ART 002 (1-6)

Lesson 1: Basic Concepts of Art

Art - original classical definition was derived from the Latin word "ars" (meaning
"skill" or "craft“) - is a useful starting point. This broad approach leads to art being
defined as: "the product of a body of knowledge, most often using a set of skills."
Art is something we DO, a verb. Art is an expression of our thoughts,
emotions, intuitions, and desires, but it is even more personal than that: it’s about
sharing the way we experience the world, which for many is an extension of
personality. It is the communication of intimate concepts that cannot be faithfully
portrayed by words alone. And because words alone are not enough, we must find
some other vehicle to carry our intent. -William Joseph Nieters
Art is a highly diverse range of human activities engaged in creating visual,
auditory, or performed artifacts— artworks—that express the author’s
imaginative or technical skill, and are intended to be appreciated for their beauty or
emotional power.

TYPES OF ART
Visual Art - arts that meet the eye and evoke an emotion through an expression of
skill and imagination. They include the most ancient/oldest documented forms,
such as painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and installation art
and other visual arts.
Literary Art - something in the form of writing or stories that have artistic and cultural
value that displays the beauty of speech and language to convey certain meanings.
Performance Art - time-based art form that typically features a live presentation to
an audience and draws on such arts as acting, poetry, music, dance, and painting.

Lesson 2: Nature and Function of Arts

Nature of art
Art is a creative activity that expresses imaginative or technical skill. It produces a
product, an object. The product of art is called a work of art. It includes drawing,
painting, sculpting, photography, performance art, dance, music, poetry, prose
and theatre.
CLASSIFICATION OF ARTS ACCORDING TO FUNCTIONS
1. Motivated (Functional) Ex. Architecture, weaving, furniture-making
2. Non-motivated (Non-Functional) Ex. Painting, sculpture, literature, music, and
the theatre arts.

THE COMMON FUNCTIONS OF ART

1. Personal Function - Arts are vehicles for the artists’ expression of their
feelings and ideas.
2. Social Function - (1) It influences social behavior, (2) It seeks or tends to
influence the collective behavior of a people. (3) When it addresses aspects of
(collective) life as opposed to one person's point of view or experience.
3. Spiritual Function - The designs of religious structures tells so many things
about the culture of the faithful.
4. Educational Function - Art comes to be regarded as 'time off for good
behavior' or as 'therapy'" and how the ease and carefreeness of the arts are
supposed to bring joy and a sense of calmness."
5. Political Function - The statues of national heroes that grace our parks and
plazas are commemorative works as are the commissioned paintings of leaders
or rulers. Often they serve to record important historical events, or reveal the
ideals of heroism and leadership that the community would want the young to
emulate.
6. Physical Function - Works of art that are created to perform some service
such as tools and containers are objects which make our lives physically
comfortable. Works of art that are created to perform some service have physical
functions like vases, benches, chairs, etc.

Lesson 3: Historical Foundation of Art

Stone Age (30,000 BC – 2500 BC) - Cave painting; (mineral pigment)

