Red Clay Pagdamilian

RED CLAY POTTERY CRAFTS featured in Biyahe ni Drew last July 22, 2016

7/27/2016

Road Trip to La Union: A 'Biyahe ni Drew' Itinerary

7/27/2016

La Union is know for its pristine beaches and diverse food. This province knows exactly how to make a good balance between old and new influences to give way for newer and fresher perspectives.

La Union is also know as "THE SURFING CAPITAL OF THE NORTH"

How to get there:
If you’re coming from Manila, you will have to travel by land for six to eight hours as traffic is, as always, unpredictable.
But the long and tedious travel sure is worth it as La Union has a lot of wonderful offerings in store for anyone who wishes to experience its heavenly beauty.

Tourist Activities

Pottery Lesson @ Red Clay Pottery Crafts
San Juan, La Union

Red Clay Pottery Crafts is more than just a simple pottery house, it also offers pottery lesson for tourists or even for "Ghost" fans who wants to experience molding their own pots.

Remember this scene?

Surfing @San Juan, La Union

If you are a beginner, no worries because most resorts in San Juan offer surfing lessons and surfboard rentals. Surf's up!

Grape picking @Lomboy farms(vineyard)
Bauang, La Union

Bauang, La Union is already known for its grape farms where visitors can tour around the vineyard. If you are craving for some grapes, you can also harvest your own. Grapes harvested are priced at P250.00 per kilo.

Tourist Destinations

Tangadan Falls
San Gabriel, La Union

If you are hungry for an adventure, this one is for you. You can reach this breath-taking view after two hours of trekking into the mountains. There is no entrance fee (or some sort), although you have to pay for a tourist guide (if you want to reach here safely).

Pugad Adventure Park
Pugo, La Union

Tired of Vitamin Sea? You can head to this adventure park and try their zip lines, rappelling, all-terrain vehicle(ATV) rides and their star attraction, Australian rundown.

Bahay na Bato Open Art Gallery
and Pebble Beach
Luna, La Union

The beach of Luna, La Union have no sand, only pebbles all the way to the sea! And just recently, the Bahay na Bato (House made of small rocks) was built to attract more tourists. You can also see other figures surrounding the house made of... of course, rocks. You can also pick some pebbles on the beach as souvenir. So basically, what you will see here are rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Yay!

Where to eat

Halo-Halo de Iloko
City of San Fernando, La Union

Their halo-halo is a definitely must-try food whenever you visit La Union. And of course try other ilokano dishes on their menu as well.

These are just some of the many places to explore in La Union. This province is a gem, never miss a chance to visit it!

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World's Oldest Pottery

7/13/2016

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Ancient pottery, arguably the world's most commonly practiced form of ancient art, first appeared during the Upper Paleolithic in the Moravian basin of Central Europe. Unlike other types of plastic art, pottery was invented then lost, then reinvented then lost again, before finally becoming established around the world during the Neolithic period (c.8000-2000 BCE). Only in China was ceramic art practiced continuously from its first known appearance in 18,000 BCE.

Venus of Dolni Vestonice (26,000 - 24,000 BCE)

The Czech prehistoric sculpture known as the Dolni Vestonice (Vestonicka Venuse) is the oldest known work of terracotta sculpture in the world. Belonging to the genre of Venus figurines carved predominantly during the era of Gravettian art, this astounding item of prehistoric art was found at a Stone Age settlement in the Moravian basin south of Brno, in the Czech Republic.

The Venus of Dolni Vestonice was found in two pieces in late July 1925, buried in a layer of ash at a paleolithic encampment in Moravia, formerly a region of Czechoslovakia.

Measuring 4.4 inches in height and 1.7 inches in width, (111 mm x 43 mm) the Venus of Dolni Vestonice is made from local clay mixed with powdered bone and fired in an earthen oven at a relatively low temperature about 1300 F, or 700 C. Her characteristics are consistent with those found in most other ivory or stone Venus figurines from the same period. For instance, she has a featureless face, devoid of any detail, enormous pendulous breasts, and wide hips and buttocks. An uneven crack runs along her right hip, while there are four holes in the top of her head, possibly fixture points for herbs or flowers.

Xianrendong Cave Pottery (c.18,000 BCE)
"World's Oldest Ceramic Pots"

Over the past 20 years, a series of exciting discoveries in the field of prehistoric art have pushed back the earliest date for the invention of pottery by more than 10,000 years. In June 2012, for instance, an article in Science magazine (June 2012), confirmed that fragments (shards) of Chinese pottery discovered in Xianrendong Cave in China's Jiangxi Province had been radiocarbon dated to 18,000 BCE, making them the oldest ceramic art ever found.

Xianrendong Cave (known as "Immortal's Cave" in Chinese) is located at the foot of Xiaohe mountain, in Wannian County, in northeastern Jiangxi, in southeast China. The province of Jiangxi stretches from the Yangzi River in the north to Fujian in the east, Guangdong in the south, and Hunan to the west.

