Glossary - SouthernArtistry

Having trouble finding the type of artist you are looking for? To learn more about what work SouthernArtistry.org places within each discipline, select from the index below:

Craft-Clay: Handmade, often functional art constructed using clay as the primary material. Common types of work in this genre include pottery and figurines.

Craft-Fiber: Handmade, often functional art constructed using fiber (i.e. textiles) as the primary material. Fiber crafts are usually woven, knitted, knotted or crocheted. Common types of work in this genre include baskets, quilts, tapestries and clothing.

Craft-Glass: Handmade, often functional art constructed using glass as the primary material. Common types of work in this genre include stained glass windows, decorative awards/medals and blown glass vases.

Craft- Jewelry: Handmade, wearable, art constructed using metal as the primary material.

Craft-Metal: Handmade, often functional art constructed using metal as the primary material. Common types of work in this genre include jewelry, landscape ornamentation, and furniture.

Craft-Mixed Media: Handmade art constructed using any combination of traditional (e.g. clay, fiber, wood or metal) and/or nontraditional materials (e.g. fiberglass and plastics). Common types of work in this genre include vessels and sculptures of various types.

Craft-Paper: Handmade, often functional art constructed using paper as the primary material. Common types of work in this genre include papermaking, bookbinding and papier-mâché sculpture.

Craft-Wood: Handmade, often functional art constructed using wood as the primary material. Common types of work in this genre include carved figures, frames, furniture and tools.

Folk/Traditional-Visual: Any visual art made from traditional material(s) (e.g. clay, fiber, wood or metal) using traditional techniques, often for a practical purpose. Traditional visual art is learned through informal training and passed down from generation to generation.

Photography: Visual art created using a camera to initially capture one or more still images that serve as the foundation for the final piece.

Folk/Traditional-Storytelling: Oral histories, folktales, and myths associated with a particular culture and passed down from generation to generation.

Literary Arts-Fiction: Writing associated with imaginary content. Subgenres of fiction include novels, short stories, fables, fairytales, flash fiction and comics.

Literary Arts-For Children/Young Adults: Writing intended for audiences under eighteen years of age.

Literary Arts-Non-fiction: Writing presented as fact. Subgenres of non-fiction include essays, journals, documentaries, and biographies.

Literary Arts-Playwriting: Writing intended for live performance featuring monologue and/or dialogue between one or more characters.

Literary Arts-Poetry: Writing that employs figurative language instead of or in addition to literal language. Poetic styles include epics, sonnets, haiku, free verse and narrative poetry among others.

Literary Arts-Screenwriting: Writing intended for broadcast or performance on film.

Dance-Ballet: Dance known for its defined vocabulary of movement which, features Pointe work and graceful, linear forms. Ballet originated in seventeenth-century France and Italy, and is usually performed with orchestral music, sometimes as part of an opera.

Dance-Modern: Dance featuring free form, sometimes improvised movement. Modern dance originated in the early twentieth century and often features grounded movement, bare feet and floor work, in contrast to movements used in ballet.

Dance- World/Jazz: Dances associated with traditional culture in a specific geography. In the US, Jazz was popularized in the twentieth-century US and known for broad, rhythmic movement. Jazz dance has roots in tap, swing, and traditional African dance.

Folk/Traditional-Music: Music associated with a particular culture, dance and/or oral tradition. Folk lyrics, melodies and rhythms are often simple and memorable. Traditional musicians’ stylistic and/or instrumental techniques have been learned through informal training, usually passed down from generation to generation.

Music-Bluegrass: Music featuring acoustic string instruments and up to four-part vocal harmonies, in which improvisation and soloists play key roles. Bluegrass originated in the US after World War II, with roots in blues, jazz and English, Irish and Scottish folk music. Some styles of bluegrass are also called newgrass, country, Americana or folk.

Music-Blues: Blues features soloists and improvisation and is based on a simple form in which a phrase is repeated and followed by a response. Blues originated in the late nineteenth-century US, with roots in African-American spirituals, work songs, chants and traditional West African music.

Music-Cajun: Cajun features an infectious beat and a lot of forward drive, placing the accordion at the center. Besides the voices, only two melodic instruments are heard, the accordion and fiddle, but usually in the background can also be heard the high, clear tones of a metal triangle.

