Self-Learning Module

Contemporary Philippine Arts from the Regions

Lesson 6 Significance of Art Forms from the Regions

Significance of Art Forms from the Regions made an important contribution to express the
country’s own unique culture, history and even their life experiences through painting, songs, sculpture
etc. These art forms became a part of our identity as a citizen of this country.

Activity I
Look around your house and reflect on what you are feeling right now or what you have
observed in your surroundings/community through drawing/painting/poster making/sketch, song
composition, poem writing etc. Answer the following question:
1. What are the contemporary practices in the arts that you have observed in your region? Did you use
these practices to make your drawing/painting/poster making/sketch, song composition, poem writing
etc.?
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SIGNIFICANCE OF ARTS FROM THE REGIONS

I. Spoliarium (Juan Luna)

The painting features a glimpse of Roman history centered on the bloody carnage brought by
gladiatorial matches. Spoliarium is a Latin word referring to the basement of the Roman Colosseum
where the fallen and dying gladiators are dumped and devoid of their worldly possessions. At the center
of Luna’s painting are fallen gladiators being dragged by Roman soldiers. On the left, spectators ardently
await their chance to strip off the combatants of their metal helmets and other armory. In contrast with
the charged emotions featured on the left, the right side meanwhile presents a somber mood. An old
man carries a torch perhaps searching for his son while a woman weeps the death of her loved one.

2. Planting Rice (Fernando Amorsolo)

Truest Philippine culture, this is the theme that composes most of Fernando Amorsolo’s
artworks. Rice planting is among those that depicts the real Filipino tradition that is still applicable until
the present time. The painting is set on the rice field wherein farmers, regardless of their gender, are on
with their usual work under a bright sunny day. Its visual weight is light because the colors used were
mostly pastel in nature. No dark colors were used to produce a feeling of calm and peace. It was an ideal
picture of provincial life like most of his paintings. He painted the details as to how it might look in real
life. However, faces of the farmers were not vividly detailed because their Buri hats covered them.
Supposing that the sun was on its peak.

3. Tinikling
It is a traditional folk dance which originates from the Spanish colonial era. The dance imitates
the movement of the tikling birds as they dodge bamboo traps set by rice farmers. Dancers mimic the
tikling bird’s grace and agility by dancing between large bamboo poles. The tinikling is one of the oldest
dances from the Philippines, and originated in the islands of Leyte in Visayas. According to the legend,
the Tinikling was started by people who worked in the paddies and farms of the Philippines.
4. Maglalatik
It is an indigenous dance from the Philippines in which coconut shell halves that are secured
onto the dancers’ hands and on vests upon which are hung four or six more coconut shell halves. The
dancers – all male – perform the dance by hitting one coconut shell with the other – sometimes the
ones on the hands, sometimes, the ones on the body, and sometimes the shell worn by another
performer, all in time to a fast drumbeat. Originally performed in Binan, Laguna as a mock-war dance
that demonstrates a fight between the Moros and the Christians over the prized latik or coconut meat
during the Spanish rule, the dance is also shown to pay tribute to the town’s patron saint, San Isidro
Labrador.

5. The Oblation
The Oblation is a concrete statue by Filipino artist Guillermo E. Tolentino which serves as the
iconic symbol of the University of the Philippines. It depicts a man facing upward with arms
outstretched, symbolizing selfless offering of oneself to his country. The statue’s height of 3.5 meters
symbolizers three and a half centuries of Spanish colonial rule, while its pose of self-offering represents
Tolentino’s interpretation of Rizal’s second stanza above – in particular the “unknown heroes who fell
during the night”. Furthermore, its base is a stylized representation of the Philippine archipelago, with
rocks from Montalban Gorge to highlight its cultural and historical significance.
ACTIVITY II: Art Promotion
Assuming you are a tour guide, write a speech promoting arts from your province or region.
Take note of the following criteria.

