Contemporary Philippine Arts From The Regions

Course Code: CORE
Course Title: CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINE ARTS FROM THE

REGIONS
Course Type: CORE
Pre-requisite: NONE
Co-requisite: NONE
Quarter: 1st
Course Topic: INTEGRATIVE ART AS APPLIED TO
CONTEMPORARY ART
Module: #3 Week: 3-4
Course Subtopic: Contemporary Visual Arts
Course Description: The subject covers various contemporary arts
practices of the region where the school is located. It
aims to provide students with an appreciation of a
broad range of styles in the various disciplines with
consideration on their elements and principles, and
engage them to an integrative approach in studying
arts. Through this subject, students will broaden and
acquire the necessary creative tools that open
opportunities in pursuing their individual career
goals and aspirations.
Course Outcomes (COs) and Relationship to Student Outcomes
Course Outcomes SO
After completing the course, the student must be able a b c d
to:
1. Presents a form of integrated contemporary art D D R
based on the region of his / her choice. e.g.
choreography, musical instrument, literary and
music composition, visual design, and/or
theatrical performance.
* Level: I- Introduced, R- Reinforced, D- Demonstrated
INTEGRATIVE ART AS APPLIED TO CONTEMPORARY ART
CONTEMPORARY VISUAL ARTS
As state by Art Mag: Visual Arts Collection (2020), visual art is any mode of art
that has a physical component that can be viewed, such as: Fine arts
(sculpture, drawing, painting, film, graphic design, and more), Decorative arts
and crafts (pottery, carving, weaving and metalwork), and Contemporary Art
Forms (collage, assemblage, mobile, and installation arts). So whether you‘re
an admirer of the mural on a nearby building, or sculpting your latest creation,
this board keeps with Art Mag‘s mission of being Charleston, SC's local
resource for all the arts by housing inspiration and appreciation for all things
visual art.
Contemporary Philippine Arts From The Regions

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LOOSEN UP!
Visual Representation: CITECH Building
Instructions: Create your own Visual Representation of Cabuyao

Institute of Technology Building. It can be:
 Fine arts (sculpture, drawing, painting, graphic design)
 Contemporary Art Forms (collage, assemblage, mobile, and
installation arts)

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FINE ARTS
Have you ever wanted to create something to express yourself? If so, you were
exploring a fundamental idea connected to fine art. Definitions can be slippery,
but in basic terms, fine art is something created for aesthetic or intellectual
value rather than utilitarian or practical purpose.
According to Study.com: What is Fine Art? - Definition & Types (2017), Fine art
involves creative expression, and it doesn't have to be beautiful. It might convey
an idea or an emotion or explore social commentary. The concept of ''art for
art's sake,'' originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the rise of
abstract art - art that exists for its own purpose.
CATEGORIES OF FINE ARTS
2-D Fine Art

Study.com: What is Fine Art? - Definition & Types (2017), believes that some
fine art is two-dimensional. The most basic is drawing, or the idea of using a
tool like a pencil, pen, or charcoal to create lines or shadows, a practice
fundamental to many other kinds of fine art. Another type of two-dimensional
fine art is painting, which includes mediums like watercolor, oil, and acrylics.
A painting may be created on a wooden panel, a canvas, or almost any other
surface.
Other types of two-dimensional fine art may involve processes that create more
than one image. Printmaking involves the use of an etching, engraving, or
screen-printing to transfer an image from one surface to another, usually in
very high quality and limited quantities to qualify as fine art.
3-D Fine Art

As defined by Kongaika, Ruth (2018), 3-D artwork is any art that is not flat like
on a paper. 3-D artwork cab refer to sculpture, or the illusion of more than two
dimensions. Some movies are an example of three dimensions. Although they
are drawings, they look more lifelike. Some artists use special software to make
their art appear as it jumps out at you. 3-D media occupies space defined
through the dimensions of height, width and depth. It includes sculpture,
installation and performance art, decorative art, and product design.
Burton, Michelle (2019), stated that many fine arts degree programs offer
emphasis areas such as 3D graphics and animation. 3D graphics is the
creation, display, and manipulation of objects on the computer in three
dimensions. Animation is the process of simulating movement by displaying a
series of frames or pictures. Common types of animation include traditional
animation, stop motion (clay animation, puppet animation), and computer
animation (2D, 3D).
Contemporary visual arts in the Philippines

According to Arch. Ganzon, Carlos Luis C. (2018) most contemporary visual
arts in the Philippines produce works that fall into the fine arts category. The
majority of the contemporary art produced in the Philippines are paintings,
sculptures and drawings.

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PAINTINGS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
As defined by Lumen Learning: Introduction to Art Concepts (2020), painting is
the application of pigments to a support surface that establishes an image,
design or decoration. In art the term ―painting‖ describes both the act and the
result. Most painting is created with pigment in liquid form and applied with a
brush. Exceptions to this are found in Navajo sand painting and Tibetan
mandala painting, where powdered pigments are used. Painting as a medium
has survived for thousands of years and is, along with drawing and sculpture,
one of the oldest creative media. It‘s used in some form by cultures around the
world.
HISTORY OF PAINTINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES

