Life is a series of random collissions. Eh?

“Life is a series of random collisions.”
-  Jessica Zafra’s Chicken Pox for the Soul

Indeed. Some of them you’re more than happy to be tangled in – as a matter of fact, you  anticipate the impact, you relish the explosion. And some… Well, some you wish you could have undone, you could have avoided, because, really, when you think about it now, all those mashed up flesh and bone and hurt and pain, they’re not really worth the thrill of violating all the traffic rules for.  And oftentimes, these collisions are just one and the same – you really wouldn’t know where the excitement ends and where the panic begins.

Iloilo Art holds exhibition, talks

 Ugyon sa Dihon 2011, An Ilonggo Art Festival

(Published in Panay News, March 22, 2011)

 

Iloilo Art, together with the Province of Iloilo, held “Ugyon sa Dihon 2011, An Ilonggo Art Festival,” last March 8 to 12, 2011 at the Philippine National Bank (PNB), Gen. Luna St., Iloilo City.

Jason Gonzales and Charlie Co did the ribbon cutting to open the Ugyon sa Dihon 2011 Festival on March 8, 2011. With them are Iloilo Art's Lester Amacio and Marrz Halley Capanang. 
Photo Credit: Anthony Estancia thru M.H. Capanang

 The week-long festival is an exhibition of artworks by different Ilonggo artists, from visual arts students of the Iloilo National High School – Special Program for the Arts, to college students from various universities and colleges including the University of the Philippines and the University of San Agustin. There had also been talks and workshops covering a variety of topics such as art management given by Prof. Vinnie Tan of UPV Gallery curator, tattooing by Iloilo Tattoo Artists Organization president Norman “Poloy” Gerona, museum management by historian Rene Trance of Museo Iloilo, drawing by Shielo Mae Duterte, faculty of the College of Fine Arts, University of San Agustin, water media by Alex Ordoyo of the INHS-SPA, live model sketching by John Paul Castillo of the Philippine Women's University, terracotta sculpting by artist Alan Cabalfin of the Iloilo Visual Artists Association, and basic photography by artist Lester Amacio of the Avellana Art Gallery in Manila.

Iloilo Art is the brainchild of artists Lester Amacio and Rheo Nepomuceno. Ugyon sa Dihon, on the other hand, was planned firsthand by USA-College of Fine Arts faculty member and resident artist, Yannie Rose Noble and John Paul Castillo.

“The reason we put up the organization is gusto namon padayunon ang naumpisahan na sang mga older artists,” Amacio says, “and of course para mahatagan break ang mga kabataan nga artists like the kids from the Special Program for the Arts.” He further says that any artist who has the time and commitment can be a member of Iloilo Art.

Amacio is optimistic that Iloilo Art, with the support of the local government and the Ilonggo artists themselves will be able to hold festivals such as Ugyon sa Dihon in the coming years. For more information and pictures of the festival, see Iloilo Art on Facebook.

Additional Links:

You can also check out this site: Iloilo Art.i.ph

To see Amacio's artworks, look up Lester Amacio on Facebook. 

Bacolod artists grace festival

(Published in Panay News Sunday, 20 March 2011)

Bacolod-based renowned artist and visionary Charlie Co, who did the ribbon cutting for Ugyon sa Dihon 2011 opening night on March 8, popped in with Dennis Ascalon, another one of Bacolod's most notable artists, on the third day of the exhibit, bringing with them a league of the younger artists from Bacolod City.

~o0*0o~

Roderick A. Tijing 

Roderick is a surrealist whose works are somewhat influenced by the colorful, dreamlike works of Charlie Co. Roderick's are however, more on the playful side, compared to Co's usually social commentary-charged pieces. He has a solo exhibit entitled "Dreamscapes 2" on going until March 25 at Negros Museum, Bacolod City.

