Introduction to Humanities

Meaning of Humanities
 Humanus – a human, a mortal
 Humanities – from Latin word Humanitas; it refers to the quality of being a human; civilized, cultured, refined
 Those powers or capacities regarded as common to, and most characteristic of, "human beings as such"
 the cultivation of these aspects of human nature so as to bring them into active realization.
 The word humanities come from the Latin humanus/humanitas, which means human, cultured and refined.
 To be human is to have or show qualities like rationality, kindness and tenderness. vBranch of Learning – it refers to
the study of the arts.
 As a study, its material object is “artwork” and its formal object is “creativity and appreciation.”
Scope of Humanities
The branches of humanities consist of languages, the arts, literature, philosophy, religion, and history.
Visual Art
 The art that we perceive through our eyes
 Aesthetic refers to the forms and psychological forms of art.
 The aesthetic aspects of any work – a painting, song, story, dance, or play – are what make it art.
Music
 This is the art of combining and regulating sounds of varying pitch to produce compositions expressing various ideas
and emotions.
 As an art, it bases its appeal on the sensuous beauty of musical sounds. Dance
 It is the most direct of the arts for it makes use of the human body as its medium.
 It springs from man’s love for expressive gestures, his release of tension through rhythmic movement.
Theater
 The stage is a place for re-enacting the joys and problems of life, a place where the playwright strips life of
nonessentials and deals with basic and important issues.
Motion Picture
 Through it, a great number of people can see dramatic performances every day.
 Theatrical productions, including motion pictures and television, combine art forms.
Literature
 a body of written works.
 The name has traditionally been applied to those imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the
intentions of their authors and the perceived aesthetic excellence of their execution.
 Literature may be classified according to a variety of systems, including language, national origin, historical period,
genre, and subject matter.
Why we study humanities?
1. Through Humanities, we can be connected to places we have not visited, understand the past or history which has
significance to the present. It makes us encounter great minds and hearts of human history.
2. Through Humanities, we will be studying what humans have found valuable or good throughout the time.
3. Through Humanities, we experience connection between culture and community through different art exposures.
4. Through Humanities, we increase our respect for cultural and individual differences through a knowledge of
achievements and of world civilization.
5. 5. Through Humanities, we gain a global perspective through the knowledge of world cultures.
6. 6. Through Humanities, we will be able to build up your career, focus our life, minimize frustration, and most
importantly, be able to work as part of an effective team.

Lesson 1/ What is Art

Art
 The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or
sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
 Art is generally understood as any activity or product done by people with a communicative or aesthetic purpose
something that expresses an idea, an emotion or more generally, a world view.
Creativity- the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.
 It also defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in
solving problems communicating with others and entertaining ourselves and others.
Imagination
 the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concept of external objects not present to the senses.
 The ability to the mind to be creative or resourceful.
Expression
 the process of making known one's thoughts or feelings.
 the conveying of feeling in the face or voice, in a work of art, or in the performance of a piece of music.
Assumption of Art
Art is Universal
 In every country and in every generation, there is always art. Age is not a factor in determining art. “An art is not good
because it is old, but old because it is good” (Dudley et al., 1960)
Art is Cultural
 In every culture in the world, artistic expression has emerged to provide an outlet for thoughts, feeling, traditions and
beliefs. Art can be both rooted in history and a catalyst for change in culture.
Art is NOT Nature
 Art is made by man
 It means that it is not natural occurrence.
 However, man has taught himself to fine art in nature.
Art Involves Experience
 Art is not merely the process by the artist; it involves both the artist and the active observer who encounter each
other, their mental environments and their culture at large.
 Art is not just a recording of human experience, but it is an involvement of human experience.
Art as a form of Creation
 Creativity is one of the most important parts that makes an artist. Without the act of creation, no artist exists.
Art as a form of Creation
 The entire beauty of art comes from the artist making something new to show the world, using this as a way to
express their innermost thoughts and desires to the world.
 There is an unending amount of beauty in this world and it is the responsibility of the artist to effectively capture and
display this beauty to the world.

