Foundation News

Family Spaces
Stella Kalaw
January 8 - February, 2009
Opening reception on January 8, Thursday, 6pm

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 Bookworks by 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@silverlensphoto.com. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday 10am–7pm and Saturdays 1–6pm. www.silverlensphoto.com.

Image:
Stella Kalaw
First Lamp at Somerville, 2007

If there is anything that makes Pampanga famous, it’s the delicious food! And if the success of the recent Kapampangan Food Fair at the Salcedo Market last June 21 is any indication, food lovers young and old will have a blast at the 2nd Pistaung Kapampangan King Sinukwan on November 29, Saturday evening at the Old Heritage District along Consunji Street in San Fernando, Pampanga.

The whole stretch of the historical street will closed from 4:30 pm to 12:00 midnight, to light up the ancestral houses and to give way to a food fair and fanfare that brings together the best of Pampanga cuisine – from authentic Kapampangan cooking by Everybody’s Café (a Tatler Best Restaurant in 2008), Abe, Bale Kapampangan, Jun Jun’s BBQ and Bibingka, Teresita R. Razon’s Palabok and Halo Halo and home-cooked meals from PAMANGAN by Des Torres. For the health-conscious, freshly-picked fiddle head fern salad from the Hizon orchard will be served.

Pasalubong items such as Carreon’s Pastillas and Plantanillas, Navarro’s Taba ng Talangka, WOW Mani, Kuliat Cakes and Empanada and Lailen’s Pastries from the Sweets and Delicacies Association of Pampanga (SnDAP) will be available; as well as mouth-watering offerings from La Moderna Bakery (Masa Podrida and Gorgorias), Bakeline (Mamon Tostado and Empanaditas), fresh sugar cane juice from Alex Patio, heirloom Desserts from Mitchie Hizon, and barrio goodies from the town of Sta. Rita such as the DUMAN and freshly-rolled native barquillos.

Other delectable attractions include Duck Ham from Lubao’s Pride, Ostrich Steak from Orstrichland’s Bruno and Diego, and the different Native Suman from Cabalantian.

There will also be an on-the-spot Cooking Contest (using local abundant ingredients) that seeks to discover and develop new talent in the field of cooking, and performances by the Magsilbi Tamu Brass Band, Arti Sta Rita, Aslag Kapampangan and the newly-formed Teatro Ima at Arti.

So have a reunion with your family and friends and plan a pilgrimage to the birthplace of sisig, tocino, buru, tamales and tibuk-tibuk!

Proceeds from the event will go to the Foundation for Lingap Kapampangan Inc., more popularly known as the Save Pampanga Movement, which advocates for the preservation of Kapampangan culture and arts.

Come in your most comfortable “barrio Filipiniana” attire and get ready to go on a hometown feast for all your senses!

Participants: Everybody’s Cafe; Red Rickshaw; Pamangan by Des Torres; Bale Capampangan; Cely’s; Teresita R. Razon’s Halo-Halo and Pancit Palabok; Thai Kingdom - Sau Del Rosario; Abe - LJC; Cafe Havana (cocktails) - LJC; Jun Jun’s BBQ and Bibingka; La Moderna - masa podrida, sampaguita cookies, gorogrias; Bakeline; SFO {Specialty Food Outlet} by Essel; Bruno and Diego- Ostrich steak from Ostrich land San Luis, Pampanga; Duck Ham from Lubao’s PrideFrsh Fiddle Head Fern Salad from Hizon Family Orchard; Hizon Family Heirloom Desserts; Fresh Sugar Cane Juice - Alex Patio; Sweets and Delicacies Association of Pampanga (Wow Mani, Navarro’s; Taba ng Talangka, Lailen’s Pastries’ sylvanas, Sasmuan Delicacies, Pabalan Pastillas, Carreons Plantanillas); Apung Uping’s Original Espasol; Sta. Rita town - (on the spot barquillos, tsokolate batirol, duman, umba, bringhe, asadong babi, turrones, uraro, mamon tostado); Sto. Tomas - Bibingka; Cabalantian - Suman Makers; Mexico - Lilian Borromeo - San Nicolas and other native cookies; Dandy’s Moman Tostado

