SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Contemporary Philippine Arts from

the Region

Module 8: Traditional Technique used in

Philippine Contemporary Art

Module 9: Materials used in Philippine

Contemporary Art

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 What I Know

Activity 1
Study and analyze the two pictures by answering the guide questions.

Guide Questions:
1. What materials was used in each artwork?
2. Describe how the artwork was made.

LESSON 1
Traditional Technique used in Philippine
Contemporary Art

What is Technique?
Technique is the manner in which artist use and manipulate materials to achieve
the desired formal effect, and communicate the desired concept or meaning,
according to his or her personal style (modern, Neoclassic, etc.)

The distinctive character or nature of the medium determines the technique. For
example, stone is chiseled, wood is carved; clay is modeled and shaped, metal is
cast, and thread is woven.

There are some places in the Philippines that became famous because of the
unusual or extraordinary products that they make. These products become their
way for the people to know about their places. These people used traditional
technique in creating a particular art that makes them famous.

Traditional techniques used by the Filipinos even from the past years are depicted
in our painting, sculpture, dance, architecture, music, and even textile. It only
proves that Filipinos like any other people in the world can be very proud of our
Philippine arts

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Traditional Techniques Used in Philippine Arts
Wood Carving – a technique encompassing any form of working wood with a
tool into some sort of aesthetic object.

Molding – a technique of shaping liquid or pliable material such as clay.

Traditional pottery making in the Philippines involves the method of molding.
Pottery making in the Philippines is one of the longest traditions in Philippine art.

Incised designs also appeared in the posts of Masbate. Among the finest of early Philippine pottery
designs are footed dishes that were decorated with geometric cut-outs, molding, cording or finger
impressions, most of these were made in Batangas. Pottery traditions continued to develop in certain
locals, such as Burnay, unglazed clay pottery of Vigan.

Fabric 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.

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Textile hand-weaving is one of the most attractive and interesting traditional crafts
of the Philippines, imbued with romanticism and laden with cultural significance

The Ilocano still practice hand-weaving using the pedal loom. Their materials are
cotton and natural dyes, although now they use store-bought threads and
synthetic dyes. They know several weaving techniques and designs, passed down to
many generations.

“Abel” or “inabel” is a fabric customarily made of cotton fiber turned into spools of
beeswax-brushed yarn & woven in a handloom

Textiles in Mindanao are predominantly handwoven from abaca (musa textilis).

Among the Moslems of Mindanao, the Magindanaon, Maranaw and Yakan
continue the tradition of cotton and silk weaving.

T’nalak is a sacred cloth woven by the T'boli people in communities around Lake
Sebu, Mindanao island.

Basketry Technique - There are four different types of basketry methods: coiling,
plaiting, wickering, and twining. Some of the terms that are specific to basket
weaving include loops, twining, ribs, and spokes. The common raw materials used
in making baskets are rattan, abaca, nito, tikog, buri, bamboo, pandan, coconut
leaves and sticks, palm leaves, and beeswax. There are several baskets that use
combined raw materials.

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 Coiled basketry, using grasses, rushes and pine needles

Plaiting technique - interweaving or braiding two or more strands, fibers, etc.

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 Twining technique, using materials from roots and tree bark. This is a weaving
technique where two or more flexible weaving elements ("weavers") cross each
other as they weave through the stiffer radial spokes.

What’s More
What arts or products can be made by using the given materials and what
technique will be used in the creation?

Material Artwork/product Technique

1.

Wood
2.

Fiber
3.

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 clay
4.

Stone
5.

Coconut leaves

What I Have Learned

Answer the short quiz.

Part 1: Multiple Choice: Choose the letter of the best answer for the questions.

1. It is the manner in which artist use and manipulate materials

A. Subject
B. Style
C. Technique
D. Theme

2. What is the importance of having a unique way of creating art in the

local area?
A. It makes their community beautiful
B. It is a way of drawing other people to their place
C. It brings solidarity to the people
D. It makes the community more productive

3. Which phrase is incorrect?

A. Stone – fabricated
B. Clay – molded
C. Wood – carved
D. Thread – woven

4. Which is not a traditional technique in creating art?

A. Painting
B. Weaving
C. Basketry
D. Woodcarving

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 5. What is the best material for making a mat using plaiting technique?
A. Abaca
B. Nito grass
C. Clay
D. Wood

6. Which material is not use carving technique?

A. Clay
B. Wood
C. Stone
D. Ice

7. What technique is used in making the Burnay?

A. Stone
B. Clay
C. Fabric
D. Grass

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8. What weaving technique is used in making a banig?
A. Coiling
B. Plaiting
C. Wickering
D. Twining

