FILIPINO

ART AND
CRAFTS
Objectives for this chapter:

1. To be able to define the two different types of

Filipino Art.
2. To be able to narrate the history of Filipino Art
3. To be able to distinguish and give concrete
examples of the different categories of Filipino
Musical Instruments.
Handicraft, more precisely expressed as
artisanal handicraft, sometimes also called
artisanry, is a type of work where useful and
decorative devices are made completely by
hand or by using only simple tools. It is a
traditional main sector of craft.
 FILIPINO ART AND
CRAFTS CAN BE DIVIDED
INTO TWO:
1. Traditional Art

– Folk architecture - including, but not limited to, stilt houses, land houses,
and aerial houses
– Maritime transport - boat houses, boat-making, and maritime traditions
– Weaving - including, but not limited to, basket weaving, back-strap loom
weaving, headgear weaving, fishnet weaving, and other forms of weaving
– Carving - including, but not limited to, woodcarving and folk non-clay
sculpture
– Folk performing arts - including, but not limited to, dances, plays, and
dramas
Traditional Art (cont.)

– Folk (oral) literature - including, but not limited to, epics, songs, and
myths
– Folk graphic and plastic arts - including, but not limited to, calligraphy,
tattooing, folk writing, folk drawing, and folk painting
– Ornament, textile, or fiber art - hat-making, mask-making, accessory-
making, ornamental metal crafts
– Pottery - including, but not limited to, ceramic making, clay pot-making,
and folk clay sculpture
BAHAY KUBO
BAHAY NA BATO
TOROGAN
Okir and Sarimanok
A Sama-Bajau lepa houseboat with
okir designs on the stern
BALANGAY
Pottery is the art of making objects from
hard clay by exposing them to heat or fire.
 Pots, statues, cups, urns, vases, jars, flat
plates
This art has been used for over 9000
years usually consists of archeological
artifacts that define an era or time in
history.
 The basic tool in pottery is the potter’s
wheel. It is a simple turntable on which
wet, fresh clay revolves while a potter
shapes it with his or her hands. The wheel
allows the potter to shape the object
uniformly.
 After the objects are shaped, the soft clay
is baked in a kiln.
 In the Philippines, pottery is sometimes
useful in making big jars or banga for
relatives who have passed away.
 Ilocos – burnay jars
 Weaving is the making of fabric by
interlacing threads.
 The machine used for weaving is called a
loom.
Warp threads are stretched on a frame, and
an instrument called a shuffle carries
weft threads under and over the warp.
 Tribal communities in the Philippines
known for their woven textiles.
 Known for their binulan and wanno which are
used as shawls to keep their body warm
 They use birds, frogs and man as their
design for their woven cloths
 The malong is a famous male underpants.
It is a piece of cloth that’s tied at the waist
and looks like a skirt
 The kandit is the official costume of the
Tausug Tribe
Aside from cloth, there are other objects that
are woven in the Philippines, such as baskets,
fans, mats, bilao, fisherman’s net, furnitures
and the farmer’s hat or salakot.
There are other materials used in woven
objects in the Philippines. In Bicol, abaca is
used. The bamboo and rattan are also used,
especially for pieces of furniture that are
world-class and are exported abroad.
 The art if putting design on pieces of
wood.
 In the North, Cordillera carves the bulol, a
pagan statue of their gods or anitos.
 They also carve bowls and utensils.
 Figures of man and animals are also
carved.
 In the south, the Maranaos and Tausugs are
known for their okir-a-datu designs.
 The sarimanok is a colorful bird with a fish
on its beak. Naga or snake. Pako or fern.
 Those are decorative elements of the
Torongan or datu’s house.
 The Tagbanuas of Palawan use animals and
man as a common deisgn for
woodcarving
  Favorite accessory of ancient people.
 It consists usually of amulets that are used to
keep evil spirits away.
 T’bolis→use brass for chains and bells.
They also use beads and strings to make
neckalces etc.
 Tattoos are also used to decorate one’s
body. They also show one’s place in
society.
 Brass, bronze, gold, and silver are heated and
poured into molds to make objects from
jewelry to other decorative objects.
 Maranaos are famous for their metal craft.
 In Batangas, a famous metal product is the
balisong, a local knife.
2. Non-traditional Art

– Dance - including, but not limited to, dance choreography, dance

direction, and dance performance
– Music - including, but not limited to, musical composition, musical
direction, and musical performance
– Theater - including, but not limited to, theatrical direction, theatrical
performance, theatrical production design, theatrical light and sound
design, and theatrical playwriting
– Visual arts - including, but not limited to painting, non-folk sculpture,
printmaking, photography, installation art, mixed media works,
illustration, graphic arts, performance art, and imaging
Non-traditional Art (cont.)

