CXXXII: Give Art on Christmas Day 2014

This year, we had started really early in commissioning our Christmas card artwork.  Soon after the New Year, we had already zeroed in on the artwork.  In truth, we had contacted him the year before, but previous commissions had made it difficult for him to accept one for us in time for Christmas 2013.  Thus, an early start in time for Christmas 2014 was essential.

I had first seen one of his artworks online some years back, appropriately enough, also a Christmas subject.

I thought, what a beautiful work, if rather melancholy, which in fact appealed to me.  And very Filipino too.  Later, I located other artworks of his online, on diverse subjects such as a typical market scene,

an oil lamp,

laundry women,

Christmas lantern makers,

the head of Christ,

even a portrait of “Sister Vicky.”

Clearly, the artist had sharpened his technique over time to achieve a near-perfect photorealistic style.  I therefore made a mental note to look up the artist one day.  And so, in early 2013, I did.

By mid-2013, when it was clear that any commissioned artwork from him would not make it in time, we agreed to at least think about possible subjects for the following year.  By October 2013, he had sent me some very interesting sketches.  And soon after that, we had come to a consensus as to our 2014 Christmas artwork.

In catechism back in primary school, we were taught that gifts are given on Christmas day to emulate the fabled Three Kings – or the Three Wise Men – actually Magi (literally, “Wise Men”) of indeterminate number, who happened to be bringing along three gifts – gold, frankincense, and myrrh, respectively symbolizing the three aspects of the gift-recipient Christ-Child: His Kingship (gold for kings), His Deity-ship (frankincense for worship in the temple), and His humanity (myrrh for embalming the dead).

While we don’t give each other gold, frankincense, and myrrh for Christmas (although you may still send me you gifts of gold – always welcome, no matter how late!), we still do expend plenty of time, energy, and money on finding the right present for each of the people on our list.  And Christmas mornings are particularly awaited, especially by children, expecting gifts from their godparents, parents, Santa Claus, or each other.

With this agreed theme in mind, our methodical artist gathered some of the neighbourhood children, staged them out-of-season, and photographed them thus:

This then became the basis of the actual oil-on-canvas artwork, seen here in progress in March 2014, just missing a few more important details, such as what should hang in the wide-open window:

By April 1^st, the artist could happily pose with the finished artwork.

And a few days later, it was enroute to us,

ready for professional photographing and eventual preparation for printing as Christmas cards.

There was a bit of a challenge at the printers’ as to how to adjust the artwork’s original colors, as initial print runs would come out too pale, too dark, or otherwise unappealing.  In the end, slightly more magenta seemed to work.  And so here is how the final printed card came out, more or less:

Walter Vestil

“EXCHANGING GIFTS”

Oil on canvas

24” x 32”

2014

*   *   *   *   *

And now, more about our heretofore unnamed artist:

Born in 1988, Walter Vestil is a native of Carcar City, Cebu.  He began his artistic apprenticeship at the age of twelve with master artists Stanley Cui Señires and Facundo Galicano Tallo.  From 2003, he participated in several group exhibits in various venues in Cebu, and was a regular finalist of the annual Martino Abellana Painting Competition beginning that same year, winning the Grand Prize in 2008. 

Walter’s appealing photorealistic style has gained him numerous commissions, including several portraits, from regular art patrons, mainly in Cebu.  “Exchanging Gifts” is only his second commission from outside Cebu.   Email: vanrijn_386@yahoo.com

*   *   *   *   *

And so, on this day the Feast of the Epiphany, (i.e., the Feast of the gifts-bearing Magi, on which day gifts were actually exchanged in times past, only to be supplanted later on by Christmas Day itself due to overly-eager gift-exchangers), my family and I would like to greet you and yours a

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Maligayang Paskó at Manigong Bagong Taón!

And all our prayers and best wishes for an excellent 2015 and beyond.


Originally published on 4 January 2015.  All text and photos (except where attributed otherwise) copyright ©2015 Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.

CXXXI. Give Art on Christmas Day 2013

On this, the eleventh consecutive year of our family’s annual Christmas artwork commissioning, we didn’t have to look far for a suitable artist. 

Actually, that is only partly true, as we had at the outset made inquiries of a fair number of young artists in Manila, Bulacan, and even beyond as early as the start of the year, but they were all otherwise engaged in other projects, commissions, and upcoming one-man (or -woman) shows.  By September, or way beyond our usual internal mid-year deadline, we still had no Christmas artwork forthcoming.

