The Principles of

Design and the Various

Art Forms Found in the
Philippines
 Principles of Design

Design is the overall structure of an art form. It is a plan for order. It is the means by
which artist indicate and demonstrate the ideas and feelings they wish to convey.

Here are some principles of design found in the arts

1. Harmony

This refers to the wholeness of

the design, the pleasing
arrangement of parts, and the
agreement between parts of a
composition, resulting in a
united whole.
2. Variety

It pertains to the assortment or

diversity of a work of art.

3. Rhythm

It is the regular, repeated

pattern in the elements of art. It
is a flow, or feeling of movement,
achieved by the distribution of
visual units in time.
4. Proportion

Elements in a work of art should

have a relationship with one
another. This relationship is called
proportion.

5. Balance

Pertains to the even distribution of

weight. It is the principle that
deals with equality.
6. Movement

This is a fundamental principle in

choreography and the theatre arts.
 Various Art Forms Found in the Philippines

Pre-Colonial Art

Through migration and trade during Pre-Colonial Period, there was a lively cultural
interchange between the Philippines and other Asian countries. This helped
Philippines to develop their own way of living, their own culture such as pottery,
weaving, wood carving, jewelry, etc. That they could use for their everyday living.

I. Paintings

➢ Introduced by Spaniards during 16th century. They use paintings as religious

propaganda. Painting refers to the process of applying color on a flat surface. Forms
can be created using a wide variety of materials such as watercolor, acrylic, ink, oil,
pastel, and charcoal. Surfaces for painting include wood, canvas, cardboard, and
paper. Painting is considered two-dimensional, meaning it only has height and
width.
Forms of Painting:
1. Easel Painting
The easel painting is perhaps the most common form of
painting which involves applying color to a board or
canvas that is fixed on an upright support called an
easel. These are meant to be framed and hanged on a
wall after creating them.

2. Murals
A mural is described as a huge wall-sized painting used
to impart messages to the public. A new form of. Mural
which is a portable mural, was developed in order to
prevent the mural from being erased from the wall
which was created by using bold strokes in applying
bright colors on pieces of cheesecloth or canvas.

3. Telon Painting
A telon is describes as a backdrop or background for
the stage which are used for komedya, sarswela, and
sinakulo, the popular forms of theater in the country.
4. Jeepney and Calesa Painting
The calesa is typically painted using one color. The
borders of the calesa are decorated with geometric
patterns, repetitive patterns, and/or thin lines.

Jeepney painting evolved from calesa painting. In a

typical jeepney, a logo, number, or painting is
covered near the driver’s seat, as well as near the
seats adjacent.to it.

5. Collage
This refers to a form of painting that involves
combine images in a single artwork. This entails
cutting and pasting materials such as paper, fabric,
tin foil and other relatively flat materials onto a board
or canvas.
II. Dance

➢ Refers to the movement of the body in a rhythmic way, usually to music and
within a given space, for the purpose of expressing an idea or emotion, releasing
energy, or simply taking delight in the movement itself.

Types of Filipino Dance

a. Banga
➢ Illustrates the grace and strength of
women in the Kalinga tribe of Cordillera
Autonomous Region (CAR). Women
performing the Banga balance heavy pots
on their heads while dancing to beat of
wind chimes.
b. Lumagen or Tachok

➢ It is performed to celebrate happy

occasions. When Lumagen is performed, it
is meant to symbolize flying birds and is
musically-paired to the beat of gongs.

c. Salisid

➢ It is the dance to show courtship. In the

Salisid dance, a male and a female
performer represent a rooster attempting to
attract a hen.
d. Malakas at Maganda

➢ It is a national folklore dance. It tells

the story of the origin of the Filipino people
on the islands.

e. Binaylan

➢ The Binaylan dance, tells the story of a

hen, the hen's baby, and a hawk. In this
dance, the hawk is said to control a tribe's
well-being, and is killed by hunters after
attempting to harm the hen's baby.
f. Tinikling

➢ Take two long bamboo sticks rapidly

and in rhythm, clap sticks for dancers to
artistically and daringly try to avoid getting
their feet caught between them.

g. Singkil

➢ In this dance, there are four bamboo

sticks arranged in a tic-tac-toe pattern in
which the dancers exploit every position of
these clashing sticks. It is identifiable with
the use of umbrellas and silk clothing.
h. Pangalay

➢ It is a traditional Tausug dance, from

Jolo and Tawi-Tawi, characterized by
elaborate body postures and gestures and
the graceful arm and hand movement of the
dancer, amplified by the use of janggay or
metal claws. The dance is performed to the
music of the kulintangan, gandang, agong
and gabang. Commonly referred to as the
fingernail dance, Pangalay is usually
performed during weddings and other
festive celebrations.
III. 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. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding
or plaiting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral
threads are the weft, woof, or filling. (Weft is an old English word
meaning "that which is woven"; compare leave and left.) The method in
which these threads are inter-woven affects the characteristics of the
cloth.
Weaving Method

1. Textile Weaving

This refers to the process of creating

cloth by interweaving a series of
parallel vertical threads with another
series of horizontal threads at right
angles.

2. Mat Weaving

This refers to the art of “plaiting strips

of organic fibers into mats”. These
mats, locally known as banig, are cool,
light, and portable compared to fixed
beds.
Weaving Method

3. Basketry
This refers to the art of creating
containers by weaving, plaiting, or
braiding materials into hollow three-
dimensional shapes that can either be
used for carrying, storage and
trapping animals.

4. Kalakat Weaving
The process used on the oil palm
fronds into finished product is thru
pruning the green stalk, then splitting
and cleaning the fronds, drying,
weaving and cutting or trimming the
edges.
Kalakat sheets are primarily used as a
cheap but durable construction
material. It is a preferred material for
housing and resort cottages because
of its cool and insulator characteristic.
It is environment friendly as it utilizes
basically an agricultural waste
material.

Kalakat is famous in Mindanao that is

useful in many ways like ceiling and
walling in a traditional house of the
Indigenous Peoples (IPs). Nowadays, it
is used not only by the IPs but the
common residents as well.
IV. Sculpturing

➢ From the transitional carving of anitos to the santos to Christ and

down to the saints, Filipinos find it rather not difficult as they are
already familiar with the ways of the wood.

➢ It is a branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions.

It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally
used carving and modelling; in stones, metals, ceramics, woods and
other materials but, since Modernism, there has been an almost
complete freedom of materials and process. In contrast to painting,
sculpture has three dimensions – height, width, and depth. It is
created by either carving, modelling, or assembling parts together.
General Kinds of Sculpture

1. Free-standing
This is a kind of sculpture that can
independently stand in space. It has a
flat horizontal base. All its sides
contribute to the overall form of the
sculpture.
2. Relief
This kind of sculpture does not have a
flat horizontal base. The form is projected
from a flat surface. There are two types of
relief – low relief or bas-relief which is
slightly from the flat surface; and high
relief. Cagayan de Oro’s Legendary River
Monster is an example of relief sculpture.
 3. Assemblage
This sculpture is formed by putting
together materials such as found objects,
pieces of paper, sponges, wood scraps,
and other materials. A good example of
this is Lamberto Hechanova’s Man and
Woman.

4. Kinetic Sculpture
This is considered as a sculpture in
motion because the entire sculpture or
some parts of the sculpture are moving
with the wind or are vibrating with the
surrounding air.
 5. Welded Sculptures
Creating these sculptures involve the
process of. connecting sheets of metal
together by using an acetylene or electric
torch.

6. Use of Glass
A kind of sculpture where the medium of
expression used by the artist is glass.