DANCE
 A form of art using rhythmic bodily movements
expressing ideas and emotions and accompanied by
music.
 As an art form, it may tell a story, set a mood, or
express an emotion. It is a form of exercise; a number
of people who want to be physically fit turn to dancing.
 It is also a form of recreation; dances are almost always
a part of parties and other social activities.
 It is also a form of socialization; ballrooms and dance
halls are venues where people socialize, meet new
friends, and form new associations.
Music and dance are allied arts.
Similarities: they are both performing arts, that they have a
temporary or transient nature, and that they are enjoyed by
artists and audience alike. They are also related to each other
in that music is an important element of dance.
ELEMENTS OF DANCE
1. Dancer
the most important element of dance. Since he is
the performer, there won't be a dance without him. He
executes the steps, follows the instructions of the
choreographer, wears the costumes, and carries the
props.
2. Choreography
A choreographer is the dance director. He does
the overall design of the dance, assigns the steps to be
executed by the dancer/s, selects the costumes and
props that go with the dance, and determines the set
designed for the dance.
Geleen Eugenio used to choreograph the
Universal Motion Dancers or UMD and the "Starstruck"
finalists, and Maribeth Bichara did the choreography
for the VIP Dancers. The two are not only good
choreographers but also good dancers. To be a good
choreographer, one must be a good dancer.
3. Design
Design is the planned organization or pattern of
movements in time and space. It involves the
movements and the positioning of the dancers, and the
steps executed by them. An outstanding dance
performance is always dependent on the design of the
dance. Thus, the dancers of a dance troupe discuss the
design of the dance, together with the choreographer,
before they start their rehearsal.
4. Subject
Subject is the message of the dance. Simply put,
it tells what the dance is about.
For example, the theme of the Ifugao war dance is
the rivalry between two tribes that leads to an armed
conflict. Subjects of the dances differ from one dance to
another.
5. Movements
Movements are classified into steps, gestures, and
facial expressions.
 Steps are the dancers' movements from one point on
stage to another; these include leaps, turns, rolls, and
somersaults.
 Gestures are the movements of their heads, hands,
feet, and other body parts; these include swaying,
head shaking, foot stomping, and clapping.
 Facial expressions are the movements of their
facial parts, as exemplified by the raising of
eyebrows, pouting of lips, and crumpling of
forehead.
6. Technique
Technique is the style or way of executing the
movements. For example, the grind may be done singly
or doubly, or the twist may be done quickly or slowly.
7. Properties
More commonly called props, properties are the
things carried by the dancers as they perform. These
include the glasses with lighted candles (pandanggo sa
ilaw), sombreros (pandanggo sa sambalilo), fans (fan
dance), umbrellas (umbrella dance), sticks (sakuting),
pots (banga), spears and shields (singkil), towels,
torches, and so on.
8. Costumes
Costumes are the things worn by the dancers
during their performance. These include the head gear,
the upper garments, the lower garments, and the
footwear. Hats, caps, fez, bonnets, helmets, crowns,
turbans, and hoods are among the head gear. Blouses,
kimono, kimona, baro't saya, malong, patadyong, traje,
gowns, Maria Clara dresses, skirts, bloomers, and the
like are garments for female dancers, while shirts,
camisa de chino, barong Tagalog, shorts, long pants,
trousers, G-strings, and the like are garments for male
dancers. Their footwear may be shoes, slippers, sandals,
socks, and stockings.
9. Set design.
The setting or the background that indicates the
place of action for the dancers. Vintas are placed as
backdrop for singkil, a vintage Spanish-inspired house
for jota, and nipa huts for tinikling.
10. Other theatrical elements
Elements such as lighting effects, sound effects,
visual effects, and the like form part of a dance
performance when the dance is performed as part of a
musical play or when it is a theatrical dance.
DRAMA OR THEATER
 Drama is a form of art that depicts life's experiences
through the reenactment of events that take place in
the real world or happen in the mind of the writer.
More often than not, it mirrors life.
 Derived from the Greek word dram meaning to act or
to do,
 It is performed on stage or in front of the camera by
actors and actresses under the supervision of the
director. Like music and dance, drama serves to inform
and entertain. Unlike the other two performing arts, it
serves to persuade because it can be used as
propaganda. It still has other purposes: to help
conserve a country's or society's legends, to execute its
 laws, to explore its problems, to demonstrate its codes,
to ridicule its weaknesses, and to extend its
knowledge.