And then, I realized that the answer was right under our noses, as it were.  For the eventual artist was someone whom I had known personally for many years, as his father was our chief electrician for our processional carrozas in Malolos each Holy Week, and he himself had been helping his father out in this yearly undertaking since he was a schoolboy.   The following biographical note provides a fuller backgrounder:

Born in 1991, Mark Christian P. Magno is a native of Paombong, Bulacan.  Christian is a self-taught artist who has been winning school and inter-school art competitions since childhood. 

Apart from the visual arts, his other passion is the culinary arts – he is a trained cook and worked as one after graduation from high school.  Consistent with this, Christian is currently a BS in Hotel and Restaurant Management freshman at the La Consolacion University Philippines in Malolos, Bulacan.  While balancing his artistic and culinary interests with his academic workload, he manages to be an all-around athlete and is also on the university’s varsity basketball team.  On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ychan.eunra

What the biographical note does not get into is that originally, his father had thought, or suggested, that the son might pursue a Fine Arts degree in college, as he knew that he was at least skilled in art production and could certainly develop such talents further with proper advanced studies.  The father had told me about this earlier in the year, which I fortunately recalled after all the other erstwhile artist candidates had proven unavailable or unsuitable.

A quick conversation with Christian one Saturday to broach the subject proved most fruitful, with him quite enthused about the opportunity.  As a start, I asked him to sketch his proposed study for the prospective Christmas artwork, and here is what he showed me a week later:

Obviously, Christian had a million Christmas-related ideas, and tried to accommodate all of them into this one sketch!  After a brief “master class” courtesy of our 2010 Christmas card artist, Chester Ocampo, Christian was inspired to reconsider and more tightly focus his response to our request for a simple representation of a quintessential Filipino Christmas.  The result was this depiction of a small family saying grace before sharing the traditional Christmas midnight feast. 

  

The artist’s pride in his new creation, even only in pencil sketch form, was evident.

Actually completing the artwork took several more weeks, as Christian himself admitted that he had never used acrylic, much less oil, and had never painted on canvas – his prolific output since early youth was exclusively with poster paint and other school art materials, and usually only on illustration board or some other paper surface. 

But persist he did, and the resulting finished artwork, in all its glorious color, was completed by November 10^th, and sent off to the printer the following day.  As in years past, this digital image does not do full justice to the exuberance of the actual artwork, but it will do.

Christian Magno

NOCHE BUENA

Acrylic on canvas, 18” x 24”

2013

Therefore from Christian the artist and from my family and me, here’s to a

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Maligayang Paskó at Manigong Bagong Taón!

And all our prayers and best wishes for an excellent 2014 and beyond.

Originally published on 31 December 2013. All text and photos except where attributed otherwise) copyright ©2013 by Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.

XX. Give Art on Christmas Day

I mean, we’re right smack in the middle of the Christmas season, and all we can talk and think about are grimy old houses that have seen better days, dusty aparadors that still smell of the sweaty undergarments of our great grandparents, and the possibility that orbs in photos of salas and bedrooms might represent the spirits of previous residents. Pathetic.

So here’s the perfect foil to all that: For many years now, my family has (have, in, er, British English) sent out Christmas cards to friends and acquaintances every year. However, it was not until a bit more than three years ago that we hit on the idea of commissioning an original artwork for our card, such that each of the few hundred recipients would have a limited-edition print of an original work of art in hand, which would surely be a high-priced collectible many years from now. Or so we hope.

We also decided that we would, as far as possible, commission work from young (generally taken to mean, below forty years old) artists, and preferably those from our home province of Bulacan. So here’s how things have progressed since then.

* * * * *

In mid-2003, we met thirty-three-year-old Rey G. Salamat, from Malolos’ neighboring town of Paombong. A member of the Lakan Sining ng Bulakan and other art associations, Rey was also an instructor in drafting at the Bulacan State University. At that time, he had recently mounted a successful two-man exhibition, “Renaissance,” at the Hiyas Museum in Malolos. He came highly recommended, and had a reputation for being a prolific artist whose studio was usually filled with numerous commissions-in-progress.

The Christmas card artwork that Rey did for us was entirely his own choosing – we did not specify the subject. The result, “Simbang Gabi sa Las Piñas” was unusual in its predominant blackness, yet much-admired by both family members and card recipients.

* * * * *

In the desire to become even more overtly Christian in representation, the following year, we commissioned another young artist, twenty-nine-year-old Maria Socorro Cervantes Tuble, to do a Nativity scene. (Although from Manila, we figured that being female, and in the spirit of affirmative action, she could be exempt from the Bulakeño requirement.)

