Ianna “Odangputik” Engaño honed her skills and deepened her passion for pottery in the year 2013. A few years later, she participated as a student volunteer at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts Ceramic Studio (UPCFA), during the studio’s pioneering stages.
In her postcollegiate years, Engaño nurtured her pottery skills further through apprenticeships under the guidance of Prof. Rita Badilla-Gudiño and Genavee Lazaro, both renowned artists in the Philippine contemporary ceramics scene. Simultaneously, she began her career as an art teacher for elementary and high school students while also apprenticing at Artemis Art Restoration Services, where she assisted in the restoration of Tam Austria’s mural at the Development Bank of the Philippines. She also worked as an assistant muralist under the guidance of Gerilya, a local mural art collective, working on projects such as the Alamat Ni Manda At Luyong mural along the Shaw Boulevard Flyover, the Masigasig Na Maynila Lagusnilad mural located at the Lagusnilad Underpass in Manila City, and other large-scale mural projects in Palawan and Bulacan in partnership with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). In her spare time, she also got involved in props-making for films such as Malamaya (The Color of Ash), an entry to the 2019 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. These diverse experiences played crucial roles in shaping the evolution and growth of her artistic techniques.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Engaño turned her focus primarily to pottery, dedicating herself to this medium above all others.
Building on her passion for Philippine ceramics, she co-founded Odangputik Art Space in 2023, now based in Quezon City, intending to contribute to the accessibility of Philippine art, particularly in ceramics as an art medium.
In 2021, she expanded her artistic practice in the gallery setting through the Tuklas Discovery Program, an art residency and mentorship initiative led by award-winning visual artist and founder of Eskinita Art Gallery — Alfredo Esquillo. From this art residency grant, she produced two solo exhibitions between 2023 and 2024, using ceramics as her medium: Bahay-bahayan in 2023 and Nunology in 2024.
Describing the Bahay-bahayan exhibit, writer Janine Dimaranin notes: “In this new series of works, Bahay-bahayan, Ianna Engaño transforms clay into tangible musings of home. Central to her work is the ‘barong-barong’ which speaks to multiple layers, both literal and figurative.”
Meanwhile, Dave Lock describes Nunology as “a tangible articulation of Ianna Engaño’s understanding of life—how nature seamlessly shapes the progression of ages, and how small a power we possess in nudging it towards our will.”
Looking forward to the coming years, Engaño envisions creating an ecosystem of ceramic-making beyond its functionality and aesthetics in the Filipino context, using art as her main instrument.
Words by: Lin Bajala
Lin guides our art space toward sustainability while exploring the Filipino spirit within the local ceramic art landscape.
An award-winning poet and a singer-songwriter known as Haliya Luna, Lin is also an interdisciplinary researcher and a graduate student in the Master of Arts in Art Studies (Curatorial Studies) program at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
She leads and curates our community-based art program (Salinlahi: Sining ng Komunidad), as well as art exhibits and in-depth programs focused on ceramics, art, and society.
Above all, Lin is best described as a compassionate soul who would happily adopt every street cat she encounters.
Our team has diverse talents. We also promote gender inclusivity and patronage of our heterogenous cultural origins. And despite our differences, we all have the same goals: