Wazzup Pilipinas!?
A Celebration of Philippine Ceramic Art Brings Together Tradition, Innovation, and Global Dialogue
In the heart of Quezon City, a pottery studio became the beating heart of Philippine ceramic art, as artists, collectors, and enthusiasts gathered to witness where clay truly finds its pulse.
DILIMAN, QUEZON CITY — On a sun-drenched October afternoon, the unassuming Scout Tobias Street transformed into a vibrant epicenter of creative energy. Tahanan Pottery Shop and Studio's October Fiesta 2025, held on October 18, wasn't merely an exhibition—it was a living, breathing testament to the enduring power of clay as a medium of human expression, cultural identity, and artistic communion.
The event's evocative theme, "Where Clay Finds Its Pulse," proved more than poetic metaphor. It captured the essence of what unfolded over several hours: a celebration where ancient craft met contemporary vision, where individual creativity merged with collective spirit, and where the tactile, earthbound nature of ceramics connected disparate worlds.
The Visionaries Behind the Clay
At the helm of this creative odyssey stand Rita Badilla-Gudiño and Vicente Gudiño, the artist-founders whose dedication has transformed Tahanan Pottery from a studio into a movement. Rita, who balances her artistic practice with her role as associate professor at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, has become a bridge between academic rigor and passionate artistry—a rare combination that infuses Tahanan with both intellectual depth and soulful authenticity.
The couple's annual October Fiesta has evolved into a cornerstone event for the Philippine ceramics community, drawing attention not just locally but internationally. This year's edition would prove particularly significant, marking a convergence of Philippine and British ceramic traditions through an unexpected but profound artistic dialogue.
TIBOK: Twenty-Seven Hearts Beat as One
The centerpiece exhibition, "TIBOK: Vessels of Form and Pulse," opened with a private viewing and media call at 1 p.m., offering first access to an extraordinary collection. Twenty-seven Tahanan Pottery artists contributed works united by a singular, powerful symbol: the human heart.
In Philippine culture, the heart—or puso—represents far more than the biological organ. It embodies loob (inner self), damdam (feeling), and diwa (spirit). The artists' interpretations ranged from anatomically precise renderings to abstract explorations of rhythm, from vessels that literally pulse with implied movement to pieces that capture the heart's capacity for both fragility and endurance.
The exhibition demonstrated the remarkable diversity possible within a unified theme. Some pieces featured the heart as surface decoration, etched or painted with meticulous detail. Others transformed entire vessels into heart-shaped forms, challenging conventional pottery aesthetics. Still others explored the metaphorical dimensions—hearts cracked and mended with gold kintsugi-inspired techniques, hearts that doubled as functional teapots where liquid flowed through chambers like blood through ventricles.
This collaborative approach speaks to something Louisa Taylor, the event's international guest, would later identify as distinctly Filipino: the emphasis on community and collective creation over solitary artistic ego.
Hands in Clay: The Democratic Art Form
Between the exhibitions and performances, Tahanan offered something increasingly rare in contemporary art events: genuine accessibility. The Pottery Workshop invited visitors—regardless of experience—to engage directly with clay, to feel its cool resistance and surprising plasticity, to understand through touch what words cannot fully convey.
For a modest 250 pesos covering clay and firing costs, participants could create a piece that would undergo the alchemical transformation of the kiln. This democratization of art-making embodies Tahanan's philosophy: pottery isn't an elite practice but a human one, accessible to anyone willing to get their hands dirty.
Watching children and adults alike hunched over pottery wheels, their faces rapt with concentration, one witnesses something profound—the same absorption that must have captivated our ancestors who first discovered that earth mixed with water could be shaped and hardened into permanence.
When Continents Converge: A Transatlantic Dialogue
The event's international dimension arrived in the form of Louisa Taylor, a distinguished ceramist from London's Royal College of Art and author of "Ceramics Bible" and "Ceramics Masterclass." Taylor's books have become essential references for ceramic artists worldwide, and significantly, Rita Badilla-Gudiño is featured in these volumes—a recognition that places Philippine ceramic art firmly on the global stage.
