UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY

Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

ART APPRECIATION
SUBJECT CODE: GEC 006
TOPIC OR LESSON: Soul-making and 7 da Vincian Principles
WEEK: 13
SUB-TOPIC/S: Crafting

 INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC

Going back to the basic question who an artist is or when does one become an
artist, a key aspect of analysis would be to consider the term soul-making. Literally,
the word “making” is derived from the Greek poeio which means “to be the author or
maker of something.” Thus, a “soul-maker” is someone who has created through his
intelligence something unique or worthwhile. In fact, we often use the term
“contributions to society” when we consider the works of an artist. Applied to art,
“soul-making” is an exploration and application of the imagination in an active way.
It is a form of crafting stories, transforming moments into images and symbols which
can either be an innate or learned skill or a combination of both.

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)

At the end of this module, the students are expected to

1. Discuss the concept of “soul-making”;
2. Develop students’ artistic potentials through soul-making;
3. Enhance students’ sensitivity and awareness toward their environment;
4. Extend to the immediate community the students’ art works as a form of service
learning (e.g., recyclable materials)

LEARNING
OBJECTIVE(S)

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. Explain the concept of soul-making;

2. Differentiate the seven da Vincian principles

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 ENGAGE

Try to solve the who/what I am riddles below.

1. A father’s child, a mother’s child, yet no one’s son. Who am I?

2. Tomorrow I am surely here, yesterday I am found as well. Today I am gone. Who am
I?
3. I am a 5-letter word. Take away the first letter and I am a place’s name. Take away
the first two letters and I become the opposite of the 5-letter word. Who am I?
4. I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
5. You go at red but stop at green. What am I?

EXPLORE

What is Soul-making?

When we talk about soul-making, this pertains to an alternative venue for knowing
oneself and looking into the depths and essence with what we are doing in our
everyday life. In most cases, this activity calls for an inner retrospection of oneself with
examining our very core. Often this is done by reflecting on our artistic sense and in
determining our artistic self. Moreover, this can also purport to the idea of crafting
stories or transforming brief moments into images or symbols that would best
represent ourselves. In some view, this also discusses art making, thereby creating
and even crafting one’s own identity, ownership and in return reflects one’s culture.

This art process or the crafting process itself can take place in the concrete modes of
the artisan, a work of the hands, and with the morality of the hands (Hillman as cited
by Narciso, 2016, Tan, 2002). As commonly observed, this takes place in sophisticated
elaborations of reflection, religion, relationships, social action, and other related
activities. That so long as these activities are imagined from the perspective of the
soul, as this part of being human is the uppermost concern.

Moreover, this crafting process would also means crafting images. Often this is done
by bringing back the practice of visualization or imagination. Similarly, this must
not be limited on the religious perspective of the soul, but the experience and the
essence of the experience.

According to Narciso (2016), the profound intention of soul-making is centered on the

idea to be empty along the way and find peace in a certain moment and to be able to
discern essence and relevance within or in the margins or art making. This is a way of
spending time with the inner selves through recollecting and reflecting own
experiences. One young adult may perhaps reminisce the art of paper boat making
during rainy season. This act alone reflects his inner longing and would be manifested
when rainy days come. More so, this experience will trigger a lot of memories which in

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the present-day age might no longer be reflected due to activities such as computer
games.

So, what are the common soul-making images that one can produce? Below are just
some of the most collective manifestations.
✓ Personal story – essays, reflections
✓ Poetry – poetic musings of the heart
✓ Metaphors – a story created to translate nature’s stature into human consciousness
(poetry pieces)
✓ Drawing/sketching/caricature/painting
✓ Speaking/talking/inspirational messages
✓ Space studies – this is on how space matters and how artist utilized it
✓ Photography/photography studies – a technique crafted to draw our own stories
through vibrant and even moving images

EXPLAIN

Some Categories of Soul-making

I. Crafting Images – This includes the production, by various forms and methods, of
visual representations of images. Any art forms such as drawing, sketching, and
sculpting can be used to perform this process.