~o0*0o~

Guinnevere Decena

Decena's "Refined Chaos"

Guinnevere's, or Gwen's (as what she prefers to be called) works are both graceful and thought-provoking. Her featured painting entitled "Refined Chaos" depicts an exquisitely done female bust with towering hair made of what looked like crumpled paper, a signature in her work, if you check out her Facebook. The title, according to Gwen, pretty much summarizes what the painting is all about. "It's a battle between control and accident," she states. She describes her style as being "minimal but maximal." In other words, she does with painting what poets do with words.

~o0*0o~

Ian Valladarez

Valladarez' "Femininity"

Ian is resident artist to Balay Negrense in Silay City, where he works on his specialty -continuous wire sculpting, from seemingly simple keychains to more complicated artworks such as his Ugyon exhibit piece, "Femininity."

~o0*0o~

Christine Bangero

Bangero's "Travelers Secret"

Christine is a photographer who also has a great appreciation for art, as well as a penchant for body art. In fact, the newest tattoo that she got from fellow Bacolodnon, tattoo artist Chaq Lobaton (for more info, visit his blog, Pain n' Ink) won third place in the festival's Metal Ink Tattoo Expo competition. The tattoo design is a lotus flower with vibrantly colored details.

Bangero's newest winning tattoo, by Chaq Lobaton

  

~o0*0o~

Ilonggo pride amid national renown-

Sculptor Harry Mark Gonzales in Focus

(This article was published in Panay News Sunday Edition, March 20, 2011)

 

Gonzales with "Munting Anghel" in Ugyon sa Dihon 2011 at PNB Iloilo

 

 “Munting Anghel.” That is what the gleaming sculpture of an adorable cherub balancing on dainty feet, like a baby playing see-saw on his or her mother’s legs, is called. This interesting sculpture, despite its simplicity has drawn some attention from visitors at the recent Ugyon sa Dihon 2011 exhibit at Philippine National Bank, General Luna on March 8-12, by Iloilo Art, an organization of young artists from all over Iloilo, together with invited artists from Bacolod City.

Made of cold-cast marble, a medium that is novel for most Ilonggos, this 20-kilo sculpture is from artist Harry Mark Gonzales, a native of Mandurriao, Iloilo City. It is one of Gonzales’ personal achievements, as it is the first of his cold-cast marble sculptures that he was able to exhibit here in his hometown. 

“Because of my craft, my life has improved,” says the 29-year old native of Mandurriao, Iloilo. He explains how from just being an elementary pupil whose future seemed geared to becoming just a mere tambay, his life took an amazing turn for the better when his father took him to one of his carpentering jobs for no other than Ed Defensor, one of Iloilo’s premier artists. 

As his works started reaping him awards such as for the Shell National Student Art Competition, which he won when he was in first year college, as well as winning the Metrobank Art and Design Excellence Award for National Competition in Sculpture, Gonzales also gained a huge following from bigwig collectors in Metro Manila. Through this, he was able to learn and perfect the medium of cold-casting from one of the country’s master sculptors, Juan Sajid Imao, son of National Artist for Sculpture, Abdulmari Asia Imao. From then on, the boy was fated for a bigger destiny. 

And it is this destiny that Gonzales is living now.  Aside from continuously producing sculptures made of clay, terracotta, and his latest medium – cold-cast marble, Harry also conducts workshops every summer for SM City Iloilo. On top of that, together with his mentor Ed Defensor, he had also been commissioned to work on several public pieces such as the relief sculptures on the base of the simburyo that graces the rotunda on the new road in Brgy. San Rafael,  Iloilo City. 

The reliefs around the San Rafael rotunda monument were done by Gonzales with Ed Defensor.

Gonzales also reveals that he also would be part of the proposed 15-feet monument which will crown the new Iloilo City hall’s dome. He says it’s an ambitious project but he is nevertheless proud to be part of it. Asked what the monument would depict, he says it’s for all Ilonggos to watch out for, what he can tell us is that the monument will be cold-cast in bronze, the process for which would take the artists to Cebu, as we still don’t have the facilities here in Iloilo City. 

“Our city mayor is a cultured man, having attended UP himself,” the artist says, “he recognizes the need for Ilonggo culture and art to be celebrated.” 

