NORTHERN LUZON ADVENTIST COLLEGE

ARTACHO, SISON, PANGASINAN

“The School that Prepares for Life”

Contemporary
Philippine Arts
from the Regions
1st Quarter
Weekly Module #1
 This module is designed and written appropriately to the needs of
students in Grade 11. Every detail found in this module has been analyzed and
evaluated by experts or specialist to ensure that it is easy to understand.

Most Essential Learning Competencies:

➢ Appreciate the history of art in the Philippines;
➢ Distinguish Contemporary period from other art periods;
➢ Familiarize with significant development in the Philippine art
➢ Identify various contemporary art forms and their practices from the
various regions
➢ Classify various art forms found in the Philippines

Introduction to the subject:

The arts are described as means of expression that require imagination
and/or skill in making aesthetic objects or encounters that can be shared with
other people. These objects are experiences that may exhibit what is in the
imagination of the artist or creator. These may also portray ideas and
emotions. These may also be used to entertain or persuade other people. These
aesthetic objects and encounters create beauty. The arts include visual arts,
architecture, literature, music, dance, theater, and cinema or film.
The term “visual arts” encompasses a wide range of forms created by
Filipinos. It ranges from Western-influenced visual art forms to works created
by folk and indigenous people. Traditionally, these visual art forms include
painting, sculpture, and architecture. However, there are other functional
visual art forms in the country that need to be appreciated as well. Some of
these forms include advertising art, basketry, metal craft, mat weaving,
pottery, and textile weaving.

This part presents all visual art forms presented earlier in this
introduction. However, it should be emphasized that the aim for this part is
not to make a clear delineation of each visual art form. Bear in mind that
tackling each art form can help in understanding further the scope of the
visual arts.
Contemporary Arts from the Different Regions
Unit 1: Integrative Arts as Applied to
Contemporary Art: Historical Background
Expectations
This module will help you to:
➢ Appreciate the history of art in the Philippines;
➢ Distinguish Contemporary period from other art periods;
➢ Familiarize with significant development in the Philippine art

Introduction
Have you ever wondered how the Philippine art developed? Do you know
that there are significant differences in the art forms and art makings based on
the period the artworks are produced? The Traditional art of the Philippines
developed as different factors influence the art making on the country. The
Philippine art has its unique characteristics based on its period of
development.

