I.

Learning Outcomes
1. Relate the nature of art to human experiences. Through a healthy understanding of the relevance
of art in one’s life, especially in this season of pandemic, learning its other aspects will make more
sense and value to our socio-emotional well-being.
2. relate art to yourself: to your context, experiences and longings as a person
3. inculcate values and humanistic attitude towards art
4. create an art work of any form as a means to express/ comment/ or cope to our current situation as
a society.

II. Lesson/Topic

1. ) Beauty: (how we use the quarantine time to create positive art advocacies)
- was seen as the virtue in the arts. Beauty was viewed as an eternal, transcendent quality
that was highly valued in art. It is something allowed the audience to transcend the real
world in the ideal one.
2. ) Happiness and Hope: (the rise of free entertainment shows/free online theatrical shows)
3. ) Identity and understanding the self: (using art to increase our perspectives about ourselves)
4. ) Grief and healing (using art to cope)
5. ) Remembering and mark-making (creating artworks that are testimonies to the world)
6. ) Raising awareness (protest art that speaks out and voices out)
7. ) Culture and togetherness (using art and the internet as a tool to socialize)

EXPLORATION

[Link]
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A popular quote from the 3rd century and true to anything you
happen to be beholding.
When it comes to art, some may say that not all art is beautiful, that, in fact, it should not be beautiful,
always. As with many aspects of life, such as peace, faith, love and happiness, one man’s view is
vastly different to another. It is, then, one’s opinion. Or not?
- Arts don’t have to be beautiful, but we must acknowledge the aesthetic judgment plays a large
in the reception of art. Beauty might not be the objective quality in the work of art, nor is it a rational
way of us to argue for the cultural importance of an objectives.
The options are vast and the interpretations are many. And that is, perhaps, what it comes down to –
interpretation.
 From a subjective stance, beauty is what you make of it, what your preference is, what calls to your
heart, soul and mind.
 Objectively, the harshest of views, and not necessarily the truest, beauty means perfection,
absolute precision and the essence of purity. Object views are often what society has decided is so.
The debate can continue until the cows come home. But maybe we can look into history to decide
what beauty is and whether art is, in fact, beautiful.
So, if we take these words to heart, it would appear that art should evoke a feeling inside of us.
Whether it is a bad feeling or good, it must bring about a change of being.
Art can be so powerful an influence, that we could be inspired to produce a work of art ourselves. Art
as a therapy could instill a sense of well-being for some and not only relax them, but allow them to
think clearly about troubling matters. Some art may have the opposite effect. An art piece may
just have us building up feelings of anger, of pure rage and we may just react differently to people
after being subjected to those graphics.
But isn’t that also the beauty of art. If something can arouse such powerful emotions within us, cause
us to behave in a certain manner and perhaps say things that we normally would not say, and then
surely this makes art a beautiful expression of our inner emotions
Winckelmann, a German Art Historian, claimed that beauty boiled down to three key factors
 The beauty of form
 The beauty of an idea
 The beauty of expression,
- which, he says, is only possible in the presence of the first two factors.
So then, beauty must be the highest form of expression and in turn, the highest aim of art.

2. Happiness and Hope

The difference the arts make to our wellbeing have long been understood and more importantly felt,
by those engaging with arts practices, dedicating their lives to participation and engagement with
this diverse field of creativity.
Research is beginning to affirm these understandings, demonstrating that arts are clearly associated
with wellbeing and good health- including happiness and hope.

1. Understanding the Self and Identity

 Art is a search for what is our own—our essential nature, the kernel of our true individuality. Our
genuine beliefs, innate talents, and deepest inclinations can be discovered and seen clearly through
the lens of a creative medium. The inherent longing to become who we are, the sheer discovery of
what rings true to ourselves represent the initial stages of the artist’s way. To know what feeds our
unique nature, helping it thrive and grow, is an art of the highest order.
 Not only does art mirror our essential characteristics, it is also a means of observing our
conditioned personality—the legacy of our upbringing, education, and the unique compilation of
our experiences. Creative work reflects the whole of our personality. What we experience in our
lives will eventually make its way into our creative expression. All art is autobiographical, to one
degree or another, and has its seeds in the particular nature of the artist’s experience. The way it
shows itself is highly instructive. Creative work is a form of self-portrayal. No matter what our
mode of inquiry—autobiography, realism, fiction, or non-representation—we often see a good deal
of ourselves reflected in our works.
 The creative process asks that we strive toward a balanced development. While a correlation may
exist between creativity and madness, the greatest art arises from the search for wholeness of body
and spirit. Artists encounter their world deeply and intensely—extending well beyond neurosis. An
active engagement with art reveals the nature of our balance or imbalance. There is a natural
intelligence of each part of our nature: mind, body, and feelings.
 Art reveals our cultural heritage and collective conditions, allowing us to observe the societal
attitudes as well as generational standards that have influenced us literally from birth. Among
today’s artists and critics, massive attention is paid to the connotative signs in works of art that,
when deconstructed through a rigorous theoretical matrix, treat images as a cultural text. That is to
say, images are about images — the fashions, tastes, and attitudes of contemporary society are
witnessed through media, advertising, and pop culture. Art then becomes a simultaneous mirror
and critique of the culture-at-large.
 Art is a means toward the discovery and expression of Self. At its deepest level, the creative process
transports us into universal, transpersonal realms. It is highly paradoxical. Through creativity we
may be privileged with moments of realization of life’s unity. Yet we also deeply recognize our
embodied nature, the forms that grow from our unique individuality.

