Chapter I

Introduction
to Visual Arts
Definition, History and Development of Visual Arts
Philippine Arts and Artist
Role and Impact of Design
Function of Design
Role and Responsibility of Designer

Visual Arts Sketchbook: Competency-based Module | 1

 Introduction to Visual Arts
Chapter Introduction
Visual art can be defined as a creative art whose products are to be
appreciated by sight in contrast with literature & music. It aims to capture
and express a wide array of values, beliefs, and ideas embraced by people
from around the world and from every period of history. Further, it is also use
to educate, persuade, commemorate, and problem solve.
Visual arts are a way of life for a person who is not so excellent in study
& hasn’t good grades or a better in hand but has the skill to develop. And with
this particular skill, he can earn their livelihood by performing visual arts.
Thus, the importance of visual arts in life can be understood here.
This chapter will give you an introduction to visual arts. You will trace the history
of art and describe various forms of art. This will be focused on Philippine arts and artists
that has contributed to the society and nation in general. Knowing the functions, impacts
of arts, and your role as designer will be highlighted in this chapter.
You will be given lots of opportunities to develop understanding and
familiarization of the concepts underlying visual arts.
You will be guided with the SCARD of this module: Sketch It: Competency
Understanding: Acquisition of Competency; Reinforcement of Competency; and
Demonstration of Competency.
See feedback in the appendices attached for the performance rubrics and answer
key. If you wish to read further about the topic, the references are listed for you to check
out.

Content Standard
The learner demonstrates understanding and awareness of the concepts and
principles of Visual Arts and its application in the conceptualization, creation and
development of artworks in the Philippine setting.

Performance Standard
The learner independently demonstrates, prepares, and develop concepts based
on established art-industry standards and as per job requirements.

Chapter Learning Outcomes

At the end of this unit, you must have:
1. Explained the history and development of visual graphics design;
2. Examined the role and impact of design to personal, societal, educational,
and national aspects;
3. Personalized the role and responsibilities of a designer.
4. Developed sensitivity to Philippine visual arts and its contributions.

Visual Arts Sketchbook: Competency-based Module | 2

 Sketch It!
Collect your thoughts. This is a simple pretest on your knowledge in
visual arts.

Name: ____________________________________________
Photo Course/Year/Section: ________________________________
here Date: ___________ Time: ____________

Activity: Write at least 10 words that you can associate with Visual Arts.

1. _________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________________
4. _________________________________________________________
5. _________________________________________________________
6. _________________________________________________________
7. _________________________________________________________
8. _________________________________________________________
9. _________________________________________________________
10. _________________________________________________________

Visual Arts Sketchbook: Competency-based Module | 3

 Competency Understanding 1:
Definition, History and
Development of Visual
Arts
When we look at an artwork made by a single artist, we often assume that it
was created entirely from the artist’s own ideas and inspirations. But art historians
now recognize that art is part of a wider context of things we experience: the visual
culture in which we live, which includes all of the images that we encounter in our
lives. In other words, art reflects the visual culture in which it was created, not just
the creative achievement of its maker.

This lesson is all about the definition of concepts related to visual arts, the reason
of studying arts, components of visual arts and its purpose.
You will be guided with the SCARD of this module: Sketch It: Competency
Understanding: Acquisition of Competency; Reinforcement of Competency; and
Demonstration of Competency.
See feedback in the appendices attached for the performance rubrics and answer
key. If you wish to read further about the topic, the references are listed for you to check
out.

Lesson Learning Outcomes

At the end of this unit, you must have:
1. Defined visual arts, its function and implications.
2. Explained the history and development of visual graphics design;
3. Examined the role and impact of design to personal, societal, educational, and
national aspects;
4. Personalized the role and responsibilities of a designer.
5. Developed sensitivity to Philippine visual arts and its contributions.

