Wooden Sculptures

By: Rosario D. Guerrero 2

Filipino’s are very skilled craftsman when comes to woods. In making a wood carving. you needs to require a lot of time and effort to finish one's product. A small item can take a week to create, while the larger ones are more to take months, because of it's crucial size and Cebu is very popular when comes to it.

Most of these carvings are traditional; it has been part of their culture for centuries and passed down through families.  Some of its examples are small sculptures that can be use to decorate or it can be functional. The larger pieces like life size religious carvings or furniture items are made from a large single piece of wood.

I think it’s good that Filipinos still has the tradition or old style as we our now in a modern society. Many still buy this kind of craftsmanship because it resembles our previous life style. Wood also gives us the feeling of being home even we are not in our actual homes. The small sculptures can be a perfect souvenir for your family and friends. It can be key chain, design in a bag or something, etc.

We love to invent new things that are useful to our growing economy. Of course the woods that the Cebuano are using are not illegal. They care too much for the nature to be destroyed. In fact some of the woods they are consuming are old and ready to dispose any time.

Creativity is something innate in Filipinos. If you have a skill like the Cebuano has, use it and spread it to others. As you can see nowadays, most of the teenagers don’t want to learn handicrafts or carvings because for them these are just a waste of time. That’s why our country needs more that has pleasant hands to make some carvings out of wood; it also means that we need to save our culture.