Clark Freeport—More than 200 art pieces and woodworks were produced in a month’s time by hand using purely indigenous materials by a group of four people as Christmas decorations inside the Fontana Leisure Park here.
Fontana Art Manager Reginald Dy made full use of available materials on a lower budget this year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With the pandemic, we thought of helping the company. We took inspiration to utilize organic materials because Clark is very rich in nature,” said Dy.
He also shared how they came up with the idea and where it all started.
“We walked and scanned the vicinity and we saw raw materials that are possible for creating the decorations,” he mentioned.
Fontana Sales and Marketing Assistant Director Edith Pastoral approved of the idea and gave full support to the creative team who worked tirelessly to bring the idea to life.
“This year’s theme is Santa’s Christmas so we thought of just using these pieces of wood and turned it into good decorations. Less cost yet elegantly done so it’s a unique one,” she said.
“Right after the typhoons (Rolly & Ulysses),they (Art Department) started picking up wood pieces already. They made use of their time to get busy with all these stuff,” she added.
Various raw materials were used in making the Christmas decors and were all sourced exclusively from Fontana’s vicinity. These include dried woods, branches and twigs of Mahogany, Acacia, Rubber tree, Fire tree, Indian tree, and Balete tree.
Other materials used are fallen leaves and dropped seeds from Ipil-ipil, Sampaloc, Bayabas, including the Achuete and coffee beans, among others.
Despite the low budget, Fontana Marketing Communications Specialist Jasria Macabanti shared how their team made it possible to do a big task with limited manpower.
“We don’t have to be extravagant just to have elegant Christmas decorations. You just need to be creative and work with your team,” she said.
Working with a low budget became a silver lining for the Art Department as they have been receiving positive reactions and comments from their clients who appreciate their work of art.
“A lot of people are very interested – asking if they could buy or make one for them so that they can make use of it at home. There are actually a lot of orders, but unfortunately, we don’t sell these,” Pastoral said. The process of creating the art pieces became an avenue for the workers to unleash their creativity, talent and skills and at the same time kept them distracted from the anxiety brought by the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Fontana Leisure Park General Manager Mr. Simon Wu hopes that their creative displays for the Yuletide season will spark hope, joy, and inspiration for the public despite the challenging times.
“We hope that the initiative of our creative team including other departments (Recreations, Landscaping, Housekeeping, Marketing and Engineering) will bring hope and inspiration to the people and let them know that despite the pandemic, we will always bounce back and continue to provide services that bring joy to everyone,” he said.
For her part, Ms. Vera Cheung, the Owner Representative cited their Art Department’s effort in coming up with artful pieces that make up a wonderful spirit of Christmas at Fontana.
“We are very proud of all our employees. Their resourcefulness, creativity and love for art truly illuminates in the decorations that they were able to produce. I would also like to extend my sincere thanks and congratulations to them for a job well done,” she added.
She’s inviting everyone to visit Fontana to see these wonderful “Clarkmanship” works creatively done by their employees.
“I can guarantee everyone that you will surely feel the Christmas spirit here at Fontana, despite this trying time. As early as now, Fontana would like to greet everyone a Safe & a Merry Christmas!” she expressed.
The rest of the workers who make up the Art Department are Lead Visual Artist Dorie Valle, Graphic Artist Ley Nacpil, and Production Assistant Charlie Pastor.
