CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINE ARTS FROM THE REGIONS

Grade 12 Humanities and Social Sciences/General Academic

Lesson 6 – Traditional Techniques to Contemporary Art Creations

Lesson Objectives:

1. Identify traditional techniques in creating arts.

2. Determine some regions which use traditional techniques.
3. Appreciate the techniques applied in creating arts.

Painting
 Early Filipinos painting can be in red chip (clay mixed with water) designs embellished on the ritual
pottery of the Philippines such as the acclaimed “Manunggul Jar” which is an example of a burial jar.
 Pottery Making in the Philippines has been a long tradition, evidence of this has been found. In Sanga-
sanga, Sulu and Laurente Cave in Cagayan.
 Early pots are made by hand-molding or the use of paddle and vessel in building the walls of pots.
 Finest Philippine pottery designs are footed dishes that were decorated with geometric cut-outs,
molding, cording or finger impressions found in Batangas.
 Pottery making continued to develop in certain locals such as Vigan for their Burnay Unglazed Clay
Pottery.
 Evidence of Painting has further manifested in tattoo traditions of early filipinos who are now reffered
to as Pintados or the Painted People of Visayas. (various designs referring to flora and heavenly bodies
decorate their bodies. Various colored pigments)
 Some of the elaborate painting done by early Filipinos that survive the present are manifested among
the arts and architecture of the Maranao: “Naga Dragons”, and the “Sarimanok Craved”.
 Early modernist painters are Damian Domingo, Juan Luna, Felix Hidalgo.
 Elito Circa is popularly. Known as “Amang Pintor”, for being recognized wby using his hair to make his
paint brushes and reigns his painting with his blood on the right-side corner.

Indigenous Art
 The Itneg people are known for their intricate woven fabrics.
“Binakol”, the woven fabrics of Gadang features design that incorporate optical illusions.
 Other IP like Ilongot make jewelry from pearl, red hornbill beak, plants and metals.
 The lumad people of Mindanao such as B’Lan, Mandagam Mansaka and T’Boli are skilled in the art of
dying abaca fiber. Abaca is a plant closely related to bananas and its leaves are used to make fiber known
as “Manila Hemp”. The fiber is dyed by a method called Ikat. Ikat fibers are woven into cloth with
geometric patterns depicting human, animal and plant leaves.
 SARIMANOK is a well-known design with figure that represents. A fowl with wings, feathered. Tail and
a head decorated with ornaments of scrolled and painted motif of leaves, spirals and feather-like forms.
 HAGABI is a wooden chair of Ifugao which symbolizes status as a citizen in their community. It depicts
the wealth and power of the Kadanagyan, a person who belongs to the higher status of the society. This
chair is made of Narra or Ipil-ipil and the original design is called Ginulding-Gulding (like a goat-like head),
at present Ngiwi (like the head of an animal with an elongated nose and two big ears).
 Tausug and Sama – Bajau has their wood carving and metal working called Okir. An Okir design, is
composed of various spiral forms. In contrast, the zigzag and angular forms are the dominating motifs in
women’s geometric art “ Okir-a-Bay” (ladies design).

Kut – Kut Art

 This is a technique combining Oriental and European art process. This technique were practices by the
Indigenous People of Samar.
 Kut – Kut is an exotic Philippine art form based on early century techniques sgraffito, encaustic and
layering. This merging of this ancient styles produced a unique artwork characterized by delicate swirling
interweaved lines, multi-layered texture and an illusion of three-dimensional space.
 Performing Arts

Music
 Early music of the Philippines featured a mixture of indigenous Islamic and a variety of Asian sounds.
 Spanish settlers and Filipinos played a variety of musical instruments including flutes, guitar, ukulele,
violin, trumps and drums.
 They perform songs and dances to celebrate festive occasions.
 By 21st century, folk songs and dances remained intact, but music genres are mostly contemporary such
as Filipino Rock, hip-hop, and etc.
Dance
 Philippine folk dances include the Tinikling and Cariñosa.
 In the south region, Singkil is a popular dance. It is a dance showcasing the story of a prince and a princess
in the forest.

Architecture
 The Spanish introduced stones as housing and building materials.
 Introduction of Christianity paved the way in the construction of European Churches and architecture
which subsequently became the center of most towns and cities.
 Spanish architectures can be found in Intramuros Manila, Vigan, Lipa Batangas, Ilo-ilo, Jaro, Zamboanga
City, Bacolod, and other parts of the Philippines.
 In the past, the nipa hut (Bahay Kubo) was the most common form of housing among the native
Filipinos. It is characterized by the use of simple materials such as bamboo, coconut, cogon grass and
nipa palm leaves and coconut fronds.

Lesson 7 – Artistic Skills and Techniques to Contemporary Art Creations

Lesson objectives:

1. Extract accurately the required lesson.

2. Synthesize previous learnings with new insights.
3. Identify artistic skills and techniques in creating artworks.

Collage
 Collage is the technique of an art production used in the visual arts, where the artwork is made from on
assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole.
 Collage may sometimes include magazines and newspaper clippings, ribbons, paints, bits of colored or
handmade papers, portions of other artwork or texts, photographs, and other found objects, glued to a
piece of paper or canvas.

