History of Philippine Indigenous Creative Crafts Lesson 4

Filipino Creative Crafts

• The Philippines is a melting pot of cultures, each with their own unique art forms passed down through generations.
• These art forms range from intricate weavings to pottery, tattoos, and bamboo crafts, to music, dance, textile art, and wood carving.

History of Indigenous Crafts in the Philippines

• Precolonial period: scattered and casual instructing and learning of specialties.
• Spanish colonial period: communities were transformed into schools and workshops of carpentry, iron works, drawing, and painting.
• Modern period: Academia de las Bellas Artes (1785) and modern work and specialties were introduced.

Traditional Arts

• Weaving: basket weaving, backstrap loom weaving, headgear weaving, fishnet weaving, and other forms.
• Balangay: an Austronesian word for "sailboat", first mentioned in the 16th Century in the Chronicles of Pigafetta, and is known as the oldest watercraft found in the Philippines.
• Balangay is evidence of early Filipino craftsmanship and seamanship skills during precolonial times.

Carving

• The Tinaggu: a human-like pattern that symbolizes Ifugao ancestors who have attained the status of demigods in the afterlife.

American Colonial Period

• Crafts instruction in the Philippines reached its peak during the American period when the educational system was modified and extended to include modern work and specialties.
• Crafts subjects offered under the American system included painting, mold, engineering, photography, printmaking, move, theater, and silver screen.

Present Day

• Today, woodwork and mud demonstrating are still part of the present educational curriculum of the public grade educational system.
• Artworks have been replaced by painting, mold, engineering, photography, printmaking, move, theater, and silver screen.