ELEMENTS OF DRAMA/THEATER
1. Direction
The director is the overall in charge of the
dramatic performance. He instructs the actors and all
the people involved in the production from the
production assistants to the cameramen, props men,
effects men, designers, writers, editors,
cinematographers, and so on. He is always present from
the pre-production stage to the post- production stage of
the play. The internationally acclaimed Lino Brocka
epitomizes a good director.
2. Acting
The members of the cast perform the roles assigned
to them by the director. They read the script, memorize
their lines, follow the instructions given by the director,
and give justice to their assigned roles. Among the
actors groomed into high-caliber performers by Lino
Brocka were Christopher de Leon ("Tinimbang Ka
Ngunit Kulang"), Bembol Roco ("Maynila: Sa mga
Kuko ng Liwanag"), Hilda Koronel ("Insiang" and
"Maynila: Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag"), Philip Salvador
("Jaguar" and "Kapit sa Patalim"), Nora Aunor
("Bona"), Gina Alajar ("Orapronobis"), and Vilma
Santos ("Sister Stella L").
3. Editing
The editor sequences the scenes to be presented in
such a way that they make up a coherent whole. Like a
newspaper editor who deletes unnecessary words from
a news article, he takes out unnecessary scenes,
particularly the obscene and offensive ones.
4. Set design
The set designer does the layout of the set. He
determines what to place as backdrop and what to put
on stage. For example, the design for the set of the play,
"New Yorker in Tondo," is a simulation of a living
room of a middle-class family residing in Tondo,
Manila. Set designs are classified into realistic, abstract,
suggestive, or functional.
5. Production design
Similar to the set designer for a stage play, the
production designer is tasked to do the overall design
for a drama to be shown on the small screen or the
wide screen. Opposed to a set designer, a production
designer has a bigger responsibility because his work is
not only limited to a studio, a room, or the stage but it
covers an area as wide as a small community or a large
province. At times, his work also involves designing
costumes, determining the props to be used, and
collaborating with the cinematographer. For example,
the production designs of fantasy movies such as
"Exodus" and "Harry Potter" are elaborate.
6. Cinematography
The cinematographer is the person who takes
charge of the photography. He looks for a location that
fits the story and, with the aid of the cameramen, shoots
the scenes forming part of the drama. For example,
some of the underwater scenes of the top-rated
television series "Dyesebel" were shot in Palawan.
7. Costume design
The costume designer creates the clothes to be
worn by the actors and actresses. Akin to a fashion
designer who comes up with fashionable clothes
appealing to his target market, he sees to it that the
costumes suit the characters to be portrayed by the
performers. For example, the actors in "Star Trek" and
"Star Wars" wear outlandish costumes to signify that
they are aliens.
8. Make-up
The make-up artist beautifies or uglifies the actors
and actresses based on the roles they portray.
For example, Vilma Santos and Anne Curtis, who
played the role of "Kampanerang Kuba," were made
ugly and humpbacked. Sam Milby was turned obese in
the film "My Big Love" in much the same way as
Jopay Paguia became the fat "Tabachingching" in a
television series. Linda Blair looked terrifying in the
horror movie entitled "The Exorcist."
Make-up is made up of body paints (tattoos,
lipsticks, face powder, and the like) and paddings (a
hump on one's back, a big tummy to show obesity or
pregnancy, and an artificial nose for the Pinocchio
character).
9. Properties
The properties (props for short) are the things
which the actors and actresses carry or bring with
them as they perform on stage or in front of the
camera in order to establish their characters. For
example, a driver brings with him a hand towel; a
farmer, a bolo; a fisherman, a fishnet; a female
prostitute, a pack of cigarettes; a vendor, his goods; and
a teacher, books.
10. Light or lighting effects
The lights man is in charge of determining the
amount (bright or dark) and the sources (sun, lamip,
flashlight, or candle) of light needed to make scenes
realistic and credible. For example, if it is nighttime
and the production people are going to shoot a daytime
scene, the lights must be in full blast. The reverse is true
if a nighttime scene is to be shot during daytime. The
persons involved in lighting effects must have a way of
letting the audience know if the scene is taking place at
dawn, in the morning, at noon, in the afternoon, at dusk,
or in the evening.
