MIGUEL & ME: the story of a late bloomer and her violin May 17, 2012

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When I want something, I try to do something about it.

So when I was asked what musical instrument do I want to rock out in my next life, I said the violin.

And so as not to waste time, I got meself one and baptized it Miguel.

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So while teaching some kids from the community in Zambales how to make their own documentary,

these kids were also teaching me how to play the violin.

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JULIAN AT 5 years old
(found this image on the internet, ain’t he a cutie

JULIAN at 12

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Julian Duque was my first teacher. He was actually the one who let me experience how it is to hold a violin. It was during this moment that I felt this connection with the instrument. Naks! He was also the one who gave in to our request for a concerto. He played so well he made our hearts swell, haha rhyme! But really, he is fun to watch and a joy to listen to. This kid has so much to offer… There’s so much inside of him and he’s just bursting with all this energy that is affecting everybody who watches him. This boy is gonna go places, with a gift like his, I want to be just like him in my next life

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This is Miguel, yep he’s got the same name as my violin  He was the one who taught me how to do the musical scales properly. He also taught me the 4th variation of  twinkle, twinkle little star, the first piece that I learned. I asked him when can I do the vibrato, he said anytime Haha, easy for him to say, he started playing the violin at the age of 3!!!

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This is now my regular teacher, Remed, he is actually more strict compared to them. Some say he’s the bad boy of the group, must be the bangs but to me he is an effective teacher. I mean, I can now properly play the violin, aruruteynkyu to him, and I’m actually on my 8th piece already, so he must be doing something right  I told him I prefer faster pieces to play but he told me that I need to go through the musical scales first and that I need to do it correctly. Yes sir-ee!

I just watched his solo performance last weekend at Casa and boy was he a delightful surprise! I didn’t know he was that good! He gave a heart-wrenching performance, everybody in the theater felt his passion and emotion. I am a proud student, bravo teacher Remed!!!

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These kids (kids because I’m much older than them!) all started out in Casa San Miguel and is part of the Pundaquit Virtuosi. They were all trained by no other than the world-renowned violinist, Coke Bolipata. Now, they play alongside him and in fact headed to Europe (Paris-Rome-Venice) this June  for a concerto. Halukatdat!

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I watched them perform at Casa San Miguel’s theater hall and I was just in awe. Every note they played tugged my heartstrings. It was also my first time to watch Sir Coke perform and I just wanted to cry. I hear what he’s been saying about art exponents in music. During a conversation before their performance, he mentioned that we will hear some movements of impressionism & pointillism and I really saw it painted by his violin…

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I feel that it’s never too late to learn something new…

So here I am at 35 trying to learn how to play the violin from these child prodigies.

Hopefully in my next life, I will be as great as them, but for now I will rock out my version of Twinkle, twinkle…

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*** performance video of the virtuosi to follow

http://theartofeveryday.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/what-a-weekend-casa-san-miguel/

WHAT A WEEKEND (Casa San Miguel) March 20, 2012

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Still hungover from our workshop weekend at Casa San Miguel in Pundaquit, Zambales.

I’ve been wanting to visit this music, arts & culture haven eversince I saw images of it on a magazine a long time ago.  Finally we were invited here to share our knowledge on creative documentary filmmaking to 70 high school students!!! Yes 70!  It was a bit difficult to keep their attention the whole day but hearing them identify correct camera angles and different documentary approaches was very rewarding.

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To end the already perfect day, we decided to walk towards the beach and watch the sunset.

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Looking out into the sea, I had this overwhelming feeling of gratefulness inside me.  My goal in life is to give back to the world what it has given me and with this opportunity, hopefully, I am one step closer to that.

