Unit 2: Visual Elements

Visual elements are used to create and unify a composition. Some visual elements that I believe are acknowledged immensely in art but overlooked in society are texture, lines, and shapes. These elements surround us and are disregarded. Texture can be defined as how something feels. The texture of something can be smooth, rough, hard, jagged, fluffy, etc. Any adjective that describes how something feels describes its texture. For example, tile is hard and carpet is soft. A line can be defined as points connected together. A line can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal, straight, curved, implied, and actual. Certain lines can be used to represent different things. For example, horizontal lines suggest stability while diagonal lines suggest movement and directionality. Lines are used to create shapes, which are all around us. For example, the television in your room is shaped like a rectangle. Although the television is in 3-dimensional form, the basic structure of it is a rectangle. A rectangle is composed of two horizontal lines and two vertical lines. Shapes create everything that we view in the world. A basketball is circular in shape, a door is rectangular in shape, a stop sign takes on the shape of an octagon, and yield signs are triangular in shape. Can we escape them? No because they are the basis for everything that is created. It's best to think of the world as a piece of art flooded with visual elements that defines it and gives it meaning and uniqueness.