SCULPTURE

Sculpture is the art of making three-dimensional figures and shapes. It may be

classified according to the process and material used, and the themes or
approaches employed. The two general kinds of sculpture are: free-standing and
relief. Free-standing or in-the-round sculpture has a form which can stand
independently in space. True sculpture-in-the-round maintains interest from all
points of view and the various elements—lines, textures, and motifs—flow
smoothly and dynamically all around the figure. Sculpture may also be in low or
bas-relief or in high relief. In low relief, the figures are slightly upraised on a flat
background. In high relief, the figures project more prominently from the
background.

In general, sculpture employs subtraction or addition of material or both as a basic

technique. Carving is a process of subtraction; while molding, casting, and welding
are processes of addition. Assemblage, a putting together of three-dimensional
elements and found objects, is generally a process of addition.

The Ethnic Tradition. Ethnic sculpture has been done in the traditional media of
wood and stone, by carving; in clay, by molding; and in metal, by casting. Carving
involves removing material from wood or stone by using a metal implement,
usually a chisel. Carving is found throughout the country and is used for
ornamenting daily objects like boats, ladles, furniture, and beams.

Wood carving in the Philippines is part of the ancient tradition of Malay wood
carving in Southeast Asia. The art has retained its vitality through the centuries,
from precolonial times to the present.

The native wood carving traditions are first of all found in the productions of the
cultural communities. The bulul are freestanding in-the-round images of granary
gods or anito, ancestor, and nature deities. They may either be in a standing or a
sitting position. If sitting, their rear ends do not touch the ground but are raised
above it, their hands touching their knees or their arms resting across their knees,
as in the traditional way of sitting in the outdoors when performing a ritual or
simply banding together to talk by an open fire in the cold mountain air. Figures
are frontal in presentation and planimetric, following the planes of the original
wooden block. Facial features are simplified and lightly incised, with a
geometricizing tendency. There is no intention to represent a particular individual,
as in a portrait, but the generalized features are deemed more appropriate in
representing anthropomorphic deities of an archetypal cast. The articulation of
the joints when the figure is in a standing position. Sometimes, stalks of rice
representing hair, rise from a small hollow in the head. As to its proportion, the
bulul has short limbs with a big head.

An important characteristic is that the bulul are generally found in pairs, male and
female. This pairing, which symbolizes the sexual principle, also signifies the
value that society places on fertility: the whole of nature—including all living
things of the earth, water, and sky—multiplies and flourishes from the union of
the archetypal man and woman. As granary gods, the bulul are found inside
granaries. They do not only guard the harvest from insects and animals, but also
guarantee its continued increase.

An exception, however, is found among the Kiangan Ifugao. Among them, the
bulul do not come in pairs but are single figures. This is because their function is
centered on healing rituals. According to Peralta (1977), a ritual figure
representing the sick person is carved, then called tat-tagu— no different in
appearance and style from the usual bulul. This is consecrated and used in the
healing ritual. If the person recovers, then its potency is recognized and is
properly called bulul.

The same may also occur with the carved figures of animals, such as the pig,
which is a common sacrificial animal. The carving of a pig is originally called
binabbuy; it is later also called bulul after it participates in a successful healing
ritual. Thus according to Peralta, the term bulul “suggests a generic term for types
of consecrated images whether of similar configuration but differing in function or
totally of different configuration and function” (Peralta 1977).

Among Cordillera houses, those of the Ifugao are the most sculptural. Wooden
posts are carved with circular rat guards that prevent rodents from entering the
house. Its walls and doors are of wood, usually carved with chevron patterns.
Beneath the Ifugao house is the hagabi, a prestige bench owned by the affluent
and carved from a single piece of hardwood. Its center is usually higher than the
sides, thus forming a low arch or a squat chevron shape. The ends of the bench
are carved with stylized animal heads, like the pig or boar. For the carving of the
bench, the affluent throw a feast, called cañao, during which the bench is brought
from the forest, where it has been carved, to the house of its owner. Other motifs
carved in relief in the Cordilleras are human figures, lizards, snakes, and crocodiles.