animals/humans/symbols. (Venus Of Willendorf).
Mesopotamian (3500 BC – 539 BC) - Stone sculpture and narrative reliefs steele of
code of hammurabi standard of Ur.
Egyptian (3100 BC - 30 BC) - Awe-inspiring architecture of the ancient Egyptian
including the great pyramids (Sphinx).
Greek and Hellenistic (850 BC - 31 BC) - Idealism and perfection wisdom and
welfare. Parthenon (Temple Dedicated To Athena)
Roman (500 BC - 476 BC) - There’s a vast history of roman architecture, which you
can learn about in this history of roman art: including the construction of pantheon.
(The Colosseum).
Byzantine and Islamic (476 AD - 1453 AD) - Hagia sophia and Alhambra
Middle Ages (500 - 1400) - This was the era of Celtic and Gothic art, which saw the
rise of intricate gothic cathedrals and structures like Notre Dame.
Early and High Renaissance (1400 – 1550) - Was considered the best artist in his
lifetime, and ever since then he has been held as greatest artist of all time.( Michael
Angelo Di Lodovico Bounarroti Simoni). (Pieta).
Venetian and Northern Renaissance (1430 – 1550) - During this era, the
Renaissance movement spread from Italy to France, Germany, Poland and other
northern European countries. Bellini, Jan van Eyck, Bosch, and other artists reigned
during this time
Baroque (1600 - 1750) - Baroque artists like Rembrandt and Caravaggio were well
known during this time for the tense, moody, and extremely dramatic style of their
work, reflected in lighting techniques and subject matter.
Neoclassical (1750 - 1850) - It was likely the overlapping Age of Enlightenment,
which saw another turn towards the scientific over the religious. That set the tone for
this era, as well as the concurrent Industrial Revolution
Romanticism (1780 - 1850) - “THEODORE GERICAULT” EMPHASIS ON THE
SELF: as well as a rejection of the kind of order that the Enlightenment had imposed
in favor of a more chaotic approach to life. FRANCISCO GOYA “SATURN
DEVOURING HIS SON”
Realism (1848 - 1900) - Realism was the first movement to finally reject all the
drama, intensely exaggerated emotion, and grandeur of other art styles for a more
grounded approach to human nature. IVAN THE TERRIBLE AND HIS SON
Impressionism (1865 - 1885) - Impressionism might have been one of the first
purely aesthetic art periods, a style focused on capturing a visual phenomenon
rather than an intensely political or religious one. WOMAN WITH A PARASOL.
MATERIALS: ACRYLIC AND WATER COLOR
Post-Impressionism (1885 - 1910) - An art style that maintained its philosophy – a
rejection of traditional art rules and its focus on perfection – but also rejected its
supposed limitations.
Fauvism and Expressionism (1900 - 1935) - It flourished during and after the first
World War with its harsh colors, bold shapes, and often its disturbing emotional
content. Consider a course on oil or acrylic painting to learn the techniques used by
the expressionists. EGON SCHIELE
Cubism, Futurism, Supremativism, Contructivism, De Stijl (1905 - 1920) - This
era saw shapes, abstract objects, and highly deconstructed renders of landscapes
and other things used as a means of expression, rather than traditional techniques
seen before.
Dada and Surrealism (1917 - 1950) - Dada and surrealism rejected so much o
traditional art that it dived into absurdism. Elements of dreams and the subconscious
were explored with this style, as well as wartime horrors (it overlapped World War II
and the atomic bombings of Japan)
Pop Art (c. 1950s CE - 1960s CE) - They were interested in advertising, consumer
products, television, magazines, and comics.
Postmodernism and Deconstructivism (1970 CE) - Much of postmodern art is
deconstructing styles of the past and reinterpreting them.
Neo-Expressionism (c. 1980s CE) - By the end of the 1970s a movement emerged
that threw out the cool ideas of Minimalism and embraced the impassioned emotions
of Expressionism (a German art movement of the early 1900s).

Lesson 4: Art Appreciation, Creativity, Imagination and Expression

Art Appreciation - The knowledge and understanding of the universal and timeless
qualities that identify all great art.
- The exploration and analysis of the art forms that we are exposed to.
- Art appreciation involves a deeper look into the setting and historical implication
and background of the piece, a study of its origins.
Importance of Art Appreciation - It is a good way to understand the history behind
the work, and the period from which the piece originated. Artists often reflect the
problems that they face, and the issues of the society in their work
- By reflecting on a piece of art, we delve into our own experiences and nostalgia,
thus a piece of art means something different to every person that comes across it.
Expression - It is the ability to convey meaning.
- Artists are painting ideas that many choose to ignore, using their art as their voice
to react to the injustices they see in this world.
- Within its nature, art has no rules. There are no guidelines to express yourself. Art
is meant to be the way the artist wants it to be.
- Art is controversial yet peaceful, simple yet bold.
Imagination - It is the ability to produce and simulate novel objects, peoples and
ideas in the mind.
- It is the ability of the mind to build mental scenes, objects or events that do not
exist, are not present, or have happened in the
past.
- It is also described as the forming of experiences in one's mind, which can be re-
creations of past experiences such as vivid memories with imagined changes, or
they can be completely invented and possibly fantastic scenes.
Creativity - It is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is
formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific
theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a
printed literary work, or a painting).
- Creativity can be matched with imagination: for finding solutions and choosing
between options.
- Innovation in its modern meaning is "a new idea, creative thoughts, and new
imaginations in form of device or method".

