual but can engage multiple senses. It focuses on how sculptors, textile, and fabric artists use texture to enhance the sensory experience of their artwork.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Engaging the Sense of Touch in Art The chapter discusses how artists, particularly book makers and ceramists, focus on engaging the sense of touch through their work. Artists pay considerable attention to creating diverse textures, even in art pieces that are not meant to be touched. Texture is highlighted as one of the seven essential elements of art, alongside line, shape, color, form, value, and space.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Actual vs. Implied Texture The chapter 'Actual vs. Implied Texture' explores the concept of texture in art, explaining that texture refers to the look or feel of a surface. It differentiates between actual texture, which can be physically felt (e.g., the hardness and roughness of a bronze sculpture by Alberto Giacometti), and implied texture, which is purely visual.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Techniques for Creating Implied Texture The chapter discusses the concept of implied texture in art, highlighting that while we might perceive textures visually in a painting, the actual physical texture felt would be that of the materials used, such as the smoothness of oil paint in Chuck Close's self-portrait. It explores different techniques used by artists to create implied textures, such as the use of varied lines. The chapter offers an example with a painting by Roy De Forest, mentioning techniques like zigzag lines and cross-hatching to depict elements like hair and skin.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Shapes and Texture Creation The chapter "Shapes and Texture Creation" explores how different textures can be expressed and implied in artwork, specifically through color and shape. The discussion includes examples such as the blurred, smudged colors from a dog's and a man's mouth. Furthermore, the chapter highlights how the repetition of shapes, like triangles and spirals, is used to create textures in Gustav Klimt's painting. This includes the use of triangles and lines on a woman's dress and spirals forming a tree, emphasizing the technique of shape repetition in creating visual textures.
• 04:00 - 04:30: Actual Texture in Two-Dimensional Art The chapter "Actual Texture in Two-Dimensional Art" discusses how two-dimensional artwork can possess real texture. The text highlights techniques used by artists, such as the layering of paint to the extent that it creates a three-dimensional effect. This transforms the paint into a sculptural element that can be manipulated and shaped, as observed in specific examples like the scattered shapes in a woman’s dress, where circles and rectangles create diverse textures. The discussion emphasizes the tactile qualities that can be achieved even in traditionally flat mediums like painting.
• 04:30 - 05:00: Artists' Use of Natural and Handmade Textures In this chapter, the focus is on how artists incorporate natural and handmade textures into their work. By building up different materials such as fabrics, textiles, and jewelry on canvases, they create additional textures. These textures can be either the natural attributes of the materials or specially crafted by the artists. The use of texture serves as a powerful expressive tool to reinforce the overall message of the artwork.
• 05:00 - 06:00: Encouragement to Incorporate Texture In this chapter, the focus is on incorporating texture into artistic creations. Whether you're working on a painting, drawing, collage, or sculpture, the chapter encourages you to find ways to add textures that convey something meaningful and significant to you.

Elements of Art: Texture | KQED Arts Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [ MID-TEMPO DRUM BEAT PLAYS ] [ MID-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYS ] Narrator: WE TEND TO THINK OF ART AS SOMETHING JUST TO LOOK AT, BUT A LOT OF ARTISTS MAKE THEIR WORK TO STIMULATE OUR OTHER SENSES. SCULPTORS, TEXTILE AND FABRIC ARTISTS,
• 00:30 - 01:00 BOOK MAKERS, CERAMISTS, AND ARTISTS WORKING IN MANY OTHER FORMS THINK A LOT ABOUT HOW TO ENGAGE VIEWERS' SENSE OF TOUCH. EVEN WHEN THEIR ART IS NOT MEANT TO BE TOUCHED, ARTISTS PUT A LOT OF THOUGHT AND WORK INTO CREATING MANY DIFFERENT TEXTURES. TEXTURE IS ONE OF THE SEVEN ELEMENTS OF ART, ALONG WITH LINE, SHAPE, COLOR, FORM, VALUE, AND SPACE.
