WESTERN MINDANAO STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS

MASS COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT

ARTS AND HUMANITIES 100

(MODULES IN ARTS AND HUMANITIES- PCST)
Instructor: Mr. Rylle Darryll T. Estrella

Learning Objectives

At the end of the unit, the students are expected to:

1. Explain the scope and importance of humanities;
2. Discuss the basic elements of the arts, and
3. Apply the different methods of presenting an art subject.

Introduction

Scientific explorations have produced amazing discoveries in all fields of

learning, and have overwhelmed many aspects of our lives. But exposure to the
arts is imperative because science and technology alone are not adequate to
make man truly educated and humane. As Salvador Gonzales puts in, “Science
educates our minds, hearts and the humanities educate our feelings and
sensitiveness so that we may use our minds without forgetting that we are
human beings. The study of humanities has its proper place in the education of
men as a means of humanizing him.”
 The term or word HUMANITIES comes from the Latin word
“humanus”, which means human, cultured, and refined. To be human is to
have or show qualities like rationality, kindness, and tenderness. It has different
connotations in different historical eras. Today however, we know of
humanities as a loosely defined group of scientific or technical subjects. Thus,
the term humanities refer to the arts – the visual arts such architecture; painting
and sculpture; music; dance; the theater or drama; and the literature. They are
the branches of learning concerned with human thought, feelings and relations.
The importance of the human being and his feelings and how he expresses
those feelings have always been the concern of the humanities. The
humanities are the records of man’s experiences, his values, his
sentiments, his ideals, and his goals. It is important in the development of
a complete social being, ready to take on his responsibilities in this rapidly
changing world and enjoy life.

ARTS are very important in our lives. It constitutes one of the oldest
and most important means of expression developed by man. Wherever men
have lived together, art has sprung up among them as a language charged with
feeling and significance. The desire to create this language appears to be
universal. As a cultural force, it is pervasive and potent. It shows itself even in
primitive societies.

Art is derived from the Latin word “ars”, meaning ability, or skill. Art
embraces the visual arts, literature, music, and dance – those areas of artistic
creativity that seek to communicate beauty primarily through the senses. It
is in the humanities course where appreciation of the arts can be strengthened
because the artist conveys thoughts, beliefs, values, and feelings through the
visual arts, literary arts, dance, and music.

Art concerns itself with the communication of certain ideas and feelings
by means of medium like, color, sound, bronze, marble, words and the like.
These medium is fashioned into a symbolic language marked by beauty of
design and coherence of form. It appeals to our mind, arouses our emotions,
kindles our imagination, and enchants our senses.

According to Doris Van de Bogart, a work of art is a record of a

particular artist view. It shows something that he has seen, felt and thought of,
and recorded it as an arrangement of designs, colors, lines and tones or words
which satisfy his aesthetic purpose. It is the product of the artists unique
personality influenced consciously or unconsciously by factors such as his
environment, traditions, national traits, religious beliefs, economic
conditions, his ideals or even the climate and geography. Art is said to be as old
as man. Man’s desire to produce and invent something that will fit himself to
his environment makes possible the existence of art. As long as man lives, he
continues creating more and better arts. Anywhere he goes, art goes with him,
because he must create art to survive and live in contentment. Art, therefore, is
man-made, must benefit and satisfy man and must be expressed through certain
medium or material.

The Scope of Humanities

The humanities is a many-faceted subject, it consists of the

● visual arts,
● literature,
● drama and theater,
● music and dance.

The Work of the Creative Artist

The process of creativity is threefold, the artist as the prime mover,

communicating his ideas through the performer, as his interpreter to the
audience.

The Process of Creation:

1. The artist must have an idea.
2. The artist must have a material to work on.
3. The artist must give form to his idea.

THE VISUAL ARTS

The Visual Arts are those perceived with our eyes. They may be classified into
two groups: graphic arts – flat, or two dimensional surface and the plastic arts –
three dimensional.

The Graphic Arts

1. Painting – the process of applying pigment to a surface to secure effects
involving forms and colors.
2. Drawing – the art of representing something by lines made on a surface or the
process of portraying an object, scene, or forms of decorative or symbolic
meaning through lines, shading, and textures in one or more colors.
3. Graphic Processes – are processes for making multi-reproduction of graphic
works.
4. Commercial Art – this includes designing of books, advertisements, signs,
posters, and other displays
to promote sale or acceptance of product, service, or idea.
5. Mechanical Processes – these are developed by commercial printers for
rapid, large-quantity reproduction of words and pictures in one or more colors.
6. Photography – this is a chemical-mechanical process by which images
are produced on sensitized surfaces by action of light.

The Plastic Arts

a. Architecture – the art of designing and constructing buildings and other types
of structures.
b. Landscape Architecture – is planning outdoor areas for human use and
enjoyment, especially gardens, parks, playgrounds, and golf courses.
c. City Planning – refers to planning and arranging the physical aspects of a
large or small community.
d. Interior Design – the term is used to designate design and arrangement of
architectural interiors for convenience and beauty.
e. Sculpture – refers to design and construction of three dimensional forms
representing natural objects or imaginary shapes.
f. Crafts – this term refers to the designing and making of objects by hand for
use or for pleasure.
g. Industrial Design – refers to design of objects for machine production.
h. Dress and Costume Design – covers the design of wearing apparel of all
types.
i. Theater Design – the design of settings for dramatic productions.

