THE NATURE OF ART

INTRODUCTION

• Art has played a significant role in humankind’s history, from the caveman
to the present time. Some people may not recognize themselves as having
been involved with arts. Still, undisputedly, art is part of our everyday life,
from the clothing we wear, accessories we choose to match our outfit, the
gadgets we used, the cars we drive, the designs of the buildings we pass
through, the music we loved to listen, and the beat that let us dance—all
these manifest concern for undeniable values, despite tangentially artistic.
 LESSON 1: HUMANITIES AND ART APPRECIATION

LEARNING OUTCOMES: During the learning session, you

should be able to:
1. Demonstrate understanding of the role of humanities and arts,
2. Articulate the general ideas of art, and
3. Create a personal description of the art.
 LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Preliminaries:
1. Do you consider yourself a creative person? If you do, why? If you
don’t, why not?
2. At what state of emotion are you more creative and more productive?
Do you find it advantageous or not? Why
 ACTIVITY 1: MUSICAL STROKES

• Divide the class into five groups. Ask them to talk about how music can evoke
feelings through art.
• Students listen to a particular tune and identify what feelings they think the musician
was trying to convey. Let them draw or sketch on paper the emotions they hear from
the music. Choose different colors in their art and talk about why they made the
selections they did.
• Let the students share their artwork in class to see how they perceive music’s
meaning and show feelings in art.
 ACTIVITY 2: MEANINGFUL ENCOUNTERS WITH ARTS

• List down your most memorable encounters with arts. In the second
column, explain why you think each meeting is an experience with art.
•  
My Encounters with Arts Why?
ACTIVITY 3: MY DEFINITION OF ART

• Instruction: Write your definition of art in one sentence.

 PROCESSING:

Guide questions for discussion and sharing:

• 1. What did you learn from the different activities?
• 2. How music evokes your feelings through art?
• 3. With your experiences with arts, what is “Art” to you?
• 4. What makes art an “Art”? How do you know if something is an “Art”?
• 5. How will you define art appreciation? How essential is art appreciation in
one’s life?
 MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF HUMANITIES

• “Humanités” Latin word humanus means educated.

• Refers to the learning of arts like architecture, dance, literature, music,
painting, theatre, and sculpture (Sanches, 2011).
• As a branch of knowledge, it focuses on human opinions and
relationships (Machlis, 2003). The artwork is the material object,
while its creativity and appreciation are the formal objects (Menoy,
2009 & Marcos et al., 2010).
• Likewise, humanities are more concerned with how a
person articulates his/her feelings. These feelings can
be in facial expressions or body movements. (Menoy,
2009).
• Humanities explore human conditions by using different analytical,
critical, or theoretical methods as a branch of knowledge.
• These methods may be in the form of ideas and words to help make
our life meaningful. Furthermore, humanities also study how an
individual documented and processed his/her experiences, specifically
in connecting to others (Stanford University, 2016).
• Imparting humanities as an academic discipline lets our students
(particularly the new generations) become creative and artistic
individuals. (Marcos, 2010).
 DESCRIPTION OF ART AND ART APPRECIATION

• Art is from the ancient Latin ars that means “a craft or a

specialized form of talent,” like carpentry or smithing,
or surgery (Collingwood, 1938).
• Art then encouraged the capacity to create an intended
result from carefully planned steps or methods.
•  
• In Medieval Latin, art comes to mean something different,
that is, “any distinctive form of book knowledge, such as
grammar or logic, magic or astrology” (Collingwood,
1938). The fine arts would mean not delicate or highly
skilled arts, but “beautiful arts,” which is now considered
art.
• Art Appreciation is a way to stimulate ideas and allows individuals to
express their feelings when they viewed an artwork.
• It helps develop critical and innovative thinking skills and instills
important characteristics in listening, observing, and responding to
multiple viewpoints. It also necessitates an ability to differentiate what
is apparent and what is not (Gargaro & Jilg, 2016 and Sanger, 2012).
 LESSON 2: BASIC ASSUMPTIONS AND SCOPE OF ART

LEARNING OUTCOMES: During the learning session, you should be

able to:
• 1. Characterize the assumptions of art,
• 2. Determine the scope of arts; and
• 3. Create a mind map of the basic assumptions and scope of art.
 LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Preliminaries:
As an initial activity, the teacher will ask the students the following:
•1. Why do we assume that art is always something intended for public display?
•2. Why do we assume that art should be collectible?
•3. Why do we take that art is something that can be defined?
•4. Why do we think that art has any particular consistent and persistent qualities at all?
•5. Why do we believe that this list of questions about the basic assumptions of art has to
have a coherent message and a sound ending?
 ACTIVITY 1: LET’S ASSUME!
• Instruction: Given the assumptions about art on the left column, write the possible meanings of these
on the table's right side.
Assumptions about Art Interpretation

Can art be universal, or is it always grounded in its time and place?  

Is art timeless or transient?  

Art is not nature; nature is not art.  

Art is not just a recording of human experience, but it is an involvement of human  

experience
What does art express?

Why does art express?

How does art express?

Does art reflect culture?

How does art reflect culture?

Art isn’t creativity, and creativity is not art.

Is art a product of imagination or experience?

Are some works of art better than others?  