Decollage
 Decollage is the opposite of collage; instead of an image is being built up all or parts of existing images,
it is created by cutting, treating away or otherwise removing pieces of an original image.
 The French word “Decollage” in English means “Take-Off” or “To become Unglued” or “To become
unstuck”. Example of decollage include cut-up technique. Similar technique is the lacerated poster, a
poster in which one has been place over another or others, and the top poster or posters have been
ripped, revealing to a greater or lesser degree the poster or posters underneath.

Graffiti
 Graffiti are writing or drawings that have been scribed, scratched, or painted illicitly on a wall or other
surface, often in a public space. Graffiti range from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings.
 Graffiti may express underlying social and political messages, and a whole genre of artistic expression is
based spray paint graffiti styles.

Land Art
 Land Art or sometimes referred as earth works or earth arts is an art movement in which landscape and
the work of art are inextricably linked. It is also an art form that is created in nature, using natural
 materials such as soil, rock (bed rock, bolders, stones), organic media (logs, branches, leaves), and water
which introduced materials such as concrete, metal, asphalt, or mineral pigments.
 Sculpture is not placed in the landscape rather, the landscape is the means of their creation. Often earth
moving equipment is involved. The works frequently exist in the open located well away from civilization,
left to change and erode under natural conditions.

Digital Arts
 Digital Arts is an artistic work or practice that uses digital technology as an essential part of the creative
or presentation process.
 Digital art is placed under the larger umbrella term new media art.
 After some resistance, the impact of digital technology has transformed activities such as paintings,
drawing, sculpture, and music/sound art, while new form such as net art. Digital installation art, and
virtual reality have become recognized artistic practices. More generally the term digital artist is used to
describe an artist who makes use of digital technologies in the production of art.
 Digital Art is a term applied to contemporary art that uses the method of mass production or digital
media.
 The techniques of digital art are used extensively by the mainstream media in advertisement and by film
makers to produce visual effects. Both digital and traditional artist use many sources of electronic
information and programs to create their work.


Mixed Media
 It refers to the artwork in the making of which more than one medium has been employed.
 It refers to a work of visual art that combines various traditionally distinct visual art media. For example,
work on canvas that combines paint, ink, and collage.
 When creating a painted or photograph work using mixed media, it is important to choose the layers
carefully and allow enough dying time between the layers to ensure the final work will have structural
integrity, if many different layers are imposed. Many effects can be achieve by using mixed media. Found
objects can be used in conjunction with the traditional artist to attain a wide range of self-expression.

Print Making
 Is the process of making artworks by painting, normally in the paper.
 Prints are created by transforming ink from a matrix or through a prepared screen to a sheet of paper or
other material. Common types of matrices include metal plates, usually copper or zinc, or polymer plates
for engraving o etching;
 Stone aluminum or polymer for lithography; blocks of wood crafts and wood engraving; and linoleum
for linocuts. Screen made of silk or synthetic fabrics are used for the screen printing process.

Lesson 8 – Concept in Integrated Arts Production

Lesson Objectives:

1. Determine the concept in the art production.

2. Analyze the integration of the past and the contemporary in producing artwork.
3. Apply one’s concept in creating a particular artwork.

Subjects
 Refers to any person, objects, scene or event described or represented in a work of art. Some arts have
subjects; others do not.
 The arts that have subjects are called Representational or Objective Arts. Those that do not have subject
are called Non-representational or Non-Objective Arts.
 Painting, sculpture, graphic arts, literature and theater arts are classified as representational. While
music, architecture and many of the functional arts are non-representational.
 Non-Objective Arts do not present descriptions, stories or references to identifiable objects or symbols.
Rather, they appeal directly to the senses primarily because of the satisfying organization of their sensor
and expressive element.

Kinds of Subject
a. Landscape, seascapes and cityscapes f. History and Legend
 b. Still Life g. Figures
c. Animals h. History and Mythology
d. Portraits i. Dreams and Fantasies
e. Everyday Life

Medium
 Refers to the material or means which the artist uses to objectify his feeling or thoughts, pigments in
painting; stone, architecture; sounds in music; words in literature; and body movements in the dance.
 When an artist proceeds to give shape to his vision, his first thoughts are on what medium to employ.
There are no fixed rules governing the choice of materials and processes to use.
 An artist choice is usually influenced by practical considerations as the availability of material, the use
to which the art object will be put, the idea he wants to communicate, and nature and specially the
characteristics of the medium itself. The artist normally selects the material that he can handle well,
and that would best suit his purpose as well as adequately bring out the qualities that he wants to
show.

Form
 Refers to the physical qualities or characteristics of the image. It is about the use of colors, lines,
space, and other elements. These elements are arranged to observe unity, harmony, rhythm and
other principles of design in the production of a particular artwork.

Note: Please read Elements and Principles of Visual Art Design in our previous lesson.

Lesson 9 – Creation of the Final Product

Lesson Objectives:

1. Describe art production in painting, sculpture, and architecture.

2. Determine the significance of visual arts in the production of an artwork.
3. Get acquainted with the role of visual arts in painting, sculpture and architecture.

Note: Please read Elements and Principles of Visual Art Design in our previous lesson.