ART APPRECIATION: MODULE 2

THE ARTIST AND HIS MEDIUM

The kinds of artists involved in creating an artwork vary
depending on the type of art form they use for expressions.
Although all art involves creation and imagination, artists are still
further subdivided:
A. VISUAL ARTIST - use the visual arts as their venue of
expression. These includes the painters, the sculptors, and
the architects. They are also composed of the film makers
and graphic arts.
B. CREATIVE ARTIST - are more adept at writing works and
arranging musical notes to entice the imagination and evoke
emotions. These includes the writers, poets, playwrights,
novelists, and composers. Their works ranges from novels,
poetry, plays to beautiful musical pieces.
C. PERFORMING ARTIST - express their art through execution
infront of an audience. These artists are the dancers, singers,
stage performers, actors, musicians, and choreographers.,
they hone their skills through countless hours of training and
rehearsals.

ARTS CAN FURTHER BE CLASSIFIED INTO THE FOLLOWING

BASED ON MEDIUM:
 A.VISUAL ARTS - this art form can be perceive by the eyes.
Its medium are those materials that can be seen and
occupy space and these are:
A.1. Graphics or two-dimensional arts which includes,
drawing, painting, mosaics, collage, and printmaking.
A. 2. Plastic or three-dimensional arts which includes
sculpture, architecture, and installations.
B. AUDITORY OR TIME ARTS - the medium for this art
classification are those that the viewers can hear and which are
expressed in time. Belonging to these are music and literature.
C. COMBINED ARTS - - the medium for these art forms are
those that the viewers can see and hear which considers both
time and space. These includes dance, drama, and cinema.

THE DIFFERENT MEDIA OF THE VISUAL ARTS:

A.GRAPHIC OR TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARTS
A.1. DRAWING – THIS IS THE FUNDAMENTAL SKILL NEEDED IN
THE VISUAL ART
These are the different media for drawing:
1. PENCILS - pencils, regardless of the brand are usually
labelled 2B, 4B, and 6B which indicates the softness of the
lead. The higher the B number, the softer the lead and the
darker is the tone and line it can create.
2. INK - this is one of the oldest material for drawing that is
still in use. Pen and ink drawings are characterized by
controlled and uniform lines.
3. PASTEL - this is composed of dry pigment held together by
a gum binder and compressed into sticks. There are 3 kinds
of pastels: soft pastel, hard pastel, and oil pastel. The
difference between the soft and hard pastel is the amount
of binder in the material. For oil pastel, the binder is oil.
When the pastel work is finished, the drawing must be
sprayed with a fixative to prevent the pigment from
rubbing off and destroying the work.

A.2. PAINTING - it has been described as the art of creating

beautiful effects on flat surface. It is the process of applying
paint onto smooth surface like paper, cloth, canvas, wood
or plaster.
The following are the different media used for painting.
1. Water color
2. Gouache - this is the paint in which the pigment has
been mixed with water and added with a chalk – like
material to give it an opaque effect.
3. Oil paint - the pigments are mixed with oil as the binder.
The ideal surface for oil paints are canvas and wood. The
painter can apply oil paint on thin glazes of smooth
subtle strokes or thick impasto to produce a rough
surface which gives the work the element of texture.
 The Spoliarium is a painting by Filipino painter Juan Luna. Luna,
working on canvas, spent eight months completing the painting
which depicts dying gladiators. The painting was submitted by Luna
to the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1884 in Madrid,
where it garnered the first gold medal.
DISADVANTAGES OF OIL PAINT:
1. The oil in the paint tends to rise to the surface and forms a
film that makes the colors dull and yellow as the painting
ages.
2. Time also causes the oil paint to crack.

4,Tempera - this is a pigment mixed with egg yolk, sometimes

with the white as binder. Sometimes gums or glue is used in place
of egg. Tempera is difficult to spread in large areas. It can not be
easily moved around the surface and needs a firm, rigid, support.
5.Fresco - this is a pigment mixed with water and applied on a
portion of the wall with wet plaster. The wet plaster allows the
color to stick to the surface and becomes part of the wall.
Fresco is used for mural paintings. A mural refers to the
massive paintings on walls or ceilings. It may be purely decorative
or maybe commissioned for religious and historical themes.
MichaelAngelo’s Sistine chapel paintings in Rome and Leonardo
da Vinci’s Last Super in Milan, Italy are examples of famous
frescoes.
The foremost disadvantage of frescoes is the wall on which it is
painted. The painting can not be moved and when the wall is
destroyed, so too will the painting.
The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508
and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art. 
The Last Supper is a late 15th-century mural painting by Italian
artist Leonardo da Vinci housed by the refectory of the Convent of
Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. It is one of the Western
world's most recognizable paintings. 
6. Acrylic - the modern medium of synthetic paint using acrylic
emulsion as a binder. Acrylic has the quick, drying, quality of
watercolor and is as flexible as oil paints. The versatility of acrylic
allows it to be applied to almost any type of surface.

