Artistic Expression
We had ‘Art Beyond Arthur’ not to long ago and while I love a good “Art” name I wanted to see if there were more creative names to represent this beloved craft.
There aren’t many names that mean art specifically but I managed to find a few
Names that mean Art
Adwin - An African originated name meaning artistic intellectual and creative one
Badia - An Uzbek originated name meaning artistic creation.
Still, I couldn’t help but wonder, what if we’re on the hunt for a more distinct name to represent the artistic medium you work with? Is there a way to combine your hobby of names with your hobby of creating art?
Free artistic expression is important not only on canvas but also in naming and I guess in a way that makes naming an artform in itself.
The study of Onomastics (the study of names) combines anthropology, history, linguistics, philosophy, psychology and sociology, diving deep into the cultural identities, etymology and traditions within a families ancestry that make us apart of who we are; and you are the greatest masterpiece of them all.
A piece of your families history may include a specific art medium. Did one of your ancestors sign the Declaration of Independence with a Quill? Did one of your relatives build paint an important piece that has been displayed in museums worldwide? Did a member of your family make bricks out of clay to build homes?
Each art medium is just as special as the artist, their name and their creativity.
We’ll breakdown the art mediums and the names inspired by them.
Painting
Aquarelle - The French word for watercolor; a thin, translucent, soft art medium created with water soluble paints.
Filbert - The filbert paintbrush is a oval shaped paintbrush used best for blending techniques.
Francis - Francis Cotes was the pioneer of painting with pastels in the 1700’s.
Gesso - Gesso is an white glue like substance used to coat rigid surfaces of a wooden backed canvas as an absorbent primer for painting with water, acrylic or oil based paints. This priming technique allows for a more cleaner finish to the painting as it prevents paint from soaking into the weaves of the canvas.
Otto - Chemist Otto Rohm invented acrylic resin which was later transformed into acrylic paints.
Glass Blowing
Owen - In 1903, Michael Owens engineered the first automatic bottle blowing machine allowing millions of lightbulbs to be produced on a daily basis.
Alastair-In the late 1950’s Sir Alastair Pilkington invented the float glass production method. This method manufactures 90% of flat glass to date including windows, mirrors and solar panels.
Natural Based Materials
Ivory - Ivory is used as a carving or engraving material that is found in animal tusks. This type of carving art form is known as scrimshaw.
Lithos - Lithos is the Greek root word for stone, rock or piece of marble.
Timber - Timber is a type of wood that has been pressed down into beams and blank sheets. This type of wood provides toughness and durability making it the optimal choice to make doors, cabinets and tables. Timber is also popularity used in the form of plywood.
Pottery
Cylene - Pit fired pottery is the oldest known pottery method. Pottery is placed inside of an thermally insulated chamber known as a kiln to make clay into pottery, tiles and bricks. The word Kiln is derived from the Old English word Cylene according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Juvenal - Mortar and Pestles are used for crushing, grinding or stamping food, clay or minerals. Roman poet Juvenal applied in his works reflecting the earlier uses of the mortar and pestle in pharmacology and apothecary.
Venus - One of the oldest ceramic pieces ever made is a Venus of Dolni Vestonice, a ceramic statue of a nude female figure dated back to 29,000 BCE; later discovered in Moravia in 1925.
Embroidery/Sewing
Aida - Aida is the name of the evenweave cloth fabric traditionally used in cross-stitch. It is also a Arabic/Italian name meaning happy.
Chenille - Chenille needles are a type of sewing needle used for closely woven fabrics such as creating floral motifs in ribbon embroidery. Chenille is also a type of yarn or fabric commonly used in quilting.
Loara - The earliest known cross-stitch sampler made in the United States was created by Loara Standish, daughter of Captain Myles Standish. Loara also pioneered the Leviathan Stitch in 1653. Her work is currently displayed at Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Writing/Drawing
Binney - Crayola co-founder Edwin Binney’s wife Alice stated the name Crayola comes from “Craie” the French word for chalk and “Ola” from oleaginous, or oily. Crayola became the company’s trademark name in 1903 when the first box of Crayola Crayons were produced and sold for only a nickel.
Pierre - Pointillism, also known as dotwork, is a technique of making microscopic distinct dots applied in a pattern to form an image. This method has become popular in the tattoo industry. Georges Pierre Seurat developed this technique in 1886 as a branch from Impressionism coined as Neo-Impressionism. Painters Vincent Van Gogh and Maximilien Luce were also famous painters of this particular style.
Quill - The Quill was the primary writing tool from the 6th to the 19th century. Quills are made from the feathers of goose, swan or turkeys. Quill pens were the writing tool of choice during medieval times due to their compatibility with parchment and vellum.