There is something electric about watching at work an individual who has chosen to devote his life to creating. Whenever we get a chance to visit an artist in his studio, we take it. We leave the experience feeling somehow blessed.
Today we show you images from our visit to the Mandaluyong studio of pottery artist Joey de Castro.
One of the country's leading pottery artists, Joey has been at it since 2003. Though he recently took a break from teaching, he taught pottery at the UP College of Fine Arts beginning 2009, and at his own studio beginning 2011.
Loud rock music greeted our ears as we neared the entrance to his studio.
This was a fitting intro, as inside we were treated to a visual explosion: clay and tools on sturdy wooden furniture, all seemingly covered by a film of gray; and, of course, there was the pottery -- plates, bowls, cups, and all manner of vessels in varying states of production.
Want to visit? Right beside his studio is the gallery he runs, filled with his works and those of other contemporary Filipino ceramicists. Sierra Madre Gallery is located at NCC Building, 586 Sierra Madre Street, Mandaluyong.
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Joey is also an avid gardener. He lives above his studio, in a rooftop condominium dominated by a spacious outdoor area where Joey indulges his second passion of growing succulents and cacti.
It is a quiet oasis made spectacular by the fact that it is surrounded by tall buildings, giant billboards, and a view of EDSA, all the reminders that this spot of green is thriving in the middle of our megalopolis.