A Tour of the Amorsolo Retrospective, Part I
A study tour of four museums particpating in the Amorsolo Retrospective

Organized by the Museum Foundation of the Philippines

Hosted by Mrs. Petty Benitez Johannot

Saturday, December 6, 2008, 8am-5pm

Fernando Amorsolo was the first Philippine National Artist for the Visual Arts. He is famed for his bucolic scenes celebrating Philippine rural life and customs, light-filled landscapes and portraits of society figures. The seven-museum retrospective celebrates his extensive oeuvre. Each museum focuses on a different aspect of Amorsolo’s art, some of them little known. We will visit four museums. Part 2 is tentatively scheduled for January 17, 2009.

For inquiries call or text Elvie Magpayo at 404 2685 or 0928 5039392

Fee for Members: Php 1,500
Fee for Non-members: Php 1,700

The fee includes the cost of transportation, museum entrance fees and guides, and lunch at Via Mare excluding drinks

Bea Valdes
Bedtime Stories
November 28, 2008 to January 3, 2009
Opening reception on November 28
Friday, 6PM

Designer Bea Valdes presents Bedtime Stories, an exhibit of sculptures of animals adorned with crystals and semi-precious stones. Inspired by fairy tales, these whimsical creatures bring us into a darkened landscape where the sinister lurk with the enchanted. Fable and folklore, as we find all throughout the history of oral literature, were often embellished with exaggerated or gruesome details as stories were passed on from one person to the next. Women, who sat in groups as they worked on tasks such as knitting and spinning, often recounted such tales of gore.

Valdes, a graduate of the University of the Philippines and the Inchbald School in London, is a much awarded and published designer often seen on the pages of Vogue, W and Harpers. Known to be a staunch supporter of local artisans and their craft, Valdes received the Katha Award for Creative Excellence in Accessory Design in 2006.

Bedtime Stories by Bea Valdes runs from November 28, 2008 to January 3, 2009 at SLab. The artist will be present at the opening on Friday, Nov.28, 6-9 pm.

Visit SLab at 2320 Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City. For more information, call 8160044/ 09052650873, email manage@silverlensphoto.com or visit www.silverlensphoto.com / slab.silverlensphoto.com.

Image:
Bea Valdes
Fawn, 2008
Photo by Rachel Rillo

The Opposite of Pleasant
Talk by Jose Santos Ardivilla
November 15, 2008, Saturday, 2-4 pm
Fee: Php120.00, discount for student groups of at least 30 persons
Lopez Memorial Museum

Fernando Amorsolo is often described as a gentleman. Perhaps it is for this reason that few associate him with political cartoons, described as ‘ungentlemanly art’ because of their subject matter and the manner in which these are dealt with in the artform. Amorsolo’s pen and ink cartoons, however, show that he ventured occasionally into the realm of the fool of the court, making funny but mostly true accounts and significant commentary of the day. To discuss the significance of Amorsolo’s cartoons and other editorial cartoons in the configuration of Filipino identity, the Lopez Memorial Museum, with the support of First Philippine Holdings, has invited Jose Santos Ardivilla to give a talk on November 15, Saturday, 2-4 pm.

Jose Santos Ardivilla, a cartoonist, has lectured on political cartooning and mass-produced art during the American Colonial Period in the Philippines and on the cultural value of political cartoons and Filipino komiks. Mr Ardivilla has represented the Philippines in the Nihon Shimbon Kyokai and Confederation of ASEAN Journalists, and in the Witty World Conference. Apart from exhibitions and articles for publications, Mr Ardivilla teaches at the UP Manila.

The talk complements the exhibition Tell-tale: The Artist as Storyteller, Amorsolo as Co-Author, ongoing until April 4, 2009. The Lopez Memorial Museum is at the ground floor, Benpres Building, Exchange Road corner Meralco Avenue, Pasig City. Museum days and hours are Mondays-Saturdays, 8am-5pm, except holidays. For more information, please call Ms. Fanny San Pedro or Ms. Jane Pagkalinawan at 6312417 or email admin@lopez-museum.org.