2. Grief and healing

Art as therapy harnesses the power of expressing yourself in this way. On the surface, it may seem that you’re
simply “making something nice” when you, say, paint or draw. The creation process, however, can prompt
 you to dig deep and express and explore your inner self in new ways—unleash buried feelings, showcase
your true self and so on—that may be otherwise difficult.
Looking at someone else’s art—at a museum, gallery or studio—may provide a similar emotional release.
Sometimes viewing others’ creative works can help us heal through the message evoked or the medium
used. Maybe it’s the expression of the person in the photograph that intrigues you or the pretty pattern in
the wood grain of a handmade rocking chair that comforts you. It’s the connection you feel to the art that,
hopefully, impacts you in a meaningful way.
• I am more open-minded
• I paint every day now
• I feel more positivity in all areas of my life
• I feel more creative in my work as a coach/healer and yoga teacher
• I am much more relaxed
• I know my goals and have clarity
• I feel more self-love
• I feel more compassion
• I feel more connected to my body and just want to take care of it
• I acknowledge who I am

3. Remembering and mark-making

Marks are the alphabet that forms the words that make the prose, and are the elements with which the drawing
is made. Mark-making is the broad term used to include all marks that are made visible as a manifestation
of applied or gestural energy. It is the gestural language of drawing, and marks are the component parts
within it. There are an infinite number of marks possible, and our nomenclature for them is limited - lines,
dots, dashes, smudges, etc. It is difficult to refer to specific marks, and know that the term adequately
communicates its intended meaning. Everybody makes his or her own unique set of marks and every
medium has its own particular quality of mark.

4. Raising Awareness

Ideas for Using Art to Raise Awareness:

 Create an exhibit on street harassment for display at a local art gallery or a community event. For example,
depict (photograph, drawing) women who have been harassed and accompanied by a quote about how it
makes them feel. Create a 3-D map and cover it in blinking lights to signify every place a street harassment
incident has occurred in a specific area during a certain timeframe. Collect clothing from women in which
they were harassed and display them in a clothesline format. Include the harassment story for each article of
clothing.
 Organize or participate in an anti-street harassment poster campaign on campus or in the community.
 Design anti-street harassment signs or posters to display in the community, including places where
harassment tends to occur.
 Make your own “caution tape” that marks an area where you were harassed. Write your stories on the tape
and name it a “street harassment zone.”
 Organize or participate in street performance, such as role playing street harassment and encouraging
audience participation in dialogue afterward.
 Volunteer your artistic talents to help other efforts . For example, design a logo or banner for an anti-street
harassment website or event, or design handouts and posters advertising an anti-street harassment
documentary screening or event.
 Support local art by donating money or by attending the exhibits. Invite someone who does not know very
much about street harassment to attend.

5. Culture and Togetherness

Cultural practices, especially the purposeful making of things, embody our values and, I would argue, are the
basis of the good mental health of a society. These practices help contribute to an individual and collective
sense of identity and citizenship.

Art [including craft and design] is a kind of thinking/making which enables people to form and develop their
identity. It is a self-affirming activity which helps us to interpret, think about, add to or challenge our cultural
life.

Low self-esteem and negative behavior [in other words, poor mental health] are rife in many schools. Poor self-
esteem is not only self-destructive but also fosters reckless stewards for the future. Those who face the
brunt of society's inequalities internalize their problems more than ever before. Those who work with them,
such as teachers, face difficult challenges.
Art influences society by changing opinions, instilling values and translating experiences across space and time.
Research has shown art affects the fundamental sense of self.

Painting, sculpture, music, literature and the other arts are often considered to be the repository of a society’s
collective memory. Art preserves what fact-based historical records cannot: how it felt to exist in a particular
place at a particular time.

Art in this sense is communication; it allows people from different cultures and different times to communicate
with each other via images, sounds and stories. Art is often a vehicle for social change. It can give voice to
 the politically or socially disenfranchised. A song, film or novel can rouse emotions in those who encounter
it, inspiring them to rally for change.

ACTIVITY

Additional Learning References:

Beauty: [Link]
Hope and Happiness: [Link]
Identity and understanding the self: [Link]
Grief and healing: [Link]
Raising awareness: [Link]
Culture and togetherness: [Link]

Synchronous Activity: Online exchange of ideas, examples and analyses.

Asynchronous activity:

General Direction: Answer fully the question below. Encode the 500 word-essay in an A4 size bond
paper using Calibri (body) size 11 with narrow margins. And include one clear photo of the artwork
fit in one sheet. Do not forget to include your name, course and year. Put it on your compilation
folder for Arts Appreciation Subject for collection purposes after the end of the subject session.

Scenario: Let us assume that you’re an entrepreneur and is selling one artwork from the province of
Aurora. You have to convince a hotel-owner from a five-star hotel in Singapore to buy the art work
using your essay.

Task: Identify one artwork from the province of Aurora that worth the persuasion of the hotel-owner.
The content of your essay should be able to comprehensively, descriptively and convincingly answer
this question:
“What artwork of Aurora Province has all the considerations such as beauty, hope and
happiness, healing, identifying self, mark-making, raising awareness and culture and
togetherness?”
P.S. (For those who attended my 2online class, you are exempted to this activity. Read and understand
the content of the module for your quiz. ) #YouWillBeHappyWhenYouSeeIt