Similar to the ceramic vessels found at Yuchanyan in Hunan province, the sherds discovered at the Paleolithic hunter-gatherer cave site of Xianrendong were the remains of coarse-pasted, round-bottomed, bag-shaped jars with plain or primitively decorated walls. Made from clay, with added sand, quartz and feldspar, they were used for boiling, baking and steaming food, rather than storage, as is evident from the burn marks and soot on their outside surfaces, caused by being placed over fires. The archeological layer in which the ceramic fragments were found, also contained a large quantity of clam and snail shells, clearly indicating the popular Chinese food of the time.

Jomon Pottery (c.14500-1000 BCE)

In prehistoric art, the term "Jomon" (which means "cord pattern" in Japanese) refers to the ancient pottery produced by Japan's first Stone Age culture, during the period 14,500 and 1000 BCE. It was christened Jomon pottery by the American zoologist Edward S. Morse (1838-1925), who excavated the first known examples of Jomon ceramic art from the Omori shell-mound near Tokyo. Because all the recovered shards had marks of twisted cords on their exterior surfaces, Morse gave them the name "Jomon". In fact, the name "Jomon" is now used to describe the entire prehistoric culture of Japanese art, a culture which began in the era of Paleolithic Art, and continued throughout the period of Neolithic Art, before finishing about 300 BCE, towards the end of the Iron Age.

All Jomon vessels were hand made, without the aid of a potter's wheel, which wasn't invented until about 4,000 BCE. The artist therefore built up the pot from the bottom with coil upon coil of soft clay, mixed with a selection of adhesive additives, including lead, mica and crushed shells.

FUKABACHI: This deep jar is from the Middle Jomon period (2600-1500 B.C.E.). It was used for cooking.

ASABACHI: This shallow bowl was made from clay, around 700-300 B.C.E.

Jomon pots are traditionally divided into five categories: (1) "fukabachi" - deep bowls or jars; (2) "hachi" - bowls of medium depth; (3) "asabachi" - shallow bowls; (4) "tsubo" - containers with narrow mouths and long necks; and (5) "chuko" - vessels with spouts.

TSUBO: A long-necked jar, also made from clay, made around 900-400 B.C.E.

CHUKO: This spouted vessel was made during the Final Jomon period (1100-400 B.C.E.). It is an example of black-burnished pottery.

Source: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/pottery-timeline.htm
http://emerald.tufts.edu/programs/mma/fah188/ospina/jomon/

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10 Health Benefits of Pottery Making

7/9/2016

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Working with clay has many rewards for the person who enjoys making ceramics and pottery. There is a lot of freedom in pursuing this craft as a hobby or a business because of the versatility it offers. One of the nice aspects of creating pottery is that the choices for things that can be created are limited only by the person's imagination who is creating them. This thoughtful, artistic activity can open up the mind and relieve you of outside worries.

Here are the top 10 benefits of pottery making:

1. Creative outlet
There are both physical and mental benefits from expressing yourself by creating something. Art offers an outlet and a release from all of that. With pottery you can produce something and express yourself in some way.

2. Increase optimistic outlook
Pottery enables for improvements in flow and spontaneity, provides an outlet for grief, and helps you with self-identification and self-expression, bolstering confidence and self-esteem.

3. Improve focus
Pottery allows you to escape the worries of life and shift your focus toward your creation. During the process, outside influences don’t affect your work so you dedicate your time to your creation. Being able to fully focus something helps the mind relax and expand, which will help you focus in other areas of life as well.

4. Exploring and experimentation
Pottery helps you to express your creativity, which is essentially to expand who we are and how we connect to ourselves and the environment. It’s a good way for people of all ages to explore the things they can do. You may be more creative than you think and there’s no right or wrong way in pottery.

5. Reduces stress
Our hands are an outlet for creativity, the sense of touch is of high importance. A lot of focus is required while you’re making pottery, therefore outside distractions are reduced and no longer stress you out.

6. Exercises the hands, wrists, and arms
The movement of making pottery is gentle yet strengthening to the hands, wrists, and arms. This can be beneficial to those prone to arthritis in the hands, as it promotes joint movement and dexterity.

7. Encourage sociability
Pottery, an activity that rouses mental activity as much as physical, is often the perfect hobby for those who prefer to expend their energy internally. While partaking in group pottery, however, one can socialize confidently with other potters while still allowing for silence. The usually casual atmosphere helps relax any socially anxious woes to help start a conversation.

8. A natural pain killer
Stress can oftentimes lead to feeling sensations of pain and discomfort. Since pottery is a hobby known for reducing stress and boosting self-esteem, pain caused by stress may be alleviated while taking part in pottery.

9. Captures memories
Archaeological digs are known for recovering ancient artifacts from civilizations long past. Some of the most well-preserved artifacts, often surviving thousands of years, are creations of pottery. As such, Your artwork has the potential to last forever. Whether or not you hope future civilizations to discover it and have it immortalized in a museum or if you would rather have it sitting in your home’s foyer, seeing the creation in its final form will serve as a reminder of your accomplishments.

10. Improve quality of life
Art is an important hobby for self-expression. It is a good way to connect with yourself by expanding your body and mind. Embarking on new creations, learning new techniques and finishing your creations can contribute to a lifetime commitment of learning and maintaining a productive hobby.