CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINE ARTS FROM THE REGIONS

Module 2- Traditional Technique used in Creating Philippine Art

Quarter 2- Week 2

I. Introduction
Why are artists unique from each other? It is because of their technique being used or practiced by the artist.
Technique is the individual signature that makes each artist different or identifiable from other artists.

Medium and technique in contemporary art have become more and more integrated, such that the works have
crossed boundaries between art and science, and between mediums and techniques. The works are also
using contemporary medium and techniques based on digital and electronic technology, as well as
reformulated traditional methods.

The module is divided into two lessons, namely:

 Lesson 1-2: Techniques and Performance Practices applied to Contemporary Art

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. Research on techniques and performance practices applied to contemporary art;
2. Identify the different techniques used in contemporary art.

II. Discussion
Lesson 1: Techniques and Performance Practices Applied to Contemporary Art

What is Technique?

Technique is the manner in which the artist use and manipulate materials to achieve the desired formal effect,
and communicate the desired concept or meaning, according to his or her personal style (modern, Neoclassic, etc.)

The distinctive character or nature of the medium determines the technique. For example, stone is chiseled,
wood is carved; clay is modeled and shaped, metal is cast, and thread is woven.

There are some places in the Philippines that become famous because of the unusual or extraordinary
products that they make. These products become their way for people to know about their places. These people
used traditional technique in creating a particular art that makes them famous.

Traditional techniques used by the Filipinos even from the past years are depicted in our painting, sculpture,
dance, architecture, music, and even textile. It only proves that Filipinos like any other people in the world can be
very proud of our Philippine arts.

Traditional Techniques Used in Philippine Arts

Wood Carving- a technique encompassing any form of working wood with a tool into some sort of aesthetic object.

Molding- a technique of shaping liquid or pliable material such as clay. Traditional pottery making in the Philippines
involves the method of molding. Pottery making in the Philippines is one of the longest traditions in the Philippine Art.

Fabric Weaving- Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are
interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth.

Textile hand-weaving is one of the most attractive and interesting traditional crafts of the Philippines, imbued with

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romanticism and laden with cultural and significance.
The Ilocano still practiced hand-weaving using the pedal loom. Their materials are cotton and natural dyes, although
now they use store-bought threads and synthetic dyes. They know several weaving techniques and designs, passed
down to many generations.
“Abel” or “Inabel” is a fabric customarily made of cotton fiber turned into spools of beeswax-brushed yarn and woven in a
handloom.

Textiles in Mindanao are predominantly handwoven from abaca (musa textilis). Among the Moslems of Mindanao, the
Magindanaon, Maranaw and Yakan continue the tradition of cotton and silk weaving.
T’nalak is a sacred cloth woven by the T’boli people in communities around Lake Sebu, Mindanao Island.

Basketry Technique- There are four different types of basketry methods: coiling, plaiting, wickering, and twining.
Some of the terms that are specific to basket weaving include loops, twining, ribs, and spokes. The common raw
materials used in making baskets are rattan, abaca, nito, tikog, buri, bamboo, pandan, coconut leaves and sticks, palm
leaves, and beeswax. There are several baskets that used combined raw materials.
Plaiting Technique-interweaving or braiding two or more strands, fibers, etc.
Twining Technique, using materials from roots and tree bark. This is a weaving technique where two or more flexible
weaving elements (“weavers”) cross each other as they weave through the stiffer radial spokes.

III. Engagement

(WRITTEN WORK)

What’s New

The following article illustrates the value of technique in the field of art. Read the article below and answer the
guide questions that follow.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TECHNIQUE

7//11/2017 9:31:48 AM by Mark Brockman
This post is by guest author Mark Brockman. This article has been edited and published with the author’s
permission.

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Technique, style, your look, whatever you want to call it as individual as your signature. Yes, your painting
might look a bit like some artist, and so long as it’s not contrived, that’s OK. We all strived for originality but
with so many artists out there it would be hard for one artist’s work to not, somewhere in the world, have their
work resemble another artist’s work.

