"What is Art for?"

Last July, Nikki Ocean held her solo exhibit, entitled Prism Pains and Those Voices in the Wilderness, at the Finale Art File art gallery. She's a budding artist and I've seen her grow from her college days to the present date. You could say that I've been one of her biggest fans! After seeing her exhibit, I was inspired to create jewelry pieces that ran parallel and    resonated with her paintings. This led me to experiment with different forms of beaded costume jewelry, as well as incorporating materials outside my usual style. 

Bloom, Nikki Ocean
2015, Oil on Canvas
84 X 60 inches

Ghost of your future's past childhood longings, Nikki Ocean
2015, Oil on Canvas
60 X 84 inches

Heart Burn, Nikki Ocean 
2015, Oil on Canvas
48 X36 inches

Peak of Haiyan, Nikki Ocean
2015, Oil on Canvas
36 X 36 inches

Wild, Nikki Ocean
2015, Oil on Canvas
48 x 36 inches

Home is where the tides take me, Nikki Ocean
2015, Oil on Canvas
36 X 36 inches

I have always been an accessory-loving person. I love wearing jewelry regardless of it being fine, bridge or costume. I also collect those made by different artists and retail brands. When I learned to make costume jewelry in particular, it played to my strengths as an artisan since I am a very visual and creative person. If I wasn’t doing this, I might have pursued painting or sculpture. Today, I see paint my canvass with my needle and thread as my brush and paint. 

I am lucky to be surrounded by creative people from different fields, who are artists in their own way using their form of "art" to inspire, influence and showcase their own advocacy. I suppose this is an example of what art is about. At one level, art inspires and on another level, it's an indirect way to self investigation. Allain de Botton's animated guide to "What is Art For" explains it more clearly. 

Live a life of meaning. Surround yourself with art! 
Keeping it real.- PJV

Draw to Experience

Lotus Inspired Necklace 

It was not until a client asked me to show sketches of her entourage jewelry did I start drawing again. I do remember, however that I once regularly did sketching, and enjoyed charcoal drawing in primary school. But I stopped when one of my peers unkindly commented that what I drew was not my work. After that incident, I never really went back to drawing or sketching. In that moment, I doubted myself and thought that I was never good enough. Childhood experiences really do play a part in who and what you think of yourself. For some reason I grew up having very low esteem, with the need to please people. It was hard for me to make friends and much harder to communicate what I really felt. A part of that is still there; the insecurities of not being worthy still haunt in some days. Today, I try hard to be in control and achieve perfection, but at the same time trying to rebel from expectations. 

Larkspur and the Lotus

Somehow my art and the chance to wake up everyday and do my thing helps in the process. I sketch and draw regularly now. This process helps me conceptualize and put a structure to my ideas, which most of the time are rambles and circuits of images in my mind. It calms me. Its a form of meditation and most importantly a form of gratitude. 

Larkspur Inspired Necklace

Nowadays cameras make it so easy to feel that we've captured what's important in the world. But to really appreciate what's around us, we might need to learn a weirder, less technologically-advanced skill: drawing. To the modern-day person, when something looks interesting or beautiful, it's a natural impulse to take a picture in order to preserve it. This means that we're likely to reach for our phones or cameras. But this becomes a problem when we fail to truly look at the world and its true beauty, and get lost in the act of "capturing" the moment. The act of drawing forces us to study the world in a way that we would never consider when we take a photograph. 

Roses and Thorns

Say for example that two people take a walk together, one is a sketcher and the other one with no interest of the kind. There will surely be a great difference in how the two individuals perceive the things that they are both seeing. The one who has no interest in sketching will look at a tree and surmise that it's a tree, and will think no more about it. However, the sketcher will be able to view the sunlight and how it bounces of the tree, and the feeling of experiencing that will remain in memory as well. The sketcher will remember how the sunshine makes the leaves glimmer and the shadows that are cast, in other words, the minute details of beauty. The sketcher will see the emerald glow of the leaves and the contrast of the  bow and branches emerging from the veil of leaves. Then come the patterns of the bark and the twisting roots, which the sketcher will notice as all the colors blend themselves in perfect harmony. We draw not because we want to be great artist, but we should draw to be able to see, think, and feel, beyond what our gadgets cannot provide. Is this not worth seeing? Yet if you're not a sketcher, you will let pass the beauty of the world around us, and be reminded of it simply in photographs, not knowing, and feeling, what you've truly missed . All you'll remember is that you went such-and-such into the world and simply took photos of it, post it somewhere and think nothing more of it. 