Taylor's Philippine tour, spanning multiple venues from the University of the Philippines to Pinto Art Museum, Crescent Moon Pottery Studio, and various artist studios, represents more than cultural exchange. It signals growing international recognition of the Philippines' vibrant ceramic scene, which has long operated with extraordinary creativity despite limited resources compared to Western counterparts.
Her observation about the differences between Philippine and British ceramic cultures proved particularly insightful: "The sense of unity is powerful for Philippine artists in terms of bringing people together, whereas in the UK it's more of that sense of individuality as a medium."
This distinction illuminates fundamental cultural differences. British and broader Western art traditions have long emphasized individual genius, the singular artistic vision, the artist as isolated creator. The Philippine approach, rooted in bayanihan (communal unity) and collective endeavor, sees art-making as inherently social, collaborative, community-building.
Neither approach is superior; rather, they represent different philosophical orientations toward creativity itself. Tahanan's October Fiesta, with its multiple artists contributing to unified exhibitions, its workshops welcoming novices alongside masters, its integration of performance and visual arts, exemplifies this distinctly Philippine model.
LUAL: The Kiln as Birth
During her opening remarks, Rita Badilla-Gudiño offered guests a glimpse of "LUAL," one of her most renowned works. The piece depicts a kiln, but its symbolism extends far beyond mere representation of equipment. Lual can refer to the kiln itself in some Philippine languages, but the work's power lies in its equation of the firing process with childbirth.
The metaphor resonates on multiple levels. Both involve transformation through trial—raw clay becoming ceramic, pregnancy becoming motherhood. Both require patience, precise timing, and acceptance that the process cannot be rushed. Both carry inherent risks; not every firing succeeds, not every birth proceeds without complication. Both result in something new entering the world, something that did not exist before.
For Rita, who navigates the demands of teaching, artistic practice, and organizing community events, the connection between creation and labor—artistic and literal—holds personal significance. The kiln becomes a space of possibility and peril, where intense heat either strengthens or destroys, where the artist must trust the process even when unable to see what's happening inside.
Cultural Roots and Contemporary Expression
The integration of Kontra-Gapi (Kontemporaryong Gamelan Pilipino), the resident ethnic music and dance ensemble from UP Diliman's College of Arts and Letters, elevated the event beyond visual arts into multisensory experience. The gamelan's metallic resonances—bronze striking bronze in complex, interlocking rhythms—created sonic architecture that complemented the ceramic works' visual presence.
Equally compelling was the presentation by Carlito Amalla, a visual artist from the Agusanon Manobo tribe. Amalla's participation underscored important connections between contemporary ceramic art and the Philippines' indigenous pottery traditions, which stretch back millennia. Long before Spanish colonization, Philippine communities produced sophisticated ceramics for both utilitarian and ceremonial purposes. These traditions, often overlooked in favor of imported aesthetic values, deserve recognition as foundations of contemporary practice.
Amalla's work and presence reminded attendees that Philippine ceramic art doesn't exist in isolation from deeper cultural roots. The same earth that contemporary artists shape into gallery pieces once formed cooking vessels, burial jars, and ritual objects that sustained communities and honored the dead.
Beyond October: Extending the Pulse
The October 18 fiesta represented only the beginning of an extended series of events. On October 25, Tahanan hosted "Laguna Porcelain and Raku Clay Day," an immersive workshop and demonstration bringing together Rita Badilla-Gudiño and Louisa Taylor. This collaboration offered rare opportunity to witness two artists from vastly different contexts finding common ground in shared material.
Raku firing, with its dramatic process of removing red-hot ceramics from the kiln and plunging them into combustible materials, produces unpredictable, flame-marked surfaces. The technique originated in 16th-century Japan but has been adapted globally. Watching Filipino and British artists engage with this Japanese-origin technique in a Manila suburb perfectly encapsulates contemporary ceramics' global, hybridized nature.
