Visual arts are forms of art that focus on creating pieces of work that mainly make use of the

visual environment, while trying to convey messages of emotions, ideas or information.

Visual arts cover three main sub-fields: fine arts (painting, drawing, graphics, sculpture,
architecture), decorative art (tapestry, ceramics, mosaic art, glass art, jewellery art) and
contemporary art (artistic photography, art print, video art, animation, graffiti art). This
discipline relates to similar areas such as art and art history, graphic design and cultural
studies.

The current usage of the term "visual arts" includes fine art as well as the applied, decorative
arts and crafts, but this was not always the case. Before the Arts and Crafts Movement in
Britain and elsewhere at the turn of the 20th century, the term 'artist' was often restricted to a
person working in the fine arts (such as painting, sculpture, or printmaking) and not the
handicraft, craft, or applied art media. The distinction was emphasized by artists of the Arts
and Crafts Movement who valued vernacular art forms as much as high forms. Art schools
made a distinction between the fine arts and the crafts maintaining that a craftsperson could
not be considered a practitioner of art. (From Wikipedia 2012)

Examples of visual arts works:

 Advertisements, commercial prints, labels

 Artificial flowers and plants

 Artwork applied to clothing or to other useful articles

 Bumper stickers, decals, stickers

 Cartographic works, such as maps, globes, relief models

 Cartoons, comic strips

 Collages

 Dolls, toys

 Drawings, paintings, murals

 Enamel works

 Fabric, floor, and wallcovering designs

 Games, puzzles

 Greeting cards, postcards, stationery

 Holograms, computer and laser artwork

 Jewelry designs

 Models

 Mosaics

 Needlework and craft kits

 Original prints, such as engravings, etchings, serigraphs, silk screen prints, woodblock prints

 Patterns for sewing, knitting, crochet, needlework

 Photographs, photomontages

 Posters

 Record jacket artwork or photography

 Relief and intaglio prints

 Reproductions, such as lithographs, collotypes

 Sculpture, such as carvings, ceramics, figurines, maquettes, molds, relief sculptures

 Stained glass designs

 Stencils, cut-outs

 Technical drawings, architectural drawings or plans, blueprints, diagrams, mechanical

drawings

 Weaving designs, lace designs, tapestries