Saint Mary’s University

Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya

SCHOOL OF TEACHER EDUCATION & HUMANITIES

Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy

NOTES in ART APPRECIATION

IV. CREATIVITY, IMAGINATION & EXPRESSION
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
1. differentiate art from nature;
2. Characterize artistic expression based on personal experiences with art;
3. discuss the nature of art’s preliminary expression; and
4. categorize works of art by citing personal experiences.

Art is a product of human’s creativity, imagination and expression.

❖ No matter how the colors of the sunset are perfectly blended and no matter how the
mountains are extraordinarily formed, nature is not considered art simply because it is
not made by man. Not even photographs or sketches of nature, though captured or
drawn by man, are works of art, but mere recordings of the beauty in nature (Collins &
Riley, 1931).
❖ The challenge is to distinguish what is fine and beautiful from what is not and what is
good quality from poor. This gives us the role in art appreciation. An artwork may be
inspired by nature or other works of art, but an artist invents his own forms and patterns
due to what s/he perceives as beautiful and incorporates them in creating his/her
masterpiece.
Art Appreciation as a Way of Life
❖ Jean-Paul Sartre described the role of art as creative work depicting the world in a
completely different light and perspective due to human freedom (Green, 1995).
❖ Each artwork beholds beauty of its own kind, the kind that the artist sees and wants the
viewers to perceive. People are blind to see the beauty and only those who have
developed a fine sense of appreciation can experience and see the art the same
way the artist did… Refining one’s ability to appreciate art allows him to deeply
understand the purpose of an artwork and recognized the beauty it possesses (Collins
& Riley, 1931)
❖ Frequenting museums, art galleries, concert halls, performing arts, even malls
displaying art exhibitions with free admission can help develop an understanding of the
art will serve as rewarding experience. Learning to appreciate art. (no matter what
vocation or profession you have, will lead to a fuller and more meaningful life.)

The Role of Creativity in art Making

❖ In art, creativity is what sets apart one artwork from another. A creative artist does not
simply copy or imitate another artist’s work. S/he embraces originality, puts his/her
own flavor into one’s work, and calls his/her own work a creative piece.
❖ Being creative can be quite challenging nowadays. Example the campaign ad “It’s
More Fun in the Philippines” used by the Dept. of Tourism (DOT) boomed popularity
in 2011 however, the slogan was allegedly plagiarized from Switzerland’s tourism
slogan back in 1951. The former DOT Sec. Ramon Jimenez Jr. claimed as purely
coincidental. Thus, creativity must be backed with careful research related to art to
avoid conflict.
Art as Product of Imagination, Imagination as a Product of Art
❖ Famous writers, painters and musicians get their ideas in the human mind and all
begins with imagination. German physicist Albert Einstein showed that knowledge is
actually derived from imagination: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For

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 knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces
the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and know and understand.”
❖ Imagination is not constrained by the walls of the norms but goes beyond, that is why
people rely on curiosity and imagination for advancement. Through imagination, one is
able to craft something bold, new and better in the hope creating something that will
stimulate change. Imagination allows endless possibilities. An art thing does not need
to be a real thing but something imaginary (Collingwood, 1938) until it creates, gives
birth and resides in the artists. “Imagination produces art, art inspires imagination.”
Art as Expression
❖ Robin George Collingwood, an English philosopher who is best known for his work in
aesthetics (The Principles of Art,1938) that what an artist does to an emotion is not to
induce it but express it. Through expression, he is able to explore his own emotion at
the same time create something beautiful out of them. Expressing emotions is different
from describing emotions.
❖ “I am angry” is not an expression of emotion, but mere description. Description
destroys the idea of emotion, as it classifies the emotion. Expression individualizes like
an artist has the freedom to express him/herself the way s/he wants to. Hence, there is
no specific technique in expression. This makes people’s art not a reflection external to
them but the inner of themselves.