The Grand Finale, scheduled for November 8, promises a year-end sale, raffle draw, discount coupons, and concluding workshop. These commercial elements aren't separate from the artistic mission but integral to it. Artists must sustain their practice financially; collectors and enthusiasts must be able to acquire works. The integration of sale and celebration, commerce and creativity, reflects a holistic understanding of the artistic ecosystem.
Clay as Language: A Philosophy of Making
Rita Badilla-Gudiño concluded the festivities with words that captured the event's deeper significance. She emphasized that clay transcends mere material, instead functioning as "a profound language of love and creativity." She urged everyone to "continue molding fire and sharing the spirit of Tahanan in every piece created."
This poetic formulation—molding fire—captures the essential paradox of ceramics. Artists shape soft, yielding clay, but the work only achieves permanence through fire's transformative violence. The hand molds; the flame completes. Creation requires both gentleness and intensity, patience and decisive action.
The invocation to "share the spirit of Tahanan" speaks to the studio's role as more than physical space. Tahanan means "home" in Tagalog, and the studio has cultivated exactly that quality: a place where artists feel safe to experiment, where newcomers receive welcome, where the competitive pressures that can poison artistic communities give way to mutual support.
The Philippine Ceramics Renaissance
Tahanan Pottery's October Fiesta 2025 occurred within a broader context: a genuine renaissance in Philippine ceramic arts. After decades where ceramics occupied a somewhat marginalized position within the Philippine art world—overshadowed by painting, sculpture, and new media—the past several years have witnessed renewed interest and energy.
Several factors contribute to this revival. Growing middle-class interest in handcrafted goods creates market demand. Social media allows ceramic artists to reach audiences directly, building followings independent of traditional gallery systems. Increased emphasis on sustainability makes ceramics' durability attractive compared to disposable alternatives. And perhaps most significantly, younger artists have embraced ceramics' expressive potential, pushing beyond purely functional work into conceptual and sculptural territories.
Rita Badilla-Gudiño's position at UP College of Fine Arts means she directly influences emerging generations of artists. Her students carry Tahanan's philosophy—accessibility, community, material respect—into their own practices, creating ripple effects that extend far beyond the Scout Tobias Street studio.
Where Clay Finds Its Pulse: A Concluding Reflection
The theme "Where Clay Finds Its Pulse" invites contemplation. Clay, after all, has no pulse of its own. Earth doesn't beat with life. But in human hands, shaped by human intention, fired by human-tended flames, and ultimately held, used, and contemplated by human communities, clay does acquire a kind of life.
The pulse comes from us—from the artists who shape, the fires that transform, the hands that hold finished pieces, the eyes that trace forms, the communities that gather around shared creative practice. Clay becomes the medium through which human pulses synchronize, where individual rhythms find collective tempo.
Tahanan Pottery's October Fiesta 2025 demonstrated this synchronization beautifully. Twenty-seven artists contributing to TIBOK. Performers and visual artists sharing space. Filipino and British traditions conversing. Experienced masters and first-time workshop participants working the same material. All finding their pulse in clay.
In our accelerated digital age, where screens mediate most interactions and algorithms shape perceptions, the stubborn materiality of ceramics offers necessary grounding. Clay demands presence. It cannot be shaped through screens or hurried by impatience. It requires touch, time, attention—the very things our contemporary moment seems designed to eliminate.
Perhaps this explains ceramics' resurgence. We hunger for the real, the tactile, the slow. We need to make things with our hands, to feel resistance and give, to collaborate with material rather than dominate it. We need, in short, to find where clay finds its pulse—which is to say, where we find our own.
The Grand Finale of Tahanan Pottery's October Fiesta 2025 will be held on November 8 at the Tahanan Pottery Shop and Studio, Scout Tobias Street, Diliman, Quezon City. For more information about workshops, exhibitions, and ceramic art classes, visit Tahanan Pottery's social media channels or contact the studio directly.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
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