So anyway, I am planning to take up some basic drawing, maybe painting but most definitely a workshop on sculpture. I enjoy theory but I prefer theory in practice more. I have been eyeing on joining art classes at ARTALYER Workshops and Studio. I will keep you updated on this! Most of all, I would love to draw beside Nikki Ocean in her Art by Sea  Workshops. Lastly, since we are in the subject of drawing, here's another interesting read from William Kemp. 

Keeping it real.-PJV

Tribute to the Masters: Gustav Klimt

The Kiss

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was a great master who definitely was not popular during his era. In fact, citizens of Vienna, the place of his birth, took great exception to his works such as “Danae” and “The Kiss” for its sensual portrayal of eroticism and sexuality.  On top of that, several pieces that he commissioned for the university were also widely met with disdain due to his vast use of symbolism. Despite heading one of the most popular art movements in Vienna, known as the Secession Movement, and winning the grand prize for the 1900 Paris World Fair, Gustav Klimt believed that his popularity was going on a downward spiral, and as a result travels to Florence and Rome.

Tree of Life

It is in these places that Gustav Klimt created several of his masterpieces. Though his work remained in the realm of symbolism and non-traditional approach, his pieces were widely popular outside Vienna. “Death and Life”, “The Virgin” and “The Bride”, were all creations made outside his country.

Expectation

His style and techniques were well ahead of his time. And though conservatives despised his work for scandalous reasons, his creations serve as an inspiration for artists who wish follow their own path and to experiment with non-traditional methods and materials. During the latter part of his artistic career (and life) he was totally dedicated to art. GustavKlimt’s “Golden Phase” is named as such for his use real gold with his oil paintings. He also collaborated with other artists, and on one such endeavor for a wealth patron, remarked that he has reached his peak in ornamental design. Known for a very deliberate and painstaking method, Klimt once changed the background color of a prize winning work “Death and Life” in 1911, from gold to blue.

Virgin

GustavKlimt died in 1918, plagued by a stroke and subsequent pneumonia. An artist to the very end, Klimt left many paintings unfinished upon his death. Gustav Klimt had an eclectic range of influences that contributed to his style. His works are characterized by his propensity to use gold, spirals and swirls, as well as phallic symbols the feminine nature. Klimt’s works are best known for rejecting past styles, eschewing them for symbols and symbolic elements. This places an emphasis on what most of us look towards art, which is the freedom to create apart from culture and tradition.

Gustav Klimt Mother and Child inspired Art Jewelry

Gustav Klimt Sea Serpents inspired Art Jewelry

As part of my practice and exercise, I take inspiration from visual artists like Klimt. What I love about his works the symbolisms and his use of patterns. At times they're playful and rich colors; but mostly his use of gold, yellow and orange to either give accent or be the main palette of his paintings. As part of improving my designs and art, I made these art jewelry pieces inspired by two of his works, "Mother and Child" and "Sea Serpent".  Here are the pieces that I've made inspired by his works. 

Gustav Klimt Sea Serpents inspired Art Jewelry

Photography by Carlo Cayabyab 
Email: insight713@gmail.com 
Keeping it real. -PJV 

P.S. Here's another one I made with Novie, which we didn't get to photograph professionally as one of our loyal clients bought it once we had it posted on Instagram. 

My Heart Goes to Egypt

Egyptian inspired jewelry using bead embroidery as the main technique.
Photography and Lay-out by Stib Calma 

The ancient Egyptians were one of the first civilizations in the world to use elevate jewelry making into an art form. Their primary medium in their creations was gold, as befits most cultures that worshipped the sun. The Egyptians believed that their gods had bodies that were made of gold that shined liked the sun, thus placing a deep significance to this precious metal.

Here's a closer look of the art jewelry necklace inspired by Egyptian Jewelry. 

