Making a difference through art

(The Philippine Star) November 21, 2011 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - VSO Bahaginan gathers 17 local artists for its first-ever “Art for Volunteerism” project. This initiative hopes to open the door for the public to become agents of change through art appreciation.

The artists include Benjie Cabangis, Zean Cabangis, Ferdie Cacnio, Ross Capili, Dansoy Coquilla, Noell EL Farol, William Gaudinez, Riel Hilario, Mark Justiniani, Marco Ruben Malto II, Jonathan Olazo, Renato Agustin Ong, Mervy Pueblo, Pablo Baen Santos, Andoi Solon, Dexter Sy and Nestor Olarte Vinluan. They are donating part of the sales of their artworks to support the organization’s Model Forest Projects in Ulot, Samar and Carood, Bohol. The funds that will be raised will be used to help strengthen the capacity of the communities to build on eco-tourism and to be more pro-active in watershed management and community projects.

“With VSO, every peso you share brings people together to spark a chain reaction. You’ll help make life better not just for an individual or a family, but for a community or even a country,” said Malou Pantua-Juanito, executive director of VSO Bahaginan.

The exhibit opens on Dec. 9 at The Ayala Museum, Greenbelt Park, Makati Ave. corner De la Rosa St., Makati City

PhiStar.com >

Art for Volunteerism Beneficiaries

The Model Forest Projects 

Ulot Watershed.
Photo Credit: www.skyscrapercity.com

In September 2010, VSO Bahaginan officially launched the partnership with the International Model Forest Network or IMFN and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the sustainable management of two model forests in the Philippines, namely the Carood Watershed in Bohol and the Ulot Watershed in Samar.

The IMFN is a global community of practice whose members and supporters work toward the common goal of sustainable management of forest-based landscapes through the Model Forest Approach.

The IMFN is comprised of all member model forests in existence around the world. Model forests are based on a flexible approach that combines the social, cultural and economic needs of local communities with the long-term sustainability of forest landscapes.

VSO Bahaginan is working to support the work of local organizations in supporting specific sustainable and volunteering-based development interventions so that people live harmoniously with the environment. Together with partners, VSO Bahaginan and volunteers will work in ecotourism and enterprise development, capacity-building of peoples organizations, establishment of local volunteering groups, and organizational development of the watershed councils. 

True to the approach of bringing people together, VSO Bahaginan is working with international and national volunteers to work with local volunteers in championing environmental protection and sustainability while making families self-sufficient and productive.

To know more about where VSO Bahaginan works, check this documentary on the Carood Watershed in Bohol:

Artist for Volunteerism : Nestor Olarte Vinluan

Nestor Olarte Vinluan is a scholar, teacher and one of the foremost abstractionists in present-day Philippines is a multi-faceted artist. He creates paintings, sculptures and installations that have enriched both private and public collections here and abroad. For his work as an artist and his valuable contributions to art education in the country, he was awarded the Professional Achievement Award in the Arts in 1993 (Fine Arts- Painting, University of the Philippines Alumni Association). He was conferred the UP Chancellor Award as the Outstanding Faculty Administrator during the first UP Diliman Week as Dean of the College of Fine Arts—a position he has held from 1989 to 1998. He was an artist-in-residence at Sculpture Square, Singapore in 2004 and at the Stadt-Atelier at the Künstlerhaus in Salzburg, Austria. In 2008 he was awarded Most Outstanding Fulbright Alumni in Arts and Humanities by the Philippine Fulbright Scholars Association.

PAINTINGS

 

"Inbetween the Dreamscape"
acrylic on canvas

2011
Php 60,000.00

"On Sienna to Black with Landscape"

acrylic on paper

2011
Php 60,000.00

"White Radiance"

acrylic on canvas

6 ft by 9ft

2008
Php 1, 350,000.00

Artist for Volunteerism : Dexter Sy

"My drawings on canvas made me draft unconscious ideas of people and of myself. I am creating a cycle of having different kind of concepts but retaining the same style and technique I have known when I began as an artist. By this technique, I mark my own identity and thus, I create eagerness to evolve as an artist through my chosen art."