11. Sound effects
The sound effects man is in charge of determining
the amount (loud or soft) and the sources (people,
animals, objects, e. g., horns, and others, e. g.,
thunder) of sound needed to make the scenes realistic
and credible. For example, if the scene to be shot is in a
busy street within the university belt, sounds such as the
shouting of vendors, the honking of horns, and the noise
emanating from moving vehicles must be present.
12. Visual effects
The visual effects man is in charge of producing
those sights that are not usually captured by the
camera in order to make the scenes effective, exciting,
 and appealing to the viewers. Examples are the
division of the Red Sea in "The Ten Commandments,"
the flying scenes of "Mulawin" and "Majika"
characters, the disappearing and reappearing acts of
"Encantadia" and "La Vendetta" characters, and the
duplication or multiplication of the characters in
"Darna" and "Joaquin Bordado."
13. Theme song
The theme song is the song composed to
represent the theme or the subject matter of the
drama. For example, Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go
on" and Mandy Moore's "Only Hope" are appropriate
theme songs for the films "Titanic" and "A Walk to
Remember," respectively.
14. Musical score
The theme song is not the only song played in a
drama, whether it is a comedy, a tragedy, a melodrama,
or another genre. There are other songs played to set
the mood (for example, romantic), to excite the
audience (as in scenes showing the protagonist
chasing the antagonist, or vice versa), or keep the
viewers glued to their seats (as in "High School
Musical," "Xanadu," and "Saturday Night Fever"). In
Sharon Cuneta's movies. "Bituing Walang Ningning"
and "P.S. I Love You," the theme songs having the
same titles were not the only songs rendered; there were
a lot of songs played to the delight of the audience.
Thus, the musical scorer is tasked to arrange the music
that forms part of the drama.
15. Story
The story is one of the most important aspects of a
play for without it, there won't be any production. The
story may be an adaptation (Lea Salonga's musical play
entitled "Cinderella" is an adaptation of the fairy tale
with the same title.) or an original narrative ("My Best
Friend's Girlfriend").
The story is the brainchild of the writer of the
original story or of the author of the novel (Lualhati
Bautista's Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa and Dekada
'70), short story, epic poetry (Homer's Iliad and
Odyssey), or any literary piece turned into a play.
16. Script
The script is that which contains the dialogue or
the lines to be memorized by the performers. It also
contains the director's instructions. The author of the
story is oftentimes the scriptwriter. For example,
Ricardo Lee prepares the scripts for the stories he
writes. There are times when the story writer is different
from the scriptwriter; in this case, the two collaborate to
make the drama an effective medium for
communicating ideas and emotions, and for entertaining
the theater- or movie-going public.
17. Literary elements
The literary elements of drama are the setting,
characters, plot, theme, conflict, point of view, tone,
mood, and atmosphere.
KINDS OF DRAMA
Tragedy
A tragedy is a drama in which the hero fails to
fulfill his goal or goals. His failure is attributed to his tragic
flaw, a fatal mistake. The protagonist cannot overcome an
inevitable failure although he may show courage along the
way. The narrative ends unhappily for the hero with whom
the viewers sympathize; thus, it is regarded as a sad-
endingstory. However, a tragedy does not necessarily end
with the hero's death. Examples are the well-loved Theban
plays of Sophocles, "Oedipus Rex" and "Antigone," which
are popular tragedies performed in school theaters and
similar venues.
Comedy.
A comedy is a drama in which the hero succeeds
in fulfilling his goal or goals. Sometimes, it is comic all
throughout as a comedy of manners or a slapstick comedy
such that the viewers laugh and laugh as they watch the
performance. There are comedies that are partially funny or
more serious than funny; nevertheless, they are considered
comedies because they focus on the protagonist who is
successful in his plans. Because the narrative ends happily
for the hero, it is considered a happy- ending story.
Comedies are classified into situational comedy (sitcom),
romantic comedy (romcom), comedy of idea, and comedy of
manners. Examples of this type are the comic films of
Dolphy, the Comedy King of the Philippines, whose "John
en Marsha," "Facifica Falayfay," and "Tatay Nick" were
top-grossers.
Tragicomedy.
A tragicomedy is a drama in which the hero fails
with respect to some goals but succeeds with respect to the
other goals. It is merely a combination of a tragedy and a
comedy.
Farce.
A farce is a drama written by an author whose
intention is to poke fun at the hero, his subject. The hero,
oftentimes symbolizing a public official or a person of
authority, is rendered ridiculous. The dramatic tone is
satirical.
