SUBSTANCE

Noted abstractionist Lao Lianben will present "Substance", a solo exhibition of recent works, at the blanc compound

This time the artist raises the level of his paintings' emotional pitch, intensifying the rendition of his favored themes such as his Buddhist Television series and his abstract portals of light. Now executed in spectacular large scale, the paintings are more heavily encrusted with dense materials which congeal and coagulate into thick massive clumps projecting from the canvas surface into cracked relief.. The process is visibly labor-intensive as the artist pushes the limits of the materials' expressive potential.

All the works in the show evince a compelling spirituality, an enshrined quality in the art of Lao Lianben. The artist exercises a magisterial hand in the disciplined orchestration of blacks, whites, and greys. As visual analogues for man's spiritual search, Lao's paintings draws out the impressive radiance of space and light. The paradox lies in the contrast between the airiness of feeling and the sheer weight and density of his material. In a landmark work titled "Substance", the artist liberates the spirit from the terrain of accumulated clumps of pigment.

Also impressive are Lao's variations on the Buddhist Television theme. Comprised of a fine and filigreed network of thinly flowing paint, the image turns into a cascade of wash, fluidly tearing its way down in a swift descent of many-layered streaks. In other works, Lao releases the potential of the schemarized human figure, emerging from an infinitely expansive field. A tableaux of hands, lifted in a gesture of benediction, have a strangely becalming effect.

Substance will open January 18, 2009 3PM at the blanc compound, 359 Shaw Blvd., Mandaluyong City. For inquires call/sms 752-0032 0920-9276436, email info@blanc.ph or visit www.blanc.ph

Catalogue Essay by Cid Reyes

Photography and Design by Gari Buenavista

Design by Katrina Tan

P+RE+VIEW

Flow could be a most accurate word to characterize the works of Orville Tiamson. The water element runs in his veins. Orville was raised around water. He has totally loved the peace and quiet of the sub-urban settings provided by the lakeshore. This same theme recurs in all his works.

Way back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Orville lifted jagged forms from the likes of Manansala and irreverently intertwined them with the flowing lines of Francisco. This was how Orville developed a unique style, evolving from a fascination of modern masters into a noteworthy artist of the late twentieth century.

Orville then became a sound artist, a performance artist, an artist of all sorts, branding himself eventually a “visual trans-media artist” in the process. Then he lay low, hibernating for some three years or so, yet quietly producing very personal works which he claims to “soothe his nerves,” as though after a deep seemingly incomprehensible experience.

All things must pass. For Orville Tiamson, it did too and this exhibition is the beginning of that. For P+RE+VIEW, Orville re-presents himself, with a quick review of his beloved past, and with an understated preview of his possible future.

The exhibition begins with a peek into his desired format. Orville presents us with his gesso-founded works in water-based acrylic on canvas. These are creations which have provided him with the solace and tranquility only attained through deep meditation. This could have resulted from the process of building up layers of the water-proofing agent for water-bound vehicles. It could have been the silent application of well-studied pigments. It could have been the dash of metal powder here and there. It could have been anything in the artistic process that provided all this realization that Orville was never alone. He had the entire Universe working for him, moving with him, flowing through him.

These evidently abstract works baptized with such titles as sand dance prepare the viewer quietly to a well-loved era of Orville’s past: his fascination for grace and movement. In the early 1990s, Orville did a lot of drawings using dance as inspiration. His collaboration with the Ballet Philippines endlessly gave him materials to produce his now famous pencil signature. The flow is there, in the forms of the dancers, in the poses of the models.

To cap the exhibition are more works in pencil on paper, a medium which has defined the draughtsman in the multi-faceted person of Orville the artist. Note the undulating lines which recur as ribbons in air. Note the gentle breeze accompanying these aerial laces. Note the music vibrating in them.

Lastly, note the incessant fascination for children. Take notice of their love and curiosity for work and productivity. All these teach us grown-ups one very simple thing: go with the flow and prosper.

Exhibition opens 4pm Sunday 18 January 2009

Runs till Tuesday 10 February 2009

WOVEN TEMPLATES: AN EXHIBITION OF PHILIPPINE CONTEMPORARY TEXTILES

Jorge V. Vargas Museum

and

Museum Foundation of the Philippines, Inc.