Ways of Expression:
1.Visual Arts – those arts appealing to the sense of sight and are mainly visual in nature.
Visual art is a kind of art form where people are most likely exposed to like sculptures,
paintings, drawings, letterings, printing, digital imaging and more.

2. Film is the art of putting together successions of still images in order to create an illusion of
movement. Filmmaking focuses on its aesthetic, cultural and social value and is considered
both art and industry. Films can be created by techniques of motion picture camera/movie
camera, animation techniques, computer generated imagery etc.
❖ Filmmaking stimulates experiences or creates the scope of imagination as it aims to
deliver ideas, feelings or beauty to its viewers. The art of filmmaking is complex the
elements applied such as lighting, musical score, visual effects, direction and more.
Famous film festivals and awards like Metro Manila Film Festival, Oscar Award, Caine
Festival have long list of categories to recognize excellence in the art of filmmaking.

3. Performance art – is alive art and the artist’s medium is mainly the human body s/he uses
to perform but also employs other kind of art such as visual art, props and sound. It consists
four important elements:
❖ time
❖ Setting
❖ Performer’s body
❖ Relationship between the audience and the performer(s)

4. Poetry Performance – Poetry is an art form where the artist expresses his/her emotions
through words. These words are carefully selected to exhibit clarity and beauty and to
stimulate strong emotions of joy, anger, love sorrow etc. It uses word’s emotional, musical,
spatial values that go beyond its literal meaning to narrate, emphasize, argue or convince.
Words are combined with movements, tone, volume, and intensity of delivery, add to the
artistic value of the poem.
5. Architecture – Art is the pursuit and creation of beautiful things while architecture is
the making of beautiful buildings. However not all buildings are beautiful. Some buildings
only embody its functionality but the structure, lines, forms and colors are not beautifully
expressed. Buildings should embody three important elements: plan, construction and
design to merit the title architecture.

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6. Dance – is a series of movements that follows the rhythm of the music accompaniment. It
has been an age-old debate whether dance can be considered an art form but it has been
described as a form of expression. Dancing is a creative form that allows people to freely
express themselves. Dancers are free to create and invent their own movements provided its
graceful and beautiful. They are not bound by rules.
7. Literary Art – Artists who practice literary arts use words - not paint, musical instruments or
chisels – to express themselves and communicate emotions to the readers. Literary art goes
beyond the usual professional, academic, journalistic and other technical forms of writing using
technical forms of writing. Literary art focuses on writing using a unique style not following a
specific format or norm like fiction and non-fiction such as novels, biographies, and poems e.g.
The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry), Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare).
8. Theater – uses live performances to present accounts or imaginary events before a live
audience. Theater art performances usually follow script. Theater also considers several
elements such as acting, gesture, lighting sound effects, musical score, scenery and props.
Similar to performance art, theater is also live performance, the participation of the viewer is an
important element in theater arts. Some genres: drama, musical, tragedy, comedy, and
improvisation.
9. Applied Arts – is incorporating elements of style and design to everyday items with the aim
of increasing their aesthetical value. Artists bring beauty, charm, and comfort into many things
that are useful in everyday life. (Collins and Riley, 1931) Industrial design, interior design,
fashion design, and graphic design are applied arts.
Applied arts is often compared to fine arts, where the latter is chiefly concerned on aesthetic
value. Through exploration and expression of ideas, consideration of the needs, and careful
choice of materials and techniques, artists are able to combine functionality and style. Applied
arts are known for their direct function; the function is so important than the name of art. We
do not speak of a building or a piece of ceramics or metalwork; instead we say: “a school”, “a
Church” “a plate”, “a saucer”, “a suit of armor”.

V. Functions and Philosophical Perspectives of an Art

Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:
1. Distinguish between directly functional and indirectly functional art;
2. Explain and discuss the basic philosophical perspectives on the art;
3. Realize the function of some art forms in daily life; and
4. Apply concepts and theories on beauty and aesthetics in real life scenarios.

