* know how artists can use the environment * be able to write an account of work by a * have examined and analysed a piece of * understand how designers consider
as an art medium street artist public art
environmental issues when designing a product
* have thought about online environments and their uses.
In this unit, we will look at the importance of the environment to artists throughout history and around the world. Artists have always responded to their environment as a source of materials and inspiration.
Context
When people first began to make art, they used the materials available in their environment – charcoal from their fires, and earth colours from different coloured clays and soils. With these basic materials they decorated the walls of caves and probably their own bodies. These materials and tools are still in use around the world – as are stone, bone and wood – for making three-dimensional art.
As culture progressed, people began to create their own environments in the shape of buildings, towns and cities. Through medieval times and later, architects,
Figure 40.1 Polychrome (multi-coloured) paintings of Eland antelope made by San hunter-gatherers between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago at uKhahlamba-Drakensberg National Park, South Africa. Drawings made with charcoal and earth colours are evidence of a human understanding of the materials and subjects that the environment provided.
