A year after Super Typhoon “Yolanda” devastated the Visayas region, artists from Tacloban City in Leyte will be showcasing their artworks during the 6th ManilArt fair in the exhibition “Pagla-um: A Paper Clay Art Exhibit.”

 

ManilArt is the longest-running contemporary art fair in the Philippines. It will be held Oct. 16-19 at SMX Convention Center-SM Aura in Taguig City.

 

Artworks by the Tacloban artists are made out of paper clay or fiber clay, that is, any clay body to which processed cellulose fiber (paper being the most common) has been added.

 

Artist Raul Agner says Tacloban artists are still trying to recover from the disaster and have had difficulties getting art materials.

 

“Tacloban artists had a hard time outsourcing materials, so we welcomed the idea of using paper clay as a medium,” says Agner, who is also director of the Adamson University Museum and Archives in Manila.

 

“It’s a medium that is new to us, but in the process we discovered that it allowed us to express ourselves more in terms of recovery and our lives as artists.”

 

Pagla-um is a word that means “hope.”

 

Complementary Showcase

 

The exhibit will also be mounted at the Manila FAME, the premier trade show in the Philippines, which is being held along with ManilArt 2014 so as to provide a complementary showcase between Philippine visual arts and arts-and-crafts.

 

Another highlight of ManilArt 2014 is award-winning painter Romulo Galicano unveiling his large-scale work “The Triumph of Life over Death,” oil on canvas, 35×70 inches.

 

In an interview with the online news site Coconuts Manila, Galicano says ManilArt Foundation board member Amy Loste saw the unfinished work at his home.

 

“Loste asked me if I could showcase this work at ManilArt. It’s a good thing that I finished it in time for the fair,” he says.

 

But Galicano, noted for his highly realistic works, says “Triumph” is not for sale as it is his gift to his family.

 

“This is just a study because I am planning to make something bigger about typhoon Yolanda,” he says.

 

Galicano, a Cebuano artist, says he shares the hurt of the victims of the typhoon because he himself is Visayan.

 

He adds his work is a tribute to the “resiliency” and “the Never Surrender attitude” of Filipinos.

 

‘Crossing Borders’

 

Theme of this year’s ManilArt is “Crossing Borders.”

 

International artists are featured in the exhibit “Endangered Visions.” Curated by Cabanatuan-based artist Gromyko Semper, it features the works of Jana Brike, Otto Rap and Louis Markova (protégé of Salvador Dali).

 

Museo Orlina, the museum of prolific sculptor Ramon Orlina in Tagaytay City, will be displaying some of his pieces at the fair.

 

ManilArt 2014 will run parallel with the Department of Trade and Industry’s Manila FAME, the annual international fair of Philippine crafts and designs, which also runs Oct. 16-19 at SMX Convention Center-Mall of Asia (MOA) in Pasay City.

 

To ferry passengers between Taguig and Pasay will be Jeepney Tours, a 20-seater, especially fitted vehicle, complete with comfortably upholstered bus-type seats, air-conditioning, wireless karaoke, and refreshments cooler.

 

Trips from SMX Taguig to SMX MOA leave at 11 a.m., 12 nn; and 1, 3, and 4:30 p.m. daily.

Trips from SMX MOA to SMX Taguig leave at 11 a.m., 12 nn; and 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 p.m.

 

ManilArt ticket-holders will be given a 50-percent discount for Manila FAME. The same courtesy is given to Manila FAME ticket-holders when they visit ManilArt.

Agustin Goy

 

SM Aura Premier, together with the ManilArt Foundation, will host on Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. “Art—More Fun in the Philippines! A Close Encounter with Philippine Art,” an exclusive cocktail reception for the expatriate community and consular corps, in connection with the opening of the exhibit of ballet-inspired works by Agustin Goy.

 

Also that day, Faber Castell will host an art workshop at 2-4 p.m.

 

On Oct. 17, veteran artist Emmanuel Garibay will give a talk on art and the environment at 1:30 p.m.

 

For the talk, the ManilArt Foundation and the I Love Taguig program will bring in high-school students from public schools in Taguig.

 

Art-criticism book

 

On Oct. 18 at 3 p.m., the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Publishing House, named Publisher of the Year at the National Book Awards, will launch the art-criticism book “Kritik/Critique: Essays from the J. Elizalde Navarro National Workshop in Criticism of the Arts and Humanities, 2009-2012.”

 

The book is edited by crtic and scholar Oscar V. Campomanes, a profesor at Ateneo de Manila University and University of Santo Tomas Graduate School.

 

The features revised manuscripts submitted by fellows to the annual workshop in honor of National Artist Jerry Navarro organized and sponsored by the Varsitarian, the official student newspaper of UST.

 

UST Publishing House will also launch “From the Major Arcana” by Ralph Semino Galán, an intersemiotic translation of the 22 cards of the Tarot pack into a suite of poems, with pen-and-ink drawings by Wilfredo Offemaria, Jr.

 

Walking tours

 

On Oct. 19, ManilArt will conduct walking tours for public-school students from Taguig City.

 

Tours will be guided by ManilArt Gala Night and Fatima University Gallery director Robbie Santos.

 

Tours will be conducted from Oct. 16-19 at 2, 3:30 and 5 p.m.

 

“Tourists” will be accommodated on a first-come, first-served basis. Early reservations can be made through the ManilArt Facebook page.

 

This year’s ManilArt is presented by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts; Bago; I Love Taguig; LifestyleAsia; SM Aura Premier; SMX Aura Convention Center-Taguig; Citem; Manila FAME; JeepneyTours. Com; Coconuts Manila; King Sue; FaberCastell; Robinsons Luxuria; Ladder Events Production; and Museo Orlina.

 

ManilArt will have a strictly invitation gala opening on Oct. 15.

For more details, call or text 0917-3272925 or e-mail [email protected]. Visit www.manilart.com.