Introduction:

Aristotle claimed that every particular substance in the world has an end, or telos in Greek
meaning “purpose”. Every substance defined as a formed matter, moves according to a fixed
path toward its aim e.g. a seed to a full-grown plant, a cocoon looking forward to fly high when
it morphs into a butterfly and a baby will eventually turn into a grown wo/man.

For Aristotle, telos is intricately linked with function and a thing to reach its purpose has to
fulfill its function. So, for Aristotle’s view of reality, man is bound to achieve a life of fulfillment
and happiness, or eudaimonia in Greek. Everybody moves toward this final end. Happiness,
the supposed end of wo/man is linked with his/her function. One can only be happy when s/he
is rational in contrast to plants, tables and chairs which are not rational.
So, Wo/man’s natural end, telos is connected with his/her function which is his/her rationality.
The telos and function of a thing are both related to a thing’s identity. What makes human

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being a human being? The capacity for thinking and supposed function. Without this function,
human being ceases to be a human being. The telos, the function, and the “whatness” of a
thing are all interconnected.

In contemporary life, the connection between the end, the function, and the “whatness” of a
thing become closer and more interlaced, and sometimes the end is the function and vice
versa and eventually determine what kind of a thing that is.
Ex: new appliance in the Dept. Store. One tries to know first what functions the
appliance has then after knowing, one can be able to know its purpose.
Points of Reflection:
➢ Does art necessarily have an end?
➢ When an artist creates an art, does s/he have an end in mind?
➢ What function does an art work perform?
➢ Does it have any purpose?
➢ Do all artworks have a function?
➢ Does the function make an object a work of art?
When one speaks of function, one is practically talking the use of the object. An inquiry on the
function of art is an inquiry on what art is for…or “what is it for” … example What is the Rizal
monument for? …of Luneta or Bagumbayan? … the inquirer is hoping to get the function of an
artwork in Rizal park or the Taj Mahal (constructed in memory of the favorite wife of then
emperor Shah Jahan) etc. Similarly, works of art like painting, poem, novel, sees the value of
art in itself.
A. The functions of art are roughly and broadly classified into three:
personal (public display)
social (celebration or to affect collective behavior), and
physical (utilitarian component)

1. Personal functions of art are varied and highly subjective. Its functions depend on the
person – the artist who created the art. It may be a need of self-expression; thus, the
artist needs to communicate an idea to his/her audience. It can be mere entertainment.
An art may also be therapeutic e.g. in orphanages and home for abandoned elders, art
is helpful to process their emotions.
Personal Function of art: helps educate wo/man’s senses and sharpens his/her
perception of the elements the environment such as color, forms, textures, designs,
sounds, rhythms and harmonies. Art intensifies awareness of the beauty of life and
refines and elevates individual’s aesthetic taste. Art provides insights for other ways of
thinking, feeling and imagining those that never occurred.

2. Social Functions of Art - when 1) It influences the collective behavior of people; 2) It is

created to be seen or used primarily in public situations; and 3) It expresses or describes
collective aspects of existence as opposed to individual and personal kinds of
experience. The six social functions of artists are to create places for some
human purpose, create extraordinary versions of ordinary objects, record and
commemorate, give tangible form to the unknown, give tangible form to feelings and
ideas, and to refresh our vision and help us see the world in new ways.
Photography as an art form, delivers this kind of function by taking photos of subjects
in conditions that people normally do not pay attention. Pictures of poverty may carry
emotional overtones that may solicit action or awareness from their audience.
Performance art like plays or satires can arouse emotions and rally people toward and
end.
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 In Social Function: Art is powerful to reform wo/man, to change his deviant behavior
into a socially accepted one e.g. from immoral or disorderly actions to improved human
condition. It influences collective human behavior for a cause. Art functions socially
when:
it seeks to influence the collective human behavior
it is created for public situations,
it expresses social or collective aspects of existence as opposed to individual
and personal experiences.