By: Silent Gardens (2020)
The first paintings were commissionned works during the Spanish colonial era.
Since most art produced during the first two centuries of Spanish occupation
were for the church, the friars enforced strict supervision over their production.
Until the 19th century, art was only for the church and religious use. There is
also some Chinese influence which can be found in the brush handling.
Tagalog painters Jose Loden, Tomas Nazario and Miguel de los Reyes, did the
first still life paintings in the country. They were commissioned in 1786 by a
Spanish botanist to paint the flora and fauna found in the country.
Secular subject matter in painting only increased during the 19th century.
With more tourists, ilustrados and foreigners demanding souvenirs and
decorations from the country, tipos del pais developed in painting. These
watercolor paintings show the different types of inhabitants in the Philippines
in their different native costumes that show their social status and occupation.
It also became an album of different native costumes. Damian Domingo y
Gabor (ca. 1790-1832) was the most popular artist who worked in this style.
Several Filipino painters had the chance to study and work abroad. Among
them were Juan Novicio Luna and Felix Resureccion Hidalgo who became the
first international Filipino artists when they won the gold and silver medals in
the 1884 Madrid Exposition.
During the American period (1900-45) on-demand portraitists included Fabian

de la Rosa, Miguel Zaragoza, Teodoro Buenaventura, Jorge Pineda and above
all, Fernando Amorsolo, whose style would dominate the period.
Amorsolo designed the logo for Ginebra San Miguel (Markang Demonyo)
depicting St. Michael vanquishing the devil. The logo is still in use in its
original form today. The owner of the beverage company, Don Enrique Zobel,
who is an ardent patron of the arts, was so impressed by his work that he
offered to send Amorsolo to the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid for
further studies with a generous stipend for himself and his family.
Despite his exposure to Western influences, Fernando Amorsolo retained his

Filipino consciousness. He was drawn more towards the gentle rolling hills and
rice fields of the Philippines rather than the cosmopolitan world of Europe's
proud cities. Even his illustrations of Spanish women were drawn with slender
physiques, narrower hips, and smaller breasts more typical of Filipinas rather
than full bodied Caucasian women. One of his most copied paintings is the
"Palay Maiden".

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Fernando Amorsolo's work still influences many contemporary painters. One of
them is Monico Benjamin Botor. Botor was born in Naga City, Camarines Sur
and now lives in Bagasbas near Daet. He is a hobby painter who recently
started taking it seriously as an avenue of expressing his innate talent to
explore in the aesthetic realm one's quest to capture the appeal of nature and
human response to its illusive beauty and profound mystery.
Deeply rooted in culture, he pays homage to the Filipino tradition and way of
life. He uses his artistic insight and experience to capture the color and
essence of a Philippine setting.
If you compare Amorsolo's painting below with the painting in Botor's atelier,
then you find a girl in a very similar pose in the water.
PAINTING THEMES
RELIGIOUS THEMES
Encyclopedia of Art (2020), defined religious art is any work whose theme
supports the moral message of the religion it purports to illustrate. In this
context, religion means any set of human beliefs relating to that which they
regard as sacred, holy, spiritual or divine - whether or not deities are involved.
GALLERY I (Luis I. Ablaza Hall) Religious Art from the 17th to 19th centuries
As stated by National Art Gallery, National Museum of the Philippines (2015),

Christian themed art in the Philippines was prevalent in the 17th to the 19th
centuries when parts of the country was under Spanish colonial rule. Many of
these religious images were of carved wooden santos (saints) made by unknown
artists, as well as reliefs and paintings of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.
This gallery also features a National Cultural Treasure, a retablo (altar piece)
from the Church of San Nicolas de Tolentino in Dimiao, Bohol.
HISTORICAL THEMES
According to Tate (2016), the term history painting was introduced in the
seventeenth century to describe paintings with subject matter drawn from
classical history and mythology, and the Bible – in the eighteenth century it
was also used to refer to more recent historical subjects

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National Art Gallery, National
Museum of the Philippines
Can be seen in the works of CARLOS ―BOTONG‖ V. FRANCISCO, whose
masterpiece Filipino Struggles through History depicts Manila's historical
events. According to • National Art Gallery, National Museum of the
Philippines (2015), He is the first National Artist of the Philippines, was known
for his oil paintings of rural life made in the classical style. He also made a
number of commissioned portraits of individuals and families at the peak of his
career.
This gallery contains over 100 drawings by FERNANDO C. AMORSOLO (1892-

1972), who made a series of black-and-white pencil and ink sketches and oil
studies of his subjects prior to making the final artwork. These include rural
landscapes and seascapes, portraits, indigenous people, and mostly genre and
everyday scenes that depict life in the countryside, where Amorsolo had spent
his early childhood. Also displayed is a work by his nephew, painter Cesar
Amorsolo.
PORTRAITURE THEMES
Emilio Aguinaldo by Fernando Amorsolo

As defines by Thaneeya, McArdle (2020), a portrait painting or drawing depicts
the image of a particular person or animal, or group thereof. The subject of a
portrait is usually called a "sitter", because traditionally people would sit in
front of the artist to have their portrait painted. Nowadays, of course, artists
can work from a photograph, so not everyone has to "sit" for a portrait.

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STILL LIFE THEMES
Fruitful Life by Lady April Antaran
As defined by Tate (2016), Still life includes all kinds of man-made or natural
objects, cut flowers, fruit, vegetables, fish, game, wine and so on. Still life can
be a celebration of material pleasures such as food and wine, or often a
warning of the ephemerality of these pleasures and of the brevity of human life
(see memento mori).
In the hierarchy of genres (or subject types) for art established in the
seventeenth century by the French Academy, still life was ranked at the bottom
– fifth after history painting, portraiture, genre painting (scenes of everyday life)
and landscape. Still life and landscape were considered lowly because they did
not involve human subject matter.
LANDSCAPE THEMES
Planting rice by Fernando Amorsolo
According to Richman-Abdou, Kelly (2017), Landscape painting (or landscape

art) refers to an artistic genre defined by a focus on natural scenery as subject
matter. Landscape paintings can depict a variety of settings, such
as mountains, forests, rivers, and beaches. They often offer a wide view of the
scene, and usually place some focus on the sky.
Artists choose landscapes as their subjects for a variety of reasons. In addition

to wanting to represent or replicate their obvious beauty, some artists opt to
create these depictions to study and explore various aesthetic elements, like
light, color, and texture. Additionally, some artists also use scenes of nature as
a way to tell a story, illustrate an idea, or conceptualize a metaphor.
Tracing the genre's evolution and looking at well-known landscape paintings

throughout history enables one to visually recognize these differences and
understand where contemporary landscape painters may find their inspiration.