Melodrama.
A melodrama is a drama that focuses not on the
protagonist, but on the action or the situation. It is
characterized by a sentimental love story, sensational
actions, extravagant emotions, and a happy ending. Most of
Sharon Cuneta's films are melodramatic.
Religious Play.
A religious play is a drama that serves to reenact a
biblical event or to teach a truth or truths pertaining to a
certain religion. Examples of religious plays are mystery
plays, miracle plays, morality plays, and passion play
(cenaculo). Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is a
good example of this type.
Historical Play.
Just like a religious play, a historical play serves to
reenact a historical event that plays an important role on
the lives of the viewers.
Examples of this are "Rizal the Movie" "Rizal sa
Dapitan," "Macario Sacay" and "General Luna."
Musical Play.
 Also known as an opera, a musical play is an art
form that combines music and drama. Dealing with any
subject, it differs from other plays in as much as the
performers do not say their lines, but sing them. The
performers here must not only be good actors, but also be
good singers.
Therefore, the producers of the Filipino production
of the Hindu epic Ramayana entitled "Rama at Sita” hired
the services of Lani Misalucha, Jaya, Ariel Rivera, and
Franco Laurel. It involves dances, too. Because it is a
combined art, it has elements that are not present in a pure
dramatic form. These are as follows:
overture (introduction), aria (performance by a solo singer),
duet (performance by two singers), trio (performance by
three singers), quartette (performance by four singers),
quintette (performance by five singers), sextette
(performance by six singers), septette (performance by
seven singers), intermezzos and interludes (orchestral pieces
played between acts and scenes), recitative (recited part),
chorus (choral or group singing), and dance.
Media or Materials Used in Contemporary Art
Music
 Vocal media, as the term suggests, pertain to male and
female voices. Male voices have three registers: bass
(lowest), baritone (middle), and tenor (highest). Female
voices also have three registers: alto (lowest), mezzo
soprano (middle) ,and soprano (highest). The highest of
the female vocal registers is the coloratura soprano
whereas the lowest of the male vocal registers is the
basso profundo.
 Instrumental media pertain to the different
instruments played by musicians. Most of these
instruments form part of the orchestra. Based on how
their sounds are produced, they are classified into string
or stringed, wind, percussion, and keyboard
instruments. String or stringed instruments, as their
name suggests, have strings which are either plucked or
bowed. The plucked strings are guitars, ukuleles,
banjos, mandolins, harps, and the erstwhile lyres while
the bowed strings are violins, violas, violincellos or
cellos, and double basses or contrabasses. Wind
Instruments, as their name suggests, require wind to
produce sound so they are blown. Based on the
materials that are used to create them, they are
classified into woodwind instruments and brass
instruments. The piccolos, flutes, oboes, English horns,
clarinets, bass clarinets, bassoons, and contrabassoons
are the woodwind instruments. The brass instruments
consist of the saxophones, trumpets, French horns,
trombones, tubas, and cornets. Percussion instruments
are beaten or struck. They come in a variety of forms.
The drums (kettle drums, snare drums, side drums,
etc.), glockenspiels, xylophones, marimbas, gongs,
cymbals, triangles, and chimes belong to this group.
Keyboard instruments, as their name suggests, have
keys which are pressed to produce the desired sounds.
They include the piano, the organ, the celesta, the piano
accordion, and the harmonium.
Dance
Dance materials are those materials used for
costumes, properties, and set design.
 Costumes include the head gear, the upper garments,
the lower garments, and the footwear. Hats, caps, fez,
bonnets, helmets, crowns, turbans, and hoods are
among the head gear. Blouses, kimono, kimona, baro't
saya, malong, patadyong, traje, gowns, Maria Clara
dresses, skirts, bloomers, and the like are garments for
female dancers, while shirts, camisa de chino, barong
Tagalog, shorts, long pants, trousers, G-strings, and the
like are garments for male dancers. Their footwear may
be shoes, slippers, sandals, socks, and stockings.
 Props include the glasses with lighted candles
(pandanggo sa ilaw), sombreros (pandanggo sa
sambalilo), fans (fan dance), umbrellas (umbrella
dance), sticks (sakuting), pots (banga), spears and
shields (singkil), pom-pom (cheer dance), towels
torches, and so on.
