Week 1-2

Lesson 1
The Importance, Meaning, and Assumptions of Art

Objectives:
1. State the meaning and importance of art
2. Categorize the function of art
3. Discuss the basic philosophical perspective of art
4. Point out how art satisfies personal and
psychological needs

Introduction:

This topic introduces the importance of art as a part or component of our dynamic civilization
and art as an essential form of expression and communication in our daily existence. Art's
meaning covers its etymological to the modern definition and how man sees it variably and
relatively from a person, time, and place. The assumptions tackle the principles and sources of
appreciating art and establish the margin and boundary of the responsibility and duty in
fulfilling what man is capable of doing.

Art makes people optimistic about their future. Art can be used to help spread a message of
inspiration, making people achieve great things in life. Art can be a form of communication
between people, to focus on common issues for the betterment of humankind. Inspirational
music is the best form of creative art.
Lesson Presentation:

What is Art?

Art is a highly diverse range of human activities engaged in

creating visual, auditory, or performed artifacts— artworks
—that express the author’s imaginative or technical skill,
and are intended to be appreciated for their beauty or
emotional power.

The oldest documented forms of art are visual arts, which

include images or objects in fields like painting, sculpture,
printmaking, photography, and other visual media.

Architecture is often included as one of the visual arts;

however, like the decorative arts, it involves the creation of
objects where the practical considerations of use are
essential, in a way that they usually are not in another
visual art, like a painting.

Art may be characterized in terms of mimesis (its representation of reality), expression,

communication of emotion, or other qualities. Though the definition of what constitutes art is
disputed and has changed over time, general descriptions center on the idea of imaginative or
technical skill stemming from human agency and creation. When it comes to visually
identifying a work of art, there is no single set of values or aesthetic traits. A Baroque painting
will not necessarily share much with a contemporary performance piece, but they are both
considered art.

Despite the seemingly indefinable nature of art, there have always existed certain formal
guidelines for its aesthetic judgment and analysis. Formalism is a concept in art theory in
which an artwork’s artistic value is determined solely by its form, or how it is made.

Formalism evaluates works on a purely visual level, considering medium and compositional
elements as opposed to any reference to realism, context, or content.
 Art is often examined through the interaction of the principles and elements of art. The
principles of art include movement, unity, harmony, variety, balance, contrast, proportion and
pattern. The elements include texture, form, space, shape, color, value and line. The various
interactions between the elements and principles of art help artists to organize sensorial
pleasing works of art while also giving viewers a framework within which to analyze and
discuss aesthetic ideas.

Other definitions for Art:

 13th Century French word – skill as a result of learning or practice

 Latin word ars – ability or practical skills
 (Plato) – brings life in harmony with the beauty of the world
 (Dewey) – an attitude of spirit; a state of mind
 (Oscar Wilde) – most intense mode of individualism that the world has known
 (Elbert Hubbard) – not a thing – it is a way

There are many common definitions of art. Few to quote:

 any creative work of a human being

 a form of expressing oneself
 resides in the quality of doing; the process is not magic
 an act of making something visually entertaining
 an activity that manifests the beauty
 the mastery, an ideal way of doing things
 not a thing — it is a way (Elbert Hubbard)
 the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known
 discovery and development of elementary principles of nature into beautiful forms suitable for
human use (Frank Lloyd Wright)
 Why is Art Important?

Helen Frankenthaler, 1956: A

photograph of the American artist
Helen Frankenthaler in her studio in
1956.

Art is important because it’s part of all of us.

“I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say ‘he feels deeply, he feels
tenderly.’” Vincent Van Gogh
You see it everywhere you go. Some of it’s not-so-good and sometimes it stops you in your
tracks.
But creativity and the act of making art are more important to our planet than you think.

Can you imagine a world without art?

It’s horrifying.
Sure, earth has many beautiful wonders and mother nature produces some stunning artwork.
But there’s something about the individuality of humans and our creative minds.

Art is everywhere we go, and we must continue to cultivate creativity in our communities to
ensure that it stays alive.
If you’re wondering why you should even care.
Here are 10 reasons why art is important to our world and why you should never stop
being creative.