II. Crafting stories - An individual crafts his/her stories when he/she writes down
his/her own personal feedback, life values, deep feelings, ideas, ideals, and emotions.
Step 1. Find your key emotion
Step 2. Start with a hook
Step 3. Write the story
Step 4. Write a strong ending
Step 5. Reread your story
Step 6. Edit yourself- SKILLFULLY
Step 7. Ask others for editing help

III. Crafting Instruments – This involves transforming any found or used object into
musical instrument that allows one to discover harmony and balance to produce a
sound that is entertaining and magical.

IV. Crafting Movements – Life is movement (Narciso, 2016). Our lives are full of
movements, rhythms, and flowing images accompanied by narratives. For artists who
are more inclined to crafting movements, the pattern that life serves a person provides
the source of inspiration.

ELABORAT
E

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The 7 da Vincian Principles by Vanessa Van Edwards (based on How to Think like
Leonardo da Vinci by Michael J. Gelb)

What do geniuses do differently? Do they have a unique morning routine? Interesting

daily rituals? To answer these questions, let us turn to one of the most brilliant minds
in history: Leonardo da Vinci.

You might know Da Vinci as an artist, but he was also an architect, scientist,
musician, mathematician, inventor, anatomist, geologist, astronomer, cartographer,
botanist, historian and writer. He didn’t just excel in one area, but rather he
flourished across disciplines and created concepts that have lasted for centuries. Da
Vinci had a very specific approach to life that anyone can learn.

I chose How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci for our Science of People book club
because I thought it was a fascinating look into the daily habits of a genius. Gelb
explores how Da Vinci approached life and, most importantly, lays it out for readers
in a practical framework for self-improvement.

#1: Curiosità. Curiosita is an insatiably curious approach to life and unrelenting

quest for continuous learning.

Da Vinci is not the only one who embodied a seemingly infinite supply of curiosity.
Many of history’s great inventors and leaders had the desire to unlock the mysteries of
life. If you’re like me, this one seems fairly obvious and something you already know is
important. So, I think about curiosity in 2 basic questions:

What if?
How come?

What If: Asks your brain to project into the future. It helps you see opportunities
where you might have missed them, it helps you make connections and it is a sneaky
way to get your brain more goal-oriented. What if I started a conversation with this
person? What if I tried this new activity? What if I started that new workout program?
What comes after ‘what if…’ is typically magical.

How Come: How come gets you into ‘why’. Instead of passively observing the world or
going into automatic responses, ‘how come’ helps you question both your actions and
other’s motives. I believe this question keeps me honest and alert. It forces me to live
more purposefully. Da Vinci didn’t waste a second of his life. He was always creating
and guessing and tinkering. ‘How come’ helps you use every second of your life with a
mission.

#2: Dimostrazione. Dimostrazione is a commitment to test knowledge through

experience, persistence and a willingness to learn from mistakes. I love this principle,
because it is empowering. Dimostrazione is the embodiment of taking your life into
your own hands. This principle tells us:

Test every idea.

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Don’t take anything for granted.
Experience life first hand.

I believe life should be an experiment. That we should have a series of amazing

hypotheses every day, and we should be testing them. A hypothesis consists of a 2
part statement:

If…, then…

For example, if I take this personal development class, then I hope to be happier. Or

as small as if I reorganize my closet, then it will be easier to get ready in the morning.
The ‘If…, then…’ exercise puts you into opportunity-hunting mindset, so you are
always looking for and testing solutions.

#3: Sensazione. Sensazione is the continual refinement of the senses, especially sight,
as the means to enliven experience.

Fill in the blank:

___is so beautiful.
I love the way _____ smells.
What a lovely _____.
I adore the feeling of ____ on my skin.
The sound of ____ is music to my ears.

We forget to savor and sensualize our experiences. We have all heard ‘stop and smell
the roses,’ but when was the last time you actually stopped and smelled the roses?
Sure, literal roses, but also metaphorical roses. When was the last time you stopped to
savor an experience? Da Vinci was incredibly inspired by the world around him and
the more he honed his senses, the more heightened his genius became.