Functions of Art
Personal
 The personal functions of art (art and the individual) are the most difficult to explain in any great detail.
 There are many of them, and they vary from person to person.
 It is how humans express their emotions and ideas personally.

Common personal function of art:

 Order- it gives order to a messy and disorderly personal world.
 Chaotic- it gives chaos or disorder when the artist feels life is too boring, staid and ordinary.
 Therapeutic- for both the artist and the viewer.
o Example, the choice of music for hospitals, mentally disturbed patients, massage parlors.
 Religious and Spiritual
 Biological – ways to adorn and decorate ourselves in order to be attractive enough to others.

Social
 Art has social functions (art and society) when it addresses aspects of (collective) life, as opposed to one person’s
point of view or experience.
 Art performs social function when:
- Influencing social behavior (collective behavior)
- Display and Celebration
- Social Description
 Influencing Social Behavior (collective behavior)
- Many works of art influence the way we think, feel and act.
- It may cause us to laugh, arouse indignation, or as a source in changing, correcting, improving the human
condition or shaping the society. (Social change)
 Display and Celebration
- Sculpture and painting are commemoration of personages in society.
- Rituals have played an important role in people’s lives and have influenced the growth of certain arts as well.
- Festivals – involve rituals of some kind, and these in turn, employ arts. Ex: Sinulog in Cebu, Moriones Festival
in Marinduque, Ati-atihan in Kalibo and Diyandi in Iligan.
 Social Description
- Artwork reveal how people thought, felt, and lived in certain historical period.
- For example, the painting that portrays the many people one in planting or harvesting rice, describes the value
of unity, camaraderie and banayihan spirit among Filipino.

 Physical
- A chair is so designed as to allow the seated body to rest comfortable on it. Its different parts (back, arms, legs
and seat) are harmoniously related to one another and integrated into an object that fulfills its particular purpose.
- In architecture, the design of a building is determined primarily by its operational function. These considerations
determine the height of the building, the number of floors, the sizes and shapes of rooms, the location of doors
and windows, and the location of facilities.
Distinction of Fine Art
- Fine art results from a free and open-ended exploration that does not depend on a predetermined formula for its
outcome or validity.
- Its outcome is surprising and original.
- Almost all fine art objects are a combination of some level both of craft and art.
- Art stands on craft, but goes beyond it.
Who is considered an Artist? What does it mean to be an artist?
- In much of the world today, an artist is considered to be a person with the talent and the skills to conceptualize
and make creative works.
- Such persons are singled out and prized for their artistic and original ideas.
- Of greater importance, artists are the individuals who have the desire and ability to envision, design, and
fabricate the images, objects, and structures we all encounter, use, occupy, and enjoy every day of our lives.
- In Medieval Europe, or the Middle Ages (fifth- fifteenth centuries), for example, an artisan generally began
around the age of twelve as an apprentice, that is, a student who learned all aspects of a profession from a
master who had their own workshop.
- Apprenticeships lasted five to nine years or more, and included learning trades ranging from painting to baking
and masonry to candle making.
- At the end of that period, an apprentice became a journeyman and was allowed to become a member of the
craft guild that supervised training and standards for those working in that trade.
- To achieve full status in the guild, a journeyman had to complete their “masterpiece” demonstrating sufficient
skill and craftsmanship to be named a master.
Why do we make are?
 - Some of the earliest evidence of recognizable human activity includes not only practical things like stone tools
and fire pits, but also decorative objects used for personal adornment.
- We can only speculate about the intentions of our distant ancestors, but it is clear that their lives included the
practice of conceiving and producing art objects.
- One thing we appear to share with those distant relatives is the urge to make art.
 The Personal Need to Create Many works of art come out of a personal decision to put a feeling, idea, or concept
into visual form.
 Communal Needs and Purposes One way in which communities maintain stability is in the production of works of
art that identify common values and experiences within that community and thus bring people together.
What is Aesthetic?
- Aesthetics is the philosophical study of art.
- It is the study of value in the arts or the inquiry into feelings, judgments, or standards of beauty and related
concepts.
- Philosophy of art is concerned with judgments of sense, taste and emotion.
- In its original Greek derivation, the term denoted the study of sense experience generally and it was not until the
the mid-18th century, following a usage introduced by Baumgarten, that a particular reference to the idea of
beauty in nature and art was established.
- The current meaning developed even later in the 18th and early 19th articulation of the concept of fine art.
What is Aesthetic?
- Is art an intellectual or representational activity?
- What would the realistic representations in pop art represent?
- Does art represent sensible objects or ideal objects?
- Is artistic value objective?
- Is it merely coincidental that many forms in architecture and painting seem to illustrate mathematical principles?
- Are there standards of taste?
- Is there a clear distinction between art and reality?