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NUDE THEMES
Sabel by Benedicto Cabrera
According to FineArtAmerica.com (2020), nudity symbolizes everything from

innocence and vulnerability to love and lust. The nude form has been hidden
by censors and celebrated by freethinkers throughout history in literature, film,
and life. Our selection of paintings features a subject range of nude figures
from near anatomically correct renderings to evocative, abstract nudes that
hint at more than the mere form of a man or woman.
GENRES THEMES
Palay Maiden: by Fernando Amorsolo

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018), define Genre painting as
painting of scenes from everyday life, of ordinary people in work or recreation,
depicted in a generally realistic manner. Genre art contrasts with that of
landscape, portraiture, still life, religious themes, historic events, or any kind of
traditionally idealized subject matter. Intimate scenes from daily life are almost
invariably the subject of genre painting. The elimination of imaginative content
and of idealization focuses attention upon the shrewd observation of types,
costumes, and settings.
SCULPTURE
Sculptures for Arch. Ganzon, Carlos Luis C. (2018) are artworks that are three
dimensional and made by either adding or subtracting materials. The
classification traditionally divided into two, Free Standing -known as in the
round, are raised independently in their given space, Reliefs- are raised from
the background and slightly protruding from their background.

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HISTORY OF SCULPTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES
By: Silent Gardens (2020)
Early carved human figurine are known from the cordilleras. Still today, the
bulols, or "Ifugao rice Gods," are kept in the house or granary, and are usually
made in pairs. They are carved of narra wood, which represents wealth,
happiness, and well-being. Every step in their production requires a ceremony,
from tree selection to arrival at the owner's house. A consecrated bulol has
been bathed in pig's blood, had myths recited to it, and received offerings of
wine, ritual boxes, and rice cakes.
The carvings brought to the Philippines by early Arab and Russian

missionaries were of beveled type as the slanting type called Okkil. Although
the word literally means XXX it is not confined to carving alone but also refers
to design.
A familiar example of sculpture with the integration of architecture is the Art

Deco Style of the Metropolitan Theater at Liwasang Bonifacio completed by
Juan Arellano in 1931.
Woodcarving comes in ornamental form in the houses of the Maranao like that
of the "torogan" which features the "panolong", an extended beam carved with
the Sarimanok or the Naga design.
Napoleon V. Abueva is known as the "Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture".

He was born in Tagbilaran, Bohol in 1930. In 1951, he won the Pura
Villanueva-Kalaw scholarship and finished Bachelor of Arts in Sculpture in
University of the Philippines in 1953.
The Pegaraw pegasus and tamaraw

by Napoleon V. Abueva
Abueva utilized almost all kinds of materials from hard wood (molave, acacia,
langka wood, ipil, kamagong, palm wood and bamboo) to adobe, metal,
stainless steel, cement, marble, bronze, iron, alabaster, coral and brass.
Among the major works of Abueva are: Kaganapan (1953), Kiss of Judas
(1955), The Transfiguration at the Eternal Garden Memorial Park (1979),
Fredesvinda in Fort Canning, Nine Muses at the UP Faculty Center (1994),
Sunburst at the Peninsula Manila Hotel (1994) and the bronze figure of
Teodoro M. Kalaw in front of National Library.

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SCULPTURE THEMES
CLASSICAL STYLE
By: Greek Landscapes (2020)
GALLERY VIII (Silvina & Juan C. Laya Hall)
The Classical period of Ancient Greece produced some of the most exquisite
sculptures the world has ever seen.The art of the Classical Greek style is
characterized by a joyous freedom of movement, freedom of expression, and it
celebrates mankind as an independent entity (atomo).
During this period, artists begin to expand the formal aesthetic boundaries
while they worked in expressing the human figure in a more naturalistic
manner. They were able to replace the strict asymmetry of the figure with a free
flowing form more true to life, while they approached an ideal aesthetic vision
through stone and bronze.The form of classical sculpture became fluid and
natural and the stylization of the Archaic art gave way to realistic figures which
emanated the illusion of moving through space. For the first time in human
history, human anatomy was deemed worthy of being immortalized in stone or
bronze, and the humble and laborious forward step of the kouros statues was
replaced by poses that commanded their space with effortless movement.
During the classical period the Greek artists replaced the stiff vertical figures of
the archaic period with three-dimensional snap shots of figures in action. While
the archaic sculptures appeared static the classical statues held dynamic poses
bursting with potential energy. The overall patterns of immobile muscles were
developed into a complex universe of tension and relaxation. The ancient Greek
sculptors had finally achieved balance through the opposing action of the
human muscle groups. It was the first time in human history that the human
body was studied for its aesthetic values, and was treated as an autonomous
universe.
The object of art became the human itself as the focus of the artist revolved
around ordinary subjects like the the weight shift during the forward step at
the moment before the release of the thunder, the tying of a ribbon around
ones head, or just the shift of the pelvis when one leg supports the man‘s
weight. The classical Greek sculptor was more of a magician than an artist. He
transcended ordinary subjects into extraordinary universal signs. And in the
process, he reversed thousands of years of artistic tradition when he shifted the
focus from the supernatural and unknown, to more earthly matters.
Throughout history the human figure had been used by many civilizations as a
mere object which signified metaphysical preoccupation. On the other hand, in