I. Definition of Visual Arts

Art is a form of visual language,

and much as we use vocabulary and
grammar to communicate verbally,
artists use a visual vocabulary (the
elements of art) and rules similar to
grammar (the principles of art). When
we study an artwork, we can use the
same elements and principles to analyze
the work: a process called visual
analysis. In this part you will learn about
the elements and principles and will be
shown how to apply them in a visual
Source: Spolliarium by Juan Luna. cnnphilippines.com

Visual Arts Sketchbook: Competency-based Module | 4

analysis. You will also learn how to use two other concepts when you analyze a work of
art: style and content.
Although, there is no universally accepted definition of art. Art is commonly used
to describe something of beauty, or a skill which produces an aesthetic result, there is no
clear line in principle between a unique piece of handmade sculpture, and a mass-
produced but visually attractive item. We might say that art requires thought - some kind
of creative impulse - but this raises more questions: for example, how much thought is
required? If someone flings paint at a canvas, hoping by this action to create a work of art,
does the result automatically constitute art?
Another thing to be aware of, is the fact that art reflects and belongs to the period
and culture from which it is spawned.
Visual art is any form of arts the appeals to the visual sense. Those that we
perceive with our eyes. They may be classified into two groups: Graphic arts (flat or 2D
arts) and Plastic arts (3D).
Aesthetics is the theory of perceiving and enjoying something for its beauty and
pleasurable qualities. This tries to categorize and explain our responses to art forms.
The visual arts are art forms that create works that are primarily visual in nature,
such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, photography,
video, film making and architecture. These definitions should not be taken too strictly as
many artistic disciplines (performing arts, conceptual art, textile arts) involve aspects of
the visual arts as well as arts of other types. Also included within the visual arts are the
applied arts such as industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design and
decorative art.
The current usage of the term "visual arts" includes fine art as well as the applied,
decorative arts and crafts, but this was not always the case. Before the Arts and Crafts
Movement in Britain and elsewhere at the turn of the 20th century, the term 'artist' was
often restricted to a person working in the fine arts (such as painting, sculpture, or
printmaking) and not the handicraft, craft, or applied art media. The distinction was
emphasized by artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement who valued vernacular art forms
as much as high forms. Art schools made a distinction between the fine arts and the crafts
maintaining that a craftsperson could not be considered a practitioner of art. (Wikipedia
2012)

Studying Arts
Applied art is a major branch of art which cannot easily be separated from fine art,
because the root of all design (which is the foundation of applied art) is fine art. Second,
ever since Homo Sapiens developed the facility of contemplation, he has expressed his
thoughts in pictorial form. At the same time, he has continued to appreciate beauty -
whether in the form of human faces or bodies, sunsets, animal-skin colors, cathedrals or
sculpture. In a nutshell, to create and to appreciate art is to be human. That's the point.
Content: Art, as we have already seen, is a form of communication using visual
language. All communication has a purpose, a message—in other words, content. In art,
content may be thought of as consisting of three types, all of them important for
understanding a work: the subject matter; its underlying meanings (perhaps the ideas or
feelings that the work communicates, the beliefs it affirms); and the work’s arrangement

Visual Arts Sketchbook: Competency-based Module | 5

of the visual elements of which it is composed. These are important concepts, so it is
worth examining them in some detail
Context: we will consider how we can interpret the underlying meanings of an
artwork. If we know what questions to ask about a work of art, we can learn more about
it than we probably expected when we first saw it.

What Does Visual Art Include?

Fine Arts. All fine art belongs to the general category of visual arts. These include
activities such as: Drawing, Painting, Printmaking and Sculpture, along with associated
activities like Graphic art, Manuscript Illumination, Book Illustration, Calligraphy and
Architecture.
Contemporary Arts. The visual arts also include a number of modern art forms,
such as: Assemblage, Collage, Mixed-media, Conceptual Art, Installation, Happenings and
Performance art, along with film-based disciplines such as Photography, Video Art and
Animation, or any combination thereof. This group of activities also includes high tech
disciplines like computer graphics and giclee prints. Another modern visual art, is the new
environmental or Land art, which also includes transitory forms like ice/snow sculpture,
and (presumably) graffiti art.
Decorative Arts & Crafts. In addition, the general category of visual arts
encompasses a number of decorative art disciplines and crafts, including: ceramics and
studio pottery, mosaic art, mobiles, tapestry, glass art (including stained glass), and
others.
Other Applied Arts. Wider definitions of visual art sometimes include applied art
areas such as graphic design, fashion design, and interior design. In addition, new types
of Body art may also fall under the general heading of visual arts. These include: tattoo
art, face painting, and body painting.

