WELCOME TO OUR STUDIOS
Balay Open Studios at UNDISCOVERED SF
Sat, 10/19/24 from 12p-5:30p
863 Mission St @ 5th St
In SOMA Pilipinas
Balay Kreative's Open Studios showcases a wide array of resident artists and creatives from multiple disciplines. Step into their working environments for a glimpse into their artistic methods and creative processes. Their work, which blends culture, creativity, and liberation, sparks inspiration and imagination within the community. Interested in joining our Balay Kreative community? This is the perfect opportunity to learn more about our team and space.
The Open Studios event offers a carefully curated experience, featuring artist showcases, Unsung Heroes Podcast exhibit. and creative workshops among other activations.
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SPECIAL EXHIBITION
The Unsung Heroes Youth Podcast Program Exhibit will feature Undiscovered Filipino American Stories told by high school students based in the San Francisco Bay Area. This summer, 10 Unsung Heroes students produced their own podcast episodes highlighting Filipino American creatives, changemakers, and inspiring loved ones. At the exhibit, guests will be able to listen and experience our students’ stories with an interactive, silent disco activity and read about our top 3 students whose work will be published on the Cultural Kultivators podcast this Fall.
Pictured above, Haven Cheng, Danalyn Silva, Soluna Ibarra-Tacdol, J Ting, and Amelia Naughten celebrate the completion of the program inside of the Balay Kreative streaming hub.
Artists
Nicki Aquino
My work documents my continuous exploration of ascribed/prescribed identity, (re)appropriation, perception, and belonging through a variety of artistic mediums— specifically, installation, relief printmaking, painting, and sculpture. Art making is one of the tools that I use to make sense of the world and better understand the complex relationships between history, power, and personal/shared identity. I often incorporate so-called “traditional” Chinese, Filipino, and Native Hawaiian motifs and techniques, as well as popular Asian American iconography in my pieces as a way to reaffirm, honor, and put into question the experiences of Asian American, Oceanic and “third culture” individuals in diaspora.
Francis Garcia
Baybayin Flash Cards by Francis Garcia and The Gartden LLC is an educational tool based on the Pre-Colonial writing script of the Philippines. The Flash Cards will help you learn and master modern Baybayin, while testing your Filipino language (Tagalog). With these 63 flash cards, you can learn with your children, friends, and family, and play the games we designed to enhance your learning experience. We at the Gartden, want to teach the next generation Baybayin and hope to increase the knowledge in our community.
Johny Carino Marquez
Handmade pieces made from second hand materials.
Ramon Abad
Ramon Abad (he/his) is a proud Filipino American artist, puppeteer and teacher based in San Francisco, acknowledged as unceded Ramaytush Ohlone land. Since 2021, Ramon has been a resident artist of Balay Kreative Studio. He was a shadow puppeteer and puppet-maker with Larry Reed’s ShadowLight Productions and was in a show that toured in the Jim Henson International Puppetry Festival. As the resident puppeteer with the Filipino American sketch comedy troupe tongue in A mood, Ramon devised and directed skits using puppetry at Bindlestiff Studio. He has directed stage plays, online performances and immersive theater shows using puppetry. As a workshop leader, he seeks to engage all communities to explore modern puppetry regardless of age, background and skill set.
Carla Grace Fajardo
Carla Grace Fajardo is a queer Filipina-American and SF native who is a multidisciplinary filmmaker and visual artist. After receiving her BA in Cinema, she began working in the Bay Area film industry as a hair and makeup artist. Her own film practice delves into themes about queer identities and intergenerational trauma within the horror and sci-fi genres.
Ciriaco Sayoc
Based in SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco, California, Ciriaco is a creative collaborator helping tell stories through design and bespoke craftsmanship. Being a seasoned fashion designer, with knowledge of pattern making, he applies design and making to structures, sets and costume and tailors to specific needs.
ABOUT UNDISCOVERED SF
UNDISCOVERED SF is a non-profit venture designed to jump-start economic activity and public awareness of SOMA Pilipinas. UNDISCOVERED SF is part of a multi-prong strategy to build a thriving new commercial corridor in the SOMA Pilipinas cultural district by 2020. We envision incubating a batch of innovative retail concepts, award-winning restaurants, and neighborhood serving businesses that are culturally relevant, financially resilient, and adaptable to the market needs of all San Franciscans.
UNDISCOVERED SF is produced & conceived by Kultivate Labs, a non-profit business accelerator, and Make it Mariko, SF event producer. We believe that entrepreneurship is one of many ways to build wealth in local communities. By creating new economic opportunities and closing the income inequality gap in San Francisco, we hope to stem the displacement of our low and middle income residents.