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classical Greek sculpture the figures often depict deities but clearly the human
body becomes the subject of study. The gods were depicted as a mere excuse to
study humans.
MODERN STYLE
By: Pierre, Caterina Y. (2018)
By BENCAB
Modern sculpture is historically defined as sculpture beginning with the work
of Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) and ending with the advent of Pop Art and
Minimalism in the 1960s. Alex Potts‘s 2001 discussion of the historiography of
modern sculpture is integral for an understanding of the media, period and
methods used by key artists. While it is now seen as cliché to begin the
Modernist movement in sculpture with the work of Rodin, in his work one does
begin to see tendencies that will become characteristic of modern sculpture,
such as a new interest in the fragment, in particular the bodily fragment;
surface treatment and expressive surface detail; an attention toward
movement; a symbolic merging of the interior expression of a figure and its
exterior depiction, or what was referred to by Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957)
as an ―essence‖; and a greater consideration of abstraction, fragmentation, and
non-representation in sculptural objects, that is to say, a conscious movement
away from academic realism and idealism. Sculptors during this period also
placed emphasis on design, form, and volume over the representation of a
specific subject.
DECORATIVE ARTS AND CRAFTS
Encyclopedia.com (2020) broadly understood, the decorative arts comprise

objects that possess artistic qualities and were created by skilled makers, but
do not belong to the general categories of painting, sculpture, or architecture.
They include, but are not limited to, the decoration and furnishing of interiors,
personal adornment (costume and jewelry), and, later, with the rise of
industrialization, product design. From its origin in the mid-nineteenth
century, methodology in decorative arts studies concentrated on
connoisseurship—dating, attribution, establishment of formal and regional
categories—which became increasingly specialized, usually divided by medium
and country of origin (French porcelain, English furniture, German pewter,
etc.). Since the 1970s, the field has been enriched by trends adapted from
social and economic history (patronage and consumption) and anthropology
(material culture and behavioral studies) to form a multifaceted investigation of
the objects themselves within their context as part of the history of visual
culture.

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CATEGORIES OF DECORATIVE ARTS AND CRAFTS
POTTERY
By: National Commission for Culture and the Arts (2020)
ILOCOS SUR | The Pagburnayan of Vigan City
A New wave of changes took place in the Philippines at about A.D. 1000
marked by the appearance in archeological site of high- fired ceramics. This
gave proof of the increased marine trade with the mainland of Asia and the
land farther west. Philippine cultures reeled against the impact and suffered
first from the social collisions, but eventually recovering to benefit from the
changes introduced by the contacts with the great traditions of Asia.
The first evidence of high-fired ceramics came from the municipality of Laurel,
Batangas in the form of the base and portion of the side of a stoneware jar. The
jar was color glazed with green, yellow, and reddish purple. The latter glaze was
identified to be from manganese, a glaze used during this period in the kilns of
Fayum, Egypt. The piece was dated at about the latter half of the 10th century.
This sherd is the earliest proof of the Arab trade that reached out east to the
Philippines. It is noteworthy that stoneware ascribed to the 5 dynasties period
in China (A.D. 907-960) also begun to be found in many archeological sites in
the country, principally in northeastern Mindanao about Butuan City, and
Batangas. In Butuan City a jarlet made of many-colored glaze was dug up. The
jarlet was Arabic in origin. From the same area, a piece of blue-green jar
fragment was also recovered and identified as Persian in origin. Piecesthought
to belong to the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-906) have also been found by illegal
diggers in these areas, and in the northern tip of Luzon. The recovery of sherds
from the Laguna de Bay area has also been reported although no systematic
excavations made there yielded any Tang dynasty materials. The finds from the
different sites suggest that Chinese and Middle Eastern ceramics seemed to
have arrived in the Philippines at about the same period. The latter were fewer
in number. The noteworthy thing is that the Middle Eastern ceramics were
found only in areas where there were Chinese tradeware so that it would seem
that these ceramics came as a consequence of trade with the Five Dynasties of
China at about A.D. 1000.

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CARVING
By: Rogacion, Rosanna C. (2015)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rice Deity (Bulul) | Ifugao
The Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legaspi called the Filipinos ―buen
ebanistas‖ after seeing the woodwork produced by the natives. Filipinos had
been engaging in the art of woodcarving long before the arrival of the
Spaniards. The craft is more than 2000 years old — dating back to the time
when carvers had to make use of stones, shells and even the teeth and tusks of
animals to shape the wood. Today, Filipino woodcarvers continue to carve a
name in the ranks of the finest in the craft. The most popular Filipino
woodcarvers are the Ifugaos, the Tagbanwas, the Maranaos and the Paetenos.
Ifugao Woodcarvers
The Ifugaos of Northern Luzon are famous for the way they carved the
mountain slopes that form the legendary Banaue rice terraces. They are also
well known for their mastery of wood carving. Ifugao woodcarvings are usually
of their deities, the most famous of which are the various interpretations of the
granary deity known as the bul-ul. This granary deity occupies a significant role
in the lives of the Ifugaos and the bul-ul is ever present in the rice granaries,
usually accompanied by a female idol to assure an abundant harvest.
With the current ban on hardwoods, Filipino woodcarvers now use ipil or
acacia. Ifugaos also use the reddish wood called gutmu. The wood is roughly
shaped with a bolo — a one-edged knife about 12 to 18 inches long. In working
out the details, an improvised thin gouge 2 to 6 inches long is used and then
the carving is polished with the leaves of the aplah plant. After this, the images
are blackened with soot. Through time, the wood acquires a fine, hard gloss.
Tagbanwa Woodcarvers
South of the Phjlippines, one finds the Tagbanwa woodcarvers. Whereas the
Ifugaos engage in woodcarving primarily because it is an essential part of their
beliefs and customs, the Tagbanwas of Palawan carve for the sheer fun of it.
And this is probably why the Tagabanwa woodcarvings stand out as one of the
most exciting of indigenous Philippine woodcarvings. These wooden works of
art are highly stylized and reflect sophisticated aesthetics, leading one art critic
to say that they have ―close affinities to near-abstract art.‖
Tagbanwa wood carving is unique because it incorporates a technique of

completely blackening the surface of the wood and then bringing out white
portions while etching the design. Only a few of the Tagbanwa woodcarvings