 As far as set design is concerned, vintas are placed as
backdrop for singkil, a vintage Spanish-inspired house
for jota, and nipa huts for tinikling.
Drama
 A stage play is a drama performed on stage; the actors
perform live before an audience. Examples are "New
Yorker in Tondo" and "The World Is an Apple."
 A radio play is a drama aired over the radio; the actors
perform live in the studio but not before an audience.
Examples are "Beinte Cuatro Oras" and "Ito ang
Inyong Tiya Dely."
 A television play is a drama shown on television; the
play is taped days before it is presented to the public.
Examples are "Magpakailanman" and "Maalaala Mo
Kaya."
 Lastly, a movie or a film is a drama shown on the wide
screen; the film is shot months before it is presented to
the public. Examples are "Rizal the Movie" and "Muro
Ami."
Literature
The medium of literature is language. A poet,
fictionist, novelist, dramatist, or essayist, makes use of
words to compose a poem, short story, novel, drama, or
essay, respectively. More often than not, men of letters
exploit the suggestive power of language and use words
connotatively. Poets and prose writers make use of idioms,
figures of speech, and literary devices to express their ideas
and sentiments regarding a certain subject. Subjects in
literature may be as ordinary as everyday experiences or
extraordinary such as an encounter with aliens, for example,
Martians.
Painting
 Oil painting is done with the use of ground pigments
(from minerals, coal tar, vegetable matter, etc.) mixed
with linseed oil and turpentine or thinner. Many
painters prefer oil as a medium because oil paintings are
long-lasting, slow in drying, easy to handle and
manipulate texturally, and capable of being corrected.
o Oil paints are applied in either of two ways: the
direct method, in which the paints are opaque and
once they are applied on the surface, they dry up
and give the finished product its final appearance;
o and the indirect method, in which the paints are
transparent and they are applied in many thin
layers or coatings. Richness in the opacity of light
and depth of shadow are some of its good effects.
 Fresco (Italian for fresh) painting is done with the use
of earth pigments mixed with water and applied to fresh
plaster or glue which attaches the color to the surface
 like a wall. When the plaster is wet, the painting is
described as buon fresco or true fresco. On the other
hand, when the plaster is dry, the painting is described
as fresco secco or dry fresco.
The biggest advantage of fresco paintings is their
durability. However, it has a number of disadvantages, as
follows: fresco is an exacting medium because it is quick to
dry so the painter must be a fast worker and because it is
difficult to correct; fresco paintings are not movable because
they are permanently attached to the walls; and fresco
paintings are subject to loss in the event that the walls are
destroyed.
 Watercolor painting is done with the use of pigments
mixed with water and applied to fine white paper.
Besides white paper, cambric, parchment, ivory, and
silk can be used as surface or ground. The colors are
appliedin very thin layers and all the light comes from
the ground, which gives it brilliance. A painter can also
make use of opaque watercolor called gouache,
produced by grinding opaque colors with water and
combining them with a preparation of gum and adding
Chinese white to transparent watercolors (Sanchez,
Abad, and Jao, 2002).
 Tempera painting is done with the use of ground
pigments mixed with an albuminous or colloidal vehicle
(egg yolk, gum, glue, or casein). Being an emulsion,
tempera readily dries with the evaporation of water and
this characteristic is one of its advantages. Another
advantage is its effect on the wooden panel, its ground
or surface - luminosity of tone. Its quick-drying is also a
disadvantage; it allows little blending or fusing of
colors. The use of tempera suffered a decline in the
1300s when oil paint was invented in Northern Europe
(Marcos, 2006). Nevertheless, it is still used today.
 Pastel painting is done with the use of pastel colors
closely resembling dry pigments bound to form
crayons, which are directly applied to the surface,
oftentimes paper. A very recent and very flexible
medium, pastel is not popular among artists because it
is difficult to preserve a pastel painting due to the
tendency of the chalk to rub off.
 Acrylic painting is done with the use of synthetic
paints called acrylics mixed with a vehicle capable of
being thinned with water. Acrylic emulsion or polymer
serves as its binding agent. One of the most widely used
mediums today due to its availability in the market,
acrylic paint possesses the flexibility of oil and the
transparency and the fast-drying ability of watercolor.
Moreover, it is soluble in water, it can be applied on
almost all surfaces, and it has no tendency to crack and
to darken or yellow with age.
 Encaustic painting is done with the use of hot wax as a
vehicle to bind pigments to a wooden panel or a wall.