The Tagbanua of Palawan carve ritual animals from soft wood. Dyed black, these
are incised with geometric designs which show the natural light color of the wood.
Among the Mindanao groups, the Maranao and the Tausug have a lively carving
tradition. Called okir by the Maranao and ukkil by the Tausug, traditional carving
shares a number of designs, although with distinct regional variations. One
common motif is called sarimanok by the Maranao and manuk-manuk by the
Tausug. The motif portrays a bird with a fish caught in its beak, among the
Maranao, and without a fish, among the Tausug. Other Maranao motifs are the
naga (snake), pako rabong (fern), the floral, as well as the star-and-bud motif.
These motifs apply to objects in everyday life. Among the Maranao, okir designs
appear in the panolong or the flaring beams of the Maranao longhouse; in the
giyaina-panagan (prow) of the Maranao boat, in kulintang (gong) stands; and in
tools and utensils, like the reed flattener for making mats, ladles, and coconut
graters. Even the kubing (Jew’s harp), made from bamboo, is decorated with okir.
Okir designs embellish the sunduk, the boat-shaped grave marker of the Tausug.

A traditional casting process is cire perdue or “lost wax,” a Malay technology of

brass casting which began before the 15th century in Sulu and is used to the
present by a number of Philippine groups, such as the Maranao of Lanao and the
Tboli of Cotabato.

The Spanish Colonial Tradition. The Spaniards introduced the tradition of

carving in the hispanic manner. Sculpture found its widest and most popular
expression in the carving of santos. These were figures of Christ, the Virgin, and
the saints usually three-dimensional, made of wood or ivory for religious
devotions, and often placed in niches. As such they could also be planimetric, i.e.,
made up of flat two-dimensional planes of different shapes and arranged at angles
to each other. Santos were also made in relieve (relief) which could be basso
relieve (low relief), medio relieve (demi-relief), or alto relieve (high relief). Aside
from santos found in church, there were santos for domestic devotions. Santos in
churches were part of the retablo, the elaborate hispanic altar piece. In the houses
of the rich, small santos were kept in urnas or miniature freestanding altar pieces;
others were protected under virinas or cylindrical glass globes. During fiestas,
especially in Lent, the santos were brought out of churches and homes and
paraded on elaborate carrozas (floats) or andas (platforms).

The first santo came to the Philippines with the introduction of Christianity, the
first recorded being that of the Santo Niño of Cebu which was a gift of Magellan
to King Humabon’s wife in 1521 and was found by Legaspi’s soldiers after their
attack on the village in 1565. With the intensive activity of church building that
occurred in the first centuries of Spanish colonization, more santos were needed
for the retablos of the churches. During the centuries of the galleon trade, each
galleon brought with it its patron image to guide and protect it during the long voyage.
The most famous of these santos was Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje
(Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage or Our Lady of Antipolo), an image
of the Inmaculada Concepcion which accompanied the galleon on several
successful voyages on the Manila-Acapulco trade, and was brought from Mexico
by Governor General Niño de Tabora in 1626. In Naga, Nuestra Señora de la
Peñafrancia (Our Lady of Peñafrancia) also draws large crowds to her shrine. Of
the figures of Christ, among the most popular is the Quiapo Nazareno
(Nazarene), an image brought from Mexico in the 1620s.

While some santos came from Spain through Spanish friars and officials, an
undetermined number from Mexico, and some ivory images from Portuguese
Malaca, in time most of the santos were made in the country by Filipino and
Chinese santeros (carvers). Fernando Zobel de Ayala suggests that the
introduction of foreign prototypes occurred within a short period of time so that
by the 17th century there were enough carvers in Manila and elsewhere to meet
the demand for santos. All the Christianized regions including the Ilocos, the
central Luzon provinces, and Visayan Provinces such as Cebu, Bohol, Samar, and
Leyte also had their santeros. Active centers were Paete, Laguna and Betis,
Pampanga which have kept up the tradition to the present.

Santos carved for churches before the 19th century tended to be squat, with an
accent on the face and hands, but almost always iconographically accurate. By the
19th century, the making of santos had reached a high point of artistic achievement.
In Manila, particularly in the districts of Quiapo and Santa Cruz, there were excellent
artisans who established shops or ateliers. Before the 19th century, santos were made
by anonymous wood carvers; but in the mid-19th century, with the rise of the native
merchant class from the opening of the country to international trade, higher artistic
standards were demanded and a number of sculptors achieved considerable fame,
such as Leoncio Asuncion, Romualdo de Jesus, Crispulo Jocson, and Isabelo Tampinco.
The second half of the 19th century saw the rise of secular themes in sculpture and
the expansion of ilustrado art patronage. Known sculptors of the time were
Bonifacio Arevalo, Graciano Nepomuceno, and Anselmo Espiritu who began a
trend in genre sculpture and introduced nationalist themes, sometimes anticlerical.