CRITERIA -
Content 60%
Organization of thoughts 20%
Neatness 20%
TOTAL 100%

Write it here:
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ACTIVITY III. ESSAY
1. Why does art forms from different regions significant?
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2. Why does art forms from different regions reflects the culture and history of the Philippines?
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CRITERIA:
Content – 60%
Organization of thoughts – 20%
Neatness – 20%
TOTAL 100%
Lesson 7 Techniques and Performance Practices Applied to Contemporary
Arts

Leslie de Chavez, "Dubious Integrity",

Mixed Media, 2002

Manila- born artist Leslie de Chavez is

a young artist who cautiously deals
with sensitive subjects like
Imperialism and the colonial history of
his country.
He is also an artist who contemplates
deeply about the function, influence
and directivity of an art in a society.
Source: ocula.com/artists/leslie-de-chavez/

Task 1: In your Activity Notebook or Activity Sheet, answer the question below by writing
the missing letters to form the required terms. The definitions will help you to come up with
the answers.

1. What are being emphasized in the painting above, “Dubious Integrity” by Leslie de
Chavez?

_ O _ _ _ L - current social & political topics are dealt with, often from critical
perspective.
_ O_ C_ _ T_ _ L - focus is on the idea, which can be either abstract or social.

GOOD TO KNOW…
 The painting above uses mixed media painting technique that combines a variety of
media in a single artwork. The paint mixes are mix watercolors with pastels or acrylic
paints, or layering paper and wood into your artwork.
 The technique is to blend paint washes, paint with credit card or give mixed media
stencils a try.
 https://dlscrib.com/3different-contemporary-art-techniques-performance-
practices_588ac9236454a7bd3d35c1c4_pdf.html

‘Mabining Mandirigma’

libretto by Dr. Nicaijnor G. Tiongson, music by Joed Balsamo, choreography by Denisa

Reyes, set design by Toym Imao, direction by Chris Millado

Task 2: In your Activity Notebook or Activity Sheet, answer the question below.
1. MABINING MANDIRIGMA (Gentle Warrior), Tanghalang Pilipino's original Filipino
musical on Philippine hero, legal and constitutional adviser to the Revolutionary
Government in 1898 and the first Prime Minister of the Philippines upon the
establishment of the First Philippine Republic in 1899, ambitiously presents these
various aesthetic facets on one overwhelming platter. Who is the Philippine National
hero enacted in this Filipino Musical?

GOOD TO KNOW…
 This Filipino musical is expressive that both content and form is meaningful and
communicative.
 It also focuses popular culture and history of the country that dealt with issues either
by conceptualizing or criticizing.

Another techniques and practices applied in contemporary arts can be seen in the
artwork of Ronald Ventura’s “The Blind Child” in 2011.
Ronald Ventura is a contemporary
Filipino artist known for his dynamic
melding of realism, cartoons, and
graffiti.
Portraying scenes of chaotic disarray,
Ventura culls from science fiction,
Western history, Asian mythology,
Catholicism, and popular comic book
characters, in producing his work.
GOOD TO KNOW…
 The content or form of this painting is poetic in nature; and
 Biographical- means of expression can be social, poetical or
expressive
When dance and contemporary art collide, the senses erupt.

Ballet Philippines is collaborating

with several artists—kinetic
sculptor Gabriel Barredo,
choreographer Redha Benteifour,
composer Malek Lopez and
librettists Yvette Tan and Erwin
Romulo—to create "Opera," a
scripted assault on the senses. The
production creates synergy
between the artists and melds their
art forms. In their performance, the
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/artandculture/554579/ballet
dancers shape and bodily express
their unified visions.
-philippines-opera-sculpture-in-dance/story/

GOOD TO KNOW…
 This contemporary art uses documentary approach or holds elements of
research and search related in which total artwork, installations are often
interactive and affect different senses

Local Materials Used as Applied to Contemporary Art and Traditional

Techniques Applied to Contemporary Creation.