Elements of Art
Elements of Art
- The elements of art are the building blocks of an artworks.
- They are the tools artist use when creating an artwork.
- The visual components of a work of art.

Elements of Art
 Line, Shape, Form, Value, Color, Space, Texture, Composition

Elements of Art: LINE

- A mark on a surface with length and direction created by a tool (pencil, pen, brush)
- Defined as the path of a point moving through space.
- May be descriptive, implied, or abstract.
Types of Line Direction
 Horizontal Line, Vertical Line, Diagonal Line, Curved Line, Spiral Line

Horizontal Line
- Moves from side to side and create a flat surface on the paper.
- It is a very important type of line we use to help create a sense of depth and distance in an art.
- It often gives the art a feeling of flatness and expanse.
Vertical Line
- Moves up and down, similar to the way we measure things.
- Artist use vertical line direction in art when they want to create a sense of height.
Diagonal Line
- Moves diagonally and create movement in art.
- Artist use diagonal line to create movement and convey a sense of energy.
- Diagonal lines make the subject matter dynamic in that we get the sense of sime sort of action occurring.
Curved Line
- Basically, any line that curves instead of being straight, vertical or horizontal.
- Artist use curved lines to show emotion, soften edges, create harmony and add feeling.
- It can indicate softness, grace and harmony, or a feeling of instability and uncertainty,
Spiral Line
- A line that curves in a circular motion is a spiral line direction.
- Artist use spiral line direction to show the beauty of nature or things like waiter.
- This sort of line can frenetic energy, an electrical feeling of movement, and vibration.

Elements of Art: SHAPE

- A shape is an enclosed area of space created through lines or other elements of the composition
- An element f art that is two-dimensional, flat, or limited to height and width
Geometric Shape
- Precise areas that can be made using a ruler or compass.
- These shapes can be simple or complex and generally give an artwork a sense of order.
Organic Shape
- Organic shapes are complex and imprecise
- They give works of art a natural feeling.
Elements of Art: FORM
- Three-dimensional element.
- A form is measurable by length, width, and height and encloses volume.
- Form can be well-defined or can be free-form.
-
Elements of Art: VALUE
- Refers to the lightness and darkness of colors and is often described in varying levels of contrast.

Elements of Art: COLOR

- Color is the visual property of the pigment of an object that is detected by the eye and produced as a result of
the way the object reflects or emits light.
Color Wheel
- Designed to explain how color is arraigned and how color interact with each other.
- Colors that look good together are called a color harmony.
Color Schemes
 Complementary, Monochromatic, Analogous, Triadic, Tetradic

Complementary
- Two colors that are on opposite sides of the color wheel.
- This combination provides a high contrast and high impact color combination.
Monochromic
- Three shades, tines and tints of one base color.
- Provides a subtle and conservation color combination.
Analogous
- Three colors that are side on the color wheel.
- This color combination is versatile, but can be overwhelming.
Triadic
- Three colors that are evenly spaced on the color wheel.
- This provides a high contrast color scheme.
Tetradic
- Four colors that are evenly spaced on the color wheel.
- These are bold and work best if you let one color be dominant use the others as accents.
Warm and Cool Colors
- The warmth and coolness of a color is also known as its color temperature.
- Color temperature is an essential part of color theory and effectively using color in a lot of disciplines.
 Warm colors are said to bring to mind warmth, like the sun.
 Cool colors are said to bring to mind coolness, like water.
Hue = pure color
Tint = hue + white
Tone= hue + gray
Shade = hue + black
You can create shade, tints, and tones of a color by adding black, grey and white to a base hue.
Hue, Saturation, & Luminance
Hue is basically any pure color on the color wheel.
Saturation is the intensity or purity of the color.
Luminance is the amount of brightness or light in a color

