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List of art media

{{Short description|Materials and tools used to create a work of art}}

{{More citations needed|date=July 2019}}

{{TOC right}}{{Wiktionary|medium}}

Media, or mediums, are the core types of material (or related other tools) used by an artist, composer, designer, etc. to create a work of art.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/medium|title=Medium – Art Term|last=Tate|website=Tate|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-02-10}} For example, a visual artist may broadly use the media of painting or sculpting, which themselves have more specific media within them, such as watercolor paints or marble.

The following is a list of artistic categories and the media used within each category:

Architecture

{{Main|Outline of architecture|Building material}}

Carpentry

{{Further|List of woods}}

Ceramics

{{Main|Ceramic art}}

Drawing

{{Main|Outline of drawing and drawings}}

= Common drawing materials =

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= Common supports (surfaces) for drawing =

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= Common drawing tools and methods =

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Electronic

{{Main|Electronic art||Digital art|Electronic media}}

Film

{{Main|Outline of film|Cinematic techniques}}

  • Video art
  • Single-channel video
  • Video installation

    • Film, as a form of mass communication, is itself also considered a medium in the sense used by fields such as sociology and communication theory (see also mass media). These two definitions of medium, while they often overlap, are different from one another: television, for example, utilizes the same types of artistic media as film, but may be considered a different medium from film within communication theory.{{cite book|title=New Media: A Critical Introduction |url=http://www.philol.msu.ru/~discours/images/stories/speckurs/New_media.pdf |edition=2nd |author1=Martin Lister|author2=Jon Dovey|author3=Seth Giddings |author4=Iain Grant |author5=Kieran Kelly}}

    Food

    {{Main|Culinary art}}

    A chef's tools and equipment, including ovens, stoves, grills, and griddles. Specialty equipment may be used, including salamanders, French tops, woks, tandoors, and induction burners.

    Glass

    Glassblowing, Glass fusing, colouring and marking methods.

    Installation

    {{Main|Installation art}}

    {{Further|Lighting designer}}

    Installation art is a site-specific form of sculpture that can be created with any material. An installation can occupy a large amount of space, create an ambience, transform/disrupt the space, exist in the space. One way to distinguish an installation from a sculpture (this may not apply to every installation) is to try to imagine it in a different space. If the objects present difficulties in a different space than the original, it is probably an installation.

    Literature

    {{Main|Literature|Writing implement}}

    =Traditional writing media=

    = Common bases for writing =

    Natural world

    {{Main|Gardening|Landscape architecture}}

    Painting

    {{Main|Outline of painting}}

    = Common paint media =

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    = Uncommon paint media =

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    =Supports for painting=

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    = Common tools and methods =

    =Mural techniques=

    Muralists use many of the same media as panel painters, but due to the scale of their works, use different techniques. Some such techniques include:

    =Graphic narrative media=

    {{Main|Graphic narrative}}

    Comics creators use many of the same media as traditional painters.

    Performing arts

    {{Main|Performing arts|Performance art}}

    The performing arts are a form of entertainment that may be created by the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium. There are many genres of performance; dance, theatre and re-enactment are a few examples. Performance art is a performance that may not present a conventional formal linear narrative.{{Clarify|reason=Performing arts and performance art are two separate things, neither of which are defined here.|date=March 2025}}

    Photography

    {{Main|Outline of photography}}

    In photography, a photosensitive surface is used to capture an optical still image, usually utilizing a lens to focus light. Some photographic media include:

    Printmaking

    In the art of printmaking, "media" tends to refer to the technique used to create a print. Common media include:

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    Sculpture

    {{Main|Outline of sculpture}}

    In sculpting, a solid structure and textured surface is shaped or combined using substances and components, to form a three-dimensional object. The size of a sculptured work can be built very big and could be considered as architecture, although more commonly a large statue or bust, and can be crafted very small and intricate as jewellery, ornaments and decorative reliefs.

    =Materials=

    ==Carving media==

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    ==Casting media==

    ==Modeling media==

    ==Assembled media==

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    ==Finishing materials==

    =Tools=

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    Sound

    {{Main|List of musical instruments|Music theory}}

    The art of sound can be singular or a combination of speech or objects and crafted instruments, to create sounds, rhythms and music for a range of sonic hearing purposes. See also music and sound art.

    Technical products

    {{Further|Industrial design|Product design|Engineering}}

    The use of technical products as an art medium is a merging of applied art and science, that may involve aesthetics, efficiency and ergonomics using various materials.

    Textiles

    In the art of textiles a soft and flexible material of fibers or yarn is formed by spinning wool, flax, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel and crocheting, knitting, macramé (knotting), weaving, or pressing fibres together (felt) to create a work.

    See also

    {{Portal|Arts}}

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    References

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    External links

    • [http://www.getty.edu/vow/AATFullDisplay?find=media&logic=AND¬e=&english=N&prev_page=1&subjectid=300163343 Media (artists' materials)] — definition from the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus.
    • [http://www.iep.utm.edu/art-medi/ Artistic Medium], Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    {{Wiktionary|media|medium}}

    {{commonscat-multi|Art by material|Art by medium}}

    {{Branches of the visual arts}}

    {{art world}}{{Decorative arts}}

    {{Authority control}}

    {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Artistic Media}}

    *01

    *Media

    *Media

    Category:Ceramic materials

    Category:Painting materials

    Category:Sculpture materials