The art of making santos has continued to the 20th century, particularly in Paete
where wood carving practiced at present owes much to the traditions established
by the elders and the previous generations of Paete woodcarvers. Prominent
among them are Mariano Madriñan and Jose Caancan. The former received high
distinction at the Amsterdam exposition in 1883 (a year before Juan Luna won
honors for Spoliarium) when his Mater dolorosa (Sorrowful Mother) won a gold
medal over European entries, thereby drawing the attention of King Alfonso XII
of Spain. It was during Madriñan’s time that the santero’s art reached its peak—
with the highly realistic and expressive santos, lifesize or larger.

Paete wood carvers introduced such refinements as movable, ball-and-socket joints

at the shoulders, knees, elbows, and even fingers so as to make possible the
portrayal of different gestures in a series of episodes, as in the passion of Christ.
Delicate features and expressive, sad eyes are the hallmarks of Paete woodcarving
art. Old secrets of the trade include lightbrown wavy hair made of piña fiber;
eyelashes from monkey’s hair; and eyes of glass that are blown, shaped, and
tinted in the center.

In Paete, families specialize in particular aspects of the art of wood carving, from
the making of tools to the final painting and varnishing. Several generations of
wood carving families in Paete are the Madriñan, Caancan, Caguin, Cajipe,
Edjawan, Madridejos, Fadul, Ac-Ac, Adao, Afunggol, Cagayat, Cagandahan, Baet,
Bagabaldo, Baldemor, and Palatino.

The holy figures have their own prescribed iconography by which they are
identified. San Roque points to a wound on his leg while a dog stands by his side,
alluding to the ravaging plague and the dog which miraculously saved him. San
Isidro Labrador stands with a shovel, at the same time that an angel works the
field with a plow while the landlord gapes in amazement. Santa Lucia, who was
blinded by her persecutors, holds her eyes on a tray.

The making of the polychromed santo, whether in the round or in relief, entails a
painstaking process from the initial carving of the wood to its ornamentation.
This involves laying on a whitish coat of gesso on the wooden surface to make it
nonporous to paint or gilt. Medieval artists in Europe produced it from a mixture
of plaster (dehydrated calcium sulphate) and size or glue. Santeros in the
Philippines, like those from Paetc, used materials, such as local kesong puti or
white cheese mixed with glue. After priming with gesso, flesh-colored paint was
applied directly onto the surface. In the 16th century a non-glossy matte finish
was preferred in the interest of realism. Local santeros have also used the “ivory
finish” which simulated the milky pallor of ivory, considered an appropriate and
precious material for the santo. The contrary is also known where ivory was
painted with flesh tones similar to those of the wooden images.

It is the process of encarnacion which maintained the tradition of giving a fair

complexion to holy figures, since it defined flesh color and tone in Caucasian
terms. For colonized societies, this gave both the saints and the colonial rulers a
common cast and became influential in local standards of beauty. The process
was applied to formal santos, particularly of the classical and baroque style; but it
was not strictly observed in informal or folk santos, the characteristics of which
were closer to the common people.

Occupying an important place in the history of Philippine art is the carving of

ivory using elephant’s tusks from Africa and India obtained in the Philippines
through trade with China and mainland Southeast Asia. Ivory carving according to
the Western tradition was introduced in the last quarter of the 16th century by the
Spaniards, who first commissioned carvers from Southeastern China for images of
the crucified Christ and of the Virgin Mary. By the first third of the 18th century,
accounts extolled the artistic skills which Filipinos learned from the Chinese.
Finely carved santos imbued with Oriental features (oval face, heavy lidded
almond eyes, stiff postures) became popular gifts and souvenirs which were
shipped to Spain and Mexico. It may be surmissed that the trade in Philippine
ivory images was far greater than those dealing with similar ivories from Goa
(Portuguese India), Sri Lanka, China, and Mexico.

