what is medium?

Medium is defined as the material, or the substance out of which a work is made. Through these
materials, the artist express and communicate feelings and ideas.
The medium also defines the nature of the art form as follows:
The sculptor uses metal, wood, stone, clay, and glass. Sculpture fall within the category of three-
dimensional arts because they occupy space and have volume. Pottery is a form of sculpture. Other
examples are nudes or figures such as Guillermo tolentinos Oblation, ritual objects such as bulul
woodcarvings in the Cordillera, or the santos or carvings of saints in Christian churches.
The architect uses wood, bamboo, bricks, stone, concrete and various building materials. Buildings
are also called three-dimensional arts because like sculpture, they occupy space and have volume.
However, architecture has the added element of time, since we move into the structures.
The painter uses pigments (e.g, watercolor, oil, tempera, textile paint, acrylic, ink, etc.) on a usually
flat ground (wood, canvas, paper, stone, wall such as in cave paintings).
The printmaker uses ink printed or transferred on a surface (wood, metal, plates, or silk screen) that
is in keeping with a duplicating or reproducing process. Prints and paintings are further classified as
two-dimensional arts, because they include the surface or ground on which coloring substances are
applied. However, while paintings are unique and one-of-a kind, prints can be reproduced in several
pre-determined editions.
The musician uses sound and instruments (including the human voice), while the dances uses the body.
ATboli chanter sings creation stories in a way that is different from a classical singer or pop music
singer influenced by the Western music scale.
The dancer uses the body and its movements. Dance is often accompanied by music, but thers are
dances that do not rely on musical accompaniment to be realized. Dance can tell stories, but at other
times, they convey abstract ideas that do not rely on a narrative.
The theater artist integrates all the arts and uses the stage, production design, performance elements,
and script to enable the visual, musical, dance and other aspects to come together as a whole work.
The photographer and filmmaker use the camera to record the outside world. The filmmaker uses
the cinematographic camera to record and put together production design, sound engineering,
performance, and screenplay in digital photography and film, the images can be assimilated into the
computer, thus eliminating the need for celluloid or negatives, processing chemicals, or print.
The writer of a novel, poetry, nonfiction and fiction uses words. The Designer, the performance
artist, and the installation artist combine use of the range of materials above. On the basis of
medium, the arts can be classified as practical, environmental, pictorial, auditory, narrative, dramatic,
and musical. The musical arts include music, poetry (those that have perceptible rhythm and can be
sung or danced to), and dance that is accompanied by music. The practical arts have immediate use
for everyday and business life such as design, architecture, and furniture. Environmental arts occupy
space and change in its meaning and function depending on their categories including architecture,
sculpture, and site-specific work such as installation and public art.
Pictorial works include painting, drawing, graphics, and stage and production design (lighting, dress,
props, and set). Works that are staged and performed are considered Dramatic and they include drama,
performance art, or music and dance. If they are based on stories, the art forms are classified as
narrative and they include drama, novel, fiction, nonfiction, music, and dance.
As we have learned in Unit 1, all these art forms can be integrated and result in Combined arts, such
as design, mixed media, photography, film, video, performance art, theater productions, and
installations.
For example, a ritual involves the use of a sculpture such as bulul, a dance, music, and production
design that involves the wearing of textile, jewelry, and a circular design where lighting can be as
simple as a torch or sulo. In such settings, we do not sit separately from the stage, like what happens
in regular auditoriums or theaters. When sitting or standing in circle with lead chanters, dancers, and
musicians, everyone is encouraged to dance and participate. In our own ways, we become part of the
community and the creative process, as active artist ourselves, rather than just audiences or
spectators. The arts in such setting are integrated and cannot be separated into distinct forms; art is
collectively consumed and created.
On the other hand, the UP Chapel cited in lesson 5 Of Unit 1 is made out of works made by Individual
National Artists practicing in the various arts. The architecture is by Leaandro Locsin; the crucifix is
by Napoleon Abueva; the floor mosaic by Arturo Luz, and the Stations of the Cross are by Vicente
Manansala who wan assited by Ang Kiukok. In 1968, the chapel was the site of a performance created
by another National Artist, Jose Maceda. His piece combined indigenous voices, and instruments, and
a prayer sung in Tagalog.

