Fundamentals of Materials: Wood
With Mr Cheek Fadriquela and Prof Rosalie Calapis
June 20, 2012, Wednesday
8:30-5 pm
Fee: Php 2,500 (includes lunch and certificate)
Contact Person: Fanny San Pedro/Iday Marpa
Contact Details: 6312417/6359545

As a medium for the arts, wood has been used in sculpture, prints, musical instruments and architecture. In the Philippines, the availability of wood has given rise to different traditions of sculpture and vernacular architecture. Samples of these are seen in situ and in museums and other collections. While durable, wood is nevertheless subject to deterioration like most materials.

As part of its lecture series on materials, the Lopez Memorial Museum has invited Mr Cheek Sangalang Fadriquela, and Prof Rosalie Maningas Calapis of UPLB  to speak about wood. The Fundamentals of Materials: Wood will dwell on the structure of wood, wood identification, physical and chemical properties of wood, and the wooden cultural heritage in the Philippines. The one-day seminar is set for, June 20, Wednesday, 8:30 am-5 pm.

Conservation Research Laboratory states that successful conservation of wooden artifacts is dependent on knowledge of wood structure and types. Prof Calapis who is assistant professor at the College of Forestry and Natural Resources of UP Los Banos will discuss wood identification while Mr Fadriquela will focus on the other topics. The seminar hopes to give the public a better understanding of the material they work with, display and store, collect and use.

The Lopez Memorial Museum is at the ground floor, Benpres Building, Exchange Road corner Meralc Avenue, Pasig City. Museum days and hours are Mondays to Saturdays, except holidays, 8am-5pm. For more details pls call 6359545.

Established in 2004 in honor of its founding benefactor Fernando Zobel de Ayala (1924-1984), whose support of young Filipino visual artists left an indelible mark in Philippine art history, the Ateneo Art Awards are given to Filipino visual artists below the age of 36 for outstanding work in an exhibition between 2 May of the previous year and 1 May of the current year.

As the Ateneo Art Awards gears up for a milestone, the ninth year takes the theme “Sneak Peak”. This anticipatory stance as we approach a peak in the history of the awards, serves not as a statement of fact, but a call for introspection. The contemporary Philippine art scene is as dynamic as ever and the world is taking notice. With the overwhelming recognition, we are called back to the core to reminisce, to hope and to work anew.

Nominations are accepted from visual artists, curators, museum and gallery directors, members of the present and former juries, art educators and art writers. Nomination forms are available at the Ateneo Art Gallery, Ateneo de Manila University, Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon City; at Casa Gorodo Museum, Cebu City; or from the website www.ateneoartgallery.org

From all the nominees, 12 exhibits/ artworks will be shortlisted and on 09 August 2012, 3 will be declared winners. The artists who created the winning exhibitions/ artworks will be invited to apply for the international residency grants funded by the Ateneo Art Gallery and its partner institutions Common Room Networks Foundation in Bandung, Indonesia; Artesan Gallery in Singapore; La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre in Bendigo, Australia; Art Omi in New York; and Liverpool Hope University in Liverpool, UK.

All nominations must be received at the Ateneo Art Gallery before 5pm on 31 May 2012. For more information, please contact Ian Carlo Jaucian at +632 4266488 or mobile +639178878956 or email ijaucian@ateneo.edu. Exhibition of the works of the artists short-listed for the Awards will be at the Grand Atrium of the Shangri-la Plaza Mall, Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong City from 3 August – 13 August 2012.

The Ateneo Art Awards is presented by the Ateneo Art Gallery, Shangri-La Plaza, Metro Society, Y-style of the Philippine Star, and the New York Art Project, funded by Marcel Crespo.

Download the nomination form here. (Nomination Guidelines)

Looking for places to cool off in this heat?
To visit the newest museum in town, at a discounted rate? See below.
Do drop by the National Museum’s National Art Gallery and Museum of the Filipino People this summer as well!

Dear Museum Foundation Members and Friends,

There is a palpable air of excitement at the National Museum of the Philippines.