• 01:00 - 01:30 TEXTURE IS THE LOOK OR FEEL OF A SURFACE. JUST LIKE FORM, TEXTURE CAN BE REAL OR IMPLIED. IF YOU WERE TO RUN YOUR HAND ACROSS THIS SCULPTURE BY ALBERTO GIACOMETTI, YOU WOULD FEEL THE HARDNESS OF THE BRONZE METAL AND THE ROUGHNESS OF THE FORM THAT GIACOMETTI CREATED. THIS IS CALLED ACTUAL TEXTURE. IMPLIED TEXTURES ARE ONLY VISUAL. THEY CAN'T BE FELT. FOR INSTANCE, IF YOU COULD TOUCH THE CANVAS
• 01:30 - 02:00 OF THIS SELF-PORTRAIT BY CHUCK CLOSE, YOU WOULDN'T FEEL THE VARIED TEXTURES OF SKIN AND HAIR. YOU WOULD FEEL THE SMOOTHNESS OF THE OIL PAINT. SO THESE TEXTURES ARE IMPLIED BECAUSE WE CAN ONLY SEE THEM. THERE ARE COUNTLESS WAYS THAT ARTISTS CREATE IMPLIED TEXTURES. HOW MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF LINES DO YOU NOTICE IN THIS PAINTING BY ROY DE FOREST? YOU HAVE THE ZIGZAG LINES CREATING A WOMAN'S HAIR ON THE LEFT, CROSS-HATCHING CREATING HER SKIN,
• 02:00 - 02:30 THE BLURRED, SMUDGED COLORS COMING OUT OF THE DOG'S MOUTH AND THE MAN'S MOUTH IN THE CENTER. THOSE ARE JUST TO NAME A FEW KINDS OF IMPLIED TEXTURES HERE. TEXTURES CAN ALSO BE CREATED THROUGH USE OF SHAPES. IN THIS PAINTING BY GUSTAV KLIMT, NOTICE HOW HE REPEATS SHAPES TO CREATE TEXTURES. YOU HAVE THE TRIANGLES AND LINES ON THE WOMAN'S DRESS ON THE LEFT, THE MANY SPIRALS CREATING THE TREE IN THE CENTER,
• 02:30 - 03:00 AND IN THE WOMAN'S DRESS ON THE RIGHT, YOU HAVE CIRCLES WITHIN CIRCLES, RECTANGLES WITHIN SQUARES, AND ALL THE SCATTERED SHAPES THROUGHOUT THE PIECE CREATE MANY DIFFERENT TEXTURES. PAINTINGS AND OTHER TYPICALLY TWO-DIMENSIONAL ART CAN HAVE ACTUAL TEXTURE. SOMETIMES ARTISTS LAYER PAINT ON THE CANVAS SO THICK THAT IT BECOMES THREE-DIMENSIONAL. AT THAT POINT, THE PAINT IS A SCULPTURAL ELEMENT THAT CAN BE MANIPULATED AND SHAPED.
• 03:00 - 03:30 SOME ARTISTS BUILD UP FABRICS, TEXTILES, JEWELRY, AND MANY OTHER OBJECTS ON THE CANVAS TO CREATE ADDITIONAL TEXTURES. ARTISTS OFTEN FEATURE THE NATURAL TEXTURES OF THE MATERIALS THEY USE OR TEXTURES UNIQUELY CREATED AND FORMED BY HAND. WHATEVER THE APPROACH, TEXTURES ARE AN EXPRESSIVE TOOL ARTISTS USE TO REINFORCE THEIR OVERALL MESSAGES.
• 03:30 - 04:00 THE NEXT TIME YOU'RE MAKING A PAINTING, DRAWING, COLLAGE, OR SCULPTURE, FIND A WAY TO INCORPORATE TEXTURES THAT SAY SOMETHING RELEVANT AND IMPORTANT TO YOU.