Purpose of Arts
Art is created and enjoyed by many people for many reasons. However, one of the
things that art does is extend and expand our shared common visual language. When new
visual ideas are first introduced by the artist, they are often seen as shocking, and perhaps
even as incomprehensible. There is nothing harder than trying to grasp what was shocking
or illuminating about certain images, or ways of making images, once the shock is gone,
and we have all absorbed this bit of visual data into our own vocabularies. Artists show us
new ways to see familiar things, and how to interpret new situations and events through
various kinds of visual shorthand. This creation of visual language may be the artist's
intention, or it may be a side effect of other purposes.
Probably the oldest purpose of art is as a vehicle
for religious ritual. From the prehistoric cave paintings
of France, to the Sistine Chapel, art has served religion. Source: The
creation of
For centuries the Church was the primary patron of Adam by
artists. In traditional societies even today, the primary Michelangelo.
Pinterest.com
purpose of art is religious or ceremonial.

Visual Arts Sketchbook: Competency-based Module | 6

 Art may also serve as a commemoration of an important event. The event may
be of major historical importance, such as the coronation of Josephine by Napoleon as
recorded by the artist David, or it may be important only to the participants, like the image
of a wedding or a baptism.
Source:
Coronation of
Napoleon by
Jacques-Louis
David.
Pinterest.com

Art has often served

as propaganda or social commentary. Propaganda
images are attempts to persuade us toward
particular viewpoints or actions promoted by public Source: Andres
Bonifacio old and
or private institutions such as political parties, new (Marya
Salamat /
lobbyists, governments, or religious groups. The Bulatlat.com)
artist as social commentator may simply make us
more aware of the human condition as he/she
perceives it, without suggesting particular action.
Art may be simply a means of recording of
visual data-- telling the "truth" about what we see.
After the Renaissance, artists became preoccupied
Source:
with new ways of capturing reality such as the use Planting Rice
by Fernando
of linear perspective, and the realism possible Amorsolo.
through the use of oil painting technique. In time, wordpress.
com
artists like Courbet and Cezanne (and many who
followed them) began in various ways to challenge
the basic idea of what it is for an image to be true
and real.
Art can also be seen as pleasing the eye- creating beauty. Yet the idea of beauty,
like that of truth, has been challenged in the modern era. At one time, the artist was
expected to portray perfection-- lofty and noble ideals of beauty. Yet as society became
more industrialized and democratic, many thoughtful people began to broaden their
notions of what could be beautiful.
Art is also a powerful means of storytelling. This was a common device of religious
art of the Middle ages, for example in the frescoes by Giotto from the Church of San
Francesco de Assisi, where sequences of panels were used to tell stories from the
Scriptures or lives of saints. It is also the great gift of Norman Rockwell, who had the ability
to tell powerful and subtle stories about ordinary people and events, in just one picture.
A picture is truly worth a thousand words.

Visual Arts Sketchbook: Competency-based Module | 7

 Source: First Mass
in the Philippines
by Carlos “Botong”
Villaluz Francisco.
Pinterest.ph

Art can also convey intense emotion. The expressive power of art can be seen in
literal ways in the capturing of facial expression and body language. Certain religious art,
and the works of expressionists such as Munch or Kirchner are charged with powerful
emotions. Picasso, in works such as Guernica (also an example of powerful social
commentary and storytelling) is able to communicate intense emotions. This is
accomplished variously by use of dramatic or exaggerated color, light, form, and/or other
elements.
In any case, one of the primary functions of art is to interpret the subject matter
at hand. Subject matter does not change all that much over time. Although new subject
matter has evolved, the human condition, nature, and events still continue to capture the
attention of artists. The media used have changed relatively little; though new materials
have appeared in this century; the conventional media continue to be used. Nor can we
say that the quality or artistic merit of art works has increased or lessened with time.
However, throughout the course of history as society has changed, so also has the
interpretation of specific subject matter.

Visual Arts Sketchbook: Competency-based Module | 8

 Acquisition of Competency: Visual Arts Word Cloud
Collect your thoughts and be creative. Using the underlying concept
of Visual Arts, define visual arts.

Name: ____________________________________________
Photo Course/Year/Section: ________________________________
here Date: ___________ Time: ____________

Mechanics: Think of a representation (shape) that you can associate with Visual
Arts then create a word cloud to complete your definition.
Word clouds or tag clouds are visual representation of the words used in a
particular piece of text, with the size of each word indicating its relative frequency. Sample
is below.

Visual arts word cloud. Dreamstime.com

Visual Arts Sketchbook: Competency-based Module | 9