A.3. MOSAIC - are wall or floor decorations made of small tiles

or irregularly cut pieces of stones or glass called TESSERAE.
These are meticulously fitted together to form a pattern and
glued with plaster or cement. The most beautiful mosaic are
found in churches and public buildings. For classroom arts
craft, mosaic art can be done on paper or cardboard using
 seeds, eggshells, punched art paper and beads glued or
pasted to a pattern or drawing.

Art in the Heart

Handmade glass and pebbles trees mosaic picture

A.4. COLLAGE - is derived from a French word “COLLER”

which means to stick . A collage is a technique of making an
artwork by gluing or painting on a firm support materials or
objects. How the pieces are arranged reflects the message
that the artist wants to convey. The artists presentation
maybe purely aesthetics or sentimental.
 Examples of materials or found objects are pieces of cloth,
buttons, old photographs, dry leaves or flowers, twigs, shells,
stones, sand and anything and everything the artist could
think of. Collage as a graphic art was introduced by Picasso
and Bracque,, both cubist artist.

A.5. PRINTMAKING - This is a process used for making

reproductions of graphic works. Printmaking allows for the
repeated transfer of a master image from a printing plate
(matrix) onto a surface. The result is an impression created by
the plate on the surface which is called a PRINT. Printmaking
may use any of the following techniques:
 1. Relief Printing (Raised) - this is the oldest method of
printmaking. The technique involves cutting away (using knife
or gouges) certain parts of the surface, usually a block of
wood and leaving the “raised” parts to produce the image.
Woodcut and wood engraving uses this technique.
2. Intaglio Printing (Depressed) - this technique is the
opposite of relief printing, instead of using the surface of the
plate for the image, the lines of the image are cut or incised
to a metal plate. The “incised” or “depressed” part is the
image. Examples of Intaglio printing are the drypoint and
etching.

3. Surface Printing (Flat) - these includes all processes in

which printing is done from a flat surface (plane). Examples of
this type is serigraphy or silkscreen printing.

B. PLASTIC OR THREE- DIMENSIONAL ART

B.1. SCULPTURE -- the word sculpture has originated from
the Latin word “sculpere” which means to curve. It is defined
as the art or practice of creating three- dimension forms or
figures. It is the art form that is described as having, length,
width and volume. Sculpture are of three kinds: (Free
standing, Relief, Kinetic (mobile).
1. FREESTANDING – (in the round). These are sculptures
which can be viewed from all sides.

2. RELIEF – These are sculptures in which the figures project

from a background. There are two variations of relief
sculptures
A. Low relief (bas relief) - the figures are slightly raised
/projected from its background, less shadows are created.
B.High relief - almost half of the figures project from its
background, more shadows are created.
 3. KINETIC (MOBILES) - a sculpture that is capable of
movement by wind, water, or other form of energy.

DIFFERENT MEDIA OF SCULPTURE:

Through the centuries. Sculptors have experimented on
materials to be used for their sculptures. They have discovered
that they can use natural and man-made materials to achieve
expression in a three-dimensional form.
Some popular medium used by sculptors up to the present:
1. STONE - is a natural medium. It is hard and relatively
permanent. Marble is deemed by sculptors as the most
beautiful stone for sculpture. DAVID by Michelangelo is the
famous statue, made of white marble and is 17 feet tall.
David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture, created in marble
between 1501 and 1504 by the Italian artist Michelangelo. David is
a 5.17-metre marble statue of the Biblical figure David, a favoured
subject in the art of Florence. 
2. WOOD - is also a natural medium. Wood varies in hardness
and durability depending on the kind of tree it came from. In
the Philippines, the best woods for sculpture are Molave,
Acacia, Langka wood, Ipil wood, Kamagong, Palm wood and
bamboo. Narra is a Philippine hard wood, but its use is
 restricted by the local government. The major weaknesses of
wood is moisture that causes it to rot, fore and termites.
Different techniques are being used to protect the wood
(staining and waxing) to make it last for a long time.