Elements of Art: SPACE

- Concerned wit how an artwork depicts depth.
- It is how artist make a two-dimensional surface look three-dimensional.
Space can give illusion by means of:
 Positive and Negative Space, Linear Perspective, Atmospheric Perspective, Multipoint Perspective & Relative Size
Positive and Negative Space
- Positive space is the areas of the artwork filled with the content.
- Negative space is the space in between.
Linear Perspective
- Is the mathematical system by which an artist uses lines to create the illusional of deep, three-dimensional
space on a two-dimensional surface.
Atmospheric Lines
- Refers to ho objects that are far away often appear fuzzier or less detailed than objects that are close due to the
contrast between light and dark being increasingly reduced by the effects of atmosphere.
Multipoint Perspective
- Is a scenario with more than two primary vanishing points on the horizon line.
Relative Size
- in space indicates the figures that are close to us are larger that the figures farther away.

Elements of Art: TEXTURE

- Texture refers to the tactile qualities of a surface.
- This elements or art deals with the way objects feel, or the way it looks loke they would feel
Tactile Texture
- Tactile texture is the actual feeling of a surface that can be touched.
- Impasto is the technique of applying paint very thickly to the surface.
Visual Texture
- It is the illusion of texture in an artwork.
- Texture is implied the way it looks as if it would feel.

Elements of Art: COMPOSITION

- How the elements of art and principles of design are arranged to create a piece of artwork.
- It is overall layout of the visual art work.
- The term composition means “putting together”
- In general, this refers to the key subjects of the artwork and how they are arranged in relation to each other.

Principles of Design

Principle of Design
- are the concepts that refer to the relationships of the elements of design to each other and to the total
composition.
- The guide how we arrange those visible elements to make effective compositions.
Principle of Designs includes:
- Balance
- Unity
- Rhythm
- Emphasis
- Movement
- Contrast
- Proportion
Balance
- The state of equal relationship;
- The sense of stability when weight is distributed equally on either side of a vertical axis
- The pleasing arrangement of parts in a whole.
- There are different kinds of balance (symmetrical, asymmetrical and radial).
Symmetrical Balance
- Each side is the mirror-image of the other.
Asymmetrical Balance
- The is a sense of balance achieved through careful planning of elements
Radial Balance
- The design elements swirl out from a central axis.

Unity
- The sense of “oneness” in a work of art;
- The sense that the design components or objects belong together
- Unity can be created in a work through simplification.
- Harmony helps to create unity in an artwork.
Rhythm
- A visual tempo or beat
- The sense that our eyes are being carried from one part of another.
- Refers to a regular repetition if elements of art to produce the look and feel of movement.
- It may happen abruptly using jagged lines, abrupt shifts of color or shape, or in a flowing circular way.
- Rhythm is a principle of design that suggests movement or action.
Emphasis
- The sense that our attention is being focused to a particular spot- a center of attention,
- The location of a compositional element contributes to our feelings about emphasis.
- Isolation is a straight-forward way to ensure the “main character” of a picture is noticed.
Movement
- The arrangement of the parts of an image to create a sense of motion by using lines, shapes, forms, and
textures that work
- This can either be actual motion or it can be implied.
- Implied movement.
- Actual movement
Contrast
- Are difference between objects
- Contrast in color
- Contrast in value
- Contrast in space
Proportion
- Relationship of one part to another or to the whole with respect to size, quantity, or degree.
- Refers to the dimensions of a composition and relationships between height, width and depth.
- Proportion also describes how the sizes of different parts of a piece of art or design relate to each other.
- How proportion is used will affect how realistic or stylized something seems.
- Proportion also describes how the sizes of different parts of a piece of art or design relate to each other.