Elements of the Visual Arts

1. Color – is the quality of an object or substance with respect to light

reflected by it, and usually determined visually by measurement of hue,
and value, and intensity or brightness of the reflected light. Therefore,
color is a property of light, when light goes out, color goes with it.

Properties of Color

1. HUE – the identity or name of the color, such as red, yellow or blue.
Example: When we say the flower is yellow, we are naming its hue.
Hues can be warm or cool. A hue is warm when red or yellow is
dominant. Cool colors suggest calmness, restfulness and depression, like
blue, blue-green, green-violet and blue-violet. They suggest distance.
2. VALUE – the term for describing the relative lightness or darkness of
a color. White represents the highest value, black has the lowest. When you
look an object, you will observe the play of values on its surface. The part
exposed to more light is light, and that which less exposed appears dark.
3. INTENSITY – (Chroma) simply means the brightness or dullness of a color.
It gives color strength. Two colors may be both blue but one is more intense
than the other.

Classification of Colors

1. PRIMARY – blue, red and yellow – they are known as primary hues, because
of other colors are produced by combing any of the two colors.
2. SECONDARY – orange, green and violet – by mixing equal parts of the
primary hues.
3. INTERMEDIATE – yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, blue-
green and yellow-green – by mixing equal amounts of primary and secondary
colors.
4. TERTIARY – orange-yellow, violet-green and orange green – by
combing equal mixture of any two secondary colors.

Color Harmonies

1. RELATED COLOR HARMONIES – these may either be monochromatic or

adjacent. Like tones from the orange family – is an example of monochromatic.
While adjacent or neighboring harmony are two or three neighboring hues, on
the color circle are used together. Example: green, yellow and orange can
produce a delightful harmony. They have something in common because there
is yellow in green and in orange.
2. CONTRASTED COLOR HARMONIES – colors which lie directly opposite
each other in the color circle
are called complimentary colors. Red and green, orange and blue, violet and
yellow. They contrast with each other strongly, however when they are properly
harmonized, they have beautiful effects.

Psychology of Colors (Psychological and Emotional Connotations of Colors)

1. Black – means death, gloom and mourning.

2. White – means purity and innocence.
3. Blue – means heaven, sky, deep, calmness and peace, vastness and infinity.
4. Red – means blood, courage and fortitude, danger, bravery, war, passion.
5. Orange – helps person to be assertive deliciousness and sweetness.
6. Green – the color of nature, promotes well-being. It implies happy and restful
association and natural abundance.
7. Gray – weight, solidity and neutrality.
8. Pink – love
9. Violet – suggests shadows, mourning, penance, royalty and power.
10. Yellow – color of light, symbolizes life, joy, sunshine, cheerfulness,
warmth, splendor and hospitality.
11. Yellow-green – jealousy and hatred.
12. Brown – humility and confidence.

2. TEXTURE – has to do with the characteristic of surfaces which can be

rough or smooth, fine or coarse, shiny or dull, plain or irregular. Texture
is found in all the visual arts. The aesthetic value of texture lies first of
all, in the fact that it makes gradation of color possible. Texture gives a
surface unevenness which causes the color of the surface to be broken
into gradation of light and shade, giving it a charm of its own.

Botticelli’s La Primavera
Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli painted La Primavera
(Spring) about 1478 for the Medici family. It now hangs in the Uffizi Gallery
in Florence, Italy. The painting’s visual appeal lies in a sensual interplay
of shape, color, and rhythm, but interpretations of its meaning derive
from Neoplatonic philosophy and Renaissance symbolism.

3. PERSPECTIVE – deals with the effect of distance upon the appearance

of objects. It enables us to perceive distance and to see the position of
objects in space.

Kinds of Perspective:
1. Linear Perspective – is the representation of an appearance of distance by
means of converging lines. Objects become smaller as they recede to the
distance.
2. Aerial Perspective – is the representation of relative distances of objects by
gradation of tone and color. Objects become fainter in the distance due to the
effect to the atmosphere.

Leonardo’s The Last Supper

Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper (about 1495-
1497) decorates the walls at the monastery of the church of Santa Maria delle
Grazie in Milan, Italy. The figure of Christ forms the calm center of the
painting, while the disciples seated to his right and left respond in agitation to
his announcement that “One of you shall betray me.” The fourth line figure
from the left end is Judas, who betrays Christ and is shown pulling from him in
the painting.

4. SPACE – is an art element which is concern with making all parts

functional so that parts of the work of art will contribute to make the
whole a complete work.
The Starry Night
The Starry Night (1889), one of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh’s
best-known paintings, illustrates the artist’s vivid, expressive style. Thick,
swirling brushstrokes and contrasting colors charge the work with emotional
intensity. Van Gogh transformed the setting of a quiet village at night into a
dazzling portrait of the inherent power of the natural world.

5. FORM – applies to the over-all design of the work of art.

Christ on the Cross

Christ on the Cross was painted by the 17th-century Flemish artist Peter
Paul Rubens in 1620, at the height of his career. The sense of movement,
swirling line, and dramatic light are characteristic of Ruben’s distinctive
style. This painting is now part of the collection of the Koninklijk
Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, Belgium.

6. VOLUME
Refers to the amount of space occupied in three dimensions. It
therefore refers to solidity or thickness. We perceive volume in two ways:
by contour lines or outlines, or shapes of objects and by surface lights and
shadows.