1. It’s natural human behavior

Art is important because it’s no different than why you need food to live, why we laugh, or why
it feels so good to be loved.
It’s part of us.
Humans have been creating since the beginning of time.
Whether it was using berries for paint, wood for carving, humans have always had a natural
affinity to being creative and making art.
It’s in our DNA and it’s something we know from the day we’re born. Give a child a crayon and
paper and watch them light up.
But not every career path endorses the arts, so it can be tough to stay creative as you grow
up. But taking on a hobby is a great way to maintain that artistic fire that burns inside of you.
And since creativity is a natural human behavior, you should never stop doing it!

2. It’s a language
“A picture is worth a thousand words”
Art speaks its own language whether it’s a painting, sculpture, dance routine or your favorite
song. Art is able to say things that words sometimes can’t.
It’s an international language that anyone from anywhere can understand and be inspired by.

3. Art tells a story

Art is important because it’s a way of documenting and preserving our history.
Historic art tells a story about society and how our cultures were. Giving us insight and
different perspectives.

Today, art is everywhere.

From billboards, street signs and massive murals, they tell stories too. Whether its advertising
or purely for appreciation, creativity is everywhere.
4. Therapeutic
Art is a great way to calm yourself and decrease stress levels.
If you make regular time in your schedule for creativity, you’ll instantly start to see results in
how you feel.
The therapeutic effects of art are so profound that it’s also used in more serious cases by
certified professionals to help people deal with mental illness and other emotional challenges.
“Art therapy integrates psychotherapeutic techniques with the creative process to improve
mental health and well-being.” – VeryWellMind

5. Evoke emotions from people

Art is important because it has the power to move people and sometimes an entire nation.
Think of films or songs that have gone viral around the world and created either awareness or
inspired others to do great things.
Without the songs you listen to while you exercise or work, you might not be able to
accomplish whatever it is you’re working on.
That’s some powerful stuff. Considering its just music and without it, you can’t get work done!?!
But we’ve all been there.

6. Increases creativity
Art and creativity go hand in hand with one another.
The more you work on your art the more creative you’ll get.
Also, looking at art and exposing yourself to other creative mediums will inspire more ideas,
and have you thinking differently.
It’s a beautiful cycle.

7. It makes people happy when they create

As a child, you couldn’t be more content when your mother stationed you somewhere with all
the arts and crafts supplies. You were all set for the day!
And, that feeling is still present among older artists. That’s why they continue to do what they
do.
It makes them happy.
Same goes for people who don’t create art regularly. You just have to make the effort.
Try attending a paint night, or pottery class. I promise you’ll have the greatest time and want to
go back.

8. Vital to human development

Art is important because creativity is the foundation of a child’s education.
It helps to develop motor skills, eye-hand coordination and has a large impact on their social
and emotional growth.
It also enhances their cognitive development which can have a positive effect on math skills
and other related subjects.
Promote creativity in your child’s life in as many ways as you can. Give them every opportunity
possible to be artistic and to sharpen their skills.
They will thank you later in life.

9. It makes drab places look amazing.

Nothing is more beautiful than when a city or property owner commissions an artist to put their
artwork on an area seen by millions.
Art can take to the most unpleasant-looking places and turn it into an awe-inspiring work of
creativity.
Why settle for a boring old brick wall when you could have a mural that gets people talking and
coming back again and again.
Which takes me to my last point.

10. It’s good for the economy

When artists make money from their hard work, it all comes full circle.
They spend more money on art supplies, frequent surrounding places like bars, pubs,
restaurants, and events, making it good for the economy, small businesses and more.
Also, when a community is bustling with creativity and has a vibrant art scene filled with
attractions, tourists will come from all over to see.
Artists and creativity are vital to society and should be supported in every way possible. Just
stop and think for a second how sad and boring our world would be without creativity.

Nobody wants that.

Four Common Essentials of Art

 Art has to be human-made
 Art must be creative, not imitative
 Art must benefit and satisfy the man
 Art is expressed through an individual medium or material by which the artist
communicates himself to his audiences.

What are the assumptions of Arts?

Three assumptions on art are its universality, its not being nature, and its need for experience.
Without experience, there is no art. The artist has to be foremost, a perceiver who is directly in
touch with art.

What are the four assumptions of Arts?

 Art is everywhere.
 Art is not nature.
 Art is imitating and creating.
 Art perfects nature.
 Art message is universal.

What Is Art Appreciation?

Appreciation of the visual arts goes beyond staring at a painting hanging on the wall of a
museum—art is in everything and everywhere you look.

Opening your eyes to the world of art is essential in understanding the world around you. Art is
more than pretentious museums; only a few enter and comprehend. Instead, art appreciation
is:

 Gaining the knowledge to understand the art.

