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The Three Wise Apes on Top of a Frog

Give A Child A Future, Take A Piggy Bank Home!

The idea of donating her piggy-banks came after two successful exhibitions in Australia in July and August 1986. Thus when the following exhibition held in Yogyakarta in July 1987 yielded more than US$ 5000 the whole amount was donated to help around 200 students to continue their study.

This exhibition in her hometown drew more than 1000 visitors, including tourists from different countries, such as the USA, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and Japan. The highlight of the exhibition was also the surprise visit of the Finance Minister, Mr. Radius Prawiro and his wife, who on that occasion donated enough to cover 12 students.

Theresa Waryanti's Studio

The clay designs are aired in a cool dry place for about 7 to 10 days before they are ready for firing (the sun plays an important role here - in the monsoon the drying takes longer). These piggy-banks are then fired in the open field together with the pots of the villagers in Kasongan, about 15 kilometres from Yogyakarta. They are put inside the big pots, so they are quite protected during the firing.

The temperature of firing is about 400 degrees centigrade. The duration is about four hours and haystacks are used to make the bonfire. The pots are then left to cool down until the next morning. The black colour is achieved by firing twice.

Foreword By Mrs.Leonie Radius Prawiro

As an enthusiast and collector of various ceramic piggy-banks, either glazed or unglazed, I was interested in the exhibition on Theresa Waryanti's works in June 1987 in Yogyakarta.

My husband and I together with our staff visited her studio. We admired the artist, who through her works fullfilling her calling as a teacher and raising funds to help a number of the underpriviledged children to continue their study. We admire her fine and delicate works with the theme "Life and Tradition in Indonesia."

And to one He gave five talents, to another two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability. (Matthew 25: 15)

But we have this treasure in earthern vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. (II Corinthians 4 : 7)

"Art And Crafts of Indonesia" by Anne Richter

Exhibitions

1. The Australian Museum, Sydney, sponsored by The Australian Museum and Garuda Indonesia (1-31 July 1986)

2. Waverley Municipal Library, Bondi Junction, Sydney sponsored by the Australian Museum and Australian Pottery Society (1-13 August 1986)

3. Karta Pustaka (The Netherlands Cultural Centre) in Yogyakarta, sponsored by Yayasan Pelita Kasih / Light of Love Foundation (25-29 July 1987)

4. Erasmus Huis (The Netherlands Cultural Centre) in Jakarta sponsored by IKANED and opened by the Indonesian Finance Minister, Mr.Radius Prawiro and Madame (24 July - 5 August 1989)

5. The Australian Museum (the whole year of 1993) together with a big exhibition entitled "Beyond The Java Sea".

Memory of Childhood

Theresa Waryanti was born in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. When Theresa was a little girl, she had plenty of toys made of clay. Most of them were piggy-banks with animal designs, such as a rooster, a deer, an elephant and a turtle. None of them were glazed but they were just colourfully painted. Her father kept adding her collection with tiny clay toys, among others in the form of a horse and a frog. The frog was partly made of thick paper designed as a bellow, she could make it squeek. She also had a few clay whistles which were fun to blow. The one she liked the most was a rooster of more than three feet tall. She had a great pleasure riding on the back imagining herself riding a horse.

These sweet memories of playing with the clay toys had motivated her to project her fantasies on mini decorative piggy banks. She felt it was a shame that nowadays children play with different toys. Clay toys like hers are no very hard to be found. She wanted to keep the memory of her childhood in her work so that others could see and keep them in their memory, too.