2.1.

The Rock Art: Angono Petroglyphs

Many years ago, the form of communication is only by symbols because of

language barrier between different tribes. The cavemen use symbols to communicate and

to express what they think and feel in their daily life. Their means of recording the events,

data and activities was through carving. Rock Art,

The oldest and known art carvings are found in the caves of the Philippines, an

example of this was the Angono Petroglyphs located in the province of Rizal. The

Petroglyphs have a human and animal stick figures as a symbol and was carved on a

horizontal pattern on the rock wall. There are one hundred twenty-seven figures engraved

on the rocks and only about fifty of them were distinct types that assumed to be done by

countless individuals. Also, the symbolic representations of these figures were from their

rituals and healing events.

2.2. History of Visual Arts in the Philippines

Before, during the pre-hispanic times, artworks from different forms such as

pottery, textiles, tattoos, anitos, ornament, jewelry etc. These artworks can be used for

many purposes just like religion or simply using them for functional and physical aspects.

Proto-art galleries before was introduced to exhibit artworks during the Spanish

culture, and it is the start of the proto-art galleries in the Philippine history. Example of
proto-art galleries before are churches that were built with paintings, sculptures, etc. that

makes art only exists through religious purposes from the beginning of Spanish

colonialism and eighteenth century.

Other facilities that are similar to an art gallery during the Spanish era were found

in workshops, and in the Parian, it was the first mall and employment agency in the

Philippines. There are different kinds of craftsman that available that do commissions of

different artworks. According to the NCCA (2015), as the progression in the Philippine art

2.3. Struggles of Philippine Arts

The struggle for Philippine Art from the book of Purita Kalaw-Ledesma and Amadis

Guerrero, was about the quest of Philippine Art for international recognition but it was

discontinued by the problems such as funding the structures and facilities, as well as

improving the quality of the arts.

“The international recognition of a country’s artists can really sometimes be (only)

as substantial as the budget it provides for it.” (Chikiamco, 2010).

2.4. Development of Philippine Museum

Communities emerged with realizations, that a museum Is not only for a place for

exhibition but also a place for a good source of education, enjoyment, entertainment and

empowerment. Due to the war, many of the artworks were destroyed and some of them

were recovered, these collections were the reason to encourage high art, and started

museum in the country during the Martial Law period.

After that, different artists gained interests to different forms of art, especially in

expressive idioms. They adopted the techniques of abstract paintings and use different

approach to create their own original piece. This started the new development on the

artistic environment.

Later, an organization by Purita Kalaw-Ledesma was established in 1948, named

The Art Association of the Philippines and it was the first organization for visual artists

that began their exhibitions and establish themselves in small studios, they were called

the Mabini Artist.

The Philippine Art Gallery (PAG), established by writer-painter Lyd Arguilla in

1950, nurtured the seed of modern art in the Philippines. In this small shop in Ermita

street, artists and writers would see each other regularly. (Zerrudo, 2015)
 Then, different art forms from past to present was increasing that different popular

programs were made.

“A year after the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) was reorganized in 1986,

the Coordinating Center for the Visual Arts (CCVA) was instituted to encourage art

expressions based on theory and praxis rather on commercial motives, move the artistic

experience closer into the mainstream of society and enhance this experience for both

the artist and his audience. Along with the creation of the CCVA, the former CCP Museum

(established in 1969) was reorganized into Contemporary Art museum of the Philippines

(CAMP) and was tasked to undertake studies on all forms of current visual expressions

through exhibitions and fora. The CAMP maintains the art holdings of the CCP, most of

which were acquired when the CCP absorbed the permanent collection of the Museum

of Philippine Art (MOPA). Museo ng Kalinangang Pilipino was established as another

Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Museum in 1988 to clarify Philippine aesthetic

traditions, world views and beliefs of traditional communities.” (Zerrudo, 2015)

“In 1986, the original goal of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila to showcase world

art was enhanced with the implementation of new bilingual, didactic and holistic

approaches to museum exhibitions. Shows of foreign art are now complemented with

exhibits of Philippine art of the same period or genre.