Susie is an artist and interior designer who dabbles in different art media, particularly in charcoal and oil. She began drawing at a very early age, which was fortified with formal training in charcoal painting. She then participated in oil painting workshops at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts and at the Ayala Museum. She graduated from the Philippine School of Interior Design and is also an interior design consultant. Both her design office and studio-gallery are at #6 Bascom Street, North Fairview, Quezon City.

Susie is a great admirer of the Renaissance masters, an influence evident in her liturgical artworks for churches, and in her other private commissions, including the 2004 Christmas card she did for us, “The Adoration of the Shepherds.”

* * * * *

We had known the Hagonoy, Bulacan artist Wilfredo B. Reyes for a number of years, as he had done artworks to my family’s commission previously. Willie is a Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate of the University of the Philippines at Diliman, where he majored in Painting. 

He had his first solo show at the Vargas Museum in UP in 1990, and has participated in numerous group shows including the juried “Pastels USA” 13^th Annual International Open Exhibition in California in 1999. (Importantly, as the two of us were born in the same year, he automatically meets the criterion of “young.”)

Willie is a member of the Tabingdagat Painters of Hagonoy and the Guevarra Group of Artists. His home-workshop is at #0091 Ulandis, Mercado, in Hagonoy. He is best known for plein-air painting, wherein the artist works directly from nature. This is evident in the artwork that he did for last year’s Christmas card, “Early Christmas Morning in Barasoain,” which was an immediate hit with the vast majority of those who were privileged to receive it.

* * * * *

Casting our nets farther afield, while still trying to keep to the criteria of “young” and “Bulakeño,” a few months ago I was introduced, by means of state-of-the-art technology in long-distance textual and graphical telecommunications (i.e., the internet), to a then eighteen-year-old artist, Victor Tomas Banzon Ancheta, who had spent his childhood in Bulacan town, another of Malolos’ neighboring towns. (As we were later to find out, he and I even attended the same grade school in Malolos, although practically a generation apart – but in his time as in mine, the place was still run by the sternest Roman Catholic nuns this side of the Berlin Wall.)

Victor Ancheta migrated to the United States with his family when he was thirteen. Earlier this year, he graduated from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, an acclaimed secondary school in Houston, Texas, where he currently lives.

Victor is a conceptual artist, working mainly with sculpture, installations, and interactive art. He has exhibited in different art spaces, most notably at the Contemporary Arts Museum for the juried show, “Hit Me!” in 2005. He has earned numerous awards and recognition for his works. 

For our family Christmas card this year, Victor created “Ang Regalo” [The Gift], which unlike our previous Christmas card artworks is not in oil on canvas, and neither is it 18 inches by 24 inches in size. Instead, it is in a slightly eccentric 15 inches by 24 inches (which gave the printer some difficulty in making it fit the presumed "aspect ratio" based on our previous Christmas cards), and is in mixed media: wood, polymer clay, and gold and silver leaves.

As Victor explains, “‘Ang Regalo’ is a fusion of medieval and Filipino art resulting in a stylized rendering of objects rich in color and gilding. The Christ Child holds a dove, a symbol of peace, which can be interpreted as the Child’s gift to “Inang Bayan” (the Motherland), or a gift from Inang Bayan to the Christ Child.”

Because our Christmas card recipients had been so used to traditional themes and artistic styles in previous years, the artist’s “explanation” above, printed at the back of the card, helped “Ang Regalo” be that much easier to understand and appreciate, it seems. If you still don’t understand it, or just plain hate it, or really love it, please send Victor hate or fan mail, as the case may be, via his Multiply blogsite here. And visit victorancheta.com.

* * * * *

Another year, another Christmas card. So there. Any suggestions, nominations, or submissions for consideration for our 2007 Christmas artwork? Your feedback (via Personal Message if you prefer) will be much appreciated.

* * * * *

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon!

from the Veron-Dulay-Cloma Family of Bulacan and Manila, the Philippines

Originally published on 27 December 2006.  All text and photos copyright ©2006 by Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.

Original comments:

victorancheta wrote on Dec 31, '06 I'm afraid to open my emails now. hehehe. Happy Holidays Leo! Thank you so much for everything. Hope the feedbacks have been good.

rally65 wrote on Dec 31, '06, edited on Dec 31, '06 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year again, Victor. Yes, feedback has been consistently good -- in the three previous years. For your card design, it has been, er, charitable! Ha! Ha!

arcastro57 wrote on Jan 2, '07 Wonderful Christmas art! Support your local starving artists! Have your cards designed by Victor! In 100 years, these cards will be family heirlooms, so I am keeping mine till they gather dust.

victorancheta wrote on Jan 5, '07 Ahaha. I knew that's was going to happen, that feedback would be rather dull. Nah, it's fine, it was a rushed job. :D