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Music-Chamber: Classical or art music played by a small ensemble with one musician per part.

Music-Choral: Vocal music of any style performed with two or more singers to each part, with or without instrumental accompaniment.

Music-For Young Audiences: Music specifically composed and performed for audiences under 18 years of age.

Music-Gospel: Christian, rhythmic music sung with or without instrumental accompaniment by soloists, small groups or choirs. Gospel originated in Pentecostal and Holiness churches in the early twentieth century US, with roots in Methodist hymns, blues, spirituals and European folk music. Modern derivatives of gospel music include soul and rhythm and blues.

Music-Jazz: Rhythmic music in which improvisation and soloists play key roles. Jazz originated in the early twentieth century US, with roots in blues, spirituals, ragtime, and European military band music. Styles of jazz include acid, swing, bop, cool, free, fusion, hard bop and Latin.

Music-New: Contemporary classical or art music composed in a non-traditional style after the early twentieth century.

Music-Orchestral: Classical or art music played by a large ensemble consisting of a string section and usually woodwind, brass, and percussion sections. If this ensemble is relatively small it might be called a chamber orchestra, and if this ensemble is relatively large it might be called a symphonic orchestra or philharmonic orchestra.

Music-Popular: Any style of music that appeals to a broad audience, excluding classical, folk, and art music. Today, styles of popular music include rock, hip-hop, rhythm and blues, and country.

Music-Solo/Recital: Any music that features a single soloist, accompanied or unaccompanied.

Music- Wind Ensemble: Classical or popular music played by an ensemble consisting of woodwind, brass and percussion sections. An ensemble that plays this style of music may be called a concert band, symphonic band, wind ensemble, wind band or marching band depending on its size and function.

Music- World: Music associated with a particular culture or region. See also Folk/Traditional-Music. Musicians in this category are distinguished from folk musicians by virtue of their training.

Music-Zydeco: Usually fast-tempo, and dominated by the button or piano accordion and a form of a washboard known as a rub-board or frottoir.

Theater-General: Any dramatic performance featuring actors and based on a script.

Theater-Mime: Silent dramatic performance using gestures in place of and to imply the existence of props and language.

Theater-Musical Theater: Dramatic performance featuring contemporary styles of singing and music, usually using vocal microphones.

Theater-Opera: Dramatic performance featuring traditional or classical styles of singing and music, usually with orchestral accompaniment and without vocal microphones.

Theater-Puppet: Dramatic performance using inanimate objects (e.g. dolls) that are manipulated to imitate living things, often with human qualities.

Theater-Spoken Word: Dramatic performance featuring spoken lyrics, poetry or stories.

Theater-Theater for Young Audiences: Dramatic performance intended for audiences under eighteen years of age.

Media Arts-Audio: Any audio recording not classified as music. This may include oral history recordings, documentary-style interviews, or spoken word compilations.

Media Arts-Film/Video: Any recorded or animated motion picture; films are often classified as a documentary or narrative, while video can be more abstract.

Media Arts-Technology/Experimental: Any multimedia work intended to push the boundaries of established genres of media arts through unconventional use of technology or form, or the creation of new technology or forms.

Design Arts-Architecture/Landscape: Creative work concerning the design of structures and/or buildings or concerning the design, management and preservation of landscapes. Common types of work in this genre include site planning, historic preservation and environmental restoration and preservation.

Design Arts-Graphic: Art used in print and/or digital media to convey or create a specific message or impression. Common types of work in this genre include the visual aspects of advertisements and software user interfaces.

Visual Arts-Collage/Assemblage: 2-D (collage) and 3-D (assemblage) artwork constructed from various materials which may include, photographs, clippings, found objects, letters, etc.

Visual Arts-Experimental: Visual art intended to push the boundaries of established genres of visual art through unconventional use of materials or forms, or the creation of new materials or forms.

Visual Arts-Graphics: hand-drawn etchings, drawings, sketches. See also Design Arts – Graphics.

Visual Arts-Installations: Visual art created for display in a particular space, with the intent of altering the viewer’s impression of the space and incorporating the space into the artwork.

Visual Arts-Painting: Visual art that features a painted, often flat, surface.