3. Physical Functions of Art - are the easiest to spot and understand. They are seen in
artworks crafted to serve some physical purpose e.g. Japanese raku bowl, architecture,
jewelry making and even interior design. Functions change according to form, and if
there are many functions, then there will be many forms. Functional works of art are
classified into:
Tools and containers function to make our lives comfortable. e.g. a spoon
and a car are tools, a building and a community are containers. These tools and
containers fulfill a particular purpose but functional works of art must not only be
aesthetically pleasing but must perform their function efficiently.

4. Other Functions of Art:

a. Music is an art used for dance and religion. In the ancient world, music is an
instrument to facilitate worship and invocation to the gods. Music is also essential to
dance to assure synchronicity among dancers. Music guarantees warriors to march
simultaneously. Music now has no connection to dance or religion e.g. Serenade-
are hymns of love to express feelings and emotions. Music is used as
accompaniment to stage plays and motion pictures.
b. Sculpture is an art form that has long existed for various purposes. It had been
made by man for religion. People erect status for the divine. In the Roman Catholic
world, the use of sculptures for religious purposes has remained vital, relevant and
symbolic.
Sculptures were made to commemorate important figures in history.
Ex: Jose Rizal monument in Luneta, Andres Bonifacio’s monument in Caloocan, the
iconic statue of Oblation by Guillermo E. Tolentino in the University of the
Philippines and has remained pillar and constant reminder.
c. Architecture - is the most prominent functional art form. Buildings are huge
expensive and are not easily constructed and replaced unlike other forms of art e.g.
pots, furniture, poetry, paintings. A lot of investments are put into making
megastructures like the pyramid of Giza, the acropolis, or the great Cathedrals of the
Middle Ages. One cannot dismiss taking into consideration the function of building
before construction. In planning out an Architectural structure, one has to seriously
consider the natural conditions: topography and climate of the place, social
conditions: purpose of the building itself.
Spanish colonial houses were designed to allow for air to circulate inside the
house (large windows made of Capiz shells. The social conditions:
For the Christians, a Church is primarily a place of worship, ceremonies and
assembly. Thus. It demands to be spacious. Art serves a particular function and the
form has to be determined by the function.
Does art always have to be functional?
❑ The value of the work of art does not depend on function but on the work itself. The
plays of Aeschylus, and the poetry of Robert Frost and Edgar Allan Poe are still counted
as great works of art despite of not having a known function. Functional object cannot
be claimed to be beautiful unless it performs its function sufficiently. Adequate
performance of function partly determines the beauty of a design in functional art forms.
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B. Philosophical Perspectives of Art
a. Art is imitation
❑ In Plato’s the Republic, artists are pictured as imitators and art as mere imitation. In the
description of the ideal republic, Plato advises against the inclusion of art as a subject in
the curriculum and the banning of the artists in the Republic. In Plato’s metaphysics or
view of reality, the things in the world are copies of the original, the eternal and the true
entities can only be found in the world of forms. Human beings endeavor to reach the
Forms all throughout life, starting with formal education in school.