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are intended for use in rituals. Most of them serve as toys for the children,
décor for the house, or as a means of self-expression.
The Tagbanwa‘s favorite wood comes from the alimutyugani tree. After the bark
is removed, the wood is shaped. Then the wood is rubbed with the leaves of the
cassava plant until it turns green. Lumps of resin called salung are placed on
the ground and ignited and the wood is passed over the smoke until it becomes
black with soot. The process of rubbing cassava leaves all over the wood and
blackening the carving by passing it over the burning resin is repeated until
the black coloring does not rub off. Then the designs are etched out using a
very small knive called pisaw. These designs are usually polka dots, v-marks
and white triangles which, when carved on the blackened wood, come out was
white incisions.
Maranao Woodcarvers
Further down south of the Philippine Islands, are the Maranoa Muslim
woodcarvers. Figural representations in their craft are taboo to the Maranao
woodcarvers. Natural forms are allowed only on the condition that they are ―de-
natured.‖ Because of this limitation, the Maranao woodcarvers use the okkil
motif in most of their works. The okkil motif is rich in Sassanian character —
the flowing floral forms and S movements. The Filipino Muslim adaptation of
the okkil has a strong indigenous character, deriving inspiration from local
plants, sea corals and native objects.
The okkil is carved into musical instruments and everyday objects such as
kitchen wares and bamboo tubes. The design can also be seen in the wooden
handles of swords and knives. Aside from the okkil, the sarimanok — a stylized
representation of a bird or rooster is also one of the more popular Maranao
woodcarving designs.
Woodcarvers of Paete
In Luzon — the biggest of the three major Philippine islands — the town of
Paete in Laguna has been known as the center of woodcarving in the
Philippines. The ban on logging has led many woodcarvers to switch to paper
mache, but today, Paete continues to be one of the best sources of fine
woodcarvings. In this town, woodcarving has been elevated to a fine art form
which is no wonder, because the name Paete comes from the word paet, which
literally means chisel.
WEAVING
By: Franz Sorilla IV (2017)
Afew years back, Philippine traditional weaving practices and colourful

indigenous textiles were put into spotlight when it was put on permanent
exhibition at the National Museum through the efforts of Sen. Loren Legarda.
Entitled, ―Hibla ng Lahing Pilipino: The Artistry of Philippine Textiles,‖ the
exhibition highlighted the distinct creativity and DNA of the Filipino people
among other cultures through fabric.
Eventually, the exhibition was graced by Queen Sofia of Spain, Paolo Zegna of
Ermenegildo Zegna, and Lady Lynn Forester de Rotschild among many others
and continued to gain popularity. However, it did not only rest on the museum

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but was promoted further on malls when Rustan‘s chairman and CEO Nedy
Tantoco partnered with the senator.
Filipino artistry and creativity are evident in various art forms but what makes
the weaving culture distinct is its power to unite people as strong, resilient
communities bound by living tradition and colourful textile patterns and
motifs.
Pinilian
Community: Ilocano
Origin: Ilocos Region
The Ilocano of northwestern Philippines is well-known for their handweaving, a

tradition with ancient roots, with the kapas or cotton as the main material.
They use the pedal loom, locally called pangablan; employ several weaving
techniques; and have numerous designs/patterns. Different weaving
techniques include the basic plain weave, the double-toned basket weave or
binakul, and the multi-heddle weave (binetwagan or tinumballitan), among
others. Among the complicated one is the brocade weave or pinilian, which
uses sticks inserted on selected warp threads to create designs that float on the
threads.
There are two kinds of pinilian: scattered and continuous supplemementary

weft techniques. The weavers of Pinili, Ilocos Norte, are said to be adept in the
simultaneous warp and weft-float type of pinilian called the impalagto, a
technique unique in the town.
Bontoc Weave
Community: Bontoc
Origin: Mountain Province
The Bontoc textile revolves around the idea of centeredness, which symbolises
permanence, order, and balance, key factors in the life of the Bontoc people.
Weavers demonstrate this idea through the direction of their weave, from the
edge to the middle, to the symmetry of the cloth construction and the repeated
warp-striped design.

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Bontoc weavers learn the craft through various stages. Young Bontoc girls
usually start their training with the simplest part of the cloth, the langkit or
edging. Next, they move on to pa-ikid (side panels), learning simple designs
such as fatawil (warp-bands) and shukyong (arrows). After mastering this level,
they move on to the most challenging part, the sinangad-am design which
represents the Sinamaki weaving. Here, they incorporate designs on the bands
such as tinagtakho (human figure), minatmata (diamond), and tinitiko (zigzag).
The pa-khawa (the center panel) is the next thing they have to master. The
center panel features a band in the middle and a kan-ay (supplementary weft)
at its end.
Because of the complex process of adding the kan-ay, the center panel would
be woven last. When all the parts are ready, they would be sewn together in the
reverse order of their creation, ending with the langkit.
Kalinga Textiles
Community: Kalinga
Origin: Province of Kalinga
The Kalinga textiles exhibit motifs executed as though they are embedded in
the geometry of weaving itself. It has a distinct dialogue between red and blue,
expressing itself in broad red and blue bands of plain or twill weave, and
creating densely-composed groups of tight stripes.
The Kalinga weavers, particularly in the upper Kalinga area, put textures on
the striped bands using twill-weave technique. Tiny motifs, patterns, and
embellishments have characterised Kalinga textile, including miniature lattice,
continuous lozenge pattern locally called inata-ata, and pawekan or mother-of-
pearl platelets, among others.
Piña
Community: Aklanon
Origin: Aklan