Reading Time!
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The development of Philippine Art comes in three major traditions.
These are Ethnic Tradition, Spanish Colonial Tradition, and
American Colonial Tradition. Before colonization, the Philippines has
already has its Indigenous Arts. The ethnic art form are primarily
influenced by the geographical location and the experiences of the
Filipinos. For instance, the dances in the country during the pre-colonial
times vary depending on the area where are ancestors thrive. In the
highlands, dance steps were imitations of the movements of certain
animals like birds, while the choreography of the Filipinos near the sea
mimics the movements of the fishes.
In terms of Visual arts, pottery, weaving, wood carving, and metal
crafting were dominant in the pre-colonial period making use of the
available materials surrounding them. About architecture, the early
Filipinos used local materials such as anahaw, bamboo, cogon, cane,
rattan and other light materials in constructing structures since these
were the materials accessible in their area. Also our ancestors already
have their folk literature which came in forms of folk speeches, songs,
and narratives. This folk literature verbalized their experiences.
Regarding theatre arts, tribal presentations and rituals were the early
theatrical performances depicting their beliefs. In music, our ancestors
also have their indigenous musical instruments like the bamboo flutes
and brass gongs.
Then came the Spaniards who tends to replace the Philippine
Indigenous arts with western art forms. Religion and secularization
greatly influenced the art in the Philippines under the Spanish regime.
The friars were the ones supervising the practice of arts in the country
with their agenda of propagating Christianity and maintaining power of
the colonizers. In the field of literature, the literary works could be
classified into religious and secular prose and poetry. In the area of
theatre arts, secular and religious play like Komedya became popular.
Choreography, religious dances commonly performed to venerate patrons
and saints proliferated.
There were also secular dances performed in social functions like
the valse, fandango, polka, and minuet. In music, the Spaniards
introduced piano and other western instruments. Band and Orchestra
multiplied as zarzuelas and operas became prevalent. In visual arts,
Spaniards introduced painting and sculpture which mostly depicted
religious subject matters. In architecture, stones and bricks were
predominantly used in constructing buildings like churches, houses, and
government offices. Western Spanish influence was evident in
architecture, the exterior, and interior of the buildings were embellished
with wood carvings or metal works with intricate decorative designs.
However, despite the strong influence of Spaniards, the arts in the
country did not result into pure western art but mix of Western and
Indigenous Art.
After more than 300 years of Spanish Colonization, the Americans took
over the country whcich led to the declaration of Independence on June
12, 1898. The American brought about many changes in the politics,
economy, education and culture.
In the area of education, there are Filipinos who went abroad to
study. Some studied under the tutelage of the American educators, and
some learned through observations and personal experiences. Those who
went abroad to study came back in the country carrying the concept of
modern art. Modern Art refers to the practice of art in the 1860-1960. It
was during this years that the western world was significantly
developing. The urbanization, consumerism, rise of the middle class,
change in the political system, secularization, and the emergence of new
 technology affected the way of art making in that period. Due to the
technological innovations, the experimental approaches in developing art
rose above traditional art practices and methodologies. New forms of
expression came which were avant-garde in nature. Modern art
continuously develops even after World War II, which led to
Contemporary way of art making today.
Contemporary art refers to the recent and current practice of art
ranging from the 1970s up to the present. It mirrors the society and
culture of the present times. It uses a combination of different methods,
materials and ideas that transcend the traditional way of art making. All
the Philippine art form had a different twist as the American way of life
become part of the lives of Filipinos. The art forms and practices in the
country broadened. Artist experimented with different methods,
materials, and methodologies and produced non-conventional artworks
with a wide range of themes.

Activity #1: Art Appreciation Exercise

Direction: Write E if the statement belongs to Ethnic Traditions, S if belongs to
Spanish, and A if belongs to American and Contemporary Tradition.
Answer Questions
1. Flipinos developed choreographies mimicking movements of
animals.
2.Technological innovations affected art making resulted into non-
conventional works.
3. Zarzuelas and Operas became popular in this period.
4. Religion and Secularization influenced all art forms.
5. Pottery, weaving, wood carving, and metal crafting are the art
forms of visual art.
6. Painting and sculpture were the most popular form of visual art.
7. Filipinos studied abroad and later on introduced new ideas in art
making.
8. Avant-garde artworks entered the scene.
9. Bricks and stones were predominantly used in constructing
buildings.
10. The geographical location and experience were the main factors
in art production.

Activity #2: Reflective Learning

Directions: Look around you and take some photos of any artwork present in
your community (ex. Bahay Kubo – Ethnic Period). Pick one and try to identify
which period in the Philippine art does it belong and discuss some of its
characteristic to justify your answer.
Photo:

Subject: ___________________________________
(ex. Bahay-Kubo/Ethnic)
Characteristics:
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Review Time!
➢ There are three traditions in the development of Philippine art:
1. Ethnic
2. Spanish
3. American / Contemporary
➢ In the Ethnic tradition the location and experiences of the people were the
major factors in art production
➢ In the Spanish period, religion and secularization were dominant themes
and the use of bricks and stones in constructing buildings
➢ In the American period, modernism entered the field of art wherein
Filipinos started to explore different materials, methodologies and
techniques in expressing themselves through non-conventional art.
➢ The continuous progress of modernism led to the development of
contemporary art.
Contemporary Arts from the Different Regions
Unit 1: Integrative Arts as Applied to
Contemporary Art
Arts and Its Visual Elements

Expectations
This module will help you to:
➢ Identify various contemporary art forms and their practices from the
various regions

➢ Classify various art forms found in the Philippines

Can you Remember?
Fill in the boxes with your ideas about visual elements of art. There are no
wrong or right answers. Your own ideas matter.