The Progress of Medicine by National Artist Carlos “Botong” Francisco is on view at the new gallery provided by Museum Foundation of the Philippines. These four murals, commissioned by three eminent doctors from the University of the Philippines’ Philippine General Hospital traces the story of medicine in this country from the period prior to the coming of India, China, and the West to contemporary times. Since they were first displayed in 1953, these paintings have been restored thrice, the latest efforts with support from the U.S. Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation, the Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines, and the Office of the Director of the National Museum. The paintings are now in a secure, humidity- and moisture-free environment. Years of research and conservation had been undertaken by museum conservators to stabilize these murals. To house these, MFPI inaugurated a state-of-the-art display hall with designers from Leandro V. Locsin & Partners, engineers from LGRM Construction, and partners Hunter Douglas and Litekon.

However, it is you, our Museum Foundation members and friends, who make such undertakings possible. This monumental gallery—now called the Museum Foundation of the Philippines Hall—comes at a pivotal moment, leading subsequent renovations of eight other halls in the National Gallery of Art. And only in the unique context of the National Museum’s encyclopaedic collection can these works of art connect with other objects and concerns in our culture. That is what makes a visit exceptional to the Museum’s National Art Gallery and the National Museum of the Filipino People (former Legislative and Finance buildings, respectively).

It is with this in mind that we ask you to continue to support the Museum Foundation of the Philippines by coming to the National Museum, supporting Museum Foundation programs and becoming an MFPI member or renewing your membership. Your commitment is critical to our success as our programs continue to inspire and support the National Museum in doing what it does best.

Looking forward to seeing you in our forthcoming events this July:

1. Our MaArte 2012 exhibition and sale of Filipino crafts on August 4-5 at the Rockwell Tent; and

2. The talk by Mr. Paulo Alcasaren on Saturday, July 28 at 2:30 at the National Art Gallery (former Legislative Building). Following the successful talks by Dr. Ambeth Ocampo, Mr. Alcasaren will treat us to a virtual tour of the National Museum buildings and the new Senate Hall, a jewel in the crown. Don’t miss these!

Sending you our thanks and warm wishes at the start of summer,

Purissima (Petty) Benitez-Johannot
President, Museum Foundation of the Philippines, Inc.

LOCUS REDUX: Speaking Across Contexts
Learnings and Negotiations in Writing and Teaching in Art
May 19-21, 2012
Php 2,000.00
Yuchengco Museum
Contact Person: Fanny San Pedro/Mary Ann Pernia
Contact Detail: 6312417/lmmpasig@gmail.com

Pananaw ng Sining Bayan, Inc, in partnership with Japan Foundation Manila Office, the Lopez Memorial Museum and the Yuchengco Museum, will hold the conference Locus Redux: Speaking Across Contexts, Learnings and Negotiations in Writing and Teaching on Art. An international conference to be held at the Yuchengco Museum on May 19-21, it will touch on themes such as new pedagogy, deschooling, mobile learning, migrating art academies, web 2.0, among others, in the teaching about art and design. Resource persons include:  Raiji Kuroda (Fukuoka Asian Art Museum), Yukie Kamiya (Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima), Brenda Fajardo (Philippine Art Educators Association/Philippine Educational Theater Association), Patrick Flores (UP Diliman/Vargas Museum), Nancy Adajania (Cultural Theorist and Co-artistic Director, 9th Gwangju Biennale), Jang Un Kim (normal type/Korean National University of Arts), Farah Wardani (Indonesian Visual Art Archive/Cemeti Art House), Claire Tancons (Curator/researcher/writer, US/Caribbean), Carol Lu (Contributing Editor, Frieze and Co-artistic Director, 9th Gwangju Biennale), Abdellah Karroum (L’appartement 22), and Ellen Pau (Videotage, Hong Kong.

The conference hopes to facilitate sober and grounded  discussions that productively cut across disciplines which play into the making of culture. Topics include Knowledge Production via Discourses on Art, Articulating Modernisms, Education Out of Bounds, Platforms and Histories and Extended Engagements. There will also be half-day tours to studios and museums to encourage continuing post-conference engagements. Conference fee is Php2,000.00 to cover the conference kit, meals (3 lunches, 3 morning and 2 afternoon snacks) and a certificate of participation/attendance. For more information, pls contact Ms Fanny San Pedro/Mary Ann Pernia of the Lopez Museum at 6312417. Deadline for registration is March 30, Friday.

