Understanding Art: Semiotics, Elements, and Forms

• The text provides an overview of art, its nature, documentary information, the study of art, semiotics, elements, principles, and various forms of art and crafts.

Basic Documentary Information

• Includes title, artist, medium, dimensions, date, and provenance of the artwork.

Art's Specific Meaning

• Art's meaning grows as viewing becomes a continual process of discovery.

Interrelated Aspects of Art

• Art possesses specificity like language related to media and techniques.
• Art is historically situated, shaped by social, economic, and political forces.
• Meaning in art involves intellectual, emotional, and sensory elements, influenced by the viewer's cultural background and experiences.
• Analyzing elements and material features of art can lead to consensual meaning.

Semiotics: The Study of Signs

• Semiotics studies signs and their meaning creation, applicable in linguistics, media, advertising, and cultural analysis.
• Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce developed the concept.
• Key components include:
  • Signifier: The material form (what we see).
  • Signified: The concept the sign represents.
  • Referent: The actual object.

4 Planes of Analysis

• Basic Semiotic Plane: Focuses on fundamental elements of signs and symbols.
• Iconic Plane: Analyzes visual and representational aspects, how signs resemble real-world objects.
• Contextual Plane: Adds social and historical context to the semiotic and iconic planes.
• Evaluative Plane: Interprets the sign's effectiveness, emotional impact, and ideological implications.

Basic Elements and Terms in Art

• Line: A continuous mark that defines shape, creates texture, and directs movement.
• Shape: A two-dimensional enclosed area.
• Form: A three-dimensional object.
• Color: Produced by light reflection; includes hue, value, and intensity.
• Value: Lightness or darkness of a color.
• Texture: The way a surface feels or appears to feel.
• Space: The area around, between, and within objects (positive or negative).

Subject of Art

• Refers to any person, object, scene, or event depicted.
• Can be representational (objective) or non-representational (non-objective).

Ways of Representing the Subject

• Realism: Depicting things as they naturally appear.
• Abstraction: Simplifying and reorganizing objects with altered shapes and colors.
• Distortion: Arranging figures with noticeable differences in proportions.

Subject and Content

• Subject: Objects depicted by the artist.
• Content: What the artist expresses or communicates.

Medium Defined

• Refers to the materials an artist uses, classifying arts into visual/space, auditory/time, and combined arts.

The Artist and Technique

• Technique: How the artist uses their skill to achieve what they want with the medium

The Mediums of the Visual Arts

• Fresco: pigment mixed with water and applied to wet plaster
• Tempera: pigment is mixed with egg and applied to a hard smooth surface
• Oil: On canvas or prepared wood panel
• Water color: pigment mixed with water and applied to smooth or rough white paper

Line

• Shape of a work of art can be defined by line
• Short, or long, fine or thick, heavy or light, wavy or jagged, straight or curved
• Series of heavy lines drawn close to each other creates an impression of roughness

Volume

• refers to the solidarity and thickness
• The painter- volume is an illusion because the surface of the canvas is flat.
• The use of light for expressive effects resulted in the development of 2 styles: Chiaroscuro & Tenebrism

Aesthetic Arts and Crafts

• Aesthetics- from the Greek word eisthesis which means "perception”.
  • a branch of philosophy devoted from the study of art and beauty used during 18th century by Alexander Baumgarten

Arts

• The word "art" is derived from the Latin ars, which originally meant "skill" or "craft."

Crafts

• Craft comes from the German word Kraft which means “power” or “ability".

Types of Arts and Crafts

• Textile Crafts: such as Cross-stitch and Needlepoint
• Wood Crafts: such as Wood Carving and Wood Burning
• Metal Crafts: such as Jewelry and Metal Casting

Principles of Understanding Artistic Design and Composition

• Harmony: When all of the elements of art interact well is an artwork, visual harmony is attained.
• Emphasis: It refers to the need for an artist to create a focal point within an artwork.
• Proportion: This principle is created when the sizes of elements in an artwork art are combined harmoniously.

Art In Prehistoric Civilization

• The oldest recognized decorative art forms come from Africa date back to 100,000 BC.E.
• Many archaeologists have identified Stone Age art, namely: Petroglyphs, Pictographs, Ancient Sculpture & Megalithic Arts

Medieval Arts In Europe

• Illuminated Manuscripts (Illumination): colorful religious texts
• Metalwork- metalworkers were very skilled in creating religious objects for church decorations
• Silversmith and Goldsmith- they were excellent artists who created new shapes of jewelry

The Filipino Arts And Crafts

• Filipino art has been shaped by diverse cultural influences, including Malay, Chinese, Indian, Islamic, European, and American traditions.
• This type of work is called Artistic Handicrafts

Common Handicraft Materials

• Every Filipino family owns handicraft products like baskets, brooms, feather dusters, and other furniture.
• Abaca (Musa Textilis), Buri (Corypha Elata) are commonly used
• Gawad sa Manlilikhang Bayan Awards or GAMABA is an award that recognizes folk and indigenous artists who remain loyal to their traditions.