Celebrating Filipino industry at the Met

MANILA, Philippines - In celebration of the Filipino’s enterprising spirit, the Metropolitan Museum of Manila presents “Sigla at Sikap: Exulting the Filipino Industry,” which is on view until Jan. 30, 2010 at the Galeriya Bangko Sentral of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Complex, Roxas Blvd., Malate, Manila.

The show features more than 30 Bangko Sentral artworks that capture the Filipino at work.

“Sigla at Sikap” celebrates the resilience of the Filipino worker — the mat weaver, the food peddler, the farmer and the vegetable seller — who have made the country’s regional economy vibrant throughout the different stages of Philippine history.

As it displays works of artists from different time periods and persuasions that extol the varied forms of Filipino industry, the exhibit captures the Filipino worker at his finest — diligent, patient, honest, creative, and optimistic.

As a collateral to the exhibit, the museum will offer a bag-making workshop slated on the first half of the month of October. The workshop will employ used paper like old newspaper and magazines as the main material in the production of bags. It will run for 12 sessions with each intensive session lasting for three hours. The Bag-Making Workshop will be held at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila from Oct. 6, 8, 10, 13, 15 and 17, and will be facilitated by bag expert Lulu Ocampo. The morning session is at 9 a.m. to 12 noon, while the afternoon session will take place from 1 to 4 p.m.

The fee for the bag-making workshop is P5,000 per head which is inclusive of materials. A group discount of 10 percent is given to groups of five people and also to those who register for the program on or before Sept. 22. Registration entails full payment or a 50 percent down payment.

For inquiries, call 523-0613 or 521-1517.