News and Features
If you want to catch a fish, you have to stir up the mud
[July 20, 2007/ Manila] - Who says art is only for rich kids? Ask Junie Pareño, 13; John Mark Agan, 14; and Ronald Oquindo, 15.
At the 2nd Biennial Terracotta Art Festival in Dumaguete City recently, these kids had the chance to visit art exhibits and interact with some of the world’s best terracotta sculptors, including Philippine National Artist in Sculpture Napoleon V. Abueva.
The three kids were enthusiastic and wide-eyed. “I’m so happy I’ve learned something today which can be useful later,” Ronald says in Ilonggo. He stopped going to school this year to take care of a younger sibling.
“Subong nga nakita ko na, gusto ko mag practice sang clay sculpture (Now that I’ve seen (sculptural works) I want to go into clay sculpture,” says John Mark, a former car wash boy.
Junie’s trip was also a respite from backbreaking work. Everyday, he and his father scavenge for plastic bottles which they sell at P15 a kilo while his three siblings are left at home. Their mother had left them to live with another man elsewhere.
The kids now live at the PLDT-Smart Amazing Gawad Kalinga Village in Barangay Sooc, Arevalo, Iloilo City. They are recipients of a community terracotta art project under the tutelage of veteran and multi-awarded Ilonggo painter and sculptor PJ Zoluaga, a Philip Morris Art Awardee who represented the country in the ASEAN Arts Competition in Vietnam in 1998.
“The Dumaguete trip has excited the kids who were amazed at the big pieces,” Zoluaga says. “They were able to see good quality works.”
The three would also soon discover that molding clay -- more than child’s play -- can also be a passport out of poverty and a ticket to fortune.
“Nami man gali mag obra sang terracotta kay puede man gali i baligya (It’s fun working with terracotta because you can also profit from it),” says Ronald. His family hardly makes both ends met: father Mauricio, 42, drives a passenger jeep and mother Marites, 34, accepts laundry.
Zoluaga says that terracotta art has the potential for livelihood opportunities. “It is sustainable because the material is environment-friendly.”
Through Smart, Inc. Zoluaga trained 48 children-residents of the GK Village in Sooc. Sixteen were chosen to participate at the two-day Harnessing the Skills of Children Workshop held last May at the Western Visayas College of Science and Technology (WVCST) in La Paz, Iloilo City. The workshop consisted of two parts: drawing and terracotta pottery, “just to get a feel of clay and sculpture.”
Three kids were also sent to Baguio City last June for exposure.
“These kids are so fortunate that they are given a chance,” says Abueva, who was one of the judges in the terracotta competition. “I know there are gifted children in the countryside.”
Abueva also said that early exposure to art teaches children simple virtues in life. “They are taught to work with the hands.”
Teaching these children the value of art is, however, a challenge. “We are dealing with an attitude, with a mindset,” says Maria Jane Paredes, Smart Public Affairs Group Visayas-Mindanao Manager.
Nonetheless, the kids have their own minds set already for terracotta art. “Gusto ko mag practice sang terracotta sculpture para maka obra guid sang damo. Bal-an ko, magbulig man gid ang Smart (I want to practice sculpting terracotta so that I can make a lot of them. I know Smart is willing to help),” John Mark says.
Through Smart’s individual and institutional partnerships, the kids did not only learn how to catch fish; they also have to learn to stir up the mud, to have something to eat for a lifetime. @