Presents

Woven Templates: An Exhibition of Philippine Contemporary Textiles of Dr. Norma A. Respicio

The UP Vargas Museum opens its 2009 calendar with Woven Templates: An Exhibition of Philippine Contemporary Textiles on January 15 (Thursday), 6:00 PM at the Landing Gallery.

The exhibition features the works of textile weaving communities in Mindanao, Panay, and the Cordillera and Ilocos in Luzon. Celebrating the continuity of tradition, the designs highlight the competence of weavers in techniques and designs such as the ikat/binudbudan tie-dye resist, pinilian supplementary weft, warp float, suk-suk scattered supplementary weft, among others. The weavers draw inspiration from their natural surroundings, world view, beliefs and aspirations. The materials, design techniques, design forms and functions of the finished works echo the weaver's accumulated knowledge and skills passed through generations. For the weavers, textile production is not only an economic endeavor, but also an activity that represents their individual creative expressions and identity as a community.

The textiles come from the collection of Dr. Norma A. Respicio, Professor of Art Studies at the College of Arts and Letters, UP Diliman. Her primary fields of specialization are on the history and aesthetics of traditional art forms with specific focus on textiles, primarily on those of the Philippines.

In line with the exhibition, the Museum Foundation of the Philippines, Inc. (MFPI) will co-sponsor a special lecture by Dr. Respicio on January 21, 2009, Wednesday, 3:00 PM at the Kawilihan Gallery, 2/F, Jorge B. Vargas Museum, UP Diliman, Quezon City.

Admission Fees:

Members P100.00

Non-Members P150.00

Non-UP Students P50.00

UP Students Free Admission (with valid Ids)

For more details, reservations and/or confirmation of attendance, kindly contact Elvie Magpayo of the Museum Foundation of the Philippines at telefax no. : 404-2685, mobile no.: 0928-503-9392 or email add: elvie.magpayo@ gmail.com, or call 722-9073 and look for Flor Cortez and Mae de Leon at 404-2685.

For more Museum Foundation events and activities please visit our website at http://museumfounda tionph.org/ news/

NCCA TRAINORS' TRAINING

Calling All Filipino Artists! Participate in NCCA Trainors' Training in March 2009!

An Open Letter to the Filipino Artists

Dear Filipino Artist:

Warm greetings from NCCA!

For the past six months, we have been conducting consultations both within and outside the organization; and especially among members of the various committees and subcommittees on the possibility of forming artists teams composed of Lumad, Moro, and Christian poets, playwrights, composers, choreographers, visual artists, actors and stage directors who would be interested in widening their milieu by conducting creative workshops for victims of man made and natural catastrophes as the crises arise.

A Trainors Training will be conducted in March by seasoned artists from PETA, CCP, and KALAHI who have been doing this kind of work for years. A module will evolve from this workshop which will be tested this year.

Being part of this endeavor will help us find gifted artists among the most deprived sectors of our society, at the same time, give you the opportunity to deepen your grasp and understanding of Philippine realities, which will help you develop into a mature artist.

If you are interested to be part of one of these teams, please email your name, bio with cell no to jacob_malou@yahoo.com

Thank you.

Sincerely Yours,

Malou Jacob

Deputy Executive Director

National Commission for Culture & Arts

PURE MONGRELS

Don Djerassi Dalmacio's second solo exhibition entitled Pure Mongrels will open at blanc Makati on Monday, January 12, 2009.

blanc is located at Crown Tower 107 HV dela Costa St. Salcedo Village, Makati City. For more information please call/sms 752-0032, 0920-9276436 email info@blanc.ph or visit www.blanc.ph or www.blancartspace.multiply. com.

1ST NEGROS ARTE KALYE FESTIVAL

The Art Association of Bacolod – Negros will transform one of Bacolod’s streets into a cultural hub – a place where artists can gather into a community, the San Agustin Road Extension (the street beside the Riverside Medical Center). The street where the Namitnamit Pagkaon kag Taliambong, Moravia Bar, Italia, Chowking, David’s Salon, rows of apartments and boarding houses for students are all located.

