Visual Arts and Crafts: Aklan Province Islands Philippines
The traditional weaving method of piña is called pili or
sinuksuk. This is a floating weft technique accomplished after the
cloth weaving. An intricate process for embellishing piña
fabric before it is cut and sewn into a gown. A typical design is
a cluster of five-petalled flowers surrounding a butterfly. This
is repeated in a series along the borders of the cloth.
The pili or sinuksuk tradition continues to live because of weavers
like Magdalena Marte and her niece Sosima de la Cruz. Marte was
conferred the Manlilikha ng Bayan Award in 1990.
An Aklanon visual artist who became prominent was Telesforo Sucgang,
painter and sculptor, and a contemporary of Jose Rizal, Felix Resurreccion
Hidalgo, and Juan Luna. Born in Banga, Sucgang was sent to Manila
to study at the Colegio de San Jose and Colegio de San Juan de Letran.
He then studied art at the Academia de Dibujo y Pintura. In 1879,
in the literary-artistic contest sponsored by the Liceo Artistico-Literario,
Sucgang won in the sculpture category an award for his entry of
Cardinal Cisneros’ bust, while Rizal won in the poetry category
for "A la juventud Filipina." In 1884, Sucgang won an
art scholarship to Madrid, where he did El desembarco de Magallanes
(The Disembarcation of Magallanes), 1888, also called the First
Mass in the Philippines, and La llegada de Legazpi y Urdaneta. (The
arrival of Legaspi and Urdaneta), which was used as the model for
the Legazpi monument at the Luneta.
Sucgang was a portraitist of such prominent people as the Young
King Alfonso XIII, Victor Balaguer, Marquez de Soller, and Gen Corte.
His works in sculpture were generally religious, although one piece,
Un centimo señorito (Xmall change Boy), represented a street
boy of Madrid. Upon his return to the Philippines in 1893, he taught
modeling and engraving at the Escuela de Artes y Oficio in Iloilo.
During the Propaganda Movement, Sucgang wrote for a paper called
Revolucion, published in Jaro, Iloilo; and during the Revolution
he rose to the rant of Major under Gen Martin Delgado. With the
American civil government established, he foudned the Instituto
de Visayas, 1900, in Jaro, the Institutto Aklan, and another school
in Capiz, In 1912 he founded the Colegio de Minerva in Manila. He
also continued with his portraits and easel paintings, and was a
favorite subjects of his genre works were fruits, wild game, and
rustic scenes.
Travel Quotes:
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. Marcel Proust
Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. Mary Ritter Beard Desserts Food, Philippine Cuisine
As a tropical oriental country it should come as no surprise there are many treats made from rice and coconuts. One often seen dessert is bibingka, a hot rice cake optionally topped with a pat of butter, slices of kesong puti (white cheese), itlog na maalat (salted duck eggs), and sometimes grated coconut. There are also glutinous rice sweets called biko made with sugar, butter, and coconut milk.
More details at Desserts Food, Philippine Cuisine Southern Philippine Cuisine
In Mindanao, the southern part of Palawan island, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, dishes are richly flavored with the spices common to Southeast Asia: turmeric, coriander, lemon grass, cumin, and chillies — ingredients not commonly used in the rest of Filipino cooking. Being free from Hispanicization, the cuisine of the indigenous Moro and Lumad peoples of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago has much in common with the rich and spicy Malay cuisines of Malaysia and Brunei, as well as Indonesian and Thai cuisines.
More details at Southern Philippine Cuisine |