By 1200 B.C. the Egyptians have become so adept at using gold that they were able to develop sophisticated techniques that allowed them to create alloys, which allowed them to shape more intricate figures. Tombs of Egyptian Pharaohs, living incarnates of the gods themselves, were decked with intricate creations and regal splendor.

We made different versions, however sticking to neutral colors
such as black and white.
Photography by Carlo Cayabyab

Sadly, looters and treasures hunters have ransacked most of these tombs over the millennia, and we today can only imagine the magnificence of what might have been. The monuments marking death were also vessels, in which the mighty rulers of ancient Egypt would use for their journey into the afterlife, were filled with precious ornaments to show their civilization’s wealth and power.

History of Egyptian Jewelry from the book Jewelry International Vol. II
by Caroline Childers

In 1922 the tomb of perhaps one of the most famous pharaohs, Tutankhamen, was discovered. Inside were immensely valuable objects that signified the boy-king’s life as a ruler. There, Egyptologists found Tutankhamen’s burial mask, a near-perfect replication of his features made with solid gold. Royal symbols adorned the mask, including gold and blue glass figures of a cobra and vulture that symbolized Lower and Upper Egypt. They also found a cold-covered throne that had depictions of Queen Ankhesenamun anointing the young king. Sheets of gold were inlayed with colored glass and semiprecious stones, and in between them were representations of the Sun deity. Every inch of the throne was covered with religious symbols and secular endeavors, signifying the greatness of the culture that rose to dominate the entirety of the banks of the Nile River.

Relics such as these are the only instances in which we from the modern world can hope to view this ancient, mysterious, and glorious civilization.

History of Egyptian Jewelry from the book Jewelry International
 Vol. II by Caroline Childers

Custom-made necklace taking inspiration from
 Egyptian Jewelry neckline structure. 

It is the love for jewelry that pushes me to be inspired and to learn more about this art form. Nowadays, we think of jewelry as mass produced items that are readily available to purchase-- from fine, bridge and costume jewelry. It is great to look back on the history,  essence of ornamentation and philosophy behind the production of jewelry.  

Keeping it real. -PJV 

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe 

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the most visited sites for Roman Catholic pilgrims around the world. It is a national shrine of Mexico, located north of Mexico City. The Basilica houses the cloak of Juan Diego, which legend has it, in 1531 the Virgin Mary appeared to him and asked him to build a church in her honor.

Upon telling this story to the archbishop of Mexico, Juan Diego was told to get a “miraculous sign” from the Virgin Mary to prove her identity. The Lady of Guadalupe instructed Juan Diego to gather flowers on top of Tepayac Hill, normally barren in that time of year. Juan Diego found roses that were not native to Mexico, and used his cloak to gather them to present to the Archbishop.

The image is a full-length representation of a young woman. This image of the Virgin Mary has her hands joined, with her head slightly inclined. Over the images head is a blue mantle trimmed with gold and embellished with gold stars.

Historically, the site for our Lady of Guadalupe was once the location for a temple of an ancient goddess known as Tonantzin, or “Our Mother”, before Spanish conquerors tore the place down to create a new site for Catholic worship. It is well documented that the Christian faith used the assimilation of past icons to gain a better foothold in the spiritual lives of its new converts. 

Originally, the image had a crown, but was ordered by the clergy to remove it to give it a more modern image, in line with the nineteenth century images of the Immaculate Conception. The name “Guadalupe” is said to originate from one of three black Maddonnas found in the medieval kingdom of Castile in Spain.

In the Philippines, the Virgin of Guadalupe is revered in the town of Loboc, as it is given credit to a miracle that saved citizens from a great flood. The legend was greatly enhanced when the extensive floods stopped at the foot of an image of Virgin. This event is immortalized in a painting at the ceiling of Loboc church.      
      

I had an opportunity to create an art jewelry necklace inspired by the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Guada, our model for this piece, was herself named after Our Lady of Guadalupe, asked us to customize this necklace. I used charms with the popular image and added embellishments which was composed of crystals and seed beads. Since Guada was still in her early 20s, I decided to balance the design with the use of chains that's apt for age. I can see her using this custom made necklace over plain tank tops and tees, collared shirts and round neck one-piece dresses. 

Keeping it real.- PJV