S.Y. 2020-2021 Page | 16
Considered the finest of Philippine textiles, the piña fabric is made from the
fibers of the leaves of the red Bisaya pineapple through an arduous process.
The extraction of the fibers is a most delicate and tedious process.
The leaves provides two kinds of fibers—the bastos or the rough fiber, and the
liniwan or the fine fiber. Using a shard of Chinese porcelain, the stripper
removes the epidermis of the leaf, exposing the lustrous bastos fiber. After
stripping the leaves of the rough fibers, the stripper then run a coconut shell
on the inner layer of the leaf to expose the liniwan.
The degumming process entails repeated rinsing, beating, and air-drying of the
fibers. When the fibers are completely dried, the weaver connects each strand
through knotting to produce long continuous strands before the weaving
process, which uses the pedal loom.
The Aklanons of western Panay Island are known for the piña with inlaid
supplementary weft designs or more often embroidered with floral or vegetal
designs on the lattice ground. Lumban in Laguna and Taal in Batangas are
known embroidery centres. The piña is the preferred material for the barong
Tagalog.
METALWORK
By: National Commission for Culture and the Arts (2020)
Travel Trilogy Maranao Arts and Crafts | Lanao del Sur's Living Traditions
During the last two thousand years before the birth of Christ another great
change took place in these islands. This was shown again by the materials
found in archeological sites. This time, while things of the New Stone Age were
unearthed like the polished stone tools, pottery pieces, shell and some stone
ornaments, new things begun to appear. In the northern Philippines a
suggestion of what could be the oldest sign of metal in this country appeared in
the Musang Cave in Cagayan.This was a brass needle tenuously dated about
2000 B.C. In Palawan bronze tools, glass beads and bracelets and gold beads
were dug up in the Duyong, Uyaw and Guri Caves. Duyong Cave is dated
between 300 to 500 B.C. while Guri between 100 to 200 years B.C. Uyaw Cave
contained jar burials with bronze adzes and spears, and was as old as the
Duyong Cave. By this time the use of metals is already widespread in the old
world and mainland of Asia. But its first appearance in these islands marked
the beginning of a new set of changes that again altered the lifeways of the
people and made the pace of life much faster than the previous ones.
The earliest metals to appear were gold, bronze, brass and copper in the form
of ornamental beads, and tools like adzes and spearheads. There were very few
of these, specially the bronze. Bronze appeared only very briefly so that unlike
other places of the world, there is no period in this country that can be said to

S.Y. 2020-2021 Page | 17
be ―Bronze Age‖. The reason is that the copper-bronze materials that appeared
were far too small in number and were found only in a very few number of
places. These metals could only have been brought in through trade and were
never made there. In Palawan, however, moulds made of fired clay which were
used in casting socketed adzes were found showing that tools using these
metals were cast in Palawan. The Philippines have one of the richest copper
deposits in Southeast Asia but there is no evidence that this ore was ever
mined during this period. Neither is there a tin deposit so that bronze could
only have been brought here. Gold is only present in good quantities but this
was not mined until very much later in time. These early metals could only
have been brought into the islands through the movements of people or
through trade, but these came painfully slowly and rarely.
CONTEMPORARY ART FORMS

By: International Studies in History & Business of Art & Culture (2020)
When considering Contemporary Art, it can be difficult to define or describe

any one common style. Artists approach their work in a multitude of ways. A
wide array of media and materials may be used to convey a wide array of
concepts, themes, and subject matter.
While artists of the past were often influenced by religion, mythology, and the
demands of their paying patrons; today‘s artists can be inspired by much more
and the work often grows out of their own interests or expressions of self. Often
the work may reflect their own culture, including current political climates and
popular trends. However, with the ability to travel broadly and integrate much
more than what is seen in their immediate world, art is increasingly global and
diverse in its themes.
Unlike other schools of art, this school of art has no single point of view of
objective. Instead, it is multi-faceted. The pieces are often reflective of the artist
and so reflect a great diversity of perspectives. This makes Contemporary Art a
complex examination of present-day life. Common themes that might be
examined include: identity, the body, technology, globalization, migration,
society, culture, memory, the passage of time, and artistic critique of
sociopolitical institutions.
CATEGORIES OF CONTEMPORARY ART FORMS
COLLAGE
By: Richman-Abdou, Kelly (2017)
Coined by cubist artists Braque and Picasso, the term ―collage‖ comes from the
French word coller, or ―to glue.‖ The movement itself emerged under this pair of
artists, who began working with various mediums to create avant-garde
assemblages around 1910.
Collages can be created from a range of materials, though most are made of
paper or wood and often feature cut-and-pasted photographs, painted forms, or
even 3-dimensional objects. As more and more modern artists began exploring
the practice throughout the 20th century, these mediums became more varied
and increasingly experimental.

S.Y. 2020-2021 Page | 18
Associated Movements
Cubism
Picasso, ‘Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper' (1913)
While Cubism is most often associated with painting, its founding figures,
Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, also created collages in this style. Defined
by fractured forms and deconstructed subject matter, Cubism paired perfectly
with the collage approach, as it enabled artists to literally piece together a
picture from dissimilar components. .
Additionally, unlike painting, collages did not risk appearing flat. This fact,
according to esteemed art critic Clement Greenberg, was appealing to artists
like Picasso and Braque, who focused on evoking dimensionality in their work.
―Flatness had not only invaded but was threatening to swamp the Cubist
picture,‖ Greenberg explained in a 1958 issue of Art and Culture.
In addition to painted cut-outs, newsprint and patterned paper were often

employed by Cubists, as evident in Picasso's Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass,
Guitar and Newspaper and Braque's Violin and Pipe.
Dada
Francis Picabia, ‘Tableau Rastadada' (1920)
Inspired by the cutting-edge work of Picasso and Braque, Dadaist artists also
began to experiment with collage in the 1920s. Unlike the cubists who favored
still-life arrangements, the Dadaists created collages that incorporated a wide
array of iconography, from reinterpreted portraits to figures rooted in fantasy.
Dadaists also creatively incorporated more materials into their collages than
their Cubist counterparts. Members of the movement are particularly renowned
for their innovative use of seemingly worthless or often overlooked items like
tickets, magazine clippings, candy wrappers, and even 3-dimensional trinkets.