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The next day, we rode on a small banca and was given the front seat view of the majestic ocean. It was mesmerizing to watch the different shapes and colors of the waves as it undulates towards my direction. Being in this wide open space can be overwhelming, the sea is so vast and I feel so small…

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front view seat of the majestic ocean

island hopping

capones island

give me peace, give me liberty

balancing act

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After Capones Island, we hopped onto Anawangin where we filled ourselves up with life’s simple pleasures – pancit canton with hot & spicy tuna, hard boiled egg, halo-halo and lots of crazy ideas!!! We got to conceptualize an out-of-this-world music video to the tune of Vogue with the mountains and the beach as our backdrop. Hahaha, sorry inside joke :D

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LIFEs SIMPLE PLEASURES
halo-halo & pancit canton (with spicy tuna)

we were suprised to see a forest of trees next to the beach

happy campers in anawangin

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Heading back, we encountered a huge wave that almost toppled us over. Good thing manong boatman maneuvered us safely back to shore but not without a casualty. I tumbled out of the boat and got only one leg out when the fishermen helped pushed our boat into land. I fell awkwardly on the beach and was scared that water got inside the plastic bag with my camera in it. I heaved a sigh of relief when I found out that the only thing that got wet was my ass and that my dear camera is unharmed. Whew! Adventure

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continue reading

ENDLESS POSSIBLITIES March 8, 2012

I’ve been really sick the past weeks – cough, fever, tooth ache, back pain and all. My body may have been suffering but my soul is just soaring. This time with/for myself has been productive. I’ve been creating and preparing for something  exciting but of course I try to rest but it’s really hard. Even if I’m lying down, my mind is just restless. Too many ideas in my head. I’ve been missing this exhilarating feeling for quite some time and despite the physical pain, I am just truly excited by the endless possibilities.

ART IN THE PARK 2012 February 13, 2012

UNIQUE EDITION handmade and (some) hand-colored PHOTO COLLAGEs

exhibited in the Philippines, Hong Kong and France

will be on sale along with other works from the 10A ALABAMA family

at ART IN THE PARK from 2 to 12 PM.

KITAKITS!!!

MISSING December 5, 2011

I MISS staying put in one space and just losing meself . . .

I remember one time, I didn’t go out for days

I just kept on creating collages after collages for my exhibition.

There was also another time when I was editing during the Christmas holidays and I needed to finish this documentary. I was so into it, I spent Christmas eve or was it New Year alone with just Mithi, my first laptop.

Hahahahapinyunyir!

I MISS my RITUALS before the creation…

I used to sneak behind my sisters back and use her apartment as my atelier.

I loved waking up early in the morning and walking towards my makeshift creative space. Setting the mood with some music, opening the windows and letting the morning light shine in. I then lay down my materials, one by one on the white table,

and then

PLAY

…

I MISS creating something personal. Expressing what I have inside. Speaking with my heart through my hands.

COMMUNICATING

I MISS this kind of focus

CONCENTRATING

I MISS this feeling

SMILING

. . .

And so I vow after this upcoming soul trip,

i will lock meself up again and just lose it.

create. go crazy. let go.

 

A B A N G A N

 

 

healing process August 29, 2011

I’m not feeling well now but I’m at my happiest

These days has been spent creating

Cutting and pasting with my nose running and me coughing

I lose track of time and my space is in a creative mess

and I lavettt!

I’m reading this book now “The Geography of Bliss” and I totally agree with what this Icelander Hilmar said when asked about his feelings when composing music,

“I lose track of time when composing. It is a blissful activity. You are doing something you couldn’t imagine doing. It is bigger than yourself. You are enlarging yourself.”

This has also been a good time to take care of meself… I cooked some stir fried tofu and string beans with soy sauce (43% less salt!) paired with organic brown rice. Then for dinner I grilled some veggies (eggplant, bell pepper, onions & tomatoes) drizzled with pesto then placed on an open sandwich grilled with melted mozarella cheese. Absolutely yummy ! ! !

My body is weak

but my spirit is soaring.

n a k s 

the gods must be crazy June 25, 2011

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No one knows who she is.  Or where she has come from.

Or why everyday, she comes to this same spot, in the middle of the road right in front of the Sagada Lemon Pie House, sweeping the already pristine concrete with the leaves of a freshly snapped-off tree branch.

 

 

No one knows all these things except for the old woman herself. Those who know of her have long passed away, buried along with the heritage of a place, and of beings that have first treaded its soil.

 

 

The legend begins with rain, washing down to earth the Sky Gods’ two children named Wigan and Bugan. The siblings were Ifugao’s first dwellers, who populated the province with their offspring. Oh, such familial relations were common in those days. Incest was a thing of the future.

