MODULE I REVIEWER (QUIZ 1)
ASSUMPTION AND NATURE OF ART: CREATIVITY AND IMAGINATION
ART originated from the Latin “ars”, which means “skills”. It is the equivalent to the
Greek “techne” from which our modern word “technology” is derived. In early days,
the term art was applied not only to craftsmanship but also to proficiency in performing
any activity. Thus medicines, agriculture and military expertise were considered arts
ART APPRECIATION is referred to the knowledge of the general and everlasting
qualities that classify all great art. Art appreciation can be subjective depending on
personal preference to aesthetics and form. Most of the modern art critics and art
historians draw back from this term, underrating art appreciation as demanding too little
serious thought.
ART HISTORY is the study of objects of art considered within their time period. Art
historians analyze visual arts’ meaning (painting, sculpture, architecture) at the time
they were created.
UNDERSTANDING CULTURES visual art recounts stories of our past, it gives an
account of past events.
THE THREE CLASSICAL BRANCHES OF VISUAL ART are painting, sculpture, and
architecture. Music, theatre, film, dance, and other performing arts, as well as literature
and other media such as interactive media, are included in a broader definition of the
arts. Until the 17th century, art referred to any skill or mastery and was not
differentiated from crafts or sciences. In modern usage after the 17th century, where
aesthetic considerations are paramount, the fine arts are separated and distinguished
from acquired skills in general, such as the decorative or applied arts.
AESTHETICS the nature of art and related concepts, such as creativity and
interpretation, are explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics.
ICONOGRAPHY is a major part of art history. It consists in analyzing the symbolism
of works of arts. For instance, art historians identify the visual elements of a painting
and interpret its meaning. Art historians are interested in what the works of art
represented at the time they were created. It is a way to learn about the civilizations of
the past.
THE NATURE OF ART
I. Art is everywhere the popular feeling about art is that it exists only in concert halls,
museums, and art galleries in a world by itself, accessible only to those who can afford
to pay for its enjoyment or to critics and scholars who take time to study the art objects.
On the contrary, art is found everywhere. It is very much part of our lives. If we go back
to the prehistoric cave dwellers, we would find art as an integral part of their communal
lives.
II. Art as expression and communication no one can contain an intense emotion
within himself for so long. The tension that results would compel him to unburden
himself or share the feelings with others. We express our emotional state by some
visible signs and activities. We burst into song when we are happy, or we dance, for it is
pleasant to express joy through rhythmic body movements. We likewise sing out our
love or our despair, or try to convey our deep emotion in poetic language. “What an
artist does to an emotion is not to induce it, but express it. Through expression, he is
able to explore his own emotions and at the same time, create something beautiful out
of them” (Robin George Collingwood)
III. Art as creation man has also been led by an innate craving for order to create
objects that are delightful to perceive. The word “creation” in this sense refers to the act
of combining or reordering existing materials so that a new object is formed. As a
creative activity, art involves skill and expertness in handling materials and organizing
then into new, structurally pleasing, and significant units. This skill does not just happen.
It is acquired through long training and constant practice.
IV. Art and experience major kinds of experience associated in art
a) Communication
b) Expression
c) Creation
d) Perception
Art usually starts as an experience which the artist wants to communicate, then the act
of expressing this experience – that of creating an art object or form. Finally, when the
work is done, there the artist’s gratifying experience of having accomplished something
significant. The perception then refers to what onlooker or listener undergoes when he
perceives the work of art.
V. Art and nature art is not nature. A distinction must be made between the two. The
colorful sunset over Manila Bay, the sky full of stars on a summer evening, the sound of
Mayas singing in the fields – these are natural things. They are not work of art. A work
of art is man-made, and although it may closely resemble nature, it can never duplicate
nature.
VI. Art and beauty the desire for beauty and order around us is another basic human
need. Somehow these provide the much-needed comfort and balance to our lives. A
thing of beauty is one which gives us pleasure when we perceived it. The delight we
experience is called “aesthetic pleasure”, aesthetic coming from the Greek which
means to “perceive with sense”.
