Traditional and contemporary arts and artisans.
Ariel Perez Dimalanta is a commercial artist who began his career on Guam in the 1970s and has since won several awards for his commercial graphic art designs for businesses and organizations on Guam.
Greg Borja Flores (1958 – 2010) was a master artist who was well known locally as a muralist, airbrush artist, caricaturist, political satirist and businessman.
Evelyn Flores, a professor of English at the University of Guam, is best known as the author of The Island Cousins Series, 3 books that explore issues of Chamorro identity. They are called Dolphin Day, Isa’s Avocado Tree and The Duendes Hunter. Her cousin, Vivian Lujan Bryan, is the illustrator.
Isa’s Avocado Tree Read Post »
Ben “Sinahi” San Nicolas del Rosario is a Chamorro cultural artist who specializes in creating traditional Chamorro ornamental pieces and jewelry.
Ben “Sinahi” del Rosario Read Post »
Herman A. Crisostomo is a photographer and filmmaker known for his stylish television commercials and photographs of beautiful women. Born in Sinajana to Herman Aguon Crisostomo and Marie Rosario Crisostomo, he is one of nine children. Crisostomo owns Pacific Pictures Film & Video, and Pictures, Inc.
Clotilde “Ding” Castro Gould (1930-2002) was a beloved storyteller, educator and advocate for Chamorro language and culture. Through her sense of humor and gift for weaving stories and songs together about Chamorros and life on Guam, Gould helped create and shape Chamorro language resources and programs on Guam, as well as advanced cultural awareness of the Marianas in the larger Pacific region.
Clotilde “Ding” Castro Gould Read Post »
Robert Phillip Taitano (1938 – 2022) was an established woodcarver who specializes in crafting art works, furniture and other decorative pieces from local hardwood. A recognized Master Carver by the Guam Council on the Arts and Humanities Agency (CAHA), Taitano produced pieces for numerous dignitaries, including Guam governors, senators of the Guam Legislature, United States Congressional delegates, island judges, and even the former US President William “Bill” Clinton.
Dating as far back as the Upper Paleolithic (around 10,000 to 40,000 years ago), humans have been producing art that has both captivated and puzzled archeologists. From figurines to body ornaments to carvings on spear shafts, archeologists have studied and marveled at the subject matter, variety of forms and degree of skill of ancient art.
Ancient CHamoru Cave Art Read Post »
Of the different pottery forms produced in the Marianas, the lime-incised pottery from the early Pre-Latte era is of particular significance. Once referred to as Marianas redware, this early pottery is characterized as a thin-walled vessel with a red slip, or coated surface. The name redware has since been replaced by the term Early Calcareous Ware (EWC) because while these pots are made with a coral sand (calcareous) temper (a material mixed with the clay to make it more easily workable) not all vessels have the red slip.
Ancient CHamoru Pottery: Early Calcareous Ware Read Post »
Tooth staining. Unlike clothing or hairstyles, body modifications are changes made to the body itself that are of a more permanent nature. Among the CHamoru people, the most remarkable examples of these kinds of modifications were tooth etching and staining.
Ancient CHamoru Body Modification Read Post »