 

 

Wigan was the people’s God of harvest. With his faithful wife Bugan, he fattened the Sky Mountains’ soil, ensuring that their earthen steps teemed with crops. His was the name most uttered by farmers, who strove to please Wigan with sacrifice, chants and prayers.

 

 

But as the years passed, people started to forget—the ancients, their origins, and even their own identity. Wigan and his fellow gods weakened, for their powers relied on the people’s belief. One by one, away they faded.

 

Only Bugan now remained. As to why she survived, she could only hazard this guess: she was meant to look after her husband Wigan— whose remains lay beneath the thick concrete in the middle of the road.

 

 

Everyday while she sweeps and weeps over her husband’s grave, she offers a silent prayer to the Sky Gods to allow her to join her husband, to take her away from this strange place, inhabited by strange people who believe in even stranger gods.

 

 

Onlookers dismiss her as a crazy, old woman.

Still, Bugan is convinced that they are the crazy ones, deigning to conceal the rich soil, covering life itself with cold, hard cement—an offering to yet another one of their modern gods that choke the air and pollute the silence while walking, not on feet, but on wheels.

 

 

Story by AGAY LLANERA - REYES and Sagada Images by JK (Jazel Kristin)

Writer’s Link: http://agayandspanky.blogspot.com/

copyright 2011

 

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I’ve been wanting to collaborate with kindred spirits here on The Art of Everyday and so finally the series of ARTISTIC COLLABORATIONs happened. The Gods Must Be Crazy is a story especially written for this by Agay Llanera-Reyes, a freelance writer for print and video and also a children’s book writer (The Gathering, SOL, Song of the Ifugao & Girl meets Girl included in Bagets, an anthology for young adults).

Agay and I have travelled around the Philippines and abroad together. She has actually celebrated some of my orbital journeys with me from Batanes to China and then Paris and most recently to Sagada.  We saw this old woman, a very interesting character, during our walk. I tried to photograph her without noticing me and Agay wondered aloud what could be her story. Hence the birth of this collaboration…

Agayskee, it’s always great to hang out with you and also aruruteynkyu for always sharing your gift. I always say I write with images but you have this gift with words

 

 

outside the box and into the streets May 11, 2011

 

Art should not always be confined in a space,

you cannot control it

you just have to let it flow…

 

 

ART is EVERYWHERE

you just need to OPEN your EYES

to see more.

 

 

 The street is like a big gallery

a bottomless source of (artistic) inspiration

 

 

a place of unexpected artists

 and wonderful discoveries

 

 

All you need is to go out and explore…

 

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images shot in Beaubourg, Le Marais & St. Michel, Paris

http://theartofeveryday.wordpress.com/2009/07/26/day-30-wall-street-art/

 

 

 

 

 

RETURN to NEVERLAND May 1, 2011

 

view from Villa Romana

windows installation by Mark Tandoyog

bridge installation by Rene Aquitania

(l-r) ferdie balanag, kawayan de guia, rene aquitania

bamboo installation by Rishab

Kawayan de Guia's ukay-ukay tent built with the help of Baguio Volunteers

blind weaver

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Baguio is my Neverland

Inhabited by colorful creatures like Tinker Bell and Peter Pan 

Fairy dusts and Happy thoughts all around

A place where I learned how to fly and never land…

 

Fil-Canadian Artist Jen Maramba

spontaneous connection art exhibition initiated by Jen

 

musician Lirio Salvador

I CONSUME THERFORE I AM video & live performance in Baguio

  

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My video “I consume Therefore I am” was also shown first time in the Philippines, during this event.

My deepest gratitude to all the artists and musicians who collaborated and made it all possible…

(Musicians: Mark Zero, Armi Millare of Up Dharma Down, Shant Verdun, Elemento)

 

Images shot during the Axis International Arts Festival & Ipitik festival in Baguio City. 

 

 

EXCUSES by The Morning Benders April 4, 2011

 

 

My theme song every morning in my Paris atelier.

Not so much the lyrics but more the vibe and energy of this musical collaboration.

The feeling here was what I wanted to achieve in my live musical video installation performance

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Major goosebumps

Giddy feeling

like you’re In Love

…