#4: Sfumato. Sfumato is a willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and

uncertainty. Da Vinci had a very unique ability to understand the extreme opposites of
opinions and phenomenon. He was also able to explore unknowns and revel in the
uncertainty. Most of us are uncomfortable with not knowing or unanswerable
questions, so we avoid anything out of our control. We stick to what we know and
immediately do a Google search the moment we don’t know something.

A Story:

The other day, I was hiking with some friends in Columbia Gorge (one of the most
beautiful places in the world) and we began passing all of these old wagons–like really,
really old wagons. Now, I live in Oregon very close to the end of the Oregon Trail where
Lewis and Clark explored, so we started to wonder if the wagons were somehow
connected to the Oregon Trail. The more wagons we passed, the more perplexed we
got. We had no service where we were hiking, so we couldn’t just whip out our phones
and consult Google. This began to drive us crazy. We are so used to knowing things or
being able to figure things out almost instantly, that it was driving us nuts to not
know. But a cool thing happened. We started to brainstorm all of the different reasons
that all of these wagons were on the trail–a massive flood carried them across the
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plains, a wagon cult lived in the woods nearby, etc. And that was a really hilarious and
fun exercise. It reminded me of the Sfumato principle that not knowing is actually the
best mental activity. You search, you think, you create.

*We eventually Googled it and found out we had stumbled upon a 1900 wagon trail
that used to transport apples.

#5: Arte/Scienza. Arte/scienza is the development of the balance between science

and art, logic and imagination.

Although Da Vinci wasn’t around for the research on right and left brain thinking, this
concept speaks directly to the idea of whole brain thinking. Mark the statements that
sound like you:

Right Brained:

___ I like details

___ I am almost always on time
___ I rely on logic
___ I am skilled at math
___ I am organized and disciplined
___ I like lists
Left Brained:

___  I am highly imaginative

___ I am good at brainstorming
___ I love to doodle
___ I often say or do the unexpected
___ I rely on intuition
___I often lose track of time

Which one had more statements that you agreed with? Were you balanced? Da Vinci
was a big believer in using both parts of your brain. He did this in his notebooks by
tying ideas with drawings. Specifically, he was the original mind-mapper.

#6: Corporalitá. Corporalita is the cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness and

poise. Da Vinci was incredibly athletic in addition to his mental prowess. From early
on, he realized that if he wanted his mind to perform at optimal levels, his body also
had to be in top shape.

I couldn’t agree with this more. If I have a bad night’s sleep, my work suffers. If I don’t
eat well, my energy slows. If I don’t get enough movement, my back kills me.

#7: Connessione. Connessione is a recognition of and appreciation for the

interconnectedness of all things and phenomena.

I think this is one of the most complex and interesting Da Vincian principles. It has to
do with something called ‘systems thinking’. Systems thinking is when you are able to
take vast amounts of information and create routines, lists and organization. It also
has to do with pattern recognition. I LOVE connessione. As many of you know, I have
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a number of courses and books–my favorite part of the curriculum creation process is
taking huge amounts of research and condensing it down into an outline. I also love
hunting for patterns. In our human behavior research lab, I am constantly looking for
patterns in body language, thinking and relationships.

For example:
In my School of Happiness course, I had 128 pages of research and notes to condense
into a 10 week program.
For my Master Your People Skills course, we had over 7,000 people take our body
language and personality surveys. We had to pore over the data to find patterns to
make the course.
For our next book, I will be using 9 years of research, over 2,400 studies and 356 in-
depth interviews!
When you can create systems and recognize patterns in your life, you are able to
cultivate true genius.

EVALUATE

Match each principle with its corresponding description.

da Vincian Principle Description

1. Arte/Scienza continual refinement of the senses
2. Connessione “whole brain” thinking
3. Corporalita mastering ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty
4. Curiosita a lifelong quest for learning
5. Dimostrazione the balance of body and mind
6. Sensazione testing knowledge through experience
7. Sfumato the appreciation of patterns, relationships, connections,
systems

REFERENCE(S)

Cerbo, S. N., Gonong, G., Morales, G. S., Roman, L. (2010). An Introduction to the Humanities: The
Arts. Suatengco Publishing House. Caloocan City
Retrieved from https://www.scienceofpeople.com/7-steps-to-genius/
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Prepared by:

BINGO L. ALIGO

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