Whole statues were carved in the round from segments of tusks. In many
instances only the heads, hands, and feet were made of ivory and attached to a
carved wooden body or pyramidal conical bastidor (framework) which was meant
to be covered with vestments of cloth or metal. In some impressive examples, a
wooden structure was completely enclosed in several pieces of ivory to produce
an even larger santo. Perhaps the oldest dated ivory work dating from 1587 is a
crucified Christ in the church of the Magdalena in Sevilla; it is the prototype of
many later crucifixes, with arched back and head pointed upwards. A possible
early piece is the set of ivory head and hands of Nuestra Señora del Santissimo
Rosario (Our Lady of the Holy Rosary) or La Naval, commissioned in 1593 and
presently venerated in the Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City. Dated 17th-
century pieces are the San Sebastian (St. Sebastian), Ignacio de Antioquia
(Ignatius of Antioch), and the image of the crucified Christ and others in the
church of Santa Maria in Medina de Rioseco, Villadolid, Spain, which are
masterpieces of their genre yet are unusual for some of the atypical “open” poses
of the saints; and the San Francisco and Santo Domingo in the monastery of San
Esteban, Salamanca, Spain, which still manifest characteristics of the earlier,
archaic style, such as elongation and the graceful curve of the body following that
of the tusk from which it was carved. A still extant set of 12 ivory figures for a
choir lectern, including a Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion (Our Lady of the
Assumption) and various saints, reached Mexico circa 1770 and was a gift to the
cathedral there from the Archbishop of Manila. Among the most talented of the
ivory carvers were Juan de los Santos who carved the flawless crucifix in the
San Agustin Church, and Leoncio Asuncion, who worked in the artistic enclave of
Santa Cruz, Manila. Like his colleagues, he also carved in wood. Two of his
religious works may be seen at the Ayala Museum in Makati. Graciano
Nepomuceno was the last of the “old school” of ivory carvers whose works
express sophistication of technique. Today, occasional ivory statues are done by
a few artists, like Fred Baldemor and Esmeraldo Dans—both from Paete, Laguna.

In his study of religious art, Galo B. Ocampo classified santos into formal and
informal types. Formal types were the santos found in churches, which thus
showed a high level of artistry. Large in size and richly ornamented, these were
done under the strict supervision of friars with respect to correct iconography or
prescribed content and manner of representation in order that no “pagan” or
heretical element was introduced. On the other hand, the informal santos, usually
smaller in size, were used for private devotions and were freer in execution, thus
showing folk qualities.

Fernando Zobel de Ayala (1963) classified the santos into classical, popular, and
ornate. Classical santos either came from Europe or were done locally with a
strong academic influence. Often carved in wood, these observed the classical
proportions of 7 1/2 to 8 heads to the standing figure. The representation of drapery
was in regular, symmetrical folds; the general appearance of the figure was one of
formality, balance, and restraint. In a style different from the classical, the ornate
santos also showed strong European influence from the school of the Spanish
artists Pedro de Mena and Alonso Cano who emphasized emotionalism and
realistic detail. Of wood or ivory, they were more richly embellished and more
expressive than the classical. The third group, the popular santos, did not observe
classical proportions; thus they often had big heads and squat or elongated bodies.
Their features were more native than the classical and baroque types which were
of a Caucasian cast with their deep-set eyes and aquiline noses. It is possible that
the early folk santos continued the precolonial sculptural tradition in the carving
of anitos marked by animistic vigor.

Jose (1991) has proposed that the santo be classified according to the scheme
found in church inventories, i.e., de bulto (from which is derived the Filipino term
for the statue rebulto), for fully carved figures including drapery; de gozne, for
figures that were dressed but had articulated hands; and de bastidor, for figures
that were a mere head and hands on a frame.

Aside from the santo, more mundane types of carving were the result of the
hispanic heritage. Carvers in Pakil, Laguna make the pahiyas-tambag (ornamental
toothpick trees and fans). The Tree of Life centerpieces have detachable branches
to embellish colorful rice dishes, tufted birds and airy butterflies with curling
antennae which are arranged in tapering, graduated tiers above a circular base like a
symmetrical spreading bouquet. The fans, in natural ecru like the trees, are carved
from palo sapis, a single block of softwood, with thin and even blades spreading
out in feathery grace. The fan sports a chain of two complete rings with a
pendant bird at the end of the handle, all made from the same single bar of wood.

Wood carving also plays an important role in furniture making, as seen in furniture
made in Betis, Pampanga. Its high moments were in the mid-19th century with
the advent of cash-crop agriculture, and in the 1960s when it benefited from the
National Cottage Industry and Development Authority program promoted by the
Philippine government to uphold the development of cottage industries. Wood-
carving tools, so important to the art, are produced in Apalit, Pampanga. The
woods used are narra, of the red and yellow varieties, and acacia. Carvers who
begin in their teens, execute design patterns on cardboard cutouts. The shops
produce gallineras (benches), aparadores (cabinets), console tables, coffee tables,
and headboards. The gallineras of Betis show the furniture at its most refined
development: the narra in two tones, polished and varnished to a high sheen; and
the square panels featuring carved rosettes flanked by small, neatly turned
balusters for the back rest and the enclosure below. More colonial aspects are the
tables and the armoires with motifs derived from European period-furniture
styles. Recognizably baroque are the motifs of the unfurling scrolls meeting at the
center, the concave shells everting delicately around the edges, the medallions and
cartouches, and the occasional broken pediments and salomonic columns. These
motifs are found in conjunction with elements of local origin, such as rosettes and
other organic curvilinear motifs, as well as the row of small balusters. Betis wood
carving is distinguished by the motifs and figures carved in bold relief or intricate
openwork as the hardwoods permit. It likewise exhibits a heavy, opulent
character from baroque influence.

