WHO IS TATANG EDDIE?
"KAPANGPANGAN METALSMITH"
Tatang Eddie's real name is Eduardo Mutuc. He discovered his talents in sculpture and metalwork quite late. He was 29 when he decided to supplement his income from farming for the relatively more secure job of woodcarving. He spent his first year as an apprentice to carvers of household furniture. It was difficult at the beginning, but thanks to his mentors, he was able to develop valuable skills that would serve him in good stead later on. The hardest challenge for him was learning a profession that he had no prior knowledge about, but poverty was a powerful motivation. Although his daily wage of P3.00 didn’t go far to support his wife and the first three of nine children (one of whom has already died), choices were limited for a man who only finished elementary school.
SILVER LEAF ON HIS ARTWORKS
Things began to change after his fifth or sixth year as a furniture maker when a colleague taught him the art of silver plating. This technique is often used to emulate gold and silver leaf in the decoration of saints and religious screens found in colonial churches. He left the furniture shop and struck out on his own with another friend. One of his first commissions came from Monsignor Fidelis Limcauco, who asked him to create a tabernacle for the parish of Fairview, Quezon City. Clients began to commission him to create other pieces, many of which are based on Spanish colonial designs. Peak seasons are before Holy Week and Christmas. He derives inspiration from traditional religious designs and infuses his own ideas into the finished product.
While he finds meaning in making pieces for the church, orders for commissioned pieces have become fewer because of the economic slump. But even for his secular pieces, he finds inspiration in church art.
TATANG EDDIE
FIND!
More of Tatang Eddie's artworks by clicking on the ARTWORKS button above.
Like language, art is a form of expression. Its message may be symbolic or religious, historical or political. But the purpose of art is not simply to communicate a message, but more importantly, to elicit an emotional response, to 'move' us, in some way
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