Wire Art, a miner’s lifeline
A young miner and a father of a four-year old boy found wire art when monsoon rains and typhoons devastated Itogon, Benguet and affected their livelihood. Last week, I made a short ride to Dalicno to visit this miner who is also a distant relative of mine. Kenneth Jones Pulsingay started experimenting with wire art during the month-long typhoon Habagat where he created insect-shaped designs like spiders and scorpions for his four-year-old son’s toys. When relatives saw his works, they encouraged him to create bigger designs. He started to make bonzai-like trees made of wires. Surprisingly, even without any formal training, he was able to make exceptional artworks. Timely with the order to stop small-scale mining, his relatives encouraged him to continue hoping this will help the family start a new livelihood. Pulsingay said what moved him to create these wire arts is to have something to give his boy to play with as he can’t afford the expensive plastic toys. Some...