Lesson 5: Visual Elements of Arts and Design

1. Line - is the foundation of all drawing. It is the first and most versatile of the visual
elements of art. It can be used to suggest shape, pattern, form, structure, growth,
depth, distance, rhythm, movement and a range of emotions.
Types of Lines
 Curved lines suggest comfort and ease.
 Horizontal lines suggest distance and calm.
 Vertical lines suggest height and strength.
 Jagged lines suggest turmoil and anxiety.
The way we draw a line can convey different expressive qualities:
 Freehand lines can express the personal energy and mood of the artist.
FREEHAND- the ability to draw something without depending on instruments or
something else to draw
 Mechanical lines can express a rigid control.
Mechanical Drawing- combinations of straight lines and curved lines that show
the edges and surfaces of an object.
 Continuous lines can lead the eye in certain directions. It is one in which a
single, unbroken line is used to develop the image.
 Broken lines can express the ephemeral or the insubstantial.
 Thick lines can express strength.
 Thin lines can express delicacy.
2. Shape - can be natural or man-made, regular or irregular, flat (2-
dimensional) or solid (3- dimensional), representational or
abstract, geometric or organic, transparent or opaque, positive
or negative, decorative or symbolic, colored, patterned or
textured.
Perspective drawing - angles and curves of shapes appear to change depending
on our viewpoint.
The Behavior of Shapes are as follows:
(1) Shapes can be used to control your feelings in the composition of an artwork.
(2) Squares and Rectangles can portray strength and stability.
(3) Circles and Ellipses can represent continuous movement.
(4) Triangles can lead the eye in an upward movement.
(5) Inverted Triangles can create a sense of imbalance and tension.

3. Color - visual element that has the strongest effect on our emotions.

4. Tone- lightness or darkness of a color.

The tonal values of an artwork can be adjusted to alter
its expressive character. It can be used to create
(1) a contrast of light and dark,
(2) the illusion of form,
(3) a dramatic or tranquil atmosphere,
(4) a sense of depth and distance and
(5) a rhythm or pattern within a composition.

5. Pattern - repeating or echoing the elements of an artwork to communicate a

sense of balance, harmony, contrast, rhythm or movement.
Two basic types of pattern
Natural Pattern: Pattern in art is often based on the inspiration we get from
observing the natural patterns that occur in nature. Example, shape of a leaf and the
branches of a tree, structure of a crystal, the spiral of a shell, the symmetry of a
snowflake and the camouflage and signaling patterns on animals, fish and insects.
Man-Made Pattern: Pattern in art is used for both structural and decorative
purposes. For example, an artist may plan the basic structure of an artwork by
creating a compositional pattern of lines and shapes. Within that composition he/she
may develop its visual elements to create a more decorative pattern of color, tone
and texture across the work.

6. Texture - surface quality of an artwork - the roughness or smoothness of the

material from which it is made.
We experience texture in two ways:
Optical Texture: An artist may use his/her skillful painting technique to create the
illusion of texture.
Physical Texture (Actual/Tactile texture): can be felt by touching the surface of the
object or material.
Ephemeral Texture: This is a third category of textures whose fleeting forms are
subject to change like clouds, smoke, flames, bubbles and liquids.

7. Form - physical volume of a shape and the space that it occupies. It can be
representational or abstract.
- Three-Dimensional Form
- Two-Dimensional Form
Lesson 6: Principle of Arts

The principles of art (or the principles of design) are essentially a set of criteria which
are used to explain how the visual elements are arranged in a work of art. These
principles are possibly the closest thing we have to a set of objective criteria for
analyzing and judging art.

1. Balance - Visual weight of the elements of the composition. It is a sense that the
painting feels stable and "feels right." Imbalance causes a feeling of discomfort in the
viewer.
Balance can be achieved in 3 different ways:
A. Symmetry - both sides of a composition have the same elements in the same
position, as in a mirror-image, or the two sides of a face.
B. Asymmetry - the composition is balanced due to the contrast of any of the
elements of art.
C. Radial symmetry - elements are equally spaced around a central point, as in the
spokes coming out of the hub of a bicycle tire.

2. Contrast - The difference between elements of art in a composition, such that

each element is made stronger in relation to the other. When placed next to each
other, contrasting elements command the viewer's attention.
3. Emphasis - when the artist creates an area of the composition that is visually
dominant and commands the viewer's attention. This is often achieved by contrast.
4. Movement - the result of using the elements of art such that they move the
viewer's eye around and within the image.
5. Pattern - the uniform repetition of any of the elements of art or any combination
thereof.
Zentangles - which an abstract or representational outline is divided into different
areas, each of which contains a unique pattern.
6. Rhythm - is created by movement implied through the repetition of elements of art
in a non-uniform but organized way. It is related to rhythm in music. Unlike pattern,
which demands consistency, rhythm relies on variety.
7. Unity/Variety - Too much unity creates monotony, too much variety creates
chaos. You need both.

8. Harmony - it refers to how well all the visual elements work together in a work of
art.