In celebration of the 2009 Arts Month (February 1-28, 2009), AAB-Negros has filled the whole month of February with art fora, workshops (music, visual arts, dance & literary), concerts, conferences, cultural dialogues, exhibits, art fair, mural painting, installations, etc.

This transformation will be the 1st Negros ARTE KALYE Festival. The following are the objectives of the festival:

1. To raise cultural awareness of the Arts Month among the people of Negros.
2. To promote the area (the street) as a cultural hub of visual artists, writers & cultural workers.
3. To motivate artists to actively participate in the celebration of the Arts Month.

“It is giving a place for visual artists, writers, musicians and cultural workers to collaborate together; engage in dialogue; share their talents – forming into one cultural community… This is the spirit of Arte Kalye…” said Nunelucio Alvarado, Festival Director and the current President of the Art Association of Bacolod – Negros.

We solicit support from any interested organizations, companies or individuals to make this festival a success. The conference secretariat is at NAMITNAMIT Pagkaon kag Taliambong, San Agustin Road Extension, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines; with contact numbers 09109337929 (Nune) or 09173743584 (Dave); you may e-mail us: artekalye@yahoo. com.

Celebrate ARTs with us.

16th ILIGAN NATIONAL WRITERS WORKSHOP

The National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA), the Mindanao Creative Writers Group, Inc., and the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology’s Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension (OVCRE) are accepting applications from writers to the 16th Iligan National Writers Workshop (INWW) to be held on May 25-29, 2009 in Iligan City.

Sixteen (16) slots, five each from Luzon and Visayas and six from Mindanao are available for writing fellowships to the INWW. Of the slots for Mindanao, one (1) is for the Manuel T. Buenafe Writing Fellowship for Muslim or Lumad applicants.

Applicants are required to submit five poems; or, one short story; or, for the novel, a summary and 2 chapters for the work-in-progress; and, a one-act play in Filipino, English or in Cebuano.

For entries in Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a, Waray and Chavacano, translations in English are required. Please submit along with the application form two, 2X2 photos. The application form may be downloaded here. Please submit a hard copy and a CD with the manuscripts encoded in MS Word97. Unpublished works are preferred. Applicants must have attended at least one regional/local writers workshop, no exceptions.

Writing fellows will be given free board and lodging and a travel allowance. Applications must be postmarked on or before February 15, 2009. No applications or manuscripts will be accepted if sent after postmarked dates or by fax or e-mail.

Applicants are also advised to keep copies of their manuscripts since these will not be returned. Send all applications to the 16th INWW Director, Christine F. Godinez-Ortega c/o OVCRE, MSU-IIT, Iligan City. For more information contact Pat Cruz or Alice Bartolome or Cherly Adlawan, tels. 063-3516131 ; or e-mail: patcruz@yahoo.com / cherlyadlawan@yahoo.com / aliciabartolome@ yahoo.com

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ----

Download APPLICATION FORM

Ms YANNA VERBO ACOSTA

S.E.T. IV - Creative Writing

Philippine High School for the Arts

National Arts Center of the Philippines

Mt. Makiling

Los Baños, Laguna 4030

Tel/Fax: +63 49 536 5971 to 73, +63 49 536 2862

3RD AAP-ECCA SEMI-ANNUAL ABSTRACT ART COMPETITION 2009

The Art Association of the Philippines

in cooperation with

Exhibition Center for Contemporary Art

present

The 3rd SEMI-ANNUAL ABSTRACT ART COMPETITION 2009

RULES AND REGULATIONS

1) The competition is open to all artists who are Filipino citizens, 21 years old and above. AAP officers are disqualified from entering the competition.

2) The contest has an OPEN THEME. Only non-representational (abstract) paintings should be submitted.

3) Participants may submit only one entry each. Artwork size is 36"x48" or 48"x36" excluding frame. No irregularly shaped paintings will be allowed.

4) Submission day shall be on February 7, 2009, from 10am to 7pm at the EXHIBITION CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, Ground Floor, Chateau Verde Building, Valle Verde I Gate II, C-5, Pasig City.

5) An entry is considered to be an artistic product of an individual. No group entries will be allowed. All artworks should be the original artistic creation of the participating artist. Non-compliance will result to disqualification or revocation of the award.