3. METAL - this medium is used for sculpture because of its

three unique qualities: (strength, ductility, and malleability).
The two ways by which metal can turn into beautiful
sculptures is through assembling (welding ) and casting. The
ideal metals for sculptures are alloys which is a combination
of two elements. Some examples of these are the following:
A.Stainless steel - also known as Inox steel. This medium
does not rust or stain when exposed to moisture and
water.
B.Bronze - it is an alloy of two elements tin and copper. Its
color is reddish brown and will corrode if constantly
exposed to water and moisture.
C.Brass - is an alloy of copper and zinc that gives it a
yellowish golden color. Brass is more malleable than bronze
and has a lower melting point.

4. PLASTER, specifically PLASTER OF PARIS. It is finely ground

gypsum mixed with water and poured into mold. The
material dries quickly depending on the size of the mold.
After it has dried it can be painted colors.
5. TERRA COTTA (COOKED EARTH) - this is a baked clay or clay
fired in kiln at relatively high temperature. Firing the clay
causes the moisture to evaporate hardening the clay. Clay
can be molded into any form before it is baked. The major
weakness of clay is its fragility, it breaks easily.

6. GLASS - this is made by heating and cooling a combination of

sand and soda lime. Glass maybe transparent, translucent, or
opaque. It can be molded into various shapes and colors.
Sculptures of glass can be made using the following
techniques:
 Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves
inflating molten glass into a bubble with the aid of a
blowpipe. A person who blows glass is called a glassblower,
glassmith, or gaffer. 
1.Hot sculpting - using a metal rod to gather the molten
glass from the furnace and shapes it using another tool.
1. Cold working - using cold hardened glass. This involves
sandblasting, engraving and polishing, and grinding, to
create the sculpture of glass.
2. Glass blowing - is gathering the molten glass from the
furnace using a blowpipe. Air is blown into the pipe and
shapes the glass before it cools down.
7. PLASTIC OR SYNTHETIC MEDIUM MADE FROM ORGANIC
POLYMERS. While plastic is soft, it can be molded into a form.
Sculptures using plastic are usually reproductions of the
original work.

C. ARCHITECTURE - is the art of designing buildings and other

structures which will serve a definite function. Structures
would range from the simplest shelter to high rise structures
that meet the demand of modern cities and the growing
population.
CONSTRUCTION PRINCIPLES :
1. Post and Lintel - most houses are built on this principle. It is
the oldest construction system that makes use of two vertical
 support (post) spanned by a horizontal beam. (lintel).this
structures was invented by the Greeks.
2. Arch - this is a Roman invention that consist of separate
pieces of wedge-shaped blocks called VOUSSOIRS arranged in
a semi-circle. The most important part of the arch is the
keystone which is the stone at the top center that locks the
pieces together into a single curved structure.
From the principles of the arch, the following structures can be
built:
1. Barrel Vault - is a succession of arches, one place directly
behind another to produce a structure similar to a tunnel.
It has two openings, one on each end.
2. Groin Vault - structure that is formed by intersecting
arches resulting in four openings. The area at the center of
the groin vault is called a BAY.

3. Dome - structure with the shape of an inverted cup. It is

formed by a series of arches rising from consecutive points
on a base called the DRUM.
 3.Truss - a system of triangular forms assembled to form a rigid
framework. Trusses are used in bridges, theaters, and roofs.

4. Cantilever - structure that makes use of a beam or slab

that extends horizontally into space beyond its supporting
post. It is constructed to be strong enough to support
floors and walls.
5. Buttress - structure that is built as a support for the wall.
In most European churches buttress built to support the
dome are called flying buttresses.
MEDIA OF ARCHITECTURE
1. STONES AND BRICKS - stones are favored over other
materials for its durability, adaptability, in sculptural
treatment and its use for building simple structures in its
natural state. Stones weakness in tension limits its use for
beams, lintels and floor support.
BRICKS - are fire and water resistant, easy to produce,
transport and use. The size of bricks is limited by the need for
efficient drying, firing and handling. Special shapes can be
produced by molding to meet particular structural or
expressive requirements.
2. LUMBER (WOOD) - all parts of a building can be constructed
using wood except the foundations. Its major disadvantages
are susceptibility to fire, mold, and termites.
 3. IRON AND STEEL - these methods provide for stronger and
taller structures with less use of material when compared to
stone or wood.
4. CONCRETE - mixture of cement and water, with aggregates
of sand and gravel, which hardens rapidly resulting in a fire
resisting solid of great compressive strength. Concrete can be
poured into forms while wet to produce a great variety of
structural elements. Concrete also provides an economical
substitute for traditional materials and it has the ability to
fuse with other materials making the structure stronger.