S.Y. 2020-2021 Page | 19
By transforming ephemera into polished pieces, the Dadaists challenged
traditional perceptions of art.
Surrealism
Joseph Cornell, ‘Untitled (Celestial Fantasy with Tamara Toumanova)' (1940)
On the heels of Dada, Surrealists adopted and adapted this cut-and-paste

technique. Much like their ―automatic‖ approach to painting, these artists
relied on the subconscious to produce one-of-a-kind assemblages made of
photographs, illustrations, colored paper, and paint.
Abandoning the Cubists' focus on still-life, they embraced and expanded upon
the Dadaists' move toward strange subject matter to create pieces evocative of
a dream. This focus is exceptionally evident in the work of Joseph Cornell and
André Breton, who both used the method as a means to conjure up cohesive
yet entirely made-up scenes.
Abstract Expressionism
Robert Motherwell, ‘View from a High Tower' (1944-45)
Like the early modern artists that preceded them, Abstract Expressionists
challenged conventional ideas about art. In order to take this avant-garde
stance a step further, they rejected figurative subject matter and worked
entirely in the abstract. This approach, however, was not limited to their more
well-known drip, color field, and soak stain paintings; it is also evident in their
collages.
Like their paintings, Abstract Expressionists' collages showcase an emphasis

on color, composition, and emotion. Through simplified silhouettes, blocks of
cut-and-glued color, and free-floating, painted lines, the artists added (literal)
layers of dimensionality to their already-famous aesthetic.

S.Y. 2020-2021 Page | 20
Pop Art
Rosalyn Drexler, ‘The Dream' (1963)

In 1956, British artist Richard Hamilton ushered in the Pop Art movement with
his eye-catching collage, Just what is it that makes today's homes so different,
so appealing? Featuring carefully-selected clippings from American magazines,
this piece incorporates several contemporaneous, pop culture-related motifs,
including ―Man, Woman, Food, History, Newspapers, Cinema, Domestic
Appliances, Cars, Space, Comics, TV, Telephone, Information.‖
In addition to setting the scene for Pop Art in terms of subject matter, this
piece also inspired other members of the movement to explore collage art.
Contemporary Approach
Today, numerous artists have kept up the collage tradition. While many
continue to construct their assembled compositions by hand, some employ
digital tools to craft them. Here, we look at a selection of contemporary collages
that depict various methods of modern collage-crafting.
Sophie Standing. Read more: Gorgeous Black Rhino Recreated with Intricate
Fabric Collage
ASSEMBLAGE
By: Tate (2020)
The use of assemblage as an approach to making art goes back to Pablo

Picasso‘s cubist constructions, the three dimensional works he began to make
from 1912. An early example is his Still Life 1914 which is made from scraps of
wood and a length of tablecloth fringing, glued together and painted. Picasso
continued to use assemblage intermittently throughout his career.
In 1918 dada artist Kurt Schwitters began to use scavenged scrap materials to
create collages and assemblages – he called this technique ‗merz‘. Assemblage
also became the basis for many surrealist objects. Inspired by psychologist
Sigmund Freud‘s writings about the unconscious and dreams, surrealist artists

S.Y. 2020-2021 Page | 21
often combined unlikely combinations of found objects to create surprising and
unsettling sculptures.
Take an object / Do something to it / Do something else to it. [Repeat.]

(Jasper Johns, sketchbook note, 1964)
In the 1950s and 1960s assemblage became widely used. Artists Jasper Johns
and Robert Rauschenberg adopted an apparently anti-aesthetic approach to
making art. They used scrappy materials and found objects alongside messily
applied paint to create expressionist reliefs and sculptures, earning them the
name neo-dada. Artists of the Italian arte povera movement, such as Mario
Merz, made artworks using an assemblage of throwaway natural and everyday
materials including, soil, rags and twigs. Their aim was to challenge and
disrupt the values of the commercialised contemporary gallery system.
As a technique assemblage continues to be extensively used, for example in

sculptures of YBA artists such as Sarah Lucas, Damien Hirst and Jake and
Dinos Chapman. Many contemporary artists, such as Tomoko Takahashi,
Christina Mackie and Mike Nelson, create large-scale installations from
assembled, scavenged materials and found objects. Pioneer in the Philippines
is LAo Lianben (1948). Roberto Feleo‘s (1954) works called Sapin-sapin show a
combination different pieces, both found and made.
PERFORMANCE ART
By: Tate (2020)

S.Y. 2020-2021 Page | 22
While the terms ‗performance‘ and ‗performance art‘ only became widely used
in the 1970s, the history of performance in the visual arts is often traced back
to futurist productions and dada cabarets of the 1910s.
Throughout the twentieth century performance was often seen as a non-

traditional way of making art. Live-ness, physical movement and
impermanence offered artists alternatives to the static permanence of painting
and sculpture.
In the post-war period performance became aligned with conceptual art,

because of its often immaterial nature.
Now an accepted part of the visual art world, the term has since been used to
also describe film, video, photographic and installation-based artworks through
which the actions of artists, performers or the audience are conveyed.
More recently, performance has been understood as a way of engaging directly

with social reality, the specifics of space and the politics of identity. In 2016,
theorist Jonah Westerman remarked ‗performance is not (and never was) a
medium, not something that an artwork can be but rather a set of questions
and concerns about how art relates to people and the wider social world‘.
David Madella whose performance in Brother of Isidora gained him recognition

from other artist both here and abroad.
INSTALLATION ART
By: Tate (2020)
Installation artworks (also sometimes described as ‗environments‘) often occupy

an entire room or gallery space that the spectator has to walk through in order
to engage fully with the work of art. Some installations, however, are designed
simply to be walked around and contemplated, or are so fragile that they can
only be viewed from a doorway, or one end of a room. What makes installation
art different from sculpture or other traditional art forms is that it is a complete
unified experience, rather than a display of separate, individual artworks. The
focus on how the viewer experiences the work and the desire to provide an
intense experience for them is a dominant theme in installation art. As artist
Ilya Kabakov said:
The main actor in the total installation, the main centre toward which
everything is addressed, for which everything is intended, is the viewer.