 ACTIVITY 2: PICTURE IDENTIFICATION

• Direction: Look at each picture and identify whether it is fine arts or practical arts. Write your
answer on the opposite box.
PROCESSING:

Guide questions for discussion and sharing:

• 1. What did you learn from the different activities?
• 2. Why is art not nature?
• 3. Why is art ageless and timeless?
• 4. Why does art involve experience?
• 5. What are those pictures depicting?
• 6. Why are music, painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, and dance called fine arts?
• 7. How does it differ from practical arts?
 ASSUMPTIONS OF ART (adopted from caslib jr. et al., 2018)

The assumption is something that is believed as accurate or is bound to happen without

question or proof. The assumptions of arts are as follows:
• 1. Art is universal - Art has been created by all people regardless of origin, time place,
and that it remained on because it is adored and loved by people continuously. A great
piece of work will certainly not be outdated. Some people would say that art is art for its
intrinsic worth. In John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism (1879), enjoyment in the arts belongs
to a higher good, which lies at the opposite end of base pleasures.
• 2. Art is not nature- Art is man’s expression of his reception of
nature. Art is man’s way of interpreting nature. Art is not nature.
Art is made by man, whereas nature is a given around us.
• 3. Art involves experience- Art is always an experience. Unlike fields
of knowledge that include data, art is known by experience. Dudley
et al. (1960) asserted that “all art depends on experience, and if one is
to know art, he must know it not as fact or information but as
experience.” A work of art then cannot be speculated from actually
doing. To appreciate an artwork is to sense it, see and hear it.
 SCOPE OF ART (adopted from ariola, m. 2014)

Various authors classify the arts in different ways. According to Manaois, there are two (2)
general dimensions of arts, namely:
• 1. Fine arts or independent arts- are made primarily for aesthetic enjoyment through the
senses, especially visual and auditory. These are music, painting, sculpture, architecture,
literature, dance, and drama.
• 2. Practical arts or useful or utilitarian arts- are intended for practical use. It is the
development of raw materials for functional purposes. Practical arts or useful arts are industrial
art, applied or household art, civic art, commercial art, graphic art, agricultural art, business art,
distributive art, and fishery art.
According to Custodiosa Sanchez (2002), arts consist of visual arts, literature, drama and
theatre, music, and dance.
• Visual arts are those that we perceive with our eyes. There are two classifications, namely:
• 1. Graphic arts- includes painting, drawing, photography, graphic process (printing),
commercial art (designing of books, advertisements, signs, posters, and other displays), and
mechanical function. The portrayals of forms and symbols are documented on a two-
dimensional surface.
• 2. Plastic arts- includes all fields of visual arts for which materials are prepared into three-
dimensional forms such as structural architecture, landscape architecture (garden, parks,
playgrounds, golf course, beautification), city physical planning, and interior arranging
(design of wallpaper, furniture), sculpture, crafts industrial design, dress and costume
design, and theatre design.
Josefina Estolas (1995) grouped arts into major and minor arts.
• 1. Major arts- include painting, architecture, sculpture, literature, music, and dance.
• 2. Minor arts- include decorative arts, popular arts, graphic arts, plastic arts, industrial
arts. She also grouped arts into:
1. visual arts- graphic arts, plastic arts,
2. performing- theatre, play, dance, music,
3. literary arts- short story, novel, poetry, drama
4. popular arts- film, newspaper, magazine, radio, television,
5. gustatory art of the cuisine – food preparation, beverage preparation, and
6. decorative arts or applied arts- beautifying houses, offices, cars, and other structures.
Panizo and Rustia (1995) classified arts into two (2) major divisions:
•  1. According to purpose- There are five (5) categories, namely:
1.1 Practical or useful arts- are directed to produce artifacts and
utensils to satisfy human needs. Handicrafts (basket weaving, mat
weaving, etc.), embroidery, ceramics, iron and metal crafts, and tin can
manufacturing are examples of these arts.
1.2 Liberal arts- are directed toward intellectual growth, such as in the
study of philosophy, psychology, literature, mathematics, and sciences.
 1.3 Fine arts- are focused on creative activity for contemplating the mind and
uplifting the spirit. Painting, sculpture, and architecture are examples of these arts.
1.4 Major arts- are characterized by actual and potential expressiveness, such as
music, poetry, and sculpture.
1.5 Minor arts- are concerned with practical uses and purposes, such as interior
decoration and porcelain art.
• 2. According to media and forms- There are five (5) types to name:
2.1 Plastic arts- are works that exist in a physical space and are perceived by the
sense of sight. Such skills include sculpture and decorative materials.
2.2 Kinetic arts- involve the element of rhythm. Dance is a popular type of kinetic art.
2.3 Phonetic arts- utilize sounds and words as mediums of expression. Examples are
music, drama, and literature.
2.4 Pure arts- take only one medium of expression like sound in music and color in
painting.
2.5 Mixed arts- take more than one medium, such as opera, which combines music,
poetry, and drama.
FORMATION:

• Instruction: Write down the specific lesson you

learn from the readings and activities. How does
the lesson help you internalize and reflect to
understand the relevance of the topic to your
personal life?
 SYNTHESIS:

• Humanities and the art have always been part of man’s growth and
civilization.
• Since the dawn of time, man has always tried to express his innermost
thoughts and feelings about reality through creating art.
• Three assumptions on art are its universality, its not being nature, and its need
for experience.
• Art is present in every part of the globe and in every period time.
• This is what is meant by its universality.
• Art not being nature, not even attempting to simply mirror
nature, is the second assumption about.
• Art is always a creation of the artist, not nature.
• Finally, without experience, there is no art. The artist has to be
foremost, a perceiver who is directly in touch with art.
REFLECTION GUIDE:

• What have I LEARNED this week that has helped me

do all aspects of this better?
• What have I DONE this week that has made me better
at doing all aspects of this?
• How can I IMPROVE doing all aspects of this?