The Philippine Museum of Ethnology is a reorganization of the Museum of

Philippine Traditional Cultures which was inaugurated in 1972 under the auspices of the
PANAMIN (Presidential Arm for National Minorities). It reopened in 1986 under the new

administration of the Nayong Filipino Foundation. The museum features indigenous

costumes and ethnographic collections of various cultural minorities.” (Zerrudo, 2015)

Different museums were authorized to branch out different museums in the country

to achieve their goal on bringing the museum closer to the people. Aside of this was

historical creation of NCCA, National Commission for Cultural and the Arts, because it

handles the development and dissemination of Culture in the Philippines, also to promote

Philippine cultural heritage.

“The latest development in Philippine museums is the emergence of interactive

museums and ecomuseums. An interactive museum is based on the concept of allowing

the audience to interact with exhibition components to heighten their enjoyment and to

facilitate their learning process. Exponents of this format are the Science Centrum (1992)

and Museo Pambata (1993).

Ecomuseums are community learning centers that link the past with the

present as a strategy to deal with future needs of the particular society.” (Zerrudo, 2015).

“This period of museums for all describes the continued increase in number of

museums and their adoption of user-friendly programs. The contemporary museum

movement is strikingly characterized by the heightened consciousness to conduct

research on the collection and the audience, to consider the Philippine milieu and to
design appropriate services to maximize the impact on the people. The movement is a

discernment process that begins with introspection and reflection and later creation and

evolution. The realization is not only on the appropriate museum technology but on the

identification of the Filipino approach to museology.” (Zerrudo, 2015)

Zerrudo end his article by his conclusion “The development of Philippine museums

in the past ninety-eight years has been from tradition to innovation. In the early stage,

museums conformed to the orthodox framework- as institutions that collect and exhibit

material culture for the education of humanity. In recent years, museums have become

cultural animators and social reformers. At different levels of intensity throughout

Philippine museum history, conditions of government support for the arts, freedom of

artistic expression, and private patronage of the arts provided conducive environment for

the museums’ growth and transformation. Museums will continue to exist and evolve as

long as they provide meaning to people and uplift their lives.”

2.5. Museum Skepticism – History of the Display of Art

in Public Galleries

The analysis that people discussed in art museums has less awareness of

interpreting the art itself. Each appearance of art changes through time, and different

analysis from people will be identified, depending on how the art is seen by them.
 Part of the intended meaning of the space as it has been arranged is to be

minimally visible, unobtrusive; this is how the expository agent, including its authority,

make itself visible. (Mieke Bal) According to Albert Levi, he describes the Frick as ‘‘a

presentation of works of art in their naked individuality, a temple of pure aesthetic

experience, a virtual embodiment of the idea of the art museum as an exclusive assembly

of nothing but masterpieces.” Once you look, then you will find many such interpretations

by description.

The interpretation of the people is diverse as the art historians, which build a

connection from the past and the present through art

2.6. Fine art publicity: The complete guide for Galleries and Artist

Whether you’re an artist or with a commercial or nonprofit gallery, it will be a

useful and helpful for the artists to market their own work. The role of the gallery, museum,

or artist are not recognized because of the occurrence of Internet, Social Media,

Technologies and Mass-marketing techniques. But the trend will increase by the help of

the technologies it can be developed throughout all areas of artworld, especially there’s

a digital art that is being practice today.

The level for public relations activity, can be used to implement strategies that an

helpful in setting an objectives and strategies to have success in marketing each artist’s

works.
 Publicity is an effective way to introduce your artwork and masterpiece to the

public, they will be familiar through different arts and it will help them appreciate the

importance of art, Also, it will help to build confidence to the artist to continue and pursue

its passion.

“In the old days, when the artworld had more purity, collectors seldom even saw

the artist. Now collectors want to have some fun, they want to show off art and the artist.

—John Alexander, quoted in Paul Gardner’s article, “How to Succeed (By Really Trying),”

ARTnews

It can also make a meaningful connection to the artist and the non-artist, that may

encourage them and change their perspective about the negative things they say about

arts. It will help to promote the art and will create a new role through the world of art.