S.Y. 2020-2021 Page | 23
Installation art emerged out of environments which artists such as Allan
Kaprow, made from about 1957 onward, though there were important
precursors, such as Kurt Schwitters‘s Merzbau 1933, an environment of
several rooms created in the artist‘s own house in Hanover. In an undated
interview published in 1965 Allan Kaprow said of his first environment:
I just simply filled the whole gallery up … When you opened the door you found
yourself in the midst of an entire environment … The materials were varied:
sheets of plastic, crumpled up cellophane, tangles of Scotch tape, sections of
slashed and daubed enamel and pieces of coloured cloth … five tape machines
spread around the space played electronic sounds which I had composed.
From the 1960s the creation of installations has become a major strand in
modern art. This was increasingly the case from the early 1990s when the
‗crash‘ of the art market in the late 1980s led to a reawakening of interest in
conceptual art (art focused on ideas rather than objects). Miscellaneous
materials (mixed media), light and sound have remained fundamental to
installation art.
Some Filipino artist who have gained recognition for their installations are
Leeroy New (1986)- Bakawan Floating Island Challenge and Aze Ong (1977)-
Liwanag sa Kawalan ng Kulay and Liwanag at Cultural Center of the
Philippines.

S.Y. 2020-2021 Page | 24
SELF-ASSESMENT
Encircle
your
Answer
FORM
Read each statement and check ( ) the box that reflects your work today.
Name: Date:
Section:
Strongly
Disagree Agree
Agree
1. I found this work interesting.

2. I make a strong effort.
3. I am proud of the results.
4. I understood all the instructions.
5. I followed all the steps.
6. I learned something new.
7. I feel ready for the next assignment.
www.ldatschool.ca/executive-function/self-assessment/

S.Y. 2020-2021 Page | 25
Reference Book:
Arch. Ganzon, Carlos Luis C. (2018), Journey Contemporary Arts of the
Philippines
Online References:
 Art Mag: Visual Arts Collection (2020) Visual Arts
Retrieved from: https://www.pinterest.ph/theartmag/visual-arts/
 Study.com: What is Fine Art? - Definition & Types. (2017,
September 15).
Retrieved from: https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-fine-art-
definition-types.html.
 Kongaika, Ruth (2018) What is 3D art? What are some examples?
Retrieved from: https://www.quora.com/What-is-3D-art-What-are-some-
examples
 Burton, Michelle (2019), Fine Arts with an Emphasis in 3D Graphics
and Animation Degrees: What Coursework is Included in a Typical Fine
Arts with an Emphasis in 3D Graphics and Animation Program?
Retrieved from: https://www.animationcareerreview.com/articles/fine-
arts-emphasis-3d-graphics-and-animation-degrees-what-coursework-
included-typical-fine-
 Lumen Learning: Introduction to Art Concepts (2020),
Retrieved from: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-
sacartappreciation/chapter/reading-painting/
 Silent Gardens (2020), Philippines Culture The soul of the Philippines
Retrieved from: https://www.silent-gardens.com/culture.php
 Encyclopedia of Art (2020), Religious Art Christian, Hindu, Buddhist &
Islamic Arts.MAIN A-Z INDEX
Retrieved from: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/religious-art.htm
 National Art Gallery, National Museum of the Philippines (2015),
Retrieved from: https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nationalmuseum
beta/Museums%20and%20Branches/National1.html
 Tate (2016), Art Term : History Painting
Retrieved from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/h/history-painting
 Thaneeya, McArdle (2020), Portrait Painting and Drawing
Retrieved from: https://www.art-is-fun.com/portrait-painting
 Tate (2016), Art Term : Still Life
Retrieved from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/still-life
 Richman-Abdou, Kelly (2017), Art History: The Evolution of Landscape
Painting and How Contemporary Artists Keep It Alive
Retrieved from: https://mymodernmet.com/contemporary-landscape-
painting/
 FineArtAmerica.com (2020), Nude Paintings
Retrieved from: https://fineartamerica.com/art/paintings/nude
 The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018), Genre painting visual
arts
Retrieved from: https://britannica.com/art/genre-painting
 Greek Landscapes (2020), Classical Sculpture

S.Y. 2020-2021 Page | 26
Retrieved from: https://greeklandscapes.com/classical-art/
 Pierre, Caterina Y. (2018), Modern Sculpture
Retrieved From: https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/
obo-97801999 20105/obo-9780199920105-0111.xml
 Encyclopedia.com (2020), "Decorative Arts ." World Eras
Retrieved from https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-
papers-and-books/decorative-arts Broadly understood, the decorative arts
comprise objects
 National Commission for Culture and the Arts (2020), The Ceramic
Age
Retrieved from: https://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/culture-
profile/prehistory-of-the-philippines/the-ceramic-age/
 By Franz Sorilla IV (2017), Weaving the Threads of Filipino Heritage
Retrieved from: https://ph.asiatatler.com/life/weaving-the-threads-of-
filipino-heritage
 National Commission for Culture and the Arts (2020),
Retrieved from: https://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/culture-
profile/prehistory-of-the-philippines/the-appearance-of-metal/
 International Studies In History & Business Of Art & Culture (2020),
Contemporary Art : Definition
Retrieved from: https://www.iesa.edu/paris/news-events/contemporary-
art-definition
 Richman-Abdou, Kelly (2017), Exploring the Cutting-Edge History and
Evolution of Collage Art
Retrieved from: https://mymodernmet.com/collage-art-collage/2/
 Tate (2020), Art Term Assemblage
Retrieved from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/assemblage
 Tate (2020), Art Term Performance Art
Retrieved from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/performance-art
 Tate (2020), Art Term Installation Art
Retrieved from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/i/installation-art
 Encyclopedia of Art (2020), Performance Art Characteristics, History,
Happenings. MAIN A-Z INDEX
Retrieved from: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/performance-art.htm

S.Y. 2020-2021 Page | 27

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CONTEMPORARY VISUAL ARTS