During the Spanish colonial period, sculpture in stone were often used to
ornament facades. These were made into escudos or stone reliefs of coats of arms
usually ornamenting the main portal of a building. A striking example of stone
relief is the Rendicion de Tetuan (The Surrender of Tetuan) found in the San
Joaquin Church in Iloilo and the relief of San Cristobal, amidst a tropical
landscape, found in the facade of the Miag-ao Church in Iloilo.

Metal casting, although to a limited degree, was also practiced in colonial times.
An effigy of King Carlos IV, cast in the foundry of Manila, was installed in front
of the Manila Cathedral where it still stands today. Silver was a material used for
casting or chasing small figures like reliefs that decorated the portapaz (a small
tablet, generally of silver, with a religious image in relief in front and a handle at
the back). A rare example of silver sculpture is the image of San Pedro de
Alcantara found in the Nagcarlan Church in Laguna. Folk works that use brass
casting are the anting-anting (talisman). Rooted in the Spanish period’s religious
traditions, brass anting-anting take various forms, such as medals, triangles,
crosses, the crucified Christ, and the Santo Niño. Often a script in corrupt Latin
is found on the faces of the medal-type anting-anting. Cavite and Batangas are the
two provinces where brass anting-anting are made.
The American colonial and contemporary traditions. With American
colonization at the turn of the century, new influences in sculpture appeared,
particularly that of art noveau and art deco. Isabelo Tampinco pioneered in the
local art noveau idiom by introducing indigenous motifs like the pineapple and the
anahaw leaf for his carvings. Art noveau’s curvilinear style and art deco’s
geometric lines, applied to furniture and to all kinds of functional objects,
proved to be a lively creative stimulus to local carvers.

The American colonial period is dominated by the classical sculpture of

Guillermo Tolentino. Other artists who carried on this tradition are
Anastacio Caedo, Ambrosio Morales, Froilan Madriñan, and Jose Mendoza.
Ting Ping Lay is among the modern figurative sculptors most active in the 1950s,
while Fred Baldemor emerged with his classico-romantic portraits in wood and
ivory in the 1970s. Danilo Dalena, Julie Lluch, Agnes Arellano, Dan Raralio,
and Peter de Guzman are among the figurative-expressionist sculptors.

The introduction of modern sculpture is associated with the work of

Napoleon V. Abueva who donated modern sculpture for several decades.
Abueva used the so-called noble material—hardwood, metal, and stone—
for sculpture, whether these be in relief or in the round. He lent sculpture
the quality of living fluidity and the impression of movement and action.

Bronze casting, practiced extensively during the pre-World War II period by

sculptors who made public sculptures for monuments, is hardly practiced by
contemporary artists because of its prohibitive cost. Abdulmari Imao is known
for his casted works depicting modern interpretations of traditional okir motifs,
like the sarimanok.

The traditional methods of creating sculpture by carving or casting have been

augmented by contemporary techniques or forms—like welding, assemblage, and
the mobile—and by the use of non-traditional material, like glass, plastic, bamboo,
and even vegetable matter and earth.

Welded sculptures involve making objects by bonding together sheets of metal by

electric or acetylene torch. Eduardo Castrillo dominated the field of sculpture in
the 1960s and the 1970s by creating monumental and environmental sculptures, in
the abstract and figurative idiom, and some with social and historic meanings, in
the medium which has become his trade mark—welded metal. Ildefonso Marcelo
did abstract works in concrete and stone in the 1960s. Solomon Saprid,
J. Elizalde Navarro, and Virginia Ty-Navarro also use welded bronze.
Arturo Luz created abstract pieces using painted metal pipes.