ART APPRECIATION AS A WAY OF LIFE “the role of art as a creative work is to
depict the world in a completely light and perspective” (Jean-Paul Sartre)
THE ROLE OF CREATIVITY IN ART MAKING creativity requires thinking outside the
box. In art, creativity is what sets apart one artwork from another. When can we say that
something is creative? (a) when we have not seen anything like it. (b) when it is out of
the ordinary. (c) when it is not just a copy or imitation of someone’s work. There is
originality. Nowadays, being creative can be quite challenging.
ART AS A PRODUCT OF IMAGINATION, IMAGINATION AS A PRODUCT OF ART
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know
and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be
to know and understand” (Albert Einstein).
Imagination is not constrained by the walls of the norm, but goes beyond that. Though
imagination, one is able to craft something bold, something new, and something better
in the hopes of creating that will stimulate change.
VISUAL ARTS creation that falls under this category are those that appeals to the
sense of sight and are mainly visual in nature. There are also other artistic disciplines
that involve a visual aspect, such as performance arts, theatre, and applied arts. Some
mediums of visual arts include paintings, drawing, letterings, printing sculpture, digital
imaging and many others. "Visual Arts" is a modern but imprecise umbrella term for a
broad category of art which includes a number of artistic disciplines from various sub-
categories. Its wide ambit renders meaningless any attempt at definition, so rather than
define or compose some diluted meaning for it, here is a list of its constituent
disciplines.
DEFINITIONS OF VISUAL ART USUALLY ENCOMPASS THE FOLLOWING:
1. Fine Arts belongs to the general category of visual arts. These include activities such
as: Drawing, Painting, Printmaking and Sculpture, along with associated activities like
Graphic art, Manuscript Illumination, Book Illustration, Calligraphy and Architecture.
2. Contemporary Arts the visual arts also include a number of modern art forms, such
as: Assemblage, Collage, Mixed-media, Conceptual Art, Installation, Happenings and
Performance art, along with film-based disciplines such as Photography, Video Art and
Animation, or any combination thereof. This group of activities also includes high tech
disciplines like computer graphics and giclee prints. Another modern visual art, is the
new environmental or Land art, which also includes transitory forms like ice/snow
sculpture, and (presumably) graffiti art.
3. Decorative Arts & Crafts in addition, the general category of visual arts
encompasses a number of decorative art disciplines and crafts, including: ceramics and
studio pottery, mosaic art, mobiles, tapestry, glass art (including stained glass), and
others.
4. Other wider definitions of visual art sometimes include applied art areas such as
graphic design, fashion design, and interior design. In addition, new types of Body art
may also fall under the general heading of visual arts. These include: tattoo art, face
painting, and body painting.
FILM also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, theatrical film, or photoplay, is
a series of still images that, when shown on a screen, create the illusion of moving
images. The process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry. A film is created by
photographing actual scenes with a motion-picture camera, by photographing drawings
or miniature models using traditional animation techniques, by means of CGI and
computer animation, or by a combination of some or all of these techniques, and other
visual effects. Films were originally recorded onto plastic film through a photochemical
process and then shown through a movie projector onto a large screen. Film is
considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a
powerful medium for educating—or indoctrinating—citizens. Some have criticized the
film industry's glorification of violence, and have perceived in it the prevalence of a
negative attitude toward women. The individual images that make up a film are
called frames. In the projection of traditional celluloid films, a rotating shutter causes
intervals of darkness as each frame, in turn, is moved into position to be projected, but
the viewer does not notice the interruptions because of an effect known as persistence
of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after its
source disappears. The perception of motion is due to a psychological effect called the
phi phenomenon.
CINEMA short for cinematography, is often used to refer to filmmaking and the film
industry, and to the art of filmmaking itself. The contemporary definition of cinema is the
art of simulating experiences to communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings,
beauty or atmosphere by the means of recorded or programmed moving images along
with other sensory stimulations.
PERFORMANCE ART is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed
by the artist or other participants. It may be live, through documentation, spontaneously
or written, presented to a public in a Fine Arts context, traditionally interdisciplinary.
Performance art, also known as artistic action, has been developed through the years
as a genre of its own in which art is presented live. It had an important and fundamental
role in XX century avant garde art. It involves four basic elements: (1) time, (2)
space, (3) body and presence of the artist, and (4) the relation between the creator
and the public. The actions, generally developed in art galleries and museums, can
take place in the street, any kind of setting or space and during any time period. Its goal
is to generate a reaction, sometimes with the support of improvisation and a sense of
aesthetics. The themes are commonly linked to life experiences of the artist themselves,
or the need of denunciation or social criticism and with a spirit of transformation.
