GEC 6

Midterm
UNIT 1
WHAT IS ART: INTRODUCTION AND ASSUMPTION
The arts are a human practice as old as the same humanity. Even in the early age, there
was a primitive version of what we call art nowadays, in their different forms. It should not be a
surprise that society are indeed deeply interconnected-or even some experts would consider them
as the same thing, one reflected on the other one. Art indeed a purely human characteristic, since
so far, we only know or consider art the work of humans, and it is an inner capacity of a society to
create art, same as it happens with technology. So it is clear that art exist. But “What is it?”
(www.alejandroescuber.com)
Art is something that involves us everyday and everywhere, no matter if we want it or not,
we are just surrounded of it as we are part of a society which needs to create, to express
something. However, it is not common that people think about it and about its meaning. They just
take it as it is and then they like it or dislike it. In the world of art, it is very common that people
affirm that something is a piece of art or not without knowing why they think so. They know maybe
they don’t like it, but they usually don’t know why. Or even sometimes they judge as art a piece by
Beethoven, just because they were told that Beethoven was a great composer and indeed an artist,
but they don’t know what art means for them (www.academia.ed).
All art works are product of the creative and imaginative character of human beings, a
characteristic which is absent from all other living creatures. Humanities are rational and not just
sentient being. We are capable of not just recording experiences but also the capacity to
understand these experiences and organize them set of synthetic realities. However, these
experiences are bounded and limited by time and space. As soon as the time and space wherein a
human activity is experienced is consumed, it could not be brought back again these experiences
are stored in our memory bank. Yet, these limitations are constantly challenge by human’s unique
creativeness and imaginative character (Regadio & Mendoza, 2013).

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Lesson 1
WHAT IS ART? INTRODUCTION AND ASSUMPTIONS
Learning Outcomes:
1. Clarify misconceptions about art;
2. Characterize the assumptions of art, and
3. Create an art work based on the student’s innermost thoughts and feelings.

Art plays a large part in making our lives infinitely rich. Imagine, just for a few minute, a
world without art! (You may think “So what?”, but please consider the impact that lack of graphics
would have on your favorite video game). Arts stimulate different parts of our brains to make us
laugh. Art gives us a way to be creative and express ourselves. For some people, art is the entire
reason they get out of bed in the morning. You could say “Art is something that makes us more
thoughtful and well-rounded humans”. On the other hand, art is such a large part of our everyday
lives, we hardly even stop to think about it. Look at your desk or table where you are right this
minute. Some designed that. It is art. Your shoes are art. Your coffee cup is art. All functional
design is Art. A true art work of art is made by man himself not imitatively, but creatively. A true
artist does not imitate nature but rather interprets it in his own way. This lesson is about yearning for
the beautiful, the appreciation of all consuming beauty around us, and some preliminary clarification
on assumptions that people normally hold about art.

Let's Discover

What is Art?
The word “art” comes from the ancient Latin ars which mean a “craft or specialized form of
skill, like carpentry or surgery” (Collington, 1938). Art then suggested the capability to produce an
intended result from carefully planned steps or method. Arts is Medieval Latin came to mean
something different. It meant “any special form of book-learning, such as grammar or logic, magic
or astrology” (Collington, 1938). The fine arts would come to mean “not dedicate or highly skilled
arts, but ‘beautiful’ arts” (Collington, 1938). This is something more akin to what is now considered
art. Art is often associated with the visual arts paintings and sculpture but in modern sense, it is
extended to other creative and expressive human activities which include even those that employ
digital and highly technical creative works like cinema and photography (Regadio and Mendoza,
2013).

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Assumptions of Art
Art is universal In every country and in every generation, there is always art. Oftentimes,
people feel that what is considered artistic are only those which have been made long time ago.
This is a misconception. Age is not a factor in determining art. An “art is not good because it is old,
but old because it is good.” (cited by Caslib, Garing & Casaul, 2018). In the Philippines, the work of
Rizal and Francisco Balagtas are not being read because they are old. Otherwise, works of other
Filipinos who have long died would have been required in junior high school too. The pieces
mentioned are read in school and have remained to be with us because they are good. They are
liked and adored because they meet our needs and desires. Florante and Laura never fails to teach
high school students the beauty of love, one that is universal and pure. Ibong Adarna another
Filipino masterpiece, has always captured the imagination of the young with its timeless lessons.
The first assumption then about humanities is that art has been crafted by all people regardless of
origin, time, place, and that it stayed on because it is liked and enjoyed by people continuously. A
piece of art will never be obsolete. Some people say that art is art for its intrinsic worth. Art will
always be present because human beings will always express themselves and delight in these
expressions. Men will continue to use art while art persists and never gets depleted.
Art is a Nature One important characteristics of art is that it 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 given around us. It is in this juncture that they can be considered
opposites. What we find in nature should not be expected to be present in art too. Movies are not
meant to be direct representation of reality. They may, according to the moviemaker’s perception of
reality, be a reinterpretation or even distortion of nature. This distinction assumes that all of us see
nature, perceive its elements in myriad, different, yet ultimately valid ways (Caslib, Garing & Casaul,
2018). According to Gray (2020) Art is a distillation of nature, the difference between barley mash
and fine whisky. If you look at nature through the lens of art, the experience will be much richer.
You might be ridiculed by your friends, and called out as pretentious, but no matter. Your subjective
experience will reward you. Setting us apart from the animals, humans learned and perceived logic
and pattern in our everyday lives and art is not an exception. Art that is composed of patterns and
aesthetics. Furthermore, art is not nature because art is universal. Art is relative and does not
necessarily appeal to everyone. The art couldn’t get any better than nature it is because millions of
people tries to copy the nature since nature is what you see and art is what you do and Artists are
attempting to communicate at a powerful emotional level to those within their own culture; Art is part
of nature because it is universal, art is cultural, and art involves experience
(https://tinyurl.com/y37hqd24).