– Literature - including, but not limited to, poetry, fiction, essay, and literary/art
criticism
– Film and broadcast arts - including, but not limited to, film and broadcast
direction, film and broadcast writing, film and broadcast production design, film
and broadcast cinematography, film and broadcast editing, film and broadcast
animation, film and broadcast performance, and film and broadcast new media
– Architecture and allied arts - including, but not limited to, non-folk
architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and urban design
– Design - including, but not limited to, industrial design, and fashion design
Works of then Prolific Artist: Kublai
Millan
Works of Kublai Millan
“The Commemorative Statue of
Peace and Unity”
TYPES OF FILIPINO
MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS:
 1. AEROPHONES

Refer to musical
instruments that produces
Kaleleng (a long
sounds without the use of
bamboo tube of the
STRINGS or MEMBRANES.
Bontoc)
2. CHORDOPHONES

Refer to musical
instruments which
Saludoy (bamboo
produces sounds by way of
guitar of the T’boli)
plucking strings between
two points.
3. IDIOPHONE

Refer to musical
instruments which
produces sounds by Kubing (Jaw Harp of the
way of vibration but Ata and Manobo)
without the use of
strings or membranes.
4. MEMBRANOPHONE

Refers to musical
instruments which
Dabakan (glass-shaped
produces sounds by
drum of the Maranao)
way of vibrating
stretched membrane.
When did Filipino
Art Started?
A. Hindu-Buddhist
Iconography Period
“The Golden Tara”

– discovered in Esperanza,
Agusan in 1917 by a
Manobo woman named
Bilay Campos
– Currently displayed in the
Field Museum of Natural
History in Chicago, Illinois,
U.S.A.
Butuan Ivory Seal

– is an ivory stamp or seal stamp or

a privy seal associated with a
Rhinoceros Ivory Tusk.
– dated to 9th–12th century
– was found in Libertad, Butuan,  
 in Agusan del Norte
– Currently housed in the National
Museum of the Philippines
 Gold Death-Mask

– Dated back to 13th-14th

century
– Discovered in San Antonio,
Oton, IloIlo
– Currently housed in the
National Museum of the
Philippines
B. ARCHITECTURE
IDJANG

– Idjang is a triangular-shaped
hilltop citadel or castle on
the Batanes Islands in
the Philippines
– made from limestone and
wood.
– Savidug Idjang in Sabtang
Island
C. PAINTING
Angono Petroglyphs

–  The oldest known work of art in

the Philippines.
– There are 127 human and animal
figures engraved on the rockwall
probably carved during the
late Neolithic, or before 2000 BC.
– Discovered by the late National
Artist Carlos “Botong” Francisco in
1965.
D. CALLIGRAPHY
Kulitan alphabet

– It was used for writing

Kapampangan, a
language mainly spoken
in Central Luzon.
– It is written and read
vertically, from top to
bottom.
Tagbanwa script

– It was used for writing by

the Tagbanwa people of
Palawan.
– Tagbanwa is traditionally
written on bamboo in
vertical columns from
bottom to top.
Baybayin script

– is an ancient
script used primarily
by the Tagalog
people.
E. SCULPTURE
BULUL

–  Bulul, also known as tinagtaggu, is

a carved wooden figure used to
guard the rice crop by the Ifugao
(and their sub-tribe Kalanguya)
peoples of northern Luzon.
– The sculptures are highly stylized
representations of ancestors, and
are thought to gain power from
the presence of the ancestral spirit.
F. PERFORMING ARTS
PANGALAY

– is the traditional "fingernail" dance

of the Tausūg and Sama people of
the Sulu archipelago and Sabah.
The dance also means offering
from its Sanskrit origin pang-alay. 
– The male equivalent of
the Pangalay is the Pangasik and
features more martial movements,
while a pangalay that features both
a male and female dancer is
called Pangiluk.