Assemblage or “putting together,” a term adopted by French artist Jean Dubuffet

in 1953 for a series of lithographs which he made from paper collages, is a relief
made of pieces of paper, wood scraps, sponges, found objects, and other debris.
Spanish painter Pablo Picasso was one of its earliest practitioners, using found
objects and discards. While assemblage may include collages and small
constructions, in its more recent development it puts together larger elements and
actual objects from stuffed animals to toothbrushes. An American phenomenon in
the mid-1950s, it reflected the brashness of contemporary American society.
American pop artist Robert Rauschenberg made assemblages of an aggressive
character, one with a stuffed goat enclosed in a rubber tire and another in an actual
mattress dripped over with paint. Assemblages often break down the distinction
between two-dimensional and three-dimensional art or between painting and
sculpture.

In the Philippines a number of artists have created assemblages from various

objects and have embedded their creations with a distinctive character or narrative
flavor. Lamberto Hechanova and Edgar Doctor have done three-dimensional
works with machine parts to build torsolike constructions. Active practitioners in
this medium are Gabriel Barredo and Moralde Arogante with their playful, highly
imaginative works. Roberto Feleo has brought out new aspects in assemblage.
His works, called Sapin-Sapin, show a conglomeration of pop, traditional and
historical images, objects and icons, both made and found.

The mobile is a three-dimensional work of sculpture which, instead of standing on

the ground or on a horizontal base, is suspended from the ceiling or from a
projecting element. It usually consists of one or several balancing rods, principal
and secondary, from which hung a number of elements, figurative or non-
figurative, in varying lengths. American sculptor Alexander Calder was the first to
create mobiles, inspired by simple organic shapes. He was followed by the
constructivists who worked in chrome and plexiglass, with their transparent and
reflecting qualities.

A mobile can be considered a simple form of kinetic sculpture or sculpture in

motion because it moves with the wind or vibrates with the surrounding air.
Furthermore, its suspended form casts moving shadows and light reflections on
the environment. As such, an essential character of the mobile is that it creates a
continuous interplay of the sculptural form with its surrounding space. This
interaction of solid and space is part of the concept of mobile sculpture in which
the work is viewed not only in terms of its solid mass but also in terms of what is
called its “virtual volume,” as space becomes a positive value.

Castrillo has done mobiles in chrome and plexiglass with modular elements.
Ramon Orlina has also done mobiles in painted metal. Simpler and more familiar
types are wind chimes which have the additional element of sound. Popular
mobiles of Philippine folk art are the colorful kiping chandeliers of rice wafers
decorating the Pahiyas festival in Lucban and Sariaya, Quezon.

Contemporary sculptors continue to experiment and develop new materials.

Hechanova introduced in his works colored metal and plexiglass. Caedo, a
classicist, experimented with “cold casting,” a process involving the use of marble
dust and polymers. Orlina pioneered in glass sculpture, where glass blocks are
shaped by abrasives and adhesives to form prismatic or anthropomorphic shapes.
Francisco Verano has used bamboo for sculpture, while Impy Pilapil uses glass
with serigraphed patterns, stone, iron rods, galvanized-iron sheets and screens for
her sculptures, some of which are decorative as well as functional, like her
furniture pieces. Kinetic sculpture, which adds movement to the art form
traditionally presented as static, had its earliest expression in the performance
artist David Medalla’s Bubble Machine. Earth art might be considered a new
type of sculpture. Here the earth itself is modified by the positioning of material
like poles, windbreaks, or walls, or is dug and rearranged. In the 1970s Raymundo
Albano advocated this type of medium among artists of Mount Makilng. Junyee
is also among the foremost practitioners of this art. The earth’s bounty of flora
has been utilized by Junyee for his sculptural works. Roberto Villanueva’s maze,
made of runo and other local reeds, is an example of this type of sculpture.
• A.G.Guillermo/S.A. Pilar/I. Cajipe-Endaya with section on ivory by R.T. Jose

References

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________. Sculpture in the Philippines: From Anito to Assemblage and

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Imao, Abdulmari. “Muslim Brassware: Top Brass from our Deep South.”
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by Alfredo R. Roces. Manila: Lahing Pilipino Publishing, Inc., 1977.

Jose, Regalado Trota. Simbahan: Church Art in Colonial Philippines

1565-1898. Makati: Ayala Museum, 1991.

Peralta, Jesus. “Shell Ornaments.” In Filipino Heritage: The Making of

a Nation. Vol. II, 500-504. Edited by Alfredo R. Roces. Manila: Lahing Pilipino
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________. “Wooden Gods and Other Carvings.” In Filipino Heritage:

The Making of a Nation. Vol. II, 314-318. Edited by Alfredo R. Roces. Manila:
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Zobel de Ayala, Fernando. Philippine Religious Imagery. Manila: Ateneo

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