6) All entries mus be signed. With a piece of paper posted at the back bearing necessary details such as artist’s name, address, contact numbers, en rile, size, medium and prized.

7) Each entry should be accompanied by a 5"x7" (5R) colored photograph of the artwork, with the same information as above written at the back of the photo.

8) The artist must submit a properly accomplished Official Entry Form with a 1"x1" photo and a Biodata or Curriculum Vitae. The artist's Affidavit shall be accomplished in the submission venue. Official Entry Forms are available at ECCA, AAP Kanlungan ng Sining, http://aapgroup.multiply.com/, aapartists@yahoogroups.com and Pinoy-AAP@yahoogroups.com. Rules and entry forms may also be photocopied.

9) All entries should have provision for hanging. We paintings will no be accepted.

10) Artworks may be any pigment on ground, e.g. oil/acrylic on canvas, watercolor on paper, tempera on board, collage, found objects, and other mixed media. Tarpaulin or digital prints are not allowed.

11) Entries with incomplete requirements will not be accepted.

12) Winners will be awarded as follows:

a. First Prize - P 50,000 cash prize and trophy

b. Second Prize - P 30,000 cash prize and trophy

c. Third Prize - P 20,000 cash prize and trophy

d. 7 Honorable Mention Awardees - P 10,000 cash prize and medal

13) Entries will be screened by a panel of judges selected by the AAP and ECCA. All decisions of the Panel of Judges shall be final..

14) The announcement of winners and Awarding Ceremony will be on February 21, 2009 at the ECCA. Retrieval of artworks will be from March 21 to April 21 2009.

15) All entries will be considered in he forthcoming publication "Contemporary Philippine Abstract Art". Outstanding paintings from the 2009 competition will be chosen by the judges to add to the 2007 and 2006 finalists. All paintings included in he book will automatically become properties of ECCA..

16) Submission of entries signifies the acceptance of the rules and regulations of the competition and the consent of the artist for his/her paining to be published by Mr. Duldulao in his forthcoming book. Artists will be given a certificate of inclusion in case their artworks are chosen for the publication.

17) AAP and ECCA shall not be held legally liable for any damages to the artwork as a result of the competition, or the failure of the participant to follow the rules and regulations.


For more information and details on the competition, you may call 496-0992 (AAP) or
671-2069 (ECCA). You may also visit the AAP Office/Gallery at the Kanlungan ng Sining, Rizal Park, Km.0, Manila

THE ONEIRONAUT

We would like to invite you to "The Oneironaut*" (*one who explores the world of dreams) an exhibition of works by Marga Rodriguez, traverses the indistinct border that separates reality and dreaming. Essentially autobiographical in nature, the works in this exhibit suffuse Asian art iconographies with a near-inexpressible whirl of emotions. Rodriguez hints at the innermost recesses of her psyche, recounting her fascination with the mysteries of nightfall and of dreams. The images, while beautiful and mysterious, also conveys a sense of the angst, insecurity, suppressed feelings and wishes that often accompany the dream state.

For this exhibit, Rodriguez, usually a city-dweller, retreated to a remote rural setting on a farm in Batangas Province, where, in her own words, she "traveled without moving" while reinvigorating herself in a "creative slumber." The energies that were absorbed in this recuperative natural environment have been skillfully transmuted into the images presented in Rodriguez' magical canvases.

"The Oneironaut" opens at 6:00 p.m. on January 11, 2009 at Tala Gallery, 100 Scout De Guia Street, Kamuning, Quezon City, Philippines. The show runs until January 31, 2009. For inquiries, please contact Tala Gallery by telephone at +632 441-1267 or +632 441-0337; by e-mail at info@talagallery. com.ph ; or visit the website www.talagallery. com.ph .

MARTINE'S DILEMNA

World class Filipino talents will grace the re-opening of F*ART Fashion Art Gallery on Thursday, January 8 at 5pm.

Cheryl Villanueva-Hironaka , a renowned furniture designer and painter who has held exhibits in Paris, New York, Tokyo and Manila, will present her furniture creations and painting illustrations for a children's book entitled Martine's Dilemma.

Primavera Santos, the author of Martine's Dilemma based in Los Angeles, USA, will hold a book launch and signing on the re-opening party. The author's niece, Martine, who lives in Australia, will also attend the event.

