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This article discusses the creative posture of dancer mask makers in Malang of East Java Province. The ethnographic approach is chosen as a research method to obtain a description of the subject of the study. In the analysis process, the data are set into categories and interpreted. The result of the research shows that the creative process behind mask-making involves several stages. The first stage is wiwit, the building of commitment to maskmaking. The second stage is mbakali, the drafting of the mask. The third stage is maesi, the carving of face and crown shapes on the mask. Finally, the fourth stage is telasan, the finishing of the mask. The mask-making is a creative posture shown by artisans to produce artwork to be used as dance equipment in a mask puppet show. The Malang mask artisans do not differ from wooden mask artisans in other regions in terms of materials and technique. Their maskmaking process similarly involves wood as raw material, a knife as a carving tool, and slivering technique. Their mask-making skills are mostly inherited. The artisans surprisingly do not get their skills from internships but from watching, giving attention, and imitating other artisans. The creative posture is always based on local wisdom and orienting toward local spiritual beliefs. The effect of local spirituality can be found in material selection, carving techniques, and coloring patterns. The experience of mask artisans in putting local spirituality into the mask-making process needs to be reviewed.

Although previous studies on artworks have highlighted value-based expressions among humans in a variety of styles, very little attention was directed to exploring the robustness of love manifested in ceramic arts, that is, an eternal love relationship between man and woman. To fill such a gap, this paper reports on the production of ceramic arts that express the robustness of love. The expression of the sturdiness of love is represented through forms and is reinforced by the material aspects of ceramic clay stoneware. To enact such a purpose, we deployed a creative approach in the production process, namely (a) the formulation of the concept of ceramic works, (b) creative exploration of the design of the work, (c) the processing of plastic clay stoneware taken from southern Malang, and (d) the creation of ceramic works with hand massage techniques directly and drying until the glaze burning process reached 1200 °C. This approach thus portrayed the representation of the solidity of love in the form of ceramic arts.

This paper reports on the production of a ceramic installation artwork that explores the story of the COVID-19 pandemic experienced by people throughout the world. The work is a symbolic expression in the form of a set of ceramic art models that portray the story of the battle between positive and negative values, expressed through a 3-dimensional visual ceramic installation consisting of an arrangement of statues that portray an imaginary battle between COVID-19 troops and Lord Krishna. The method used in the process of creating this work was a creative approach that combined appreciation and interpretation of the object of the creative idea. The artwork was made of plastic clay taken from the southern area of Malang regency, East Java, Indonesia, which was formed using a manual technique of direct hand massage and fired at a temperature of 900 °C. The COVID-19 phenomenon is imagined and visualized as a ceramic installation sculpture consisting of the imaginative figures of COVID-19 troops, led by the king of COVID-19 who is shown fighting with Lord Krishna. The result is a visual expression of the COVID-19 troops and their king, in several imaginative forms, carrying various weapons of war, in combat with the imaginary figure of Lord Krishna. The distinction of this work is its portrayal of a battle between positive and negative forces that have become a part of human life during the COVID-19 pandemic, expressed in a symbolic visual narrative through the arrangement of a set of ceramic sculptures.