Artist Fred de Asis brings Pinoy culture to the West

By KARLA MAQUILING

Published September 10, 2012 4:30pm

Chicago-based Filipino artist Fred De Asis is promoting Philippine arts and culture in the United States by holding demonstrations about the baybayin ancient writing system and staging exhibits of kut-kut artwork.

Baybayin is the writing system that natives used even before the Spaniards arrived in the

Philippines in the 1500s. It is a cross between an alphabet and a syllabary, or a set of symbols that represent

syllables.

Kut-kut, on the other hand, is an ancient Philippine art technique that combines the centuries-old art processes of:

Sgraffito — the process of scratching an image through a colored slip to reveal the
design underneath;
Encaustic — application of molten wax on a surface to create images and
decoration, and
Layering — a method by which paint is glazed over thinly applied opaque oil and paint.

De Asis is president of the Asian American Arts and Culture Foundation.

He is featured in numerous art festivals and workshops in Illinois, where he demonstrates the baybayin, presents his kut-kut art, and teaches participants how to make parol (Christmas lantern) and saranggola (kite). His most recent baybayin demonstration was held on August 19 at Arlington Heights’ 41st Walk in the Park Summer Art Fair in Illinois.

De Asis will be exhibiting his kut-kut art pieces on September 15 to open “A Glimpse of

Philippine Culture” at the Grand Ballroom of the Quad Cities Isle Centere in Bettendorf, Illinois.

For his work on Philippine culture conservation, DeAsis received the following honors:

2006 Fil-Am TV Hall of Fame Award;
2007 Asian-American Hall of Fame Award in the field of arts and culture;
2008 Distinguished Citizen Award by the Philippine Cultural Foundation, and
2010 Commission on Filipinos Overseas Presidential Award.

“I want to reach out and present our unique culture to the public. A demo is a very effective

way to convey the baybayin writing system,” De Asis said in an e-mail interview with GMA News Online.

De Asis said in his demonstrations, he shows his audience the technique of writing

baybayin characters. The participants get to write their own names in baybayin and pose for a photo with their artwork.

“They have fun and like it,” said De Asis, whose own interest in baybayin started 10 years ago.

“People were enthusiastic about baybayin. About 99% never heard of it, which made them more curious about Philippine history, arts, and culture,” De Asis said.

De Asis has lectured on and demonstrated the baybayin at these events:

• Asian American Heritage Festival

• “Coming Together in Skokie” at the Skokie Public Library

• Festival of Cultures in Oakton Park, Skokie, Illinois

• Philippine Independence Day celebration in Fairfield, Iowa

Reviving the lost art of kut-kut

De Asis rediscovered kut-kut 15 years ago when he was looking for something new to create for an art exhibit. Finding his grandfather’s kut-kut artwork triggered his interest and inspired him to

relearn the styles and techniques of this ancient art form.

This form of art comes from Samar, where it is handed down from one generation to the next.

Ancient artists used materials such as beeswax, rocks, and pigment from tree barks, roots,

blood, and leaves to produce their art pieces.

As a child, he would observe his father and grandfather—who are from Samar—create kut-kut.

However, there was very little effort on their part to pass it on to him or his siblings.

“It was a big challenge for me to get interested in the style and technique of kut-kut. I thought it was quite difficult and required a lot of patience to create one,” De Asis said. - VVP, GMA News

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