Decorating Your Home With Art Deco Design

There are many style options you can choose from to decorate your home in today's day and age, even options that one would never have considered back in the 20th century or even in the past few decades. This includes one style from the 20th century that seems to be regaining some popularity recently, and that style is art deco.
Back in the 1920s to 1930s, art deco design was very popular. In that time period, art deco was considered to be functional, elegant, and ultra modern. Art deco designers would often reject the traditional ideas and materials of decoration and interior design, instead opting to use more unusual materials such as ebony, marble, stainless steel, lacquer, aluminum, inlaid wood, sharkskin, and zebra skin.
The use of harder, metallic materials to construct the furniture used in art deco design were to reflect the celebration of the machine age. Sometimes, art deco designers would alter the furniture they had to give it more of a look that fit the art deco interior design. This is why the process of Lacquering (or giving the furniture a glossy finish) was created.
In addition, art deco designers liked to emphasize clean lines and geometric shapes. Strong, sharp angles were often added to the layout of the room to emphasize the art deco interior design.
If you are considering turning your living room or bedroom into a room that accentuates the art deco design, here are some ideas and tips to consider.
Realize that there is often a pyramidal effect on the rooms that use the art deco design, thanks to the Aztec and Egyptian elements that influence art deco.
Giving your room a gradual lessening of form can present a perception of strength and endurance to those who experience your room. That is why this type of interior design was very popular back during the days of the Great Depression, as people tried to display their financial strength and stability in that dark economic period.
There are other ways to emphasize the art deco interior design in your room.
One way is to add more furniture pieces and accessories that have black and green tones to your room, as black and green are primary colors in art deco design.
Adding intriguing and unusual accessories, such as distinctive artwork, is another way to add to the art deco flavor of your room.
Another way is to have wall-to-wall carpet that coordinates well with the art deco design of your room. This would include having neutral color carpet to help soften up the intensity of the art deco interior design.
You should also pay attention to the lighting in your room, as it should match up well with art deco decorating. Lamps with geometric glass shades often work best with art deco interior design.
In addition to artificial lighting, you should also consider the natural lighting from your windows and the window treatments. With art deco design, going with ordinary-looking drapes may be your best option, though if you want to have people focus on your window style, you could consider using vintage drapes instead.
Decorating your home with art deco design involves using materials that are different from traditional materials, such as ebony, marble, stainless steel, sharkskin, and zebra skin. Lacquering is also a key component in art deco design. Art deco also emphasizes clean lines and geometric shapes, especially strong, sharp angles. Art deco design continues to make a comeback after being very popular in the 1920s and 1930s; if you want an ultra modern, functional, yet elegant design, art deco would likely be your best interior design option.

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The History and Copyright of Clip Art

Clip art is a collection of graphic images of various shapes, sizes and colors, including maps, diagrams, illustrations, cartoons and designs, available to you for copying and pasting into your own page layout. You can shop for any activity that needs an image, such as business presentations, birthday/wedding invitations, sports events, holiday greetings, etc. People associate clip art with web decoration, but the images are also available in printed format. Clip art consists exclusively of illustrations, and excludes photographic images.
Clip Art History
Clip art started as reproductions of simple line art drawings. These drawings were pressed full size onto a board where text or additional images were used. The board would be referred to as a 'mechanical' and ready for photographing.
When personal computers were introduced on the market, the average users needed art to spice up their projects. The clip art industry was initiated with the creation of desktop publishing. In 1983 VCN Excuvision introduced a package of clip art for pc users, and in 1984 Macintosh followed up with its own release, graphical user interface (GUI), a term that has become synonymous with web images. Also in 1984, the package of illustrations called "ClickArt" was released.
It was not until 1985 when Aldus released Page Maker 5 for desktop publishing that clip art came into its own. Aldus made it possible for the home user to produce professional quality publishing, which rendered clip art very popular and in great demand. People started producing business presentations, newsletters, invitations, and brochures. Technology allowed for simple designs and basic colors.
Steady progress was made in both home computing and clip art. In the early 90's, the production of cd-roms with an array of electronic art became a necessity. Microsoft began to include clip art in their products. Another company, T/Maker, started producing massive amounts of digital art. Some of their copyright free collections held over 500,000 images.
Through the years, clip art has been a steady add-on for computer programs and a revenue generator for companies. In the 2000's, the emergence of the internet as a sales tool was recognized. Clip art on the web was sold by reputable websites that are still around today. Clipart.com, GraphicsFactory.com and Weddingclipart.com have online libraries for sale, allowing it to be sold not only as bundled software from computer companies, but also as individual pieces in a collection of illustrations. Moreover, subscriptions to clip art websites are increasing at a fast pace. Clip art is a mini industry that is proving to be self reliant and here to stay.
Copyright for Clip Art Usage
The legal aspect regarding the usage of images on the web has long been a grey issue. The web started out with text only, left-justified, a warehouse of articles. It was not until it was well established that images, buttons and graphics were introduced. Unfortunately, by that time, the action of downloading images for personal reuse was rampant. Subsequently, companies and their lawyers have now become vigilant with respect to the issue of copyrights.
The dictionary defines copyright as ownership over a creation. Whether that creation is literary, audio, musical, or has any other artistic attribute, its ownership belongs to the creator. That copyright is in force for the life of the creator and 50 years after. Just because some of these creations are posted to the web does not mean that the item is in the public domain. Another great misconception involves the common belief that if you download it and change it by adding or subtracting from the creation, it then becomes yours. That is wrong. You must obtain written permission from the owner to reproduce or change clip art.
The terms for usage are dictated by the creator of the company who owns the clip art. The reproduction terms may be as simple as a few lines or as complicated as the usage for major companies like Nike and Ford.
What you can and cannot use
You may use clip art images when it is indicated that they are 'free to use' on commercial and personal web pages.
Before copying an image for your use, ensure yourself that it is free to use on a personal web site. However, if you have any advertisement on your website, the copied image then becomes commercial and therefore cannot be used on that particular website, unless it is specified that it can be used on a commercial website.
Linkware images allow you usage of the image if you link back to the creator's page.
This issue is not one of entitlement but one of ownership. If you are caught by the owner using his image, legal action can be initiated, forcing you to remove it and pay for past usage. Be wary because the legal rulings with respect to clip art copyrights are far from being lenient.

Art Historian, Donovan Gauvreau lectures about art therapy with a focus on creativity development. He believes we can learn from the great masters in art to communicate ideas and feelings through painting. He provides content to Aaron Art Prints to educate and inspire people to take a glimpse into an artist's life to better understand the meaning behind their work.