C .LITERATURE AND THE COMBINED ARTS

A. LITERATURE - is the art of combining spoken or written words
and their meanings into forms which have artistic and emotional
appeal. Language is the medium of literature. The writer uses
words to build up his compositions. Not all writings which uses
language, however can be called literature. The term only refers
to works that exploit the suggestive power of language.
Any type of writing in any subject maybe considered a form of
literature as long as it is emotionally done , thus making the work
worth remembering.
In literature, there are 4 main genres.
1. POETRY - all poems share similar characteristics which
makes it easy for the reader to recognize them. For instance,
poems are written in lines and not in sentences or paragraph
 form. Poems used to follow strict rules as to the number and
length of lines and stanzas, but in recent years they have
become more free-flowing. Poetry is characterized by
abundance of figurative language and poets use devices like,
simile, metaphor, hyperbole, rhyme and others. Poetry’s
emphasis is on imagination, emotions and ideas. Poetry is
shorter than other genres but a type known as epic poetry is
quite long.
2. FICTION - this is any written work that is not real and which
uses elaborate figurative language. Fiction however, is more
structured than poetry. Fiction is divided into chapters.
Since fiction is based on writer’s creativity and
imagination, the subject matter can be anything. It can be
based on fantasy or ideas of everyday life and some
examples are legends, folk tales, fairy tales, short stories,
romance and horrors.
3. NON- FICTION - this is the opposite of fiction because the
subject matter comes from real living. Non fiction works are
all based on real people and real world experience. This
includes biographies, autobiographies, and essays. The
purpose of informative non fiction is to explain or inform the
readers about a concept or a situation.
4. DRAMA - this genre includes all plays or any written works
that are meant to be performed. Famous examples are the
plays of Shakespeare like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet,
Midsummer Nights and Florante at Laura of Francisco
Balagtas.
GENRES OF DRAMA:
1. Tragedy - one of literature’s greatest dramatic genre. It is
drama that presents life as solemn and serious. The central
character the hero or heroine who is admired at the first
part, later becomes arrogant and not worthy at all. The
audience leaves the theater not feeling sad or confused
but relieved and satisfied.
2. Melodrama - a type of drama that emphasizes the never
ending battle between good and evil wherein good always
wins. The audience can usually predict the flow of the
story that the villain is punished and the hero is saved and
lives happily with the heroine.
3. Comedy - a drama that is exact opposite of a tragedy.
Tragedies and comedies have similar components but
differ in the characteristics of each. For instance, in
tragedy, the hero is wealthy, handsome and educated, in
comedy the hero could be anybody who is poor, ordinary
and average. Tragedies portray power and abuse of power
while comedies portray human weaknesses and limitation.
There are 2 kinds of comedies ( satire and romantic)
3.1. Satire comedy - portrays human weaknesses and
criticizes human behavior to pave the path to some
form of salvation for human actions.
3.2. Romantic comedy portray human weaknesses in a
subtle way. It is more accepting in the adversities of
human behavior. Romantic comedies are more
 entertaining, enlightening, and favorable to the taste
of the audience.
4. Farce - is a light harmonious play in which the emphasis
Is on jokes, humorous physical action exaggerated
situations and improbable characters. The aim of this
drama is to make people laugh for the sake of laughing.