Comedians Mike Unson and Uli Oposa will also be at the event to delightfully tickle the funny bones of the Martine's Dilemma crowd.

RELEEGIOUS PAINTINGS

Romeo Lee

ReLEEgious Paintings

10 January - 5 February 2009

The world becomes his oyster, especially for one who habitually inserts himself in the thicket of oft-quote phrases and in the surfeit of popular imagery. The so-called realm of the divine is not even spared. The painted picture becomes his own created world. This is as reiterated once again in Romeo Lee's latest solo exhibit ReLEEgious paintings opening at the Mag:net on January 10.

He treads on the path he knows too well and twists it a bit for his trademark irreverence that puncture not a graven hole but one that rather pinches at cheeky butts.

As he would so often do with his shows, he claims words as titular pun novelties on his name (e.g. Normalee, Leeing - a play on the movie title The Ring, Monay Leesa, etc,), his face photo-shopped over postcard reproductions of renaissance paintings, donning wigs or hats at times, resulting in hokey impersonations of cliches that have become ubiquitous with the throwaways and refuse of thrift shop retailing, a trade which Lee after all has full mastery of.

The paintings, rendered in his perfunctory way of laying down pigments as lurid as the situations he portrays, casts himself as the Virgin Mary emitting fluorescent glow under a floating text that spells IMAGINE, or as Saint Francis tending to pets by his feet, his head glowing with the radiance of a nuclear fall-out amidst a mountain range neatly lined by power grids, the word LOVE spelled out in a font that ends ambiguously as bone joints or hearts. In one work, he paints himself as the Sto. Nino hoisted up in a ghostly Halloween procession and flanked by Chief Blue Meanie and Nowhere Man, characters from the animated Beatles film The Yellow Submarine. In another, he appears as a resurrected Christ descending from heaven and appearing to a lone woven-hatted figure in the foreground. All these sport no less Lee's characteristic cleft chin, easily surmisable as part vanity/part hilarious poking at creationism, a Sistine chapel pirated transcription lost in the subtitling.

This suite of works he calls as releegious paintings, but the other works mixed in to rouse up the melange and deftly expose the sham of the genre with paintings of wrinkly crones bending over with their flesh hanging loose, crouched beggars contorted to resemble apples rotted through by plump worms, and a smattering of fleshy bums shitting over flowers or just flagrantly exposed as lumps of coiled fatty tissue - these all seem to suggest a sardonic punch line on where humans must have really come from.

It's all downright farce, to look for a moral here is absurd. It is after all a painter's lone attempts in ingratiating himself to his own private Valhalla, as religiously as he would with his craft.
The stuff of legends is no truer than the gods molded with their own dreams.

ReLEEgious Paintings will be on view until February 5. Mag:net Gallery is located at 335 Agcor Building, Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon City. For details or inquiries, contact the gallery at 929-31-91 or email info@magnetgalleries.com or visit www.magnetgalleries.com.

FAMILY SPACES

Silverlens Gallery welcomes 2009 with a photography show by United States based artist Stella Kalaw. Over the last fifty years, the Filipino diaspora has altered the landscape of families and the relationships that bind. Kalaw, having left the Philippines over ten years ago, returns to show Family Spaces, a series of photographs of her immediate family members' homes all over the world. Continents apart, each home is a glimpse of interconnectedness through objects of the everyday Filipino. Worn tsinelas on a stair landing, a tabo floating in a balde, the Sacred Heart of Jesus--all markers of Pinoy identity, they are umbilical cords to the familiar. The color photographs present cultural identity through markers that belong to one extended family, but stand in for any Filipino family anywhere in the world.

Stella Kalaw (b. 1969 in Manila) graduated with a degree in Professional Photography from the Brooks Institute of Photography in California, under a Fuji Scholarship and worked as an intern in Irving Penn’s Studio in New York City shortly after. Kalaw has been part of group shows in Washington, New York, California and at the Ayala Museum in Manila. Her works have garnered awards such as a Honorable Mention in the Polaroid International Awards and the Gold Prize in American Photo Magazine’s New Views Awards.