Although it has the advantage of durability with its
colors remaining vibrant and its surface maintaining a
hard luster, encaustic is not a popular medium among
painters because it is difficult to manipulate. The
ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans adorned their
sculptures and walls with encaustic paintings.
Subjects as Materials for Painting
There are so many subjects that can be presented in
painting. The prehistoric men painted animals and other
things of nature on walls of caves. The early Egyptians
painted fragments of life stories of the pharaohs. The ancient
Greeks and Romans were so fond of their male and female
deities. The Renaissance painters did portraits of Mary and
Jesus and depicted biblical stories. Others had fun doing
landscapes, seascapes, cityscapes, and the like.
Portraits are pictures of men and women singly or
collectively. Before the camera was invented, there was no
other means to know the face of a person, most especially a
dead one, but through a portrait. Thus, paintings of men's
faces, if not their entire bodies, became a hit. Sad to say, it
was the elite, particularly the kings and noblemen, who
could afford the services of good painters. The poor ones did
not have a remembrance of their faces. Nowadays, charcoal
is one of the mediums used in doing portraits. In
photography, an art allied to painting, portraits are among
the favorite subjects.
During the ancient times, man's primary concern was
survival. In the early stages of men's development (hunting
and food-gathering), his first encounters were with animals
and plants. Because of this constant contact with and their
interest in these living organisms, it was inevitable for them
to paint these things they needed to survive. In fact, the
earliest paintings discovered in several caves in Europe were
those of animals. Even now, a number of painters prefer
animals and plants, specifically flowering plants, as subjects
for their paintings.
Still life is a painting of an inanimate object or a non-living
thing placed on a table or another setting. A basket of fruits,
a bag of groceries, a pack of cigarettes, a bunch of flowers,
and a bucket of chicken are examples of still life. The
goodness of having a still life as a subject is its availability
and capability to be organized.
Country Life: Painters living in the countryside have access
to scenes happening daily in their community. Local events
such as a barrio fiesta, a fluvial parade, a bountiful rice
harvest, a big catch of fishes, and a natural calamity are
exciting painting subjects. Many realist and impressionist
painters are fond of country life.
Country life is the subject of most of Amorsolo's works
("Farmer," "Barrio Fiesta," "Tinikling Dance" "The
Bathers," "Mother and Child," and "Countryside Scene").
Any of the land forms can be the subject of a landscape
painting. These land forms include the volcano, the
mountain, the hill, the valley, the plain, the plateau, the cliff,
and the like. Likewise, any of the water forms can be the
subject of a seascape painting. These water forms include
the ocean, the sea, the river, the brook, the pond, the falls,
the lake, and the like. Moreover, an aerial view of a city or a
portion of it can be the subject of a cityscape painting.
Events are among the favorite subjects of painters. The
"Spoliarium" and the "Blood Compact" of Juan Luna and
the "Christian Virgins Exposed to the Populace" of Felix
Resurreccion Hidalgo are examples of such subjects.
"Moses Commanding the Red Sea to Divide" is another
illustration.
Religious items such as the Holy Family, Madonna and
Child, Jesus Christ, angels, saints, and religious objects are
as commonly used subjects today as they were during the
Medieval and Renaissance Periods. Raphael Sanzio's
paintings were mostly Madonnas; "Madonna of the Rocks"
is one of the famous paintings of Leonardo da Vinci.
Mythological, fictional, and cartoon characters are also
favorite subjects for painting. An example of such paintings
is Raphael Sanzio's "Galatea," a mythological character.
Supernatural beings, dreams and fantasies, technological
items, and objects dear to the painters are common subjects.
Tools Used in Painting
Just like any worker, a painter makes use of several
tools in completing his work. These include the brush or
brushes, the palette, the palette knife or spatula, and the
easel. Assorted brushes are used to have a variety of strokes.
The palette is the one that contains or holds the painting
medium. The palette knife is used to mix colors on the
palette and sometimes to add colors to and to scrape or
remove colors from the painting surface. And the easel is the
frame that supports the painting; it usually has three legs.