B. MUSIC - is defined as combining and regulating sounds of

varying pitch to produce composition that express various
ideas and feelings. Music particularly appeals to the
emotions.
MEDIA IN MUSIC:
1. Vocal Medium - the oldest and the most popular medium
for music is the human voice. The sounds projected by the
human voice is the most natural form of music. The human
voice has been classified as:
a) Suprano - highest female singing voice
b) Contra Alto - female singing voice that is low and rich in
quality
c) Tenor - highest adult male singing voice.
d)Bass - a male singing voice that is low and rich in quality
e)Baritone - male singing voice that is between tenor and
bass
2. Instrumental Medium - musical instruments produce
sound by blowing, bearing, plucking, or through the use of
 a bow. The following are the traditional instruments of
music:
a. String instruments - provides the basic orchestral
sounds. They produce tones by means of the vibration of
the stretched string. These are of 2 kinds:
a.1. Bowed strings produce tones by means of a bow of
horse hair. Violin, viola, violoncello, and the double bass
are examples.
a.2. Plucked strings produce tones by plucking the
strings with a finger or with a plectrum held in one hand.
Guitar, ukulele, banjo and the kudyapi of Maranao and
Manobo are some examples.
b. Woodwind instruments - create sounds by blowing into
them. The air blown causes vibration which can be altered by
shortening or lengthening the column of air inside the instrument.
The piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bass clarinet,
bassoon, double bassoon, and saxophone fall under this category.
c. Brass instrument - have cup-shaped mouthpiece and
expands into a bell-shaped end. Sound is produced by blowing
into the mouthpiece. The sound can be altered depending on the
tension of the lips. The trumpet, French horn, trombone and tuba
belong to this category.
d. Percussion instruments - make sound by hitting them
with the hands, special sticks or by striking, or shaking their parts
together. Kettledrums, chimes, xylophone, tambourine, castanets,
cymbals, and maracas fall under this category.
 e. Keyboard instruments - make sound by means of a
keyboard which consist of a series of black and white keys.
Depression of a key produces sound. The piano, harpschord,
celesta and organ belong to this group.
SOME GENRES OF MUSIC:
1. Classical music - was written in the European tradition and
symphony, concerto and sonata were categorized.
2. Folk music - created by unknown composers and is basically
transmitted orally from generation to generation.
3. Pop music - a genre of popular music which began in the
1950’s and is inspired by the rock and roll.
4. Jazz - originated in the African-American communities of
New Orleans in the U>S. in the early 20 centuries.
5. Blues - originated in the African-American in the deep south
of U.S. in the late 19th century. This musical genre
incorporated spiritual, work songs, chants and rhymed simple
narrative ballads.
6. Rock music - a form of popular music that evolved from rock
and roll and pop music. It became popular in the mid of
1960’s and was characterized by musical experimentation
and drug-related / anti- establishment lyrics.
7. Alternative music - style of rock music that emerged from the
independent music of the 80’s and gained popularity in the
90’s. The word ”alternative” refers to the genre’s distinction
from mainstream rock music.
 C. DANCE - is the oldest of all arts. Man’s gestures express
emotions through rhythmic movements. The medium of
dance is the body of the dancer. It is through his body that
ideas of feelings are communicated to the audience. Dancing
is a personal expression of something within the person that
connects him to others. Dancing as a performing art may be
telling a story.
Dances may vary depending on the place of origin, the
music, the reason for the dance and the type of dancers.
TYPES OF DANCE:
1. Ethnologic (ethnic) dances - includes folk dances, associated
with the national and or cultural group. Examples are
Tinikling, pandango sa ilaw and singkil.
2. Social or ballroom - dancing that are generally performed in
pairs and some examples are tango, waltz and boogie. This is
sometimes called contemporary or interpretative dance.
These dances emphasize personal communication of moods
and themes and is strongly influenced by societal trends in
music.also some examples are hiphop and popular dance
craze.
3. Ballet - type of dance which originated royal courts of the
medieval era. It may be a solo or concerted performance on
stage accompanied by music. Examples are the Nutcracker
and Swan Lake.
4. Musical comedy - (musical) refers to those dances performed
by one dancer or a group of dancers and it combines various
forms of ballet, modern, tap and acrobatics.

D.CINEMA - the cinema can be characterized can be described

as a series of images that are projected onto a screen to
create the illusion of motion. This is also called as motion
pictures, movies, or films and is considered to be one of the
most popular forms of entertainment.
GENRES OF MOTION PICTURES:
1. Feature films - are movies most commonly shown in large
movie theaters. These films portray fictional stories or stories
based on real events but are portrayed by actors.
2. Animated movies - follow the same format as feature films,
but use images created by artists / animations. These films
create the illusion of movement from a series of two-
dimensional drawings, three – dimensional objects or
computer generated images. Animated films today are three-
dimensional which makes them look so real.
3. Documentary movies - deal primarily with facts, not fiction.
Documentaries are not usually shown in theaters, but are
broadcast regularly on cable and television. Some well known
documentaries are of events that have strong impact on
people’s lives. Examples are WW II, THE 911 attack.
4. Experimental films - are sequence of images, literal or
abstract, which do not necessarily form a narrative. An
 experiment film can be animated, live action, computer
generated or a combination of the three.
5. Educational film - are specifically intended to facilitate
learning at home or in the classroom. Their aim is to provide
instruction on various subjects ranging from history to
cooking.

PEOPLE BEHIND A MOTION PICTURE

1. Actors - play the roles of the character
2. Producer - handles finances which includes paying for the
production, hiring actors and the production team and
making arrangements for distributing the finished film to
theaters
3. Screenwriter - develops stories and ideas for the screen or
adapts interesting written pieces of work. Examples are
Star wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter.
4. Director - studies the script, plans and visualizes how the
film should be portrayed and guides the actors and the
production crew as they carry out the project.

End of the topic.

Thank you.