GE7: Art Appreciation

Handout: Introduction to Art Appreciation

The Nature of Art

1. Art is Everywhere – Art is found everywhere. It is very much a part of our lives.
2. Art as expression and communication – Art has grown out of man’s need to express
himself. As in other systems of communication, the artist uses symbols which he organizes
into some comprehensible equivalent of the experience that he is trying to convey.
3. Art as creation – The word ‘creation’ in this sense refers to the act of combining or re-
ordering already existing materials so that a new object is formed.
4. Art and Experience – An experience which the artist wants to communicate and the
experience that the onlooker or listener undergoes when he perceives the work of art. The
perception may kindle an experience which is similar or related to that which the artist tried
to express.
5. Art and Nature – Art is not nature. A work of art is man-made, and although it may closely
resemble nature, it can never duplicate nature.
6. 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.

The Artists: Medium and Technique

1. Visual/Space Art

1.1 Two-Dimensional Art

A. Painting
A.1. Encaustic

• One of the early mediums used by the Egyptians for the

painted portrait on mummy cases.
• Very old technique
• Colors remain vibrant
• Must be heated to paint easily
• Paint hardens when cools
A.2 Watercolor

• Pigments are mixed with water and applied to fine white

paper
• Mostly used in paper
• Example: Gouache – An opaque watercolor painting the
major effects of which are caused by the whitepaper itself. It
 is done by mixing zinc white with the regular watercolor
paints to tone them down giving the appearance of sobriety
suitable for dramatic purposes
A.3 Fresco

• Flourished during the 15th and 16th century

• Method done on a moist plaster surface with colors ground
in water or a limewater mixture.
• The colors dry into plaster and the picture becomes part of
the wall.
• Fresco must be done quickly because it is an exacting
medium – the moment it is applies to the surface, it is
become an integral part of the wall.
• The images are permanently fixed and almost impossible to
remove
A.4 Oil Painting

• Is pigment mixed with linseed oil and applied in canvass.

• Expensive, glossy, dries slowly but lasts long.
A.5 Tempera

• Mineral pigments mixed with egg yolk or egg white and

ore.
• It is rapid drying rate and corrections are difficult to make.
• It is one of the favorite medium of many painters throughout
the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance before oil was
adopted.
• Tempera painting is usually done in wooden panel that has
been made very smooth with plaster called ―gesso (chalk
and gum).

A.6 Acrylic

• A medium most widely used by the painters because of the

characteristics of transparency and quick drying.
B. Mosaic - A picture or decoration made of small pieces of colored stones or
glass and glued or pasted on surface with cement or plaster.

- Usually classified as painting, although, the medium used is not strictly pigment.
- Mosaic art is an important feature of Byzantine churches.
 C. Stained Glass - developed as a major art when it appeared as an important part
of the Gothic cathedral.

- It is translucent glass colored by mixing metallic oxides into the molten

glass or by fixing them into the surface of a clear glass.
D. Tapestry - These are fabrics into which colored designs have been woven.

- Walls of palaces, castles and chapels in Europe were decorated in the

middle ages with tapestries.
E. Drawing - the most fundamental of all skills needed in visual art.

- A drawing may be a study, sketch, cartoon, or finished work in itself.

- Drawing can be done using graphite (pencil), pen and ink, pastel,
chalk, charcoal, crayons, or silverpoint.

F. Print Making - A graphic image that result from a duplicating process.

F.1 Relief Painting

• Involves cutting away from a block of wood.

• Color prints are made by preparing a separate block for each
color to be used.
• It is important that only the parts to be printed with precision
are on the prepare area.
F.2 Intaglio Printing

• It is a printing process in which the design or the text

engraved into the surface of the place and the ink is
transferred to the paper from the groover.

F.3 Planography (Lithography)

• Done on a flat surface.

• A flat stone or metal plate is the material used in this type
of printing.
• The printing is done on a greasy surface, then ink and water
are applied.
• The water is used on the non-print portion since water is ink
resistant. The greasy part then absorbs the ink forming the
image print portion.
 F.4 Stencil (Serisgraphy)

• Refers to a sheet of paper, metal, or plastic, among other

materials with the design cut punched from the material.
• The process of printing involves producing a pattern or
image by use of an object with designed gaps.
• The ink goes through the openings of the cut design material
onto the print material placed below it.
G. Photography - An actual likeness in the production in which may not actually
involve an artist’s creativity.
- Photography makes uses of technology: camera, films, chemical,
or computer program.

Rule of Thirds

• One of the useful composition techniques in photography.

• Known as the basic knowledge that most photographers use when
they are placing items within a frame for their masterpiece.
• This technique suggests that you should imagine a tic – tac – toe or
a pick – pack – boom board on a frame of the picture.
• This involves dividing up the image using two horizontal lines and
two vertical lines.
• Then you position the important elements in your scene at the points
where they meet along those lines.

1.2 Three-Dimensional Art

A. Sculpture

• In choosing a subject for sculpture, the most important thing to

consider is the material.
• The materials available for sculpture are limitless.
• Each of these materials presents interesting motivation to challenge
the sculptor’s creativity.
B. Architecture

• the art of designing and constructing a building that serves specific

functions from providing shelter to meeting the technological
demands of modern cities.
 C. Interior Design

• is concerned with the selection of space and furnishings to

transform an empty shell of a building into a livable area.
• Interior designers work with furniture, appliances, fixtures,
draperies, and rugs with an eye for texture and color.
D. Landscaping

• the artificial arrangement of land areas to achieve a purely

aesthetic effect.
• The landscape artist makes use of the terrain as his basic medium,
along with sand, rocks, water, and growing plants found on it

TECHNIQUES
1. BLOWING
2. ETCHING
3. SPLATTERING
4. THROWING
5. COLORING

6. FLOWING
7. CUTTING

2. Auditory/Time Arts
2.1 Music - The primary material of music is sound
- Musical sound (tones)are produced in a man-made instrument and the human
voice.
Musical instruments have three things in common:
1. A part which vibrates

2. A part that amplifies sound

3. A system for producing and regulating fixed pitches
Types of musical instruments:

1. String - Played by string plucking, bows or striking.

 2. Woodwind - Played by setting air over or into a mouth piece.

3. Brass - Produce their unique sound by the player buzzing his/her lips while
blowing air through a cup or funnel-shaped mouthpiece.
4. Percussion - Played by scraping, rubbing and shaking.

- This produces different sound effects like running water, thunder.

2.2 Literature - The medium of literature is language
- Writers uses words to build his compositions

- Literature is exclusive to works that exploit the suggestive power of language

3. Combined Arts
3.1 Dance - Movements may involve part or the whole of his/her body with or without the
accompaniment of music.
- A dancer uses his/her body to communicate an idea or feeling to his audience
3.2 Theatre (Drama and Opera)

Drama - Combination of literature, acting costume design, stage design and music
3.3 Cinema - Extension of photography
- It makes use several shots, each shot made up to a series of pictorial units taken
from one point of view
- To this series, the sound is added
- It may present a fictional story, a dramatic feature, or a documentary