Republic of the Philippines

NORTHERN ILOILO POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE

Estancia, Iloilo

GE 4 - ART APPRECIATION

MODULE 4
LESSON 6

Re/view on Arts: Medium, Techniques,

Elements and Organizations

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. Discuss the concepts and perspectives of mediums, techniques, and elements of art;
2. Enumerate and explain the two (2) classification of art based on mediums; and
3. Identify and define the different individuals and groups who take on varied roles in the
world of art and culture.

Discussion
On Mediums

Mediums comes from the Latin word medium which means “by which an artist
communicates his/her idea.” It is the stuff out of which he/she creates a work of art. It is the
material which the artist uses to translate into beautiful reality.
Example(s): steel marble, bronze, and wood for sculpture.

On the basis of medium, the arts are primarily classified as;

1. Visual Arts (space arts) - the mediums can be seen, and which occupy space.

 Classes of Visual Arts

o Dimensional or 2 Dimensional Arts – ex. Drawing and Painting
o 3 Dimensional Arts – ex. Sculpture, Architecture, Furniture Making
 2. Auditory Arts (Time Arts)- are those mediums that can be heard, and which are
expressed in time.

Examples

Music and Literature

The combined arts are those whose mediums can be both seen and heard, and these
exist in both space and time.
These are
 Dance
 Film
 Opera
 Drama

3. The Artist and his/her Mediums

Zulueta (2006, p.30) asserts that the artist thinks, feels and gives shape to
his/her vision in terms of his/her mediums. Further, when an artist chooses his/her medium,
he/she believes that this can best express the idea he/she wants to convey. Most often, an
artist employs more than one medium to give meaning to his/her creative productions.
The artist loves and respect his/her medium; he/she is fond of using it because he/she
believes that it has certain qualities that will enhance his/her artwork.
The distinctive character of the medium determines the way it can be worked on and
turned into a work of art; the nature of each medium determines how a work of art may be
realized.

3. The Artist and His/her Technique

Technique is the way the artist controls his/her medium to achieve the desired
effect. In addition, it is the ability with which he/she fulfills the technical requirements of
his/her particular work of art; in fact, it has to do with the way he/she manipulates the work of
art; and his/her medium to express his/her ideas (Zulueta, 2006, p. 31)

4. The Arts: Mediums and Elements

Mediums refers to the materials the artist uses in creating his/her art piece or in
visualizing his/her subject factors that affect the choice of medium:
a. Availability
b. Durability
c. Basic/inherent quality
d. Price
e. Sufficiency of supply
f. Demand
Mediums of Visual Arts
1. Watercolor as a medium is difficult to handle because it is difficult to produce warm and
rich tones.
2. Fresco is a painting on a moist plaster surface with colors ground in water or a
limewater mixture. The colors dry into plaster, and the picture becomes a part of the
wall. Fresco must be done quickly because it is an exacting medium-the moment the
paint is applied to the surface; it becomes an integral part of the wall.
3. Tempera paints are mineral pigments mixed with egg yolk or egg white and ore.
4. Pastel is a stick of dried paste made of pigments ground with chalk and compounded
with gum water.
5. Encaustic is one of the early mediums used by the Egyptians for the painted portrait on
mummy cases.
6. Oil painting is one of the most expensive art activities today because of the prohibitive
cost of the materials. In oil painting, pigments are mixed with linseed oil and applied to
the canvas.
7. Acrylic is used popularly by contemporary painters because of the transparency and
quick-drying characteristics of water and the flexibility of oil combined.

This synthetic paint is mixed with acrylic emulsion as binder for coating the
surface of the artwork. Acrylic paints do not tend to break easily, unlike oil paints which
turn yellowish or darker over a long period of time
8. Mosaic art is a picture or decoration made of small pieces of inlaid colored stones or
glass called "tesserae," which most often are cut in into squares glued on a surface with
plaster or cement.
9. Stained glass as an artwork is common in Gothic Cathedrals and churches. This is made
by combining many small pieces of colored glass which are held together by bands of
lead.
10. Tapestry is a fabric consisting of a warp upon which colored threads are woven by hand
to produce a design, often pictorial and for wall hangings and furniture covering.
11. Drawing is usually done on paper, using pencil, pen and ink, or charcoal.
12. Bistre is a brown pigment extracted from the soot of wood and often used in a pen and
wash drawings.
13. Crayons are pigments bound by wax and compressed into painted sticks used for
drawing especially among children in the elementary grades. They adhere better on
paper surface.
14. Charcoals are carbonaceous materials obtained by heating wood or other organic
substances in the absence of air.
15. Silverpoint in this medium, the artist has technique of drawing with a silver stylus on
specially prepared paper to produce a thin grayish line that was popular during the
Renaissance period.
16. Printmaking. A print in anything printed on a surface that is a direct result from a
duplicating process.
17. Woodcut is made from a piece of wood. The design stands as a relief, the remaining
surface of the block being cut away.
 18. Engraving is the art of forming designs by cutting, corrosion by acids.
19. Relief printing involves the cutting away from a block of wood or linoleum the parts of
the design that the artist wants to be seen, leaving the portion of a design to stand out
on a block or on the linoleum.
20. Intaglio is a printing process in which the design or the text is engraved into the surface
of the place and the ink is transferred to paper from the groover.
21. Etching is a development of engraving. A copper or zinc plate is covered with a
"ground," a smooth coating of wax missed with pitch and amber.
22. Stencil printing is a process which involves the cutting of the design on special paper
cardboard or metal sheet in such a way that when ink is rubbed over it, the design is
reproduced on the surface.

Assessment (50 pts each)

1. Identify and select one artist. He or she may be Filipino or foreign; and may be identified
with any art form: architecture, sculpture, painting, music, literature, film, dance,
performance/theater, and living traditions, among others.

a. Research on him or her and select five aspects of his or her life ( events, ideas,
works, awards/citations) that you think have a substantial contribution not only
to the local or foreign art scene, but also to human history.

2. Using the mediums of visual arts as guide, redesign the poster of your favorite film.

References:

Jaime Gutierrez – Ang, Art Appreciation for the 21st Century Filipino University Student.
Mindshapers Co., Inc., 2019