Union Church of Manila

The Union Church of Manila, in downtown Makati.

An oil painting by Mark C. Merrill.

(This building no longer exists.)

p150,000

available from Upper Room Art Gallery, Manila

At the "Premier of Tapestries" in Manila

The lovely ladies-Amor, Robin & SusanEileen Legaspi-Ramirez and Madonna Ma
The Kanlungan Staff, standing in front of a display of the cards

"Kanlungan Center for Street Children" from downtown Manila

is a partner of the Christian Cultural Development Foundation.

The street children make handmade paper from recycled newspapers on the street.

Mark & Robin Merrill use the paper in a line of greeting cards, with their artwork on the front.

These cards are then sold at the art shows, in the gallery.

They are also sold at the Mission Gifts shop, and soon, an online store!

Opening Night, Gallery 828, Sept. 2006

Jun Aves, doing the documentary work
Susan Hassig, of Vieux Chalet, gave us very generous hor douvres!! Thank you!!
Manang, of Vieux Chalet! we miss you, neighbour
Amor Quinones, Robin Merrill, Biboy Delatavo

Amor blessed us with her brownies

Opening Treats

wendy supplied these crocodiles made from tinapay (bread) she found at a bakery in antipolo
"oh, i have to chop off a crocodile head....i don't know how i feel about this...."
"what? i'm eating a crocodile? mmmm, it's good"

folks at the show 9/06

Sid Siddharth, Ophie Dee (owner of Gallery 828) & Romulo Olazo
Olazo, Cielo & Popoy Vilchez (who arranged for the gallery space)
Regalaldo Clan & fans

Views of the Show at Gallery 828, Sept. 2006

Art Show in Manila

wendy regalado and robin merrill, preparing the show at Gallery 828 in ShangriLa Mall, Manila
one of wendy's marvelous lamps, of handmade paper from the poor (village handcrafters)

tapestry-mark c. merrill
Tapestries & framed print by Mark Merrill, lamp by Wendy Regalado

Glory

Oil on canvas

3' x 4'

Robin Haines Merrill

$3,200

Manila Traffic

... Never changes.

"Manila Traffic 2"

Oil on wood panel, 4' x 4'

Robin Haines Merrill

$3,000

Art Meals

Some kind of incredible beef, asparagus & fragrant rice @ Ayala Museum cafe

Artist Robert Alejandro & I found out we have the same strange habit: photographing certain meals before we eat them. So here are a few postings....here is robert with some kind of salad at a pinoy restaurant in the powerplant mall.

Pesto pasta with kasoy (cashews) and goat cheese, @ Ayala Museum cafe.

The Olazo's

Long time no see!

Romulo Olazo looking at Mark Merrill's new book of paintings.

"Wow, ang galing si Mark"

Pat Olazo in their office/studio. Don't you love their tiered wooden drawers, all those little compartments? and what a great art library.

Real Bohemians

There's a resurgence of nationalistic pride amongst Filipino artists, as seen in the music getting more fusion and tribal. It's great to see. But I had to laugh--when as I was leaving this art reception at the end of the evening, after much alcohol had been consumed by the attendees and artists, the music reverted to Western: Led Zepplin classics, the Beatles, and Santana. When I pointed this out to someone, I was told "well, at least that's not fully American; they are British bands". ha ha. Sorry, it will always be a Global Village. And rock & roll invade totally.

Party at Reyes'

So great to get together with artist-friends at

Benji & Careng Reye's house

THANK YOU!

Green Jokes

Benji Reyes may be an environmental artist in the Philippines, but that's not what 'green jokes' means. Here he is at his incredible home of wood & art, making Robin and Wendy laugh too hard.

Yellow Door Art Gallery

So nice to become acquainted with Minda Rocha of Yellow Door Gallery

while on this trip to Manila in the summer of 2006.

The Upper Room Art Gallery will be doing business with them,

keep an eye out!

Sylvana Diaz

Talkin' bout ART HISTORY & Life!

Great to run into Sylvana again while in Manila

Gus Albor

One of my favorite artists.

One Smart Man

Philippine National Artist for Sculpture, Napoleon Abueva

with Robin Merrill at the studio of Romulo Olazo.

Abueva happened to walk in while I was visiting Ola, and handed me a rose.

I found out that he does this constantly--carrying around roses and handing them out to ladies. This is ONE SMART MAN! He immediately got a kiss and hug from me.

A great secret to getting affection every day, all day.