9. What technique in weaving is illustrated here?

A. Coiling
B. Plaiting
C. Wickering
D. Twining

10. It is the fabric that is popular and made in Ilocos?

A. T’nalak
B. Inabel
C. Jusi Baron
D. Malong

Part 2: Short Answer: Answer the questions briefly and concisely. (5 points)

1. How materials affect the technique used in making Philippine art?

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 Module 9: Materials used in Philippine
Contemporary Art

Lesson 1- Contemporary Materials and

Techniques Used in Art

Contemporary art is often looked at with a skeptical eye. The truth about
contemporary artis that it uses techniques that most people aren’t quite used to,
causing that skepticism to come into play. However, these techniques are actually
quite difficult, and all deserve our credit. It is an incredible feat to create a piece of
contemporary art, especially using these techniques. They challenge the mind and
offer unique perspectives in a way that art has never been able to do before. For
that reason, they’re some of the most valuable techniques that a person can
experience through artwork.

What’s New

Picture Study

Which picture shows Minimalism in Art.

Picture 1

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 Picture 2

What can you say about the materials and technique used in the work?

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 What is It
As an artist, the contemporary art techniques and performance practices are
just breaking the conservative's rules.

"Contemporary art is the art of today", that could be the best definition. This
kind of art produced by artists who are living in 21st century.

Here are three techniques that are among the most relevant in contemporary
art today

MINIMALISM

One of the artistic movements that has been most relevant throughout the
contemporary art movement is minimalism. Minimalism seeks to take away what is
unnecessary and leaving only what is essential.

Red Sky, 2007 5 Bottles, 1994

Arturo Luz Arturo Luz

Arturo Luz is a Filipino modern artist best known for his minimalist,
geometric, and abstract styles of art and his animated paintings of circus
performers and musicians as well as his revered cityscape series

FOUND OBJECTS

Taking something that people view as useless, and then using it in a unique
way to make artwork is one of the most important movements that currently exist
in contemporary. The idea is that things that we often view as junk are more
valuable than we think that they are. Everything you find can be used to tell a
story, or to create new diverse perspectives that we are looking for when we attend
an art exhibition.

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 Small PaddleFish by Stephen Palmer

The technique of putting different objects together to create three-dimensional

art is called Assemblage. It is similar to collage, a two-dimensional medium.

Other example of Found Objects Art:

Conglomerate Seahorse Found Object Art

9. LARGE-SCALE ART

Walter De Maria created an art piece in 1977 that included a four hundred
steel poles over one mile by one kilometer. That is incredible. Creating something
huge to express diverse perspectives in artwork is incredibly popular, even today.
Over the past forty years, largescale art, and art that includes the environment has
come into its own as one of the most important movements within contemporary
art. That is why you often see modern art pieces alongside buildings, or as huge
structures out in the open.

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“The 2000 Sculpture” (1992), by Walter De Maria, an example of his groupings of ordered
elements using precise measurements. Credits: Museum Associates/LACMA

Pacita Abad working the Alkaff Bridge bridge in Singapore.

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On October 5, 1946, Pacita Abad, a trapunto painter, a global Filipino artist,
who described herself as a painter who paints "from the guts" was born in
Basco, Batanes to politically active parents, Jorge Abad and Aurora Barsana.

What’s More
Activity 1: Compare traditional from contemporary in terms of technique and
materials used.

Technique Materials

Traditional
Art

Contemporary
Art

Activity 2: Paste a picture of an example of art using Contemporary Technique.

Describe how the artist use the materials and technique in his/her artwork.

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 What I Have Learned

Short Quiz
Part 1: Identify what is being described in the statements

_________________1. A contemporary technique in art that uses junk materials

in art production

_________________ 2. He is a Filipino artist who is fond of using geometrical

shapes in his artworks

_________________ 3. A technique in art that take away unimportant elements

in leaving only what is essential
_________________ 4. A technique of putting found objects together to create a
new composition or art
_________________ 5. The technique that uses big spaces and environment as
a venue of art creation.

Part 2: Identify what contemporary technique were used in the following

arts.

1 ____________________________________________________________________

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 2. ____________________________________________________________________

3. ____________________________________________________________________

What I Can Do
Found Object Art

Create a two-dimensional artwork with the use of any objects found in your
house. Three-dimensional artwork can be done by attaching or gluing different
objects to create one art piece.

3 Simple Tips for Making Collage using Found Objects

1. Prepare your materials: found objects, adhesive, cutting tools

2. Choose the best material for backing, it is the support that will hold your
materials together, e.g. cardboard, paper, wood

3. Plan your composition or design before gluing it.

Additional Activities
Have a visit in a virtual museum (or actual museum if possible) Look
for some artworks that uses contemporary materials and technique. Write a
short description of the art and indicate why the artwork become interesting.

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