Artisan and Artist Notes

Artisan

  • A skilled worker who constructs crafts by hand.

  • Work ranges from functional to decorative (furniture, sculpture, jewelry, clothing).

  • May reach the level of an artist through experience.

  • "Artisanal" emphasizes hand-processing.

  • Historically dominant producers before the Industrial Revolution.

Artist

  • A person engaged in creating, practicing, and performing art.

  • Commonly associated with visual arts but also includes musicians, performers, writers, and actors.

Awards and Citations in the Philippines

  • Orden ng Pambansang Alagad ng Sining (Order of the National Artists):

    • Highest award for Filipinos with significant contributions to Philippine arts

    • Conferred by the President upon recommendation by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).

  • Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (National Living Treasures Awards) or GAMABA:

    • Awarded to Filipino traditional artists whose works reflect diverse heritage and cultural traditions

    • Administered by the NCCA

Traditional Arts

  • Developed since early civilization in the Philippines, reflecting the country’s culture.

Ethnomedicine

  • Art of albularyo, manghihilot, and babaylan, encompassing traditions and objects.

  • Practiced based on physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual elements with herbal remedies.

  • Recently added to the 2020 GAMABA Awards.

Folk Architecture

  • Varies among ethnic groups, using materials like wood, bamboo, and stone.

  • Includes huts (bahay-kubo), highland houses (bale), and palaces (Daru Jambangan).

  • Spirit houses are shrines for protective gods and spirits.

  • Fusion of indigenous and Hispanic motifs in bahay na bato architecture.

  • Rice terraces declared World Heritage Sites.

Maritime Transport

  • Maritime traditions, boat houses, and boat-making.

  • Balangay from Butuan (320 AD) is the earliest evidence of boat-making.

Weaving

  • Distinctive techniques among ethnic groups.

  • Includes headgear, fishnet, basket, and back-strap loom weaving.

Cloth and Mat Weaving

  • Uses cotton, abaca, grass, banana, and palm fiber.

  • Ilocanos: pinilian (cotton weaved using pangablan).

  • Kalinga: Geometry-centered textiles (inata-ata).

  • Piña: Prized Filipino textile from Aklan.

  • Hiligaynon and Karay-a: Hablon textile.

Basketry

  • Used for rice storage, harvesting, and travel.

  • Ethnic groups in Palawan produce finest vessel baskets.

  • Materials include bamboo, pandan, rattan, nito, and dyes.

Carving

  • Wood carving and folk non-clay sculptures.

Wood Carving

  • Dates back before Hispanic colonization.

  • Uses woods for statues (bulul) from northern Luzon to southern Mindanao.

  • Paete, Laguna known for indigenous wood crafts.

Stone, Ivory, and other Carvings

  • Stone carving prevailed before colonization.

  • Laruan or tao-tao represent deities or ancestors.

  • Butuan Ivory Seal dated between 9th-12th century.

  • Philippines first country to destroy ivory stock against illegal trade.

Folk Performing Arts

  • Dramas, plays, and folk dances with Spanish and American influences.

  • Examples: singkil, tinikling, Senakulo, Hinilawod and Ibalong.

Folk Literature

  • Epics, songs, myths, and oral literature.

  • Tanaga: 7777 syllable count per line.

  • Awit: twelve syllable quatrains (Pasyon, Florante at Laura).

  • Dalit: eight-syllable poem.

  • Ambahan: seven syllables per line.

  • Balagtasan: debate in verses.

Folk Graphic and Plastic Arts

  • Tattooing, folk drawing, folk writing, and painting.

Folk Writing (Calligraphy)

  • Indigenous scripts with respective styles and forms.

  • Four scripts survived colonization: Hanunoo, Buid, Tagbanua, and Pala’wan.

Folk Drawing and Painting

  • Oldest folk drawing: rock drawings and engravings in Angono, Rizal.

  • Yakan people practice painting on the skin.

  • Tattooing introduced by Austronesian ancestors, documented in the 16th century.

Martial Arts

  • Arnis (eskrima): weapon-based fighting style.

  • Unarmed martial arts: suntukan, pangamot, buno, dumog.

