The exhibition will showcase Stoneware pottery and Clay Monoprints. This will be the first time I will be exhibiting Clay Monoprints in the Philippines and I also believe that this will be the first time that Clay Monoprints will be exhibited in the country.

For enquiries please contact the #Bencab museum in #Baguio City, #Philippines via : bencabartfoundation@gmail.com

Stoneware Pottery

Clay Monoprints

Mia Casal

A fellow studio potter, Mia Casal, wrote a nice article after her visit to my studio and  the opening of my exhibition at the Bencab Museum. You can read the full story  here.

The successful Belgian Presidency of the European Council in the last semester of 2010 is over. The project of the Belgian Embassy in Manila to make a booklet about the activities of the Belgian citizens in the Philippines, did not push through, because of lack of a budget.

Nevertheless we would like to share with you the text we prepared for this publication.

In 2007, Putik, the representative organization of the potters in the Philippines, organized a competition “Tea-articulation” for teasets. The exhibition of the competing teapots was held in Manila at the Intercontinental Hotel in Makati. The jury awarded the first prize to Jeff van den Broeck, Belgian potter working and living in Baguio. His pots were praised for the harmonious symbiosis between East and West Pottery.

“When I moved to the Philippines in 1997, I intended to continue my production of stoneware.
I graduated in pottery and design at the Academy of Visual Arts (Anderlecht) Brussels in 1983 and had a modest production of pots as a sideline to my professional activities of being an information officer of the European Commission in Brussels.
The move to the Philippines did not turn out as I expected. Housing was a problem. The house we found didn’t offer enough space to install my kiln and other machines.
I took time off and started to explore the clay world in the Philippines, visiting potteries and sampling clay. I stayed for a short period of time in the pottery of Jon Pettyjohn, a well-known potter in Laguna and an authority in the field of pottery.
After a period of testing and sampling, I decided to import clay from Australia.
In the meantime, we found space to start making pots in Suello Village, Baguio. We needed space for the stock of clay, the gaskiln, the pugmill and the electric potter’s wheel, as well as a kick wheel on stand-by. Finally, we could start the production of stoneware pottery, fired in a gas kiln and reduced at 1280 grade Celsius.
Exhibitions in Manila and Baguio followed with some very successful sales, but it was also a very exciting period meeting and sharing with other potters.
One of my most elating moments was when we prepared an exhibition at the Maryknoll’s gallery in Baguio and I was told that Jaime de Guzman, a famous Filipino potter and painter, would be my partner.
More than 25 years ago, I saw a very interesting exhibition of Filipino potters in the Cultural Center in Manila. I was very attracted by the work of de Guzman. In the following years I tried to keep informed about his work and got some clippings from Filipino newspapers.
It was wonderful to meet the real man and his work in a shared exhibition.
Pottery leads to many meetings with craftsmen and teachers in the art world.
It also leads to some special meetings. One day, a Dutch nun named sister Francis came to see me in the pottery.
She had a project for the handicapped people she was caring for in her convent in Lupao. She wanted to initiate them to work with clay and after some hesitation I went over and worked with them for a week. Some were interested in working with clay while others went over to weaving and beadwork. We kept in touch and from time to time I still visit their place, where they now have clay, wheels and kilns.
Locally, I have a demand from the UP-Art department to help fire the work of students and their professor, Roberto Acosta. It became a routine job and yesterday, I got another call to reserve some space in my next firing for two sculptures. Roberto left UP recently, but we will still welcome him for the firings of his sculptures.
At the moment, we are intensively preparing for an exhibition. I don’t know yet when and where, because the pottery market has had a hard time in the last few years. Galleries have disappeared and the interest for new work is relatively low. But nevertheless, we hope to find a venue where the interest and sympathy for stoneware pottery is still blazing.”

We are happy to announce that the next exhibition will be held in the Bencab museum in Baguio from Nov 5, 2011 on.

Thanks for the music.

Mitch Lyons is the inventor of a rather simple method of making clay monoprints. “Since 1968 Mitch Lyons has been pioneering his image making from a slab of clay. Coloured slips using China clay and permanent pigments are brushed on, dried and rolled into the clay Once the slab is rolled flat, a moistened piece of paper/canvass is placed over the slab. Pressure is applied using a rolling pin to transfer the clay slips onto the substrate.”

Read more on the website: mitchlyons.com

The members of the Jury were:
Arturo Luz, Painter and national artist from Manila, former executive director of the Design Center of the Philippines.
Bencab, Painter and national artist from Baguio.
Nelfa Querubin, Filipina ceramicist living in the USA. In 2006 she had a retrospective exhibition of her work in UP Manila.
Tom Decker, American professor potter and clay sculptor in California. He had an exhibition in the Ayala Museum from January 25 2007 onwards.
Tessie and Jon Pettyjohn president of the PUTIK foundation of the Philippines handed out all the awards.

Tea Articulation is the first Philippine tea set competition and exhibition at the Hotel Intercontinental, Makati. The Awarding and Opening night will be on Wednesday January 24.2007 at 6 p.m. at the hotel lobby. the exhibition is organized with the association of Philippine Potters.
Jeff van den Broeck will submit and exhibit 9 tea sets. You can see most of the works in the teapots section.