Hello! My name is Shaun Peter Mallonga, and I am a current Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics candidate at the University of Iowa. I was recently hired as a gallery host here at the Stanley Museum of Art and I have enjoyed being able to work with such a dedicated team of folks invested in providing access and continued research towards the arts, history, and culture as it pertains to the state of Iowa and the world. I was graciously offered the opportunity to work with my museum colleague Carter White on the newly installed mural by Jiha Moon, One An Other. Going into the experience, I was curious as to how involved we would be in creating Jiha’s mural. The painting process surprised me not only by how much I would be practicing my technical painting skills, but by how the mural’s orchestration would become an open forum for professional development and creative research for the artists present.
Our team was composed of Jiha Moon, Jiha’s husband, Andy Wilson, her son, Oliver Moon Wilson, two graduate students from the MFA painting program at Florida State University, Ysabel Flores and Hannah Keats, Carter White and I. Jiha’s family started painting the mural on their first two days here with Jiha mapping out the main figures of the composition based on a loose, gridded sketch she had prepared. She directed and mapped shapes and brushstrokes with her pencil as she marked out a dynamic virtual scape of varying treatments of line and form. Witnessing this part of the process, I observed how Jiha worked cartographically as she integrated and wove her designs into exciting moments of visual tension within the painting’s spanning structure.
On the same day as mapping the mural, Carter and I were able to meet with her and discuss our involvement in its creation in the coming days. Jiha informed us that we would mostly be color-blocking and assisting her in cutting out ink-washed Kozo paper shapes which would then be laminated upon the wall with wheat paste. I was scheduled to assist her for 2 days which then grew into 5 days due to how much work was required to finish the mural by Thursday. I was elated to work with her for a longer time, because I enjoyed the nurturing and inquisitive environment she facilitated as we worked together. She encouraged us to approach the mural with the same care and attention as we would for a well-tended painting of our own, all while keeping in tune with the choreography she had laid out for One An Other’s execution. It was important to put feeling and intuition into the work. I felt especially invited to do so as she shared her own life experiences from being an artist of color advocating for her artistic voice.
Our conversations around professional development and community engagement in artistic spaces often intersected one another. We talked about the importance of embracing rejection as a practicing artist, and how important it was to become familiar with our work being rejected in the context of applications for shows so that we could adapt and become stronger advocates for our own work. The balance of networking with others and keeping a dedicated, meaningful studio practice was another topic that came up. Jiha shared how painfully introverted she was at the beginning of her career when it came to sharing and talking about her own work. She taught us that sharing your work is an essential skill to being an artist. She stated how important it was to stay connected with your community and to not hermit yourself within the self-congratulatory and isolating confines of your studio space. It is vital that we connect with others.
Jiha doubled down by saying that artists are an endangered species threatened by ongoing legislature cutting funds to arts, culture, and art education. She reminded us how important it was for all artists to stick together and support one another, especially in such a turbulent time for the arts. I received plenty of gold nuggets of wisdom that she generously bestowed upon us, but one resolution stuck out for me: when you make art, you make it to support yourself and your community.
The conversation conjured by our mural was not always so serious in tone and it was, in fact, glued together by joyful subjects of artistic research, shared life experiences and wanderlust. Hannah Keats and I easily geeked out about marine biology which was a commonality between both our graduate research. We talked of nudibranchs, the Netflix show, Merpeople, coral reefs and our shared passion for the Ologies with Alie Ward science podcast. Carter and I recently started working together, and we chatted about some of his fun adventures in Europe, which is a continent I am excited to visit in my future travels. I am currently interested in visiting England to inspect the corbel carvings of Kilpeck, check out the V&A Museum in London, and take in the local queer drag artistry.
My conversations with Ysabel Flores had very much to do with our shared 1st generational Filipino American upbringing and the diverse ways in which we approach identity in our work. Food is tied to Flores’ practice as a means of reconnecting with her Filipino ancestry and we talked about different strategies of incorporating it into art through performance or film media. We talked of our love of enjoying a hot, steaming bowl of sinigang, a tamarind-based sour and savory pork rib soup featuring a medley of vegetables.
We got along so well that we plan on keeping in touch and visiting each other in the future. I am currently expecting some shark teeth and stingray barbs in the mail from Hannah, and I am excited to go to Tallahassee and catch up with everyone after graduate school.
Overall, I had a lot of fun working with the crew on this fantastic work of art. My favorite part of the process was painting the butterfly wings behind one of the masks. I learned a lot of new ways of creating and installing interdisciplinary work as well as developing different painting techniques to add to my toolbox. Moving forward in my own artistic practice, I will remember Jiha’s sage advice of not limiting myself to solely being a ceramic artist but an artist capable of expressing myself across a plethora of mediums. Working with her was a privilege, and I am excited to see her again soon.
I am proud to have been a part of One An Other and I am excited to take my graduating convocation photo in the Stanley Museum lobby, pointing to my name on the mural wall in the month of May in 2026.
About Shaun Mallonga
Shaun Mallonga is a MFA candidate in Ceramics originally based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Shaun received their BFA at the Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary, AB in 2017.
Their graduate research is currently centred on merfolk and the wilderness of the sea as a means of recontextualizing their intersected identity as a queer Filipinx-Canadian. Shaun uses fiction in their art practice as a placeholder for survival, affirmation and contemplation. They are inspired by medieval art history, queer pop culture and Filipino folklore.
You can view more of Shaun’s work on @shaunmallonga on Instagram.