Culinary Arts

  • Influenced by Austronesian, Chinese, Spanish, Indian, and American traditions.

  • Popular dishes: lechon, adobo, longganisa, kare-kare.

Non-Traditional Arts

  • Music, dance, theater, visual arts, literature, film, architecture.

Music

  • Musical direction, composition, and performance.

  • Inspiration from tangible and intangible heritage with Western and Asian influences.

  • Pinoy rock, reggae, pop, kundiman, and kulintang.

Dance

  • Influenced by Hispanic traditions and folk performing arts.

  • Ballet, hip hop, and contemporary dances.

Theater

  • Theatrical direction, production design, performance, playwriting, and light and sound design.

  • Komedya and Sinakulo with Spanish influences.

Visual Arts

  • Painting, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media, photography, graphic arts

Painting

  • Asian and Western influences.

  • Religious paintings in the 16th century.

  • Secular art in the 19th century (landscapes, fashion).

  • Nationalistic themes during and after World War II.

Sculpture

  • Examples: Rizal Monument, Oblation, Mactan Shrine.

Literature

  • Fiction, poetry, essays, and literary criticism.

  • Influenced by Spanish and English languages.

  • Notable works: Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo.

Film and Broadcast Arts

  • Arts of direction, writing, production design, cinematography, and editing.

  • First Filipino film: Dalagang Bukid (1919).

  • Themes of poverty, human equality, and historical narratives.

Architecture and Allied Arts

Non-folk Architecture

  • Influenced by ethnic groups and Spanish Baroque.

  • Earthquake Baroque (Daraga Church, Miag-ao Church).

Architecturally Allied Arts

  • Interior design influenced by Filipino, American, Hispanic, and Japanese styles.

  • Landscape architecture focused on sustainability and ecosystem.

  • Challenges in urban planning due to population and infrastructure.

Conservation of Filipino Arts

  • National Museum of the Philippines and other notable museums.

  • R.A. 10066 (National Cultural Heritage Act) and NCCA for art preservation.

Modern Art

  • Style and philosophy of artworks created between 1890 and 1960.

  • Emphasis on social, economic, and political issues.

  • Focus on innovative approach in identifying and addressing issues.

  • Introduced new concepts like dreams, symbolism, and personal iconography.

  • Terms include Fauvism, Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Expressionism.

Contemporary Art

  • Art created since the end of World War II and works of living artists.

  • Addresses broader range of social, economic, and political issues.

  • Highlights current world issues (racism, globalization, feminism).

  • Explores object designs, graphical arts, and social media.

Modern and Contemporary Art Movements

  • Abstract Expressionism: large-scale abstract paintings.

  • Bauhaus: art, architecture, and design.

  • Conceptual Art: emphasizes underlying ideas.

  • Constructivism: geometric design principles to all areas of life.

  • Cubism: depicts a 3-D scene on a 2-D surface.

  • Dada: protest against the state of western society.

  • Expressionism: express emotion and/or a sense of deeper reality.

  • Fauvism: strong colorful brush strokes.

  • Futurism: dynamism of machine age and city life.

  • Impressionism: capture the passing moment.

  • Kinetic Art: sculpture that moves.

  • Land Art: artist makes their mark in nature.

  • Minimalism: religious geometric.

  • Graffiti Art: unauthorized marking of public space.

  • Hyperrealism: paint and sculpture resembling a high-resolution photograph.

  • Installation Art: artwork in three-dimensional interior space.

  • Neo-Expressionism: homage to earlier 20th century Expressionism.

  • Op Art: illusion of movement.

  • Orphism: colorful and almost abstract strand of Cubism.

  • Performance Art: theatrical performance with no plot.

  • Pointillism: technique of unmixed color.

  • Pop Art: western consumerism.

  • Post Impressionism: learnt from and rejected certain impressionist principles.

  • Social Realism: propaganda tool.

  • De Stijl: geometric abstract shapes and primary colors.

  • Suprematism: geometric abstract shapes entirely independent of the visible world.

  • Surrealism: world of unconscious and subconscious mind.

  • Symbolism: emphasizes the world of imagination.

  • Vorticism: celebrates the excitement and beauty of the machine age.