The word texture, in its original sense, means the way in which the threads of a fabric are organized. By translation, the word came to mean the organization of the elements that make up the matter of any body, specifically referring to those that are on its surface and are appreciable by sight or touch.
The texture is the external and superficial appearance of the structure of the materials, objects and things that surround us. When we look at the natural or artificial world, we can discover various textures, such as the bark of trees, stones, walls, buildings, etc. , and in ourselves we discover texture when we feel our skin, hair, our clothes and shoes.
Texture can be optical or visual, when differences in the surface can only be captured by the eye, but do not respond to touch. Likewise, the texture can be tactile when there are differences that respond, at the same time, to touch and sight.
The same words are used to name the visual textures and those that come from a tactile experience: rough, smooth, rough, hard, soft, smooth. Other textures have a primarily visual sense: glossy, opaque, muted, transparent, clear, metallic, iridescent.
In art, texture, like the other elements of plastic expression, is expressive, meaningful and transmits the degree of content and communication to his work.
The artists have used texture as an element of plastic and visual language to sensitize the viewer through the different manifestations related to aesthetics such as drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, design, goldsmithing, architecture, among others..
In the musical field, texture is the way to combine the different voices or melodic lines of a piece or musical fragment. There are several types of texture, such as monody , in which all voices perform the same melody; polyphony or counterpoint , combination of two or more independent and different rhythm melodies; homophony , all voices move by chord blocks and present the same rhythm; and accompanied melody, main melody that is accompanied by chords in the remaining voices (instruments).