Gonzales says he deeply supports this move by the city government despite the controversy attached to it, because for him, it is sad that Iloilo, albeit being rich in art, is lacking of recognizable landmarks that would put us on the map.

 “We don’t even have a monument commemorating the Dinagyang Festival!,” he exclaims.

So is it really all about the profit? Gonzales admits that art has done him a great good financially, but then it’s not all about the money. He says that with the discipline and the principle that he lives by right now which constitutes making as many sculptures as he can so he has a lot of them to sell when the collectors come buying, he says he has everything covered, even the future education of his kid. 

“I’m a simple man,” Gonzales says, “I have simple needs. And I can tell you that it is simply pride and honor that drive me to do my art.”

Like the novelty of the medium that the “Munting Anghel,” takes it form by, Gonzales believes that as a mere human being, he is only passing by in this earth, thus he says that when he sees the completion of these landmarks, Gonzales says that he can live to an old age feeling content that he was able to contribute not only to Ilonggo art, but also to the history of our city and province. 

"In the future, when my kids would tell their friends that it was their father who created this monument, it would make this whole endeavor worth it," Gonzales finally says.

To learn more, or check out his works, find Harry Mark Gonzales on Facebook.

Re-inking the Ilonggo psyche

Tattoo artist Poloy Gerona

(This article was published in Panay News Sunday Edition, March 20, 2011)

“It’s all about the pain.”                                                        

 

And so goes the motto that runs on the storefront of Macabre Tattoo in the 3rd Floor of Mary Mart Mall, Iloilo City, owned and operated by Norman “Poloy” Gerona, tattoo artist and president of the Iloilo Tattoo Artists Organization (ITAO).

 And this, perhaps, is also the appropriate motto for what Poloy, as what he prefers to be called, and the tattoo artists and enthusiasts of Iloilo, with ITAO, wishes to achieve – to reverse the perception that most Ilonggos have towards tattoos and getting one.

“Kalabanan nga mga Ilonggo, panumduman nila kung pintados ka, adik ka," (Most Ilonggos think that if you are inked, you’re a drug addict,) Poloy says, “but then, we are not. Tattoo is a form of art."

Poloy himself is shaven, pale, and despite his job description, is not (yet) covered from head to toe with tattoos.  The most notable tattoos that Poloy has are the pieces on his chest – on his right, a portrait of his wife Venice, and on the left, that of the Lord Jesus Christ with a crown of thorns. 

Here in Iloilo, tattooing doesn't get much of a following compared to the US or even just Cebu or Metro Manila. That's why he was thankful when he got the invitation from artist Lester Amacio of Ilonggo Art to stage a tattoo expo on March 10, Thursday.

“First time ini nga nagka Tattoo Expo diri sa Iloilo,” Poloy says, “Kag hopefully, mangin paagi man ini nga ma-familiarize ang mga Ilonggo sa tattoo art.” He says that there are still many of the old-fashioned lot in the city, even with the artist community. This Expo, as Poloy sees it, would be a big step for the tattoo industry to be accepted, if not yet embraced.

"Ang tattoo, waay delikado," the 35-year old artist explains when asked about the popular notion that one can get diseases through tattooing, "kay of course, tanan na ya nga ginagamit disposable --from needles to wipes."

"Halin sang-una gid na ya, gina-try ko gid engganyo ang mga tawo," he further says, stressing that people should be educated that tattooing is simply an art form, only that in this case, the canvas is the human skin.

Asked how he found himself in this kind of enterprise, Poloy explains that it simply started as a hobby back in 1991.

"Kay halin sang-una pa ya hilig ko na gid mag-drawing," he explains. He says that the first tattoo he put on himself is that of the logo of the biking brand Fox on his left hand, owing as well to his other hobby. In a show of sentimentality from somebody who has demon images on his arms, Poloy says he has covered up all the other older tattoos he's had, but he'll be keeping this one.

“It was just a sort of backyard thing,” he says, “we were in CPU then.” And as, they say, the rest is history. Right now, Macabre Tattoo has been gaining customers since he first started the business in 2008.