Territories
Mark Salvatus

Territories by Ateneo Art Award winner Mark Salvatus opens at the Ateneo Art Gallery on Thursday, 15 March 2012 at 6 pm.

The exhibit is Salvatus’ response to his experiences while he was an artist-in-residence from 2010 – 2011 in Art Omi New York, Common Room Networks Foundation, Bandung, Indonesia and La Trobe University Bendigo, Australia; grants he received as a winner of the Ateneo Art Awards.

Salvatus’ practice brings to the fore ideas of memory, nostalgia, existence and space through drawing, installation, photography, street / urban art and participatory projects. In Territories, he continues his exploration of people’s desire to imprint themselves on their surrounding and proclaim their existence, to claim a piece of their own space whether it be in cyberspace through posted videos or in the urban landscape where street artists literally leave their mark and property developers impose upon the urban populace their ideas of habitable environments. Working with accidental or found experiences from different media and the urban environment- you tube videos, images of graffiti tags, and real estate brochures -Salvatus presents us with the images that reflect our aspirations.

The show runs through April 30. For more information call 4266488 or visit the museum website www.ateneoartgallery.org

Take a straightforward portrait and turn it into something figurative, this is what photographer Jake Verzosa has demonstrated in his latest body of work titled Harbinger.

A fixture in the fashion industry, Verzosa presents the model, the very subject he’s used to working with, in another light, a vessel of form and movement. His images aim to document a figure in transition, to record what transpires when his subject is asked to interpret a series of cloud formations. Take a closer look at the hazy black and white formations and you will discover distinct human forms juxtaposed alongside random storm clouds.

The 32-year-old artist is based in Manila and is busy with his family, commercial work, and a long-term project documenting the last tattooed women of Kalinga.

Jake Verzosa’s Harbinbger opens on March 15, 2012 at Silverlens SLab, simultaneously with JPow Martinez’s Cyborg Scallops at Silverlens SLab and Maria Taniguchi’s Untitled (Celestial Motors) in Silverlens 20Square. All shows run until April 14, 2012.

Words by Monica Barretto; Image: Jake Verzosa, Harbinger #1, 2005 (left) Harbinger #2, 2012 (right)

Tagalog
at Taga-ilog
Roberto M. A. Robles
08 March to 27 April 2012
GF Lobby and West Wing Gallery

The Jorge B. Vargas Museum in cooperation with Galleria Duemila presents Tagalog at Taga-ilog by Roberto M. A. Robles which will open on March 8, 2012, Thursday, 4:00PM.

This exhibition focuses on the convergence between the museum’s milieu and the artist’s sculpture. The inspiration of this project is Saluysoy, Robles’s retrospective held last year, which means “wellspring”. Tagalog at Taga-ilog explores the resonance of the term through sculptures, maquettes, drawings and poetry in the wider discourse of identity and landscape.

Roberto M. A. Robles (b. 1957) graduated from the School of Music and Fine Arts of the University of the East with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. In 1995, he completed his Master of Fine Arts sculpture program majoring in stone carving under the tutelage of Prof. Hitoshi Itoh at the University of Tsukuba School of Art and Design. He was appointed Dean of the College of Fine Arts, University of the East in the same year upon returning to the Philippines. He has extensively exhibited locally and abroad in such venues as at the Pinaglabanan Gallery, Galleria Duemila, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, and Ibaraki Museum of Modern Art and Kitano Museum Art Movement. He received an Asian Artist Fellowship at the 11th Annual Freeman Foundation Vermont Studio Center, USA in 2004. Robles held his 30 year retrospective “Saluysoy” at the Ateneo Art Gallery in 2011.

Tagalog at Taga-ilog will run until 27 April 2012. For more information, please contact Vargas Museum at +632 928-1927 (direct line), +63 981-8500 loc. 4024 (UP trunkline), +63 928-1925 (fax) or send an e-mail to vargasmuseum@gmail.com. You may also check our website at http://vargasmuseum.upd.edu.ph or like us at www.facebook.com/vargasmuseum.upd for more information.