 Sculpture
There are more materials available for sculptors
than for painters. Anything that can be used to form a
three-dimensional figure is a likely medium for
sculpture. Wood, stone, paper, cloth, glass, cement,
and plastic are some of the common mediums used by
sculptors. Other permanent materials such as shells,
amber, and brick, and even ephemeral ones such as
feather, dough used in baking, sugar, bird seed,
leaves, ice or snow, and cake icing have become
sculptural materials. These days, any material is a
possible sculptural medium (inflated polyethylene,
foam rubber, expanded polystyrene, styropor, neon
tubes, any type of cloth, and even junk).
Sometimes, a combination of these materials is
employed by an artist to create a masterpiece. Take the
case of Guillermo Tolentino who used bronze and
stone to complete the "Oblation." More often than not,
the mediums used depend on the sculptural process to
be undertaken. Hence, the mediums are grouped into
two: those applicable to additive sculpture and those
applicable to subtractive sculpture.
In additive sculpture, the sculptor simply puts
together the materials to come up with the desired
figure. For example, to produce a papier mache
animal, the sculptor glues together wet strips of old
newspaper and magazines on the mold and removes the
dried bound paper from the mold by cutting the formed
thing in the middle; then he puts together the cut ends
by gluing them. In short, he just adds and adds paper
until he has reached the satisfactory level. Other than
paper, clay and clay-like substances, cloth, terra cotta
(cooked earth), shells, pebbles, sand, and metal (by
means of welding used as casting in sculpture as
invented by Julio Gonzalez) are choice materials for
additive sculpture. The sand castle in Boracay Island is
a good illustration.
In subtractive sculpture, the sculptor removes the
unnecessary parts of the medium he uses to form the
desired figure. For example, to produce a wooden
horse, the sculptor marks the areas to be removed from
the entire wood, takes away the excess parts by using
tools such as chisels and saws, and does the finishing
touches. In fact, the process of subtracting unwanted
wood continues until a satisfactory level is reached.
Aside from wood, stone, Ivory, glass, ice, fruits, plants,
and plastic are choice materials for subtractive
sculpture. The ice sculptures in Star City came into
being through this sculptural process.
Subjects Used as Materials in Sculpture
The subjects of sculpture range from living
organisms (people, animals, and plants) to non-living things,
places, events, etc.
People. Important personages such as heroes and saints are
the most common subjects of sculpture. Examples are St.
Lorenzo Ruiz, St. Pedro Calungsod, St. Nicolas or Santa
Claus, and Lapu-Lapu, a datu in Star City, and a Filipino
mother.
Animals and Plants. Animals and plants are among the
sculptors' favorite subjects. The Philippine eagle, the
tamaraw, and the parrot are examples of animal sculptures.
Papier mache is a popular method of producing such
sculptures.
Places. Sculptures of places are rare. An example of these is
the Philippine map in Rizal Park. The defunct Nayong
Pilipino used to house the replicas of the Philippine tourist
spots, namely: the Mayon Volcano in Albay, the Chocolate
Hills in Bohol, and the Rice Terraces in Banaue.
Events. Historical, biblical, and other events are also
subjects of sculptural works. The "Cry of Pugad Lawin" is
found in Caloocan City; the dioramas of major events in
Philippine history are found in Ayala Museum in Makati
City; and the sculptures of geological events are located in
the National Museum at the Rizal Park. The return of Gen.
Douglas MacArthur in Intramuros, "The Last Supper of
Christ," and the "Three Kings' Visit to Christ" illustrate
events as sculptural pieces.
Religious Items. Besides the images of martyrs and saints,
sculptures of a religious nature abound. The Ifugao bulol,
the Christ's relief, Michelangelo's "Pieta" in Italy, and the
Philippine "Pieta" in Malate Church are examples.
Others. Mythological beings such as deities and centaurs
and strange objects are subjects of sculpture, just as are
symbolic scenes.
 Architecture
The mediums used in architecture are classified
into light and heavy materials.
Light materials include paper, nipa, bamboo, and
other light wood. All, except paper, form part of nipa
huts and similar dwellings in tropical countries. The
advantage of these materials is that they allow for good
ventilation, but their disadvantage is that they are not
resistant to fire and other natural elements. Thus, houses
made of light materials, especially those in squatter or
slum areas, are described as fire hazards. The trend now
is toward the use of heavy materials which are not only
fire-resistant but also durable and able to withstand
natural forces such as earthquakes, landslides, storms,
and floods. These materials are hardwood, stone,
concrete (combination of cement, gravel, and sand),
cob, mortar, brick, steel, and cast iron. They always
form part of high-rise buildings, for example,
condominiums.