 Acquire the art methods and materials to discuss art verbally or by the written word.
 Ability to identify the movements from ancient cultures to today's contemporary art.

Learning how to appreciate art is a necessary cultural foundation enabling people to critically
analyze art, art forms, and how cultures used art. All it takes to understand the art is just to
look!

Art appreciation centers on the ability to view art throughout history, focusing on the cultures
and the people, and how art developed in the specific periods. It is difficult to understand art
without understanding the culture, their use of materials, and a sense of beauty. Art is
conveyed by the simple act of creating art for art's sake. Every person is born with the innate
desire to create art, and similar to other professions, training is essential in honing skills to
produce art. Art education broadens a person's comprehension, development, and visions of
art. Art brings an understanding of diversity, how people lived in the past, and connects the
issues concerning contemporary life and art today.

The history of the world is similarly the history of art, continually intertwined. For millions of
years, as humans roamed the earth, evolution, and environment shaped many different
cultures depending on location, weather, natural resources, and food. These cultures formed
the foundation of all art today. Art appreciation analyzes art using the methods and materials,
allowing people to make connections to the context of art and the interactions of societies.
It is difficult to understand the art without understanding the culture.

The Importance of Art Appreciation

Art appreciation is extremely relevant for multiple reasons. It

is a good way to understand the history behind the work,
and the period from which the piece originated. Artists often
reflect the problems that they face, and the issues of the
society in their work. By analyzing and putting ourselves in
the mind of the artist, we can better study how differently
society functioned then, compared to now. We can
empathize and relate to the problems they faced on a
personal level.

Art is meant to stimulate thought and conversation between

its viewers. By reflecting on a piece of art, we delve into our
own experiences and nostalgia, thus a piece of art means
something different to every person that comes across it. Art
appreciation helps open up the mindset of the people, by listening to different perspectives and
views as well as interpretations of the art, it encourages thoughtful conversation and the
understanding that there is more than one approach to everything.

For many people, art is meant to express something that we ourselves feel unable to express
or convey. Through its visual medium it evokes feelings of joy, sadness, anger and pain. That
is why art appreciation is so important in bringing that one final element to complete the work,
and that is our interpretation. Our perspective brings the artwork to life as it changes for every
person around it.

It is important to foster art appreciation and analysis, as it helps us value the art in how it
appeals to us and what it means to each person. It delves into the history and the story behind
the art, as well as a look into the lives of the artists. It enables one to critically analyze a work,
along lines of design, mastery and techniques. Most importantly, however, art appreciation
stimulates though and analysis, provokes an individual to look past what meets the eye and
open our mind to the views of others.

Functions of Art
1. Personal
2. Social
3. Cultural function
4. Aesthetic Function
5. Spiritual function

Essential Philosophical Perspectives of Art

1. (Plato) Art is nemesis – Art is an imitation of an imitation

2. (Aristotle) Art as representation – the aim of art is not to represent the outward
appearance of things but their inward significance
3. (Kant) Art for art's sake – that art has its reason for being. It is an autonomous creation
4. Art as an escape – the sacred level of art not only transforms something into art but also
transforms the artist at the very core of his or her being
5. Art as functional – meant to be used, enrich lives, be spiritually potent, educate, support
or protest existing power structures, entertain, and so on.

CATEGORIES / CLASSIFICATIONS OF ART

Visual Arts (2D; 3D)

 1. Painting – the application of pigment (color) on any flat two-dimensional surfaces

2. Sculpture – the carving, modeling, casting,

constructing, and assembling of materials and
object into primarily three-dimensional works of
art

The thinker, thinking about the gates of hell

3. Architecture – Architecture, the art and technique of designing

and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with
construction. The practice of architecture is employed to fulfill
both practical and expressive requirements, and thus it serves
both utilitarian and aesthetic ends.

Performing/Combined Arts
1. Music
2. Dance
3. Film
4. Theater
5. Literary
6. Performance Poetry
3. Digital Arts – art made with the assistance of
electronic devices, or intended to be displayed on
a computer, is the most important element in
digital art.