Family Spaces by Stella Kalaw opens at 6pm on January 8, Thursday and runs until February 7, 2009. There will be an Artist Talk by Stella Kalaw on January 10, Saturday, from 3-5pm. Family Spaces will be shown along with Library Bookworksby Renato Orara at SLab (Silverlens Lab).

Silverlens Gallery is at 2/F YMC Bldg. II, 2320 Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati, 816-0044, 0905-2650873, manage@silverlensph oto.com. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday 10am–7pm and Saturdays 1–6pm. www.silverlensphoto .com.

TWELVE BY NINE

SINS OF OMISSION

Kreskin Sugay

Sins Of Omission

7 January - 2 February 2009

All the recalls and recoils on art in general, much with the retrograde fad, such as recycling, rewinds, and all the re's from art history to pop culture modes of media - say, bronze sculptures by Duchamp sit (not-so-comfortably) side by side with a gangster rapper flashing his gold teeth, or in another collage, Rodin's thinking man sits contemplating amidst a background of Nike air sneakers, a catalog page with various treasures interact with Arnold Schwarzenegger's terminator character and the tin man from the Wizard of Oz, might be all too familiar, yet not, as this year's opener veers the way to begin with redirection in painting.

As opposed to resolutions, religious or moralist leanings, and even guilt, Kreskin Sugay delves into (c)omitting sins in painting, a detour to the usual codes of meaning, yet nothing to do with creating or remaking another set of definitions, but eyes onto the act of painting itself wherein certain choices, decisions, or stance of the artist adopted from the moment, mediates into the creation of the works throughout the process.

Sugay focuses on the various options and decisions, yet yielding from random selection, in which the artist have had managed the images to lodge their way into his thought process. The production requires minimal control, this may be leaving mistakes, or turning the canvas upside-down being part of its laxity. As it is from the artist himself, he is, at the moment, making abstractions, very much interested in the makings - the mess that comes with failure, detours, losing control, of a painting.

The act of (c)omitting sin (in the artist's painting process) finishes into permuting images, piling up painting cliches, introducing element in the painting sending it to another direction, clashing the images and redirecting them to comic results. For Kreskin Sugay, the works seem to target the tradition of collage itself, more so with the investment of meaning onto seemingly random images.

The success of omitting sin, parodies all the cliches of the artist's work about painting, or to that effect, leaving him as well as his audience to - engage, question, celebrate, parody (it's) traditions.

Sins of Omission will have its opening cocktails on Wednesday, January 7 at 6PM. The exhibit will be on view until Febrauary 2.

.
Mag:net Gallery Ayala, is at the ground floor of The Columns Tower 1, at the corner of Ayala Avenue and Buendia. For details or inquiries, contact the gallery at 929-31-91 or email info@magnetgalleries.com or visit www.magnetgalleries.com.

SINING UGNAYAN: CREATING THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION VISUAL ARTISTS’ DIRECTORY

The National Capital Region (NCR) research team of the National Committee on Visual Arts (NCVA) of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) partners with Artepinas, Inc. in undertaking the second phase of “Sining Ugnayan”: The Philippine Visual Artists' Directory project. Headed by Ann Mendoza-Uy who is also the NCCA-NCVA Executive Council Secretary, the research team taps the services of JCrisanto Martinez, Artepinas, Inc. CEO and Joey Cobcobo, Artepinas, Inc. COO to form part of the team for the second phase of the project.

“Sining Ugnayan”: The Philippine Visual Artists' Directory is a committee initiated project of the National Committee on Visual Arts for the year 2009-2010 to come up with visual artists and artists groups’ directory. The NCR project comes parallel with similar researches in Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. As a final output these research in a comprehensive visual artists’ directory which shall become part of the NCCA’s official listing of visual artists in the Philippines.

Phase Two of “Sining Ugnayan: Creating the NCR Visual Artists’ Directory” shall continue to locate, identify, and record in writing and document in photographs the existing visual artists and artists’ groups all over the Metro Manila. There are 16 cities and 1 municipality that make up the geographical basis for the project’s methodology. National Capital Region (NCR) or Metro Manila is composed of 16 cities and 1 municipality (the cities of Manila, Quezon City, Pasay, Caloocan, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Paranaque, Valenzuela, Makati, Pasig, Muntinlupa, Taguig, San Juan, Navotas and Las Piñas and The Municipality of Pateros).