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 According to Dinther (undated) Art is not nature because by common consent people are
not nature for many purposes. Everyone realizes, of course, that people are as much a part of
nature as anything else. And yet, for many purposes we want to make a distinction. Is that dam
natural or manmade? Don’t put that in your garden it is not natural. Did you carve that tree branch
like that or is it natural? People are 100% nature and yet more unlike the rest of nature than
anything else on earth. In art, it is the modern tools and civilization that really make the work not
considered natural.
People from cultures that are not industrial or modern are considered far more natural than
city folk. Art involves experience Getting this far without a satisfactory definition of art can be quite
weird for some. For most people, art does not require a full definition. Art is just experience; we
mean the ‘actual doing of something’ (Dudley, et al. as cited by Casalib, Garing & Casaul, 2018).
When one says that he has an experience of something, he often means that he knows what that
something is about. When one claims that he has experienced falling in love, getting hurt, and
bouncing back, he in effect claims that he knows (sometimes) endless cycle of loving. When one
asserts having experienced preparing a particular recipe, he in fact asserts knowing how the recipe
is made. Knowing a thing is different from hearing from others what the said is. A radio DJ
dispensing advice on love when he himself has not experienced it does not really know what he is
talking about. A choreographer who cannot execute a dance step himself is a bogus. Art is always
an experience. Unlike fields of knowledge that involve data, art is known by experiencing. A painter
cannot claim to know how to paint if he has not tried holding a brush. A sculptor cannot produce a
work of art if a chisel is foreign to him. Dudley et al. (1960) as cited by Casalib, Garing & Casaul,
(2018) affirmed that “art depends on experience, and if one is to know art, he must know it not as
fact or information but as experience.”
Based on this philosophy, any expression of oneself by its basic nature is based on one’s
experiences. One’s experience build who that individual is; their opinions, their emotions, their
lifestyle, and everything. When creating their art, a little piece of that gets exposed (whether
consciously or subconsciously) (https:/www quora.com). Koloc (2019) believed that the most
worthwhile art involves experience of two distinct sorts. The first, naturally, is an artist’s experience
with the tools and materials they employ as well as the techniques and processes they use to
create their work. The second is life experience. Acquired or natural knowledge or insight into the
subject matter they’re conveying. For example, artist rendering nature need some knowledge of the
elements they’re illustrating and representing. Things such as the biology the geology, particular
textures, structures and genuine look of their subjects. Someone portraying an historic event would
do well to study details of that era, how people dressed, architecture of the day and so forth.
According to Jordan (2019) an artist gains experience while doing the creative project,
therefore each project requires a certain amount of experience and as the creative process evolves
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into the Artist’s personal style, experience is the factor that provides nuance, balance, perspectives
and depths, also the ability to discern the desired quality of the work.

Let's Sum It Up

“The arts and humanities are more essential than ever to the endurance of our democratic
values of tolerance, pluralism and freedom. At a time when so much is happening to change the
way we work and live, the way we relate to one another and the way we relate to the rest of the
world. We cannot fully understand the past, now envision the future we need to pursue, without the
arts and Humanities.” (Clinton, undated). 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. The three assumptions of art are its
universality, its not being nature, and its need for experience in every part of the globe and in every
period of time. This is what is meant by its universality. Art not being nature, not even attempting to
simply minor nature, is the second assumption about art. Art is always a creation of the artist, not
nature. Lastly without experience, there is no art. The artist has to be foremost, a perceiver who is
directly in touch with art (Caslib, Garing and Casaul, 2018)

References:

Caslib, B.N. Jr., Dorothea C. Garing and Jezreel Anne R. Casaul (2018). Art appreciation.
Florentino St., Sta Mesa Heights, Quezon City: Rex Book Store, Inc. Retrieved last August 1,
2020

Regadio, C.Q. and Josielyn M. Mendoza. 2013. Art appreciation: Introductory readings on
humanities focus on Philippine art scene. Barangka Drive, Mandaluyong City: Books Atbp.
PublishingCorp. Retrieved last August 1, 2020

Dinther, J.V. (2018). Retrieved from https/www/quora.com last August 1, 2020 Jordan, W. (2019).
Retrieved from https/www quora.com last August 1, 2020

Koloc, D. (2019). Retrieved from https/www quora.com last August 1, 2020 Retrieved from
brainly.ph/question/1866650/1786851 last August 1, 2020

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