FAQ 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, ect.). 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.
Technique involves tools and technology, ranging from the most traditional (for example carving ,
silkscreen, analog photography, and filmmaking) to the most contemporary (digital photography,
digital filmmaking, music production, industrial design, and robotics)

Figure 7.1. Filipino Struggles Through History (1963) by Carlos Francisco (left) and Bonifacio
Monument by Guillermo Tolentino (right)
For example, the mural Filipino Struggles Through History (1963) by National Artist Carlos
Francisco depicts Andres Bonifacio leading the Revolution. It takes advantage of line and color to
communicate dynamism and intense passion, in the expressionist modern style. The Bonifacio
Monument by another National Artist, Guillermo Tolentino, on the other hand, makes use of carving
to come up with work that has mass and volume, enabling him to depict the scene realistically capturing
a moment of Stillness when Bonifacio stands reflectively on a scene of death, but with grace and
dignity befitting a leader in the neoclassic style.
FAQ How is art experienced and consumed?
Art is considered an artifact, when it is directly experienced and perceived. It can be spatial and static
or unmoving (e.g., a painting or building, or a novel) or time-based and in motion (e.g., live theater
production, mobile sculpture).
When we experience a work indirectly or through a medium like film or video, we describe it as a
recorded or documented artwork. Example include a documentation of a performance, a photograph
of a painting, a DVD or CD of a film or musical piece, or a novel read from an electronic tablet, such
as an IPad or Android and through an application such as Kindle.
We call a work a time-based artifact or performance if we receive or perceive it live or directly in real
time. Examples are live plays, live performance art, and installation. A time-based artifact is recorded,
and we watch it in real time but not the site of production. Examples are a documented play, film,
exhibit, or an ad generally watched through an electronic medium (computer, TV, monitor, big movie
screen).
FIGURE 7.2
For example, we access and experience the work of the artist Pablo Biglang Awa from an internet site.
Drawing ideas and inspiration from the work of the late Conceptual artist Roberto Chabet, the artist
gives us instructions on how to make a boat installation by clicking the link
http://vimeo.com/32026842, and how to create an installation project from simulated gestures of
sitting, lying down, walking, sitting, through the link http://vimeo.com/32026893. As each video
progresses, animated images are unreeled, allowing us to perceive glimpses on ideas of the finished
work as we view these on our monitors. The work was showing at the Lopez Museum in 2012.
FIGURE 7.3
In another element of an exhibition called Dime a Dozen, 2007 at the Lopez Museum, monitors were
provided so that visitors could interact with Rizal through an account. They could add Rizal as friend,
leave a message or upload a picture or video. The idea was to make Rizal more accessible an less
intimidating with the use of electronic technology.
The piece crosses boundaries between art (terracotta sculpture) and science (natural and social science),
literature, drama, and photojournalism. It is another simulacrum a fake real that creates a world
that looks real (hyper real) and has its own virtual and actual reality, but actually has no counterpart
in real life.

Not only do projects like Anonymous Animals cross disciplines, they also challenge to ask question like:
what is real?. is it real, and is art a reflection of the real?
It also crosses boundaries between mediums and defies classification, being simultaneously narrative,
dramatic, pictorial, and environmental. The exhibition of anonymous terracotta animals is experienced
as an exhibit of artifacts, is recorded, documented, and performed. The virtual life, the fiction that
masquerades as real, and authoritative (borrowing from the language of science) are all crucial to the
meaning of the work which resolves around the challenge to reality and knowledge systems, such as
archaeology and biology.
In sum, to know the full meaning of a work, it is also necessary to study the material from which it is
made and how it is made. In the next lesson, we will learn about how the artist puts together a work of
art by making use of formal elements and principles of composition available to him or her.