Republic of the Philippines

Iloilo State College of Fisheries

Office of the Extension Services & Community Development
Tiwi, Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo
5007 Philippines
Contact No. : (+63) 917-624-6100
Website: www.sicof.com.ph / Email: iscofpresident2016@gmail.com

Philippine Traditional Crafts in Discipline-Based Art Education:

A New Prospect
Carmita Eliza J. Icasiano

Introduction

The paper “Philippine Traditional Crafts in Discipline-Based Art

Education: A New Project” by Carmilita Eliza J. Icasiano looks into the
possibility of studying Philippine traditional crafts using an art
education framework called discipline-based art education (DBAE). The
author desire not only to offer an alternative to existing art education
but more importantly, to give traditional crafts attention and recognition
within a formal classroom setting by discussing the current position of
crafts in Philippine art schools, and how crafts studies is handled by the
Philippines’ Asian neighbors.

Body

According to the paper, during the pre-Hispanic period, crafts

production catered only the needs of a chief, a social elite, or the
general population of consumers (Brumfiel and Earle 1987 in Junker 2000,
262). While I was not familiar with craft production that was catered to
the needs of some consumers during this time, I found it convincing since
crafts that was found by archaeologists dating the pre-Hispanic period were
for ritual purposes or everyday use only.
Convents where turned into schools and workshop during the Spanish
colonial period (Flores 1998, 143). The reason I think for this is that
Filipinos before don’t know how to communicate with the Spaniards and so
for the friars to propagate Catholic faith they used Arts to produced
images of the Holy Family and Saints to explain the concept behind
Catholicism.
Crafts education reached its peak during the American period when
educational system expanded to include industrial work and crafts for
livelihood. It is one of their greatest contributions to the Philippines
educational system.
As the Philippine became more westernized because of exposure to
European liberal and secular ideas, crafts have been relegated to a
position of inferiority in the art scene. Painting, sculpture,
architecture, photography, printmaking, dance, theater, and cinema have
come to take the place of crafts.
 Republic of the Philippines
Iloilo State College of Fisheries
Office of the Extension Services & Community Development
Tiwi, Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo
5007 Philippines
Contact No. : (+63) 917-624-6100
Website: www.sicof.com.ph / Email: iscofpresident2016@gmail.com

Conclusion

Many traditional arts and crafts are dying due to modernization and
technological developments but we have to remember that traditional arts
and crafts are not only heritage and valuable wealth left by our ancestors
but also an important link in the continuous development of traditional
culture. They are concrete evidences of our rich traditional art, skills
and talents as well as the Filipino way of life and history. They often
form a common language through which the different communities that
fabricate the society can be engaged.

Traditional arts and crafts represent the identity, cultural heritage,

common bond and play a very important role in preserving the culture and
traditions of our country. It is something sacred because it represents who
we really are. For this reason, there is a need to recognized it and de-
marginalized crafts in the modern contemporary art world.