Asean potters converge at Ayala Museum

MANILA, Philippines - Sixteen Filipino potters and 10 other Southeast Asian ceramic artists will exhibit their wares in “Ring of Fire,” which opens on Sept. 21 at the Ayala Museum. The show runs until Oct. 4.

Featured potters are Jon and Tessie Pettyjohn of Pansol, Laguna; Hadrian and Camille Mendoza of Makiling, Laguna; Jaime de Guzman of Candelaria, Quezon; Colorado-based Nelfa Querubin of Iloilo; Manila-based sculptress Julie Lluch of Iligan; Pete Cortes of Bulacan; Pablo Capati of Batangas; Joe Geraldo of Bacolod, Iloilo City; Mark Valenzuela of Dumaguete; Winnie Go and Joey de Castro of Makati; Siegrid Bangyay and Lope Bosaing of Sagada; Ahadiat Joedawinata of Indonesia; Peter Low, James Seet, Lileng Wong, and Yeow Seng Cheah of Malaysia; Teck Heng Tan and Thomas Cheong of Singapore; Bathma Kaew-Ngok of Thailand; and Bao Toan Nguyen of Vietnam.

The participants will also interact in a two-day workshop where they will exchange information and discuss individual techniques and the creative process underlying their works. The workshop will be held at the Luna and Amorsolo rooms of the Ayala Museum from Sept. 22 to 23.

The exhibit features 64 works, which attest to the intensity, passion, and peculiar identity of Asean ceramic artists.

“The primary goal of this project is to foster a community among Southeast Asian peoples that celebrates both the diversity and unity of the regioin through the art and craft of pottery,” says Hadrian Mendoza, a recipient of a Toyota Foundation networking grant in November 2007.

“A network of individuals and the organization of potters, scholars, and cultural workers in Southeast Asia will revive traditional knowledge and skills in pottery a well as teach new techniques and best practices done by contemporary Asean ceramic artists,” he adds.

Mendoza has touched base with contemporary potters in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. He is searching for more modern practitioners of the ancient art of pottery in Brunei and Myanmar. He has also connected with various communities of potters in the Philippines.

A website for the project — http://www.seapots.com — has been created, aimed at increasing active exchanges among the region’s potters.

Also on display in the website are the works of various potters in the region including Serge Rega of Cambodia; Kurniawaty Guatama of Indonesia; Thailand-based Sisuk, a refugee from Laos; Cindy Koh of Malaysia; folk potters from various pottery centers in Myanmar; Krisaya Luenganantakul, Takood Nui, and Vipoo Srivilasa, Atiporn Thongborisut, and Somthavin Urasyanadana of Thailand; and Van Che Nguyen of Vietnam.

“A good representation of Asean potters will be the best evidence of strong cultural and racial links among various peoples in the region,” says Mendoza, who hopes for the continuity and expansion of the exchanges that he has established among fellow Asean potters.