Meaning and importance of art

Lesson 1

Learning Objective
At the end of the lecture/discussion/week, the student should be able to:
• Explain the meaning, nature, and importance of arts in our lives; 
• Explain the meaning, nature, and importance of arts in our lives; 
• To be able to reflect on the functions of art with regard to their personal
contributions to the development of art.

PART 1. NATURE OF ART

Definition of Art by Various Authors
• Derived from the Latin word “ars”, meaning “ability or skill”. – J.V. Estolas
• Taken from the Italian word “artis”, which means craftsmanship, skill, mastery of
form, inventiveness, and the associations that exist between form from ideas,
between material and technique. – A. Tan
• A product of man’s need to express himself. – F. Zulueta
• Concerned with the communication of certain ideas and feelings by means of
sensuous medium, color, sound, bronze, marble, words, and film. –C. Sanchez
• Brings life in harmony with the beauty of the world. – Plato

What is Art?
Arts - it is an oldest and the most impression of oldest people.
       - It lives until now because it is enjoyed and like.
 
Art - derive from Italian world "artist" which means “craft-manship and skill”.
      - derive from Latin word "ars" which means “ability or skills”.

Four common essential of Arts

1. Art must be man-made
2. Art must be creative,  not imitative
3. Art must satisfy and benefit man and man must make use of art in practical terms
4. Art is expressed through a certain medium or material by which the artist
communicates himself to his fellows
Humanities 
It is refers to art - the visual art such as architecture, painting, and sculpture; the
performing arts such as music, dance, theatre or drama, and literature.
                      
Arts Appreciation
It is the ability to interpret or understand man-made arts and enjoy them either
through actual and work-experience with art tools and materials or possession of
these works of art for one’s admiration and satisfaction. 

SUBJECT OF ART
1. Representational or Objective Arts
2. Non-Representational or Non-Objective Arts

REPRESENTATIONAL OR OBJECTIVE ARTS

• It refers to artworks that depict something easily recognized by most people.

NON-REPRESENTATIONAL OR NON-OBJECTIVE ARTS

• It refers to artworks that have no resemblance to any real subjects.

FUNCTION OF ART
1. Aesthetic Function
2. Utilitarian Function
3. Cultural Function
4. Social Function

SOCIAL FUNCTION
• An artwork that man becomes conscious of the beauty of nature.

UTILITARIAN FUNCTION
• An artwork that gives comfort and happiness.

CULTURAL FUNCTION
• An artwork that gives awareness about cultural background.

SOCIAL FUNCTION
• An artwork that gives international understanding and cooperation.
 The scope of art
Lesson 2

Learning Objective
At the end of the lecture/discussion/week, the student should be able to:
 Define medium and technique;
 Determine the meaning conveyed by the art and how an artwork makes life
more meaningful; and
 Enumerate and discuss the scopes of art. 

PART 1. The Scope of Art

A. Fine Arts or Independent Arts 
B. Practical Arts or Useful or Utilitarian Arts 

A. Fine Arts or Independent Arts 

- It is made primarily for aesthetic enjoyment through the senses, especially visual and
auditory.
Example:
 Painting.
 Architecture.
 Sculpture.
 Music.
 Poetry.
 Performing Arts.
 Photography.

B. Practical Arts or Useful or Utilitarian Arts 

- These are intended practical use.
Example:
Crafts, woodworking, computer technology,
 Divisions of Art
A. According to Purpose
B. According to Media and Forms 

Categories of Art According to Purpose

1. Practical Arts or Useful Arts
2. Liberal Arts
3. Fine Arts
4. Major Arts
5. Minor Arts

1. Practical Arts or Useful Arts

- are directed to produce artifacts and utensils for the satisfaction of human needs.
2. Liberal Arts
-are directed toward intellectual growth.
e.g :
history, literature, writing, philosophy, sociology, psychology, creative arts

3. Fine Arts
-are focused towards creative activity for the contemplation of the mind and the up-liftment of the spirit.

 Painting.
 Architecture.
 Sculpture.
 Music.
 Poetry.
 Performing Arts.
 Photography.

4. Major Arts
-are characterized by actual potential expressiveness.
e.g:  literature, painting, sculpture, and music

5. Minor Arts
-are concerned with practical uses and purpose.
e.g: jewelry, silverware, objets d'art, coins, miniature sculptures and carvings
Types of Art According to Media and Form
1. Plastic Art
2. Kinetic Art
3. Phonetic Art
4. Pure Art
5. Mixed Art

1. Plastic Art
-are works which exist in a physical space and perceived by the sense of sight.
e.g: collage, paper art, and Origami paper folding; metalworking, glass blowing and
other forms of glass art, including mosaics;
2. Kinetic Art
-It involves the element of rhythm. (forms of art which contain motion)
Eg: the most famous examples of this type of artwork include Roel van Dijk's famous kinetic
sculpture known as the “Kissing Ball”

3. Phonetic Art
-It utilize sounds and words as medium of expression.
4. Pure Art
- It takes only one medium of expression.

e.g: a hand-made bag, bracelets made from recycled materials, a painting, a photograph.