But just how important is technique and how does an artist go about creating their technique?

I believe Technique, the artist’s style, is important. It let’s viewers know that (insert artist’s name here) painted
that painting. It helps us artists to have a cohesive body of work. That doesn’t mean though that your
technique must stay the same your whole life. As we age, we grow, we change, so why shouldn’t our work as
well? Some artists have various technique at the same time, this is generally looked down upon by galleries
and collectors, but then maybe they lack imagination. I say an artist should paint what and how they paint
anyway they want at any given time. My paintings often look a bit different from each other, not because of my
using different techniques but rather because I different use surfaces which my pastels and watercolors are
painted on and that can give paintings a different look as you often have to handle a medium a bit different on
different surfaces. Plus, it’s a given that an oil painting would look different than a watercolor.
So how does one find or create their technique? You don’t. You already have it, again, it’s like your signature.
You don’t need to find the technique; you need to recognize your style and then nurture it. I spent years
looking for my technique, years. Yes, I learned a lot doing so as I’ve tried various ways of handling the many
different media, I have worked in. I tried different schools of art, realism, impressionism, abstract
impressionism, expressionistic representationalism (say that fives times fast) and even abstraction. I studied
hundreds of artists trying to paint like my favorite artist of the week. Again, I earned a great deal. What I
learned most though, what was most important, was that I am who I am and I paint as I paint.

Okay, now comes the hard part, recognizing what is your technique. In this I can only speak for myself and
how I finally realized my way of painting, and I am sure there are thousands, perhaps millions of ways to do
so. There were times I would do a painting and there would be passages that seemed too beautiful for me to
have painted them. No way I could have painted that even if I tried. But I did! I didn’t plan those passages;
they just sort of happened. They were what many artists called ‘happy accidents’ but maybe they are not
accidents at all but rather my technique trying to come out. When I realized these accidents were not
accidents, I began to build on them, nurture them, collect them, they became my ‘look’. Another aspect of my
painting technique is lack of thought. Yes, you read that correctly. You see when I think or analyze my painting
as I paint, I always screw the painting up, it’s a given. But when I paint without analyzing, paint instinctually, I
will have, not always, more success. I believe my hand and gut know more of what to do than my brain, so I
let them have it all.

Technique, finding it or recognizing it can be difficult or frustrating. It’s not unlike just trying to learn to create in
whatever medium you choose. To learn how to handle a particular medium takes practice, many hours of
trying. So, finding and developing your technique requires practice too. One needs to open their mind (or shut
it off as I do), open their heart, their emotions, to feel what is right, to let intuition take over, to listen to their
gut, let your hand(s) do the work, technique will come.

Guide Questions:

1. In your own words, define technique.

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2. Why is the use of technique valuable to an artist?

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 What’s More

What art or products can be made by using the given material and what technique will be used in the creation?

Material Artwork/product Technique

1. Wood ____________________ ____________________

2. Fiber ____________________ ____________________
3. Clay ____________________ ____________________
4. Stone ____________________ ____________________
5. Coconut Leaves ____________________ ____________________

What I Have Learned

Short Answer: Answer the question briefly and concisely. (5 pints)

1. How do materials affect the technique used in making Philippine art?
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IV. APPLICATION

(PERFORMANCE TASK)

What I Can Do

Utilizing what you have learned from this module, create any artwork (drawing, painting, literature, sculpture
and the like) that illustrates any technique. After accomplishing this task, take a picture of your artwork and
place it on your answer sheet.

V. REFLECTION

Cut and Paste

Based on the lessons learned, cut pictures of at least three (3) techniques that an artist utilizes in his artwork
and place it on your answer sheet. Present this in a creative manner.

Prepared by:

MARIA ELOISA O. ORENSE JASTINE L. ANDAL JAMIE LYN D. CANLAS

ROSE ANN L. DELA PEÑA JERRA PATRON VENOYA

Checked and Verified: Noted by:

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LEONIDES V. KUNDANGAN ANGELICA F. OLASO
Assistant Principal II Principal III

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