Dexter Sy holds two degree: one in Computer Programming and one in Fine Arts (major in advertising) in Far Eastern University. Sy was awarded the Jurors Choice for Excellence at the 2010 Philip Morris Philippine Art Awards. He was also among the top ten shortlisted finalist for the National Capital Region at the 2005, 2007 and 2009. He is also recently named as one of the ten winners of the 2011 Manila Art Awards of the Philip Morris Philippine Art Awards. He also took home the Grand Prize at several local art contest. International exhibitions of his work have been held at the Asian Artfair in Korea. Last year he participated in the Asian Art Fairnale at the Haslla Art World Museum in Korea and the show Anima Orientale at the Utterly Art Exhibition Space in Singapore. He was an artist-in-residence Haslla International Open Air Museum in Korea and attended the Haslla International Open-Air Symposium.

PAINTINGS

“Artificial Life”

Acrylic

3’ x 4’

2011
Php 54,000.00

“Automatic Lover”

Acrylic

3’ x 4’

2011
Php 54,000.00

Artist for Volunteerism : Andoi Solon

Randy ‘Andoi’ Solon is a visual artist who has received numerous awards from various art competitions in the country. In 2006-2007, Solon was the Grand Prize winner of the PLDT-PDC Telephone Directory Cover 20th Visual Art National Competition for the oil on canvas work. He was also a Finalist of the Shell National Student Painting Competition from 2005 to 2007. He was also a semi-finalist in the oil/acrylic category of the Metrobank Foundation National Competition from 2004 to 2006. Andoi Solon is a graduate of the University of the Philippines with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, major in Painting, from the College of Fine Arts. He has also received a Certificate in Advertising from the Philippines Women’s University.

PAINTINGS

"Untitled"

"Untitled"

"Untitled"

"Horse"

"Hot Summer"

"On Both Ends"

"Tripled"

Artist for Volunteerism : Pablo Baen Santos

Born in 1943, a Fine Arts graduate of the University of the Philippines, Pablo Baen Santos is one of the recipients of the 13 Artists Awards given by the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1990. His works has been showcased in solo and group exhibitions locally and abroad. His works are in the collections of Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Central Bank of the Philippine, Philippine National Museum and at Singapore Art Museum where he was invited to participate in Singapore Biennale in 2006.

Pablo Bean Santos is among the first generation social realists, who, through arts has tirelessly expose the state of the nation’s social ills, political abuses and inequities. His first solo exhibit in 1975 coincides with his founding of KAISAHAN, the first organized group of young nationalist Filipino painters that went into the thick of the ‘protest art’ movement during the early 1970s of Marcos regime. The ‘protest art’ or ‘commited art’ encouraged the artists to realize that they were as much as part of history-in-the making as politicians, and what they painted was a means of affecting social change.

Although he has mellowed over the years, his recent exhibits: ‘SMS’ (2009) Crucible Gallery,SM Megamall and ‘Kapital: Tribute to Labor ‘(2010) Jorge B.Vargas Museum, in U.P., a hint of provocation will always be part of his theme. Pablo Baen Santos is considered as one of the ‘provocateurs’, frontrunner of Philippine social realism.

PAINTINGS

"Kalinga sa Kinabukasan"

Oil

36" x 48"

2008
Price: Php 170,000

"Rainbow Rally"

Oil
24" x 36"

2008
Price: Php 85,000

Artist for Volunteerism : Mervy Pueblo

Mervy Pueblo has a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts majoring in Visual Communication from St. Scholastica College. Her work as a visual artist was launched in her first exhibition “Queerest of the Queer” at a young age of 19. Since then she has participated in various exhibitions and has undertaken diverse outdoor sculpture projects locally and abroad. Her awards include the Special Citacion Award by the Metrobank Arts and Design Excellence [MADE] National Sculpture Competition (2006), Pasig City’s Recognition of Talented Youth in Arts and Culture in November (2006) and MADE Sculpture Competition Awardee from 2007 to 2010.

Mervy Pueblo represented Philippines in Taebaek International Snow Sculpture Symposium in 2007, Hai Phong-Vietnam International Sculpture Symposium in 2007, International Sculpture Symposium in Penza, Russia in 2008 and International Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition in Miyazaki Airport, Japan in 2009.  Pueblo is a recipient Fulbright Scholarship and is also awarded the Trustee Scholarship and Graduate Assistantship Award from 2010-2013 by MCAD. She is currently attending MFA program in Minneapolis College of Art and Design, USA.

SCULPTURE

“Fertile Breeding Ground”

Metal, fabric and opne fiber

30.7 x 55 x 43 centimeters

Php 36,000

“Metaphysics”

Size: 12 x 18 x 21 inches

Medium:  constructed stainless steel

Year: 2010
Price: Php 90,000

“The Changeling”

8 x 9 x 7 inches

Quartz

2009
Price: Php 36,000