VISUAL
ELEMENTS
of ART

Reading TIME!
In order to understand how to describe a painting or a sculpture, it is
important to comprehend first the visual elements of art. These visual
elements of art are line, color, shape, space, value, texture, time and motion.
Line

This refers to a prolongation of a

point or a mark on a. surface. Solid
lines can be used in order to define
form while broken lines are typically
used to suggest hidden. forms.

Shape and Mass

This element refers to an area

with boundaries identified or
drawing lines. A shape may be
natural or living forms called an
organic shape and can be irregular.
Or rounded. It. may also be...
measured forms called geometric
shape. In.contrast to shape.,
which.is.two-dimensional, mass
refers to.solid portions of a.three-
dimensional object.

Color

This refers to visual perception

that allows a person to differentiate
objects due to the way various
wavelengths of light are reflected.
Color is a very important element
because it can communicate
information and emotion to the
viewer. These are the three
properties of color:

• Hue, which refers to the

basic or pure color, and is
represented in the color
wheel.
• Value, which refers to the
lightness and darkness of
color. A light color or tint is
the result of adding white to
 a hue, while a dark color or
shade results from adding
black to a hue.
Saturation, which refers to
brightness and dullness of color. It
is also referred to as purity of the
color. A bright color can be
produced by adding more pigment to
the same hue, while a dull color can
be produced by adding gray or the
color’s complement to the pigment.

The color wheel is an

arrangement of primary, secondary
and.tertiary colors. It is important
tool to identify which colors can
work well if used in a certain
artwork which is the color schemes
or color.relationships. These are
some of the color.schemes:

Color Schemes

• Monochromatic – involves
using the same hue but with
different gradients of value.
• Analogous – entails the use
of three or four adjacent
colors in the color wheel.
• Complementary –
involves the use
of a color and
its complement
-meaning the color located
opposite of the first color.
• Split-complementary – a
close relative to the
complementary color
scheme. But instead of
using the color’s
complement, this scheme
uses the two colors adjacent
to the complement.
 • Triadic – uses three colors
that are of equal distance
with each other.
• Tetradic – also known as
double complementary color
scheme, this uses two pairs
of complementary colors.

Texture

This element refers to the feel or

appearance of a.. surface. A..
person.. may describe as actual or
implied.. Actual texture. can be..
felt.. tangibly based on the.
material.that is used for. the
artwork while implied..texture. can
be exhibited, for. instance, in a
painting of fur of an. animal.

Value

This element refers to lightness

or darkness of an area. This is
evident in creating shadows for a
two-dimensional object to give an
illusion of depth.
Space

Space refers to the area that is

occupied by an object or a subject,
as well as the area surrounding that
object or subject. An illusion of space
can still be created in a two-
dimensional surface using
perspective. There are two types of
perspective: atmospheric perspective,
which utilizes the properties of light
and air in depicting the illusion of
distance; and linear perspective,
which involves the use of vanishing
points and receding hidden lines.

Time and Motion

Movement in the visual arts can

either be an illusion or an actual
motion. An illusion of movement is
more common in two-dimensional
artworks. On the other hand, actual
motion is easily seen in kinetic
sculpture that moves with the wind
or are vibrating with the surrounding
air.
Activity: Reflective Assessment!
Question: How can learning visual elements of art help you?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

Review Time!
➢ Line is a prolongation of point mark on a surface
➢ Shape and Mass refers to an area on with boundaries identified or
drawing lines
➢ Color is a visual perception that allows a person to differentiate objects
due to the way various wavelengths of light is reflected
➢ Value refers to lightness or darkness of an area
➢ Texture is the feel or appearance of a surface
➢ Space is an area that is occupied by a subject, as well as the area
surrounding that object or subject
➢ Time and Movement can either be an illusion or actual motion.
➢ Color wheel is an important tool to identify which colors can work
well if used in a certain

IFL: Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you
are our potter; we are all the work of your hand

End of Weekly Module #1