Professional and practicing visual artists include those involved in painting utilizing the traditional media or mixed media, illustration, graphic design, digital media, animation, sculpture, installation, photography, printmaking and other related visual arts field including the art groups and organizations of visual artists involved in such fields.

Pertinent data to be collected shall include:

Visual Artist’s Personal Data

- Full Name: The complete birth name of the artist
- Nickname/Artist’s Name: Would refer to the artist’s name other than his real name
- Date and Place of Birth: The pertinent dates of birth and the town, city, or country where the artist was born.
- Civil Status: Refers to the artist as single, married, or separated.
- Permanent Home Address: The artist’s permanent home address.
- Present Home Address: The artist’s current home address other than the permanent address if any.
- Contact Information: Refers how the artist can be reached through communication equipment: telephone (with area code), mobile phone, email address, website/webpage
- Educational Attainment: Refers to the highest educational attainment attained by the artist.
- Formal Training in the Arts: Refers to any formal training art education/training/workshops by a recognize institution that has contributed to the artist’s development.
- Informal Training in the Arts (if any): Refers to any training the artist might have outside any institution or school. Apprenticeship, work-related, and self-taught are considered.
- Artist’s Classification: Refers to the type/kind of artist. Example: painter, sculptor, mixed-media/installation artist, performance artist.
- Medium of Choice: refers to the preferred material the artist works with. If working in mixed-media, mention the kind of material utilized.
- Employment Background (if any, mention specific dates): Refers to any employment the artist is currently connected with or in the past.
- List of Solo Exhibitions: Information on individual shows mounted for viewing by the artist
- List of Group Exhibitions: Refers to information on group/collective shows the artist has participated in.
- Awards and Distinctions: Refers to any award the artist has received in relation to art
- Art Group Affiliation: Refers to the artist’s current or past membership in any professional art organizations or societies.
- Leadership Position in Art Organizations: refers to the artist’s position as an elected or appointed officer in an art-related organization or society.
- Artist’s Studio Address: refers to information on the artist’s studio address if different from home or present address.
- Gallery Affiliation (if any): Refers to information if the artist is professionally represented by an existing gallery in the present or in the past.
- Publication/Authorship/Research on Art: refers to any recognized publication/authorship/ and research in the arts the artist might have undertaken.

Art Works Data
Data related to a submitted photograph of the artist’s recent or important works

- Title: refers to the given title/name of the work
- Medium: Refers to the specific material used by the artist
- Size: Refers to the physical dimensions of the artwork in centimeters
- Year Made: The year the artwork was conceived and completed
- Artist’s Notes (if nay): Refers to any related writings/markings/or statements made by the artist in relation to the work.
- Location: Refers to the work’s actual place where it can be found or the name of the person/institution who has possession of the work.

“Sining Ugnayan: Creating the NCR Visual Artists’ Directory” is meant to contribute to the body of information of local and national art by providing access on vital data about artists and artists’ groups that have contributed to the eventual growth of visual art in the National Capital Region. Institutions and agencies that need to identify visual artists for artistic/ educational activities and developmental programs in specific NCR will find the directory especially useful. The data gathered will also be useful for the proponent’s next stage of this project’s research and development. A full-color biographical book of NCR artists and their selected sample works will also be proposed as a follow-up proposal to this undertaking. Overall, the data gathered will contribute in recognizing the Filipino visual artists in relation to nation-building in a country where art is not a priority.

The project will be undertaken in a six-month period from January 2010 to June 2010. This research project will be conducted in two three-month stages with January to March as the first stage and April to June as the second stage.

Data gathering shall be conducted on the first stage of the project (January - March 2010). Thereby, visual artists and leaders of visual arts groups and/or organizations are expected to sign up or register before the end of March 2010. Information sheets/data forms shall be made available in selected arts venues which shall also serve as submission areas. Such list of venue shall be announced in the future.

As an enhanced feature of this research project is the ability to sign-up or register via the internet. Other queries and uploading of the required photographs (artist’s profile and two artwork photographs in 150dpi jpeg format) can be sent by way of electronic mail to sining.ugnayan.ncr@gmail.com.