The term performance art and performance became widely used in the 1970s,
even though the history of performance in visual arts dates back to futurist productions
and cabarets from the 1910s.The main pioneers of performance art are artists such as
Carolee Schneemann, Marina Abramovic, Ana Mendieta, Chris Burden, Hermann
Nitsch, Joseph Beuys, Nam June Paik, Yves Klein and Vito Acconci. Some of the main
exponents more recently are Tania Bruguera, Abel Azcona, Regina José Galindo,
Tehching Hsieh, Marta Minujín and Petr Pavlensky.
POETRY (the term derives from a variant of the Greek term, poiesis, "making") is a form
of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language—such as
phonesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre—to evoke meanings in addition to, or in
place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning.
ARCHITECTURE is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished
from the skills associated with construction. The practice of architecture is employed to
fulfill both practical and expressive requirements, and thus it serves both utilitarian and
aesthetic ends.
DANCE is a performing art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of
human movement. This movement has aesthetic and symbolic value, and is
acknowledged as dance by performers and observers within a particular culture. Dance
can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements,
or by its historical period or place of origin. An important distinction is to be drawn
between the contexts of theatrical and participatory dance, although these two
categories are not always completely separate; both may have special functions,
whether social, ceremonial, competitive, erotic, martial, or sacred/liturgical. Other forms
of human movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including martial
arts, gymnastics, cheerleading, figure skating, synchronized swimming, marching
bands, and many other forms of athletics.
Why Dance is Important?
DANCE is more than the exploring of different ways to make a shape or learning a
series of steps to music; it is a way of moving that uses the body as an instrument of
expression and communication. Through dance, students learn teamwork, focus, and
improvisational skills.
What are the different types of dances?
Latin rhythm: American Rhythm, Bachata. Bolero. East Coast Swing.
Mambo.Rumba.Cha Cha.Corridos.Cumbia.Duranguense.Forró International Latin.
Argentine tango. Capoeira. Maculelê Danza. Jive. Lambada. Merengue. Milonga.
Reggaeton. Rumba. Rueda. Salsa. Samba (ballroom dance) Samba (Brazilian dance)
Samba de Gafieira. Zumba (dance) Zouk.
What is a popular dance?
DANCE-POP is a pop and dance subgenre that originated in the early 1980s. It is
generally up-tempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable
but also suitable for contemporary hit radio.
THEATRE OR THEATER is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers,
typically actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event
before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may
communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech,
song, music, and dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such
as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the
experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre"
as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from
θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe").
MODERN WESTERN THEATRE comes, in large measure, from ancient Greek drama,
from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres, and many of its
themes, stock characters, and plot elements. Theatre artist Patrice Pavis defines
theatricality, theatrical language, stage writing and the specificity of theatre as
synonymous expressions that differentiate theatre from the other performing arts,
literature and the arts in general.
MODERN THEATRE includes performances of plays and musical theatre. The art forms
of ballet and opera are also theatre and use many conventions such as acting,
costumes and staging. They were influential to the development of musical theatre.
APPLIED ART refers to the application (and resulting product) of artistic design to
utilitarian objects in everyday use. Whereas works of fine art have no function other
than providing aesthetic or intellectual stimulation to the viewer, works of applied art are
usually functional objects which have been "prettified" or creatively designed with both
aesthetics and function in mind. Applied art embraces a huge range of products and
items, from a teapot or chair, to the walls and roof of a railway station or concert hall, a
fountain pen or computer mouse.
What Does Applied Art Include?
For the sake of simplicity, works of applied art comprise two different types: (1) standard
machine-made products which have had a particular design applied to them, to make
them more attractive and easier-to-use; and (2) individual, aesthetically pleasing but
mostly functional, craft products made by artisans or skilled workers.
Example of applied arts are:
1. Industrial design – mass-produced objects.
2. Architecture – also counted as a fine art.
3. Ceramic art
4. Automotive design
5. Fashion design
6. Calligraphy
7. Interior design
8. Graphic design
