2011 Rewind (part 1)

We had an amazing 2011 at Escuela Taller, thanks to all our partners and supporters, friends, and, of course, our super dedicated staff. Our gratitude to the NCCA headed by its Chairman, Professor Felipe de León, Jr., to everybody in the Embassy of Spain, especially to H.E. Ambassador Jorge Domecq, and to our friends at the Oficina Técnica de Cooperación of the AECID with its coordinator general, Señor Vicente Selles.

Maraming salamat po!

Here are some vignettes of the year that was…

the ET family with HE Jorge Domecq, Ambassador of Spain, and AECID's Coordinator General Vicente Selles

in the mudéjar mood... presented by the carpentry workshop

Our Poster Girl. This was made by Mario Buendia of Chimalhuacán, México, one of our instructors in stone masonry and sculpture

What's on Rizal's mind? We don't really know, but here's the copy of the bookstand from the López Museum. Thanks to Katrina Holigores for the photo.

From "Homenaje" exhibit at Greenbelt 3

ET on tour: our students get to go out and see what the old masters have created.

With Pagsanjan officials at the Presidencia

At class with Miss Gie Santos in our home at the Revellin de Recoletos in Intramuros

Inside the Almacenes Reales building in Fort Santiago. We've been toiling away for months on this building. The first phase is now done, and we now need to replace the roof and put in the electricals, plumbing and furniture.

The exterior has its protective coat of lime (the final coat is yet to be applied) and the walls have been consolidated.

The project also called for the fabrication of traditional doors, windows and balusters. The windows here don't have the normal metal hinges but they pivot on dowels inserted into the lintels and jamb.

view of the window from inside. The heavily deteriorated adobe blocks and bricks have also been restored.

More to come from 2011 soon!

“Hidden Cities” on the History Channel Goes to Intramuros

Hidden Cities visits Escuela Taller: host Anthony Morse (center) and street walker Ivan Man Dy take a break with the Escuela Taller team at the Almacenes Reales in Fort Santiago

Anthony Morse and the rest of the Hidden Cities crew was in Intramuros with Ivan Man Dy to shoot the Manila leg of their Philippines feature. We met up with them at the Almacenes Reales building where one of our students showed Anthony how to work with adobe stone.

Airing on Wednesday, January 4th, 2100 hrs on the History Channel.

HOMENAJE

SMILE! :-) Its only Heritage!

Mexican stone mason and sculptor, maestro Mario Buendia with his student Cora. That's right, we have lady masons and stone carvers, too!

Musings on a 17th century building

Stone arches of the Almacenes Reales building, Fort Santiago

As our students work on the restoration of the building called the “Almacenes Reales” (Royal Storehouse), we can’t help but ask questions as our team goes through the layers of built history that make up this amazing edifice. It had stood as a ruin of the second world war until some years back, it was roofed over and finally made usable by the Intramuros Administration.

Now we are finding evidences of how big it originally was. In fact, the 300 square meter space one sees now is only a fourth of the original. It had lost its roof and all the timber inside vanished. What survives are a few badly weathered walls and the graceful stone arches that once held up the wooden floors.

Remnants of old plaster suggest two colors: Ochre Yellow and Terracotta Red, and the American-period photo of the building shows its formerly-plastered state.

When it is finished next year, it will become the Intramuros Visitors’ Centre. Hopefully, more people will see the value of restoring the Walled City when it opens, as it is where this great metropolis of ours began.

And maybe its time to give back to the city that made it all possible for everybody?!

Countdown to June 22

A copy of Rizal's bookstand being carved in wood by Roy Antipolo

Just under two weeks til the big Escuela Taller exhibition, June 22nd til the 30th at Greenbelt 3. Lots of beautiful works, great heritage, and opportunities to help out!

We’ve been hiding out in Intramuros for way too long, and its time to show the rest of the metropolis what our students have achieved. We’re proud of ‘em, you will be, too!

woodworks class of 2010: students of the renowned maestro Willy Layug

¡Feliz día de San Valentín! / Happy Valentine’s Day!

we HEART you... and you... and you... and you!

When we celebrate Valentine’s day, we often think of the things that we can give the special people in our lives. Here’s a story about a group of people who met a global organization that led them to a Baranggay Chairman who wished to give back to his community.

The tarp says it all! A wonderful start to a beautiful project of cooperation

It all began when the volunteer group Angel Brigade met to discuss a possible project with World Vision International (WVI). It involved the rehabilitation and construction of school buildings in the Malabon-Navotas jurisdiction of the Department of Education, since WVI in the Philippines is into sponsorships in education. After an initial ocular, a simple plan was hatched with then-baranggay chairman Max Bernardo of Concepción, Malabon: rehabilitate the 1960s F. Tiongson building of the Central Elementary School of Malabon, and Angel Brigade puts a livelihood training center for people living in the area.

Obviously, since you are reading this blog, the Escuela Taller Intramuros was tapped to reconstruct the aging and condemned school building. Through funding from the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional Para el Desarrollo, or AECID, it embarked on this milestone mission. (The Escuela Taller is a project funded by the AECID) It gave its students one simple thought in order to carry out the project in the best way possible: you were given the opportunity to study and learn a trade, now it is time for you to give back through this project, and complete the circle by passing the opportunity of having a good education to somebody else.

Ready to give back...

Turns out they were passing that opportunity to the students who are now able to use an additional fourteen (14) classrooms. Because of this, the Department of Education decided to add a high school into its current campus in Baranggay Concepción. And very soon, there should be livelihood training programs that will enrich the lives of many of its residents, courtesy of the Angel Brigade.

The finished school building: fourteen classrooms, faculty room, livelihood center all in one.

Thank you-s are in store, firstly to Cooperación Española for having supported the project to the very end (and being with us into the future!), the DepEd – especially its Malabon District Office, the Angel Brigade’s Angels (you all know who you are!), World Vision International, and everybody at the Malabon Central Elementary School.

Captain Max will sorely be missed. And as this is supposedly a happy day of giving and offering, we know that what he gave through his untiring efforts will bear fruit as generations walk through the halls of the F. Tiongson Building of Baranggay Concepción’s Central School.

That's Captain Max at the very left!

SPREAD THE LOVE!