Be Part of the NCCA Sining Ugnayan: NCR Visual Artist Directory Project! This will be launch as a Social Network Site and become part of the NCCA's official listing of visual artists in the Philippines.

Please sign-up before April 2010


Mary Ann Mendoza-Uy
NCCA-NCVA-NCR Research Head

Joel Yuvienco
Assistant Research Head

Madonna Obusan
City Coordinator

Joey V. Cobcobo
Artepinas, Inc.

Joseph Crisanto R. Martinez
Artepinas, Inc.

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE

URBAN PLAN

Open Call for Neo-Urban Planners

Project by Mark Salvatus @ Green Papaya (Jan-Feb 2009)

WEDNESDAYS i'm-n-love OPEN PLATFORM

*What if you were tasked to take over MMDA and make a new urban plan? What will you do? What will you change? Be creative! be innovative! It can be simple to grand / utopian plan... or serious to fun-unrealistic one... grab your camera and roam the city and see what you can do...

Urbanization
In a 1975 survey, one out of three people all over the world live in urban areas, with most of the 1.5 billion "urbanites" living in districts with less than a million residents. (Many of these urban dwellers, in fact, live in communities with a population of less than 5,000) Over the years, the urban residency has swelled significantly that half of the world's population is living in cities. Parallel to this growth in urban population (and the continuous rise of smaller cities) is the emergence of "mega-cities" -- urban areas of no less than 10 million people.

Between 1975 and 2005, the number of mega-cities has grown from a meager three (two of which were in industrialized, first-world countries) to a record-breaking 20 (with 15 of them belonging in developing nations).

SOURCE: United Nations Population Division, World Urbanization Prospects:

The 2005 Revision (2006).

Layers

In East Asia alone, more than 2 million people have moved into urban areas. The rapid exodus to these specific areas indicates more opportunities in wealth and a chance for a better future for some. In the Philippines, where the Metro Manila region is the official hub of economy, education, and contemporary culture, more and more people from the rural areas are moving into the city to try their luck. Away from home, these people would often bring their customs and traditions with them as they settle in the metro; thus making their rural culture an integral part of the urban setting.

There are layers upon layers of old and new structures; chaos in the streets; graffiti, may it be political or apolitical, street vendors, MMDA, gigantic billboards, and the overwhelming influence of Western cultures--malls in every district, pocket shanties, layers of sound - among others. And in the last 3 decades, Metro Manila became a very problematic region in terms of urban planning, drainage systems, pollution, over-population--and these problems affect the city dwellers negatively.

Urbanist

Having lived in Manila for more than a decade, the projects that I am doing for W.O.P. will revolve around urbanism and the urban culture, and how artists, creatives, and ordinary people see their city in different perspectives. I will be doing personal and collaborative works that will be presented as exhibitions, screenings, talks etc.

What is our role in changing the city?

Project: The city as our creative juice

This will be an online project, I will make a multiply or a blogger account wherein I will ask people living in the city (Manila, Cebu, Davao etc) to take a photo of a certain area wherein they want to improve. They will become an urban planner and encourages creativity in all its forms in ways that are intrinsic and integral to the daily life of the city. Just think that you are the current MMDA chairman. Be creative and innovative. No pink please…

The project will be presented every Wednesday and the person who submitted a plan will be invited to show and discuss what he thinks should be improved. The collected photos and proposals form the people who participated on the online call will be used for a future exhibit or publication.

example plans:

*Make a hanging garden on all the foot bridges

*Make a graphic design that will be printed on tarpaulin and give it to pedicab drivers - pang tarapal etc...

email your plans to markrams@yahoo.com with the subject "Neo-Urban Plan"

*there is no specific deadline just send it until Feb 2009

Mark Salvatus is a cross-disciplinary artist based in Manila and Lucban, Philippines. He graduated cum laude at the UST College of Fine Arts & Design and currently taking up MFA at the same university. In 2007, he was granted a scholarship by the Spanish Program for Cultural Cooperation under the Ministry of Spain in Barcelona. His projects has been exhibited and presented in the Philippines and abroad. He is also the co-founder of Pilipinas Street Plan (2006)- a community of street and graffiti artists that is changing the urban aesthetic of our cities. http://marksalvatus.blogspot.com

IT'S A NEW YEAR!!!