2.7. Adult Education, Museums and Art Galleries

Public Museum and Galleries, can be a space for understanding the meaning,

having debate, creating knowledge, self-reflexivity etc.

As contact zones, public museums and art galleries can present a façade of

motionlessness, passivity and indifference, yet they can also actively shape “our most

basic assumptions about the past and about ourselves” (Marstine, 2006, p. 1)
 Museum honor their history, traditions, and culture through collections of objects

that connects the new generation audiences to let them know and understand the past.

They will replace the traditional museum experience into a contemporary, that produce

new ways of engagement of the people and the art.

Also, politics has been a problem to the imagined sanctity of art, that result

that vibrant artworks and artefact die. Art and cultural institutions suggest an unconditional

bias toward prevailing forces of social power through highly selective representational

practices, but there have always been ruptures through experimentations, and a

questioning of their own assumptions about “cultural production and knowledge”

(Macdonald, 1998, p. 176; see also Perry & Cunningham, 1999)

2.8. Interpreting Art in Museum and Galleries

The interpretation of the tangible and intangible of art through the culture, and

how it relates to the politics of personhood, the role of the museum in the discursive

construction of art and intellectual consequences in which museums ‘map’ art.

Criteria are used of many people nowadays to know the value of art or work, from

the creative skills of the artists to meaning of the art itself.

2.9. What’s the Use of Art?

 Art works displayed in a local or national museum, makes the people to

“remember” about the past, or to feel what is the art all about or its meaning. Each one of

us has different views and perspective about the artworks but it helps us understand and

appreciate it more the way we see it.

Museums, or galleries not only display or show art but show the history or culture

through these objects made by visual artists. Not only it will save the art by the artists bus

also to promote and strengthens one’s appreciation in art and how important it is to us.

Each artist has its own style and methods of doing their arts, the difference only of

these works indicates that the very truth and meaning as well as the authentic value of

these objects as art, which tends to be taken for granted, can in fact be changed or even

lost as the time goes by.

“It has become a commonly accepted truth that the meanings attributed to objects

are not inherent to the objects themselves. Rather, the meanings that are associated with

any item or work of human creation are the result of cultural and historical processes

through which that significance has been constructed.” (2008).

2.10. The Power of Art

 There are different artistic styles from traditional media like painting, sculpture,

drawing and printmaking that we can see in every museum, galleries etc. and that we get

excited to view each art piece that evolve from the past and the present. There are also

different new media’s today such as 3D installations, animations, films, video etc. that

were made because of the developing technology in our modern society.

Every place from the history until now has its own art styles that they create to

form their arts that people from differently places admired. These arts serve as their

identity or character, that make the place known for. Creativity is a primal ability of each

human being that evolves through time that creates a more diverse art styles and art

forms from time to time.

These art collections from different ages were displayed on each museum to help

people understand and know each artist and their arts. New technologies have become

a great tool for the artists creativity to create a wide range of art pieces that can be

displayed and viewed in museum or galleries. This will help the people to learn as well as

to enjoy the experience of different works of arts and to help the artists to create more

and to inspire and share more of their creative sides to the people not only in their country

but across the globe.

Putting up more art-related structures will also help the people to value arts and

the efforts of each artists. Even though it needs a lot of financial assistance to create,

preserve, conserve and protect these art works, the power of art can be enjoyed by the
generation today, and by the future generations. Creativity will continue to progress and

improve to the future by the means of technology and it will continuously create a more

diverse works of art that people will remember everyday of their life.

2.11. GUHIT Pinas Overview

The Facebook group was created on the 24th of May, in the year 2016. The

creators of the said guild plan to put a local organization that will conduct and cater art

related projects across the Rinconada Bikol Area. But, instead of having a local

organization, they want to make it national that will incorporate large scale initiatives.

Different activities, contests, segments, conventions etc. were held by the said

organization that includes participants from different parts of the Philippines.

Aside from the financial problems before, and later answered by support from

different firms, they also have private businesses and more members started to help by

lending different kinds of support from money to different services. They also manage to

generate incomes and covers the financial needs of the guild.