This digital
painting was created with the
use of MS paint and Photoshop, among
other software.

a. Digital painting appeared in the 1990s and embrace traditional painting

techniques like watercolors, oil painting, and impastos. While the artist develops
a graphical design with the use of a computer, tablet or stiletto, the process itself
is similar to painting with traditional materials and result in painterly aesthetics.
Digital paintings also share features that are specific to computer art visuals like
the repetition and distortion of elements and can result in abstract imagery.

b. Digital photography includes the use of images taken

from reality through photographs, scans, satellite-imaging,
and other possible records of what exists. This segment
often mixes what is and what is not, blurring boundaries and
distorting our understanding of truth.
What is The Purpose of Digital Photography?

Digital photography has pretty much the same purpose as

film photography.
For many people, the ability to capture life’s important moments is the primary reason for
taking photographs.
The invention of photography also makes it possible for people to see public figures as
realistically as they can be, far better than paintings.

Types of Digital Photography

a. Commercial Photography
Commercial photography is often taken to be used as advertising
material.

Commercial photography is usually used to promote or sell

products.

Professional photographers are hired to take photos of the

products.

Later, the photos are used as campaign materials such as

brochures, pamphlets, billboards, and other types of advertising
campaigns.

b. Documentary Photography

Just as it sounds, documentary photography is

primarily focused on documenting life moments
and events.

The moments captured may vary from

personal events like weddings and birthdays to
moments such as political events or festivals.

The purpose is to capture the moment so it will

not just fade away.

We can thank the documentary photographers of the past for capturing some of the most
important moments in modern history.
c. Journalism Photography

Journalism photography has almost

the same purpose as documentary
photography.

The difference between the two is

documentary photography is usually
taken to document moments, while
journalism photography has another
purpose, which is to deliver the news.

That’s why journalism photography

must answer the what, when, where,
who, why, and how’s.

The goal of journalism photography is to make people understand what happened at that
moment in relation to the news.
Journalism photography can complete a story or article, but it should be able to stand on its
own too.

d. Editorial Photography

Editorial photography is usually used for

publications such as magazines.

It may include fashion and products and events,

but it focuses on the story.

It’s the difference between editorial photography

and product photography or commercial
photography.
Editorial photography is not created to just sell products, but more to tell stories and for more
educational and informative purposes.

e. Art Photography

Art photography is a form of photography used by

artists to show ideas, concepts, messages, and
emotions through a picture.

It’s the same as other forms of art, but the artist

uses photographs as their media.

Art photography can vary significantly depending

on the artist. As a form of art, this kind of
photography can also have genres such as
abstract, conceptual, portraits, black and white,
and many more.

3. Digital installations closely relate to the

sculptures for their 3D nature but offer a
new typology in their relation to the viewer.
Mostly, this type of artworks can be
interactive — that is responding to visitors’
inputs (e.g., body movements, voices,
touch). Alternatively, these art pieces can
be immersive, presenting viewers with a
new spatial environment or altering the
nature of their surroundings. Virtual reality
(VR) and augmented reality (AR) are typical examples of the technologies promoting this kind
of experience. Nonetheless, these installations require expensive material, logistical,
computational, and architectural planning. Ultimately, this art form is now suited to museums,
and institutional and public spaces, offering the vast areas and infrastructures for people to
experience the medium entirely.
Applied Arts – the application of design and decoration to everyday objects to make them
aesthetically pleasing.
The applied arts are all the arts that apply design and decoration to everyday and essentially
practical objects in order to make them aesthetically pleasing.The term is used in distinction to
the fine arts, which are those that produce objects with no practical use, whose only purpose is
to be beautiful or stimulate the intellect in some way. In practice, the two often overlap. Applied
arts largely overlaps with decorative arts, and the modern making of applied art is usually
called design.

Examples of applied arts are:

 Industrial design – mass-produced objects.

 Architecture – also counted as a fine art.
 Ceramic art
 Automotive design
 Fashion design
 Calligraphy
 Interior design
 Graphic design
 Cartographic (map) design

Generalization:

The meaning of art is often culturally specific, shared among the members of a given society
and dependent upon cultural context. The purpose of works of art may be to communicate
political, spiritual or philosophical ideas, to create a sense of beauty (see aesthetics), to
explore the nature of perception, for pleasure, or to generate strong emotions. Its purpose may
also be seemingly nonexistent.

As you can see, art is important to our planet and essential to humans.

No creativity = No Art
People should make time in their busy schedule to be creative and enjoy it. Whether it’s baking
a cake you saw on social media, attending a pottery class or simply taking a picture of nature.

Get out there and let your mind have some fun

References:

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-arthistory/chapter/what-is-art/
https://www.imaginated.com/glossary/what-is-digital-photography/