The following are the local materials in the Philippines and its corresponding product:

MATERIALS
Abaca belongs to Banana Family. Its fiber has
a natural luster with colors ranging from pure
white to ivory and dark brown.
Bakbak is the outermost covering or leaf
sheath of the abaca stalk. It is a flat thick
durable sheath as twine or braided. The strong
brown fiber used to make furniture.
Bamboo is used a raw material in creating
many products. It is used in construction,
textile, musical instruments, weapons and
many more.
Buntal is a cylindrically shaped fibers. The
supple ivory white strands are quite
PRODUCTS
Slippers, ropes, twine, hammock, frame,
display jars, Chelsea chair
Mat, bangkuay, bin, boxes, bin display,
jar, Cecilia dining table, and arm chair
Kubing, bungkaka, tongatong, angklung,
pateteg, gabbang.
Bags, shoes, desk accessories, like
pen holder, picture frames, file trays,
 durable, pliable, and have good dyeing qualities.
Buri is extracted from the matured leaves of the
buri palm. The fiber is durable and resistant to
moisture.
Coir is the fibrous material surrounding the fruit
of the coconut tree.
wallets, place mats, braid, lampshades,
window blinds
Hats, bags, baskets, memorabilia boxes,
perfume tray, and other woven products.
Indoor or outdoor fiber carpets, wall covering,
doormat, trellises, and geo textiles.

Nito is a plant belonging to fern family that
grows abundantly in the hinterlands of
Mindanao.
Pandan is a tropical plant. It is processed
and transformed into splints that are being used
as raw material.
Raffia is a fiber extracted from unopened buri
leaf in 3 stages. It is loom woven into fabrics or
used as wall coverings, upholstery material,
folding doors and
window hangings.
Rattan belongs to the palm family. There are
different types of rattan palms, such as
high or climbers, single stemmed or clustered
rattan species.
Tikiw as a large, erect and aquatic or marshy
herb plant. It is found in Central Luzon to
Mindanao. It abounds in fresh water swamps,
and in newly opened rice
land at low altitudes.
Tikog belongs to sea grasses. It is a native reed
plant used as a raw material for mat weaving.
Bags, bread tray, lampshade and decorative jar
Basket, hats, picture frames and bags
Hats, placemats, folder, shoes, slippers, boxes,
portfolio and ladies’ bags, placemats, circular
boxes, document boxes
Baskets, picture frames, furniture, and other
novelty items, Zoya
lounge chair, Valencia queen size bed, Rest
divan
Baskets, hampers with lids, bags, rugs,
carpets, placemats, jar and other decorative
items.
Bags, decorative mats, hampers, newspaper
racks, table mat, waste bin, tower candle
holder, wall decor

Task 3. Answer the following questions below. You may surf the internet to get more
information about the task below. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

1. Give at five (5) artworks or craft works that are locally made and sold in
QUEZON province. Name the city or municipality where the material is
produced.
2. From your given product, determine what local material/s being used.
MIXED MEDIA

 Mixed media is a term used to describe artworks composed from a combination of

different media or materials. A work on canvas that combines paint, ink, and collage
could properly be called a "mixed media" work.
 New media art is a 21st Century catchall term used to define all that is related to the
internet and the interplay between technology, images and sound.

IMPROVISATION
  Improvisation in theater is the playing of dramatic scenes without written dialogue &
with minimal or no predetermined dramatic activity.
 Most or all of what is performed is created at the moment it is performed. In its
purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively
by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an
already prepared, written script.
 An important goal of improvisation is to enable the individual to develop spontaneity
which is necessary in creating the illusion of reality.
 The improvisation teacher must expose students to the theatrical environment
through various games rather than lectures.
 Forms of Improvisation
 Short form – short scenes constructed from predetermined game. Longform
– scenes related by story or character.

CREATIVE DRAMA

https://primer.com.ph/blog/2019/10/19/repertory-philippines-to-combine-the-
familiar-and-the-new-for-its-83rd-season/

 It is an improvisational, non-exhibition, process centered form of drama in which

participants are guided by a leader to imagine, enact, and reflect upon human
experiences.
 This process allows students to actively explore a subject or question through
imaginative play that is facilitated by a leader and may involve a variety of
improvisational activities.
 These activities are not scripted or memorized, and they allow students to synthesize
various educational concepts into a personally meaningful form.

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Activity II. Answer the following questions below. Write your answers on your separate sheet of paper.
1. What is the difference between contemporary art to modern art?
2. Enumerate the local materials that are available in your area that can be used in creating an art product.

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