freedom to the turtle!

we start the month off by setting a good friend free.. my turtle for 5 years, the time came to let him go. just dropped him in the greenbelt pond. hehehe.. now he has a better life. been doing a lot of commissioned functional wares lately, so i havent been able to make any large pots.. just started with the good old bamboo..

faceted bamboo

bamboo

well, i've settled back into my studio and am starting to get back in the groove. i took a 2 month "wet clay" break.. now, things are starting to get interesting again..

sliced box

square bamboo

bangka

mugs

chess pieces

trixie and jake wedding giveaways

rice bowls

box

the "manunggul" was donated to the Philippine Center and sits in the Consul General's office. Here with Consul General Cecile Rebong...

Consul General Cecile Rebong

making stands, which will be donated to the Philippine Center. fairly easy to make, thanks to my nail gun

break time... we made these pumpkins, but they got stomped on by anonymous trick or treaters.. heheehe, smashing pumkins!

i vant to saak your blaahd!!!

so we have worked hard for 8 months.. packed the pots, shipped them, unwrapped, built stands, painted them, drove a truck to new york full of works, unloaded, set up, priced, and openned.. it was a lot of work, but well worth it every step of the way. the opening was a success.. people were amazed, and so was i.. my work was well accepted in new york and i think i openned many doors to the future.. thank you to all those who helped behind the scene. there were so many of you.. stay tuned and look under exhibits/events for pictures of the actual exhibition......

we got help from all angles

outside the Smithsonian Museums, Washington DC

the main lesson i've learned from this experience is that in order to put up an exhibit like this, you have to get help from all angles. it cant be done on your own. i took care of the pots, everyone else helped with the rest. the unpacking, assembling, painting, press releases, writing, photographing, promoting, printing, attending, decorating, etc... i look forward to doing it all again next year

trixie and jake drove the pots from virginia to new york in a u-haul, nadine took care of us in the city

all the thanks to my mom!!!

prepare to take over the city...

breakdancers at central park.. astig!!!

NYC marathon

me trying to break my head

with the queen of New York... stay tuned for photos of the exhibition (under exhibits/events)

photos of my last firing...

Abs-Cbn came over to shoot for a segment of "Art Jam", they had all these cameras with all these wierd angles, and all these hot lights baking my bald head...

been working on a chess set... then took a form from a goblet i made in 1996, and recreated it. i'd love to play a game while using these goblets. check it out..

chess pieces

...and the show must go on....

september's been a busy month, kim has been working hard preparing for her exhibit.. although she lost a lot of pots in the last firing, its still a good show. we put the rejects on the wall of shame..









yep, she lost a few pots.. but got some juicy ones too.. check out the mug!!

...as for me, i've got a few tricks up my sleeve.. still preparing for 2 exhiits in the month of november. new york on the 7th and budjis on the 24th.. its the last 2 weeks of wet work, so here goes nothing. i'll start it off with pots that slump, that have the image of falling apart.. but still strong. like taking a photo of the work before the point of collapse.. its fairly difficult to do, but with precise timing it works out. the question is when to flip it, where to scratch, how to assemble, and when to stop.. i've almost finished my stock of clay..









its a new batch, 1200+ kilos of raw clay. yeah baby!!! let the madness begin!

"dont chop the tree!"

yep, its been a busy month in my studio. we just moved pottery schools to glorietta, check out "pottery school" to see the new space. i got my tickets to new york and reality is starting to kick in. this is it, the big one... getting excited and anxious.. this month i'll have to fire my kiln 3 times to prepare for kim's exhibition and for mine at budjis gallery.. i'll try to keep cool and fire normally. dont chop the trees!!! not the trees!!

by kim

fan pots by kim

shardman's laboratory...

the past few weeks i've been spending a lot of time thinking of what to make. how to make a show great... how to end a series... how to start a new one... a different way of working with the clay... a new way of forming...
so the time has come to end the series of rings placed on a pedastal while adding figures that dance on the circle. i think the time has come, where i have exhausted these forms. theyre getting a bit tiresome, and boring. i decided to make the last set of rings with the powerful tikbalang. half man-half horse, looking down, pensive... a self portrait i think.




while in korea, i watched some korean potters throw. while doing so, i have attempted to work a little bit more like them. careless with grace, highly skilled, and impulsive. rather than using just one finger from each hand, i have used the knuckle, palm, even the side of the finger. this technique is quicker, and knuckle marks leave a strong swirl that embeds the pot...

the last of a series...

"tikbalang"

i'm back in the studio preparing for an exhibition in november.. at budjis gallery. i just sent a crate full of nice pots to New York and my home feels empty, knowing i have to start from scratch to prepare for my exhibit here in the Philippines. but thats when good things happen, when you turn up the heat and start to feel the pressure...

triangular slabs

bulol and mother n child

an old form brought back to life

more pots

tea bowls with filter

pots stacking up, waiting for their time at budjis gallery

the 2005 Macsabal Festival... for more pictures, go to exhibits/events page. thanks

after the casting, the final product is finished after hours of editing... check it out, slinky in the foreground

Sister Garapati in modeling clay

in wax

...kim's bust model of Sr. Garapati is in its final stage of creation. the clay was cast in wax, then fine tuned... stay tuned for the final cast in bronze!!!

last firing over fired, runny glazes, warped works.. ARGGHHHHHHHHH!!!

we go back to the circular form, this time with a differen't theme. Dr. Cuanang commissioned me to make a sculpture of "mother and child." at first i was hesitant, but as the piece took shape, i found that the theme fits the form very well. maybe even the best so far. the curvy hips with the movement of left to right, atop of the circle, moves with grace and movement of direction just seems to never come to an end... similar to the circle.

finally, the works of kim.. this here, the late Sister Louisse Garapati, made of modeling clay will soon be cast in bronze. it will be a monument for a church in Laguna to honor her missionary work with Canossa church.

these pictures taken by my friend joey de cactus... he is a cactus freak, a cool cactus freak.. i think he has over 300 different types. once in a while, i give him a pot, he gives me some plants... these are his plants in my pots

yep, we fire another kiln. i figure if i had 2 previous firings go bad, third got to be a charm. i was correct, except for a large bowl that split. but overall, was a great firing... 14 hours and 45 min with good reduction and even temperature. maybe it was the lack of wind..

plates

bamboo pots, for Armida Singuion-Reyna

i kept myself busy during firing..








the two pictures above have slight defects. more pots for the trash.. at least i now know how to get a nice blue-white swirl in the middle of plates.

mga bulol

these are my babies, good runs, good movement, touched them up with gold leaf... theyre just waiting for their time to come, when the spotlight belongs to them.. october and november, 2 big shows, coming very soon... talked to josie natori today, she will cut the ribbon in my new york exhibit november 7. what an honor.. you should check it out

dwarfed clover tree

i found this small tree uprooted in my yard. dont know where it came from. so i took the roots and tied them around this sculpture. its been about a year now and the roots are pretty much set in place. and ganda ganda!!!

these are pots filled with cactus, each shape complements the plant. check them out...