5. Mixed Art
-It takes more than one medium.
e.g: collage, assemblage, sculpture, installation art, altered book art, and wet-and-dry
media art
 Medium and Technique

What is Medium?
  Medium -it refers to the material used by an artist.
Primary Classification of Medium
1. Visual Arts
2. Auditory Arts
3. Combined Arts
 Visual Arts - are those mediums can be seen and which occupy space.
 Auditory Arts- are those mediums can be heard and which are expressed in time. 
 Combined Arts- are those mediums that can be both seen and heard and which exist in
both space and time.

What is Technique?
-it is the manner in which the artist controls the medium to achieve desired effect.
 The Artist’s Medium
Lesson 3
Learning Objective
At the end of the lecture/discussion/week, the student should be able to:
• To familiarize oneself of how artwork is made, put together, or organized;
• To compare and contrast the different mediums in art production; and
• To come up with a simple art presentation.

PART 1. Mediums of the visual art

Painting
• It is an art creating meaningful effect on flat surface by use of pigment.

Medium of Painting 
* Water Color – it is difficult is to handle because producing warm and rich tones using
this medium proves to be a challenge.
* Fresco – it is a painting method done on a moist plaster surface with colors ground in
water or limewater mixture.
* Tempera – are mineral pigments mixed with egg yolk or egg white and ore.
* Pastel- it is a stick of dried paste made of pigments ground with chalk and compounded
with gum water.
* Oil – it is the heaviest of painting mediums.
* Encaustic –it is one of the early mediums used by Egyptians for painting portraits on
mummy cases.
* Acrylic – it is a medium used popularly by contemporary painters because of the
transparency and quick – drying characteristics of water color and the flexibility of oil
combined.
*Mosaic - It refers to the art putting together a small pieces of colored stones and glass to
create an image.
*Tesserae – it refers to small pieces of colored stone and glass.
*Stained Glass - It is made by combining small pieces of colored glasses, held together by
bands of lead.
 *Tapestry - It is fabric produce of hand - weaving colored thread upon a warp.
*Drawing - It is usually done on paper using pencil, pen and ink, or charcoal.
    - It is the most fundamental of all skills necessary in arts. 
 Medium for Drawing 
Pencil leads- are graded in different degrees of hardness or softness.
Ink- one of the oldest mediums still in use, offers a great variety of qualities,
depending on the tools and techniques used in application.
Charcoal- it is a carbonaceous material obtained by heating wood or other organic
substances in the absence of oxygen.

Bistre- extracted from the soot of wood, and often use in pen and wash
drawings.
Crayons- are pigments bound by wax and compressed into painted sticks used
for drawing.
Silverpoint- it is produced by using a silver stylus to produce a thin grayish on
prepared paper.

Printmaking
• It is a print on a surface that is a direct result from the duplication process.
Lithography
• It is a surface printing done from an almost smooth surface which has been treated
chemically or mechanically so that some surfaces areas will print and others will not.
Sculpture
• It is the construction of a figure by putting together module segments of the materials.
Modeling – it refers to shaping of a single block in three dimensions.
Building – it refers to putting together of number of pieces of blocks

Medium for Sculpture

1. Stone –it is hard and brittle substance formed from mineral and earth material.
2. Granite – it is granular igneous rock composed of feldspar and quartz
3. Marble – is limestone in a more or less crystalline state sufficiently close in texture, and
capable of taking a high polish.
4. Jade – it is fine stone, usually colored green, and used widely in Ancient China.
5. Ivory – it comes from the main parts of  tusk of an elephant, and it is hard white
substance used to make carvings and billiard balls.
6. Bronze – it is a strong, durable and resistant material to any atmospheric corrosion.
7. Brass – an alloy of copper and zinc, is not popularly used by contemporary artists
because of its limitations as a medium. 
8. Gold and Silver – they are used as casting materials for small objects.
9. Plaster – it is composed of lime, sand and water, and used extensively in making
manikins, models, molds, and other indoor sculpture.
10. Clay –it is a natural earthy material that is plastic when wet
11. Glass – it is a medium that is hard, brittle, non- crystalline, more or less transparent
substance produced by fusion.
12. Wood= a medium that is easier to carve than any other mediums available because it
can be subjected into a variety of treatment.