The Tattoo Expo, attended by tattoo artists from the city, as well as invited guests from Bacolod City and Boracay, is a day-long event that featured a tattoo competition for two categories - small and big tattoo designs.

Asked if they apply some sort of local anesthesia if customers would request it, Poloy only smiles and says, "It's all about the pain, gani."

Separated by Clingwrap and perplexed by the Philippine testing and evaluation system

( This was my ingus (woe) regarding the 2009 NAT when I was still teaching at Iloilo National High School- Special Program for the Arts, first posted as a note in Facebook on 12 March 2009)

This is actually a fruity refrigerator cake and not a fruit salad. The photo's from a recipe post at www.elvirasroundabout.blogspot.com

Clingwrap is the newest evil thing that separates, albeit temporarily, foodies like me from the sugary and creamy wonders of fruit salad; in the same way as frivolous testing preparations which are in truth only face-deep and nothing but 'for formality's sake' are the dark curtains that separate well-meaning and eager-to-help school teachers, and most especially, jumpy and paranoid student-examinees who did their best in reviewing and studying from the ugly faces of misguided DepEd officials and public school administrators and their misconstrued view of the National Achievement Test.

Yesterday, I was one of the proctors for the National Achivement Test (NAT) for Second Year students. The INHS group was deployed to be proctors at Pavia NHS and so we all went there and as we were told in our brief with the INHS testing committee, "systematically" and "religiously" followed everything that was written in the booklet. (Included there is "Say the following: 'Good morning. I am (State your name). Before you take the test there are some things that you should remember. First...' " and so on).

For lunch, we had fruit salad inside a small white specimen cup covered with Clingwrap as dessert. The orange papaya and peach pieces, pineapple slices, yellow corn kernels, one small cherry half, all smeared in a bath of condensed milk and cream, along with nata de coco and buko cubes hiding in the cream's whiteness taunted me with their assumed sweetness and creaminess from beneath the smooth and transparent sheet of Clingwrap while I wait for one last examinee to finish answering her test for the morning. Finally she stood up. My heart, along with my taste buds, lurched. And then she sat again. She forgot to answer the difficult items she skipped. How many more? "Ten pa, Ma'am."

Haay. And so, my agony continued. Until after thirty minutes I was able to sit down and eat my lunch (chopsuey and estofadong manok) and me and my fruit salad finally got to tongue-lock.

The whole thing about the NAT examination and our tasks as proctors for me is just like my Clingwrap situation.

Of course, the National Education Testing and Research Center has nothing evil in its purpose. As an entity under the Department of Education, I know that the center is honest in its endeavor to measure the kind of education that the Filipino students are getting. Identifying which high school would be the best such provider, and who ranks second, third, fourth, or fifty-seventh to her is simply the DepEd's way of encouraging those bottom-placers to improve their instruction strategies. But, for crying out loud, is there a provision buried under the memos and resolutions regarding the NAT that says "Superintendents and School Principals are encouraged to encourage, even promote, sharing of answers (euphemism for outright cheating) so as to guarantee his/her division/district/school a place on a higher rung of the National Achievement Tests achievers'-cum-cheaters' ladder"? Will somebody tell me, is there any?

It's just surprising to learn in our briefing the day before yesterday that one of our higher officials in the division actually said not to be "too strict" on the examinees, following the claimed cheating complaints by the INHS proctors last year which were eventually ditched by the said office.

What is the world going to? I laud Sir Manny Mezias for remarking, "Ti sige ihatag na lang namon sa ila ang answers eh! (Okay, so we'll just dictate to them the answers then!)". Everybody laughed at his remark, but dear ladies and gentlemen, saying it's okay to allow kids to cheat in an exam (and a national exam at that!) is certainly not a laughing matter! Laughing at the idea that an education official would allow such a thing is certainly an ugly symptom that our education system, if not our country is getting sicker and sicker by the minute and that the cure for it is out of reach, masked by a thin, shiny, sheet of frivolousness.

Hopefully, we all can get rid of that Clingwrap of idiocy so that we can enjoy the fruits of our students' diligence.