❑ From the “shadows of the cave”, men slowly crawl outside to behold the real entities in
the world example: the chair that one sits on is not a real chair. It is an imperfect copy of
the perfect “chair” in the world of forms. Much is true for “beauty” in this world. When
one ascribes beauty to another person, s/he refers to an imperfect beauty that
participates only in the form of beauty in the world of forms. Plato was convinced that
artists merely reinforce the belief in copies and discourage wo/men to reach for the real
entities in the world of forms.
Plato was deeply suspicious of arts and artists for two reasons:
❑ They appeal to emotion rather than the rational faculty of wo/men.
❑ They imitate rather than lead one to reality.
Plato was concerned with poetry and painting art forms that do not have any place in the ideal
state of that Socrates (as protagonist) in Plato’s dialogue envisions. Plato is critical in the
effects of art specifically, poetry to the people of ideal state. Poetry rouses emotions and
feelings, thus, clouds the rationality of people. Poetry has the capacity to sway minds without
taking into considerations the use of proper reason. Thus, further leads away from the
cultivation of intellect that Plato campaigned for.
For Socrates art objects represent only the things in the world/copies of reality. He claimed
that art is just an imitation of imitation. A painting is just an imitation of nature and an imitation
of reality in the world of forms. Arts then are to be banished with the practitioners, the attitudes
and actions of the members of the Republic will not be corrupted by the influence of arts. For
Plato, art is dangerous because it provides a petty replacement for the real entities that can
only be attained through reason.
b. Art as Representation
❑ Aristotle, Plato’s most important student in philosophy agreed with his teacher that art
is a form of imitation. In contrast to the disgust that his master holds for art, Aristotle
considered art as an aid to philosophy in revealing truth. The kind of imitation art does is
not antithetical to the reaching of fundamental truths in the world. In Aristotle (1902) in
the Poetics claimed that poetry is a literary representation in general. Akin to other art
forms, poetry only admits of an attempt to represent what things might be.
❑ For Aristotle, all kinds of art including poetry, music, dance, painting and sculpture, do
not aim to represent reality as it is. What art endeavors to do is provide a vision of what
might be or the myriad possibilities in reality. Unlike Plato, who thought that art is an
imitation of another imitation, Aristotle conceived art as representing possible versions
of reality.
❑ In Aristotelian worldview, art serves two particular purposes:
1. Art allows for the experience of pleasure. Experiences that otherwise repugnant can
become entertaining in art e.g. a horrible experience can be made an object of humor in
a comedy.
2. Art has an ability to be instructive and teach its audience things about life; thus, it is
cognitive as well. Greek plays are usually of this nature.

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c. Art as a Disinterested Judgment
In the 3rd critique written by Immanuel Kant, the Critique of Judgment, Kant considered
the judgment of beauty, the cornerstone of art as universal despite of its subjectivity. Kant said
that judgment of beauty and art is innately autonomous from specific interests. It is the form of
art is adjudged by perceivers of art to be beautiful or more, sublime. Aesthetic judgment for
Kant is a cognitive activity. Kant recognized that judgment of beauty is subjective but he
advanced the proposition that even subjective judgments are based on some universal criteria.
Kant’s Qs: how and in what sense can a judgment of beauty is considered to be subjective, be
considered objective or universal?
For Kant, every human being, after perception and the free play of his faculties, one should
recognize the beauty inherent in the work of art. This is the kind of universality that judgment of
beauty is assumed by Kant to have. So, when the same person says that something is
beautiful for him, but expects that the same thing should put everyone in awe.
d. Art as a Communication of Emotion
The author of the War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy, provide another view of art.
In his book, What is Art (2016), Tolstoy defended the production of truly extravagant art like
operas despite extreme poverty in the world. Art plays a huge role in communication to its
audience’s emotions that artist previously experienced. Thus, art serves as a language, a
communication device that articulates feelings and emotion that are otherwise unavailable to the
audience. In the same way, language communicates information to other people, art communicates
emotions.

In listening to music, watching an opera, and in reading poems, the audience is at the
receiving end of the artist ways of communicating his feelings and emotions. Finally, art is
central to wo/man’s existence because it makes accessible feelings and emotions of people from the
past and present, from one continent to another. In making these, latent feelings and emotions can
possibly be accessible to anyone in varied time and location thus, art serves as a mechanism
of cohesion for everyone.

References:

1. Caslib, B. N., Garing, D, and Casaul, J.A. (2018). Art Appreciation. Quezon City: Rex
Book Store, Inc.

2. Douley, L., Faricy, A., and Rice, J. (1978). The Humanities. Sixth Edition, New York:
McGrawl-Hill Book Company.

3. Marquez, C.A. (2020). Art Appreciation. Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya: Saint Mary’s
University Publishing House.

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