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.
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
I have been living in the city for as long as I could remember, and in Manila alone there are so many places I haven't been to or explored. Travel and discovery, I believe, are innate qualities of my being. I may be an introvert, perhaps even bordering to becoming a social hermit, but the opportunity to explore hole-in-the-wall establishments, cultural hubs and art exhibitions always excites me. Through exposure you learn and get insights. And most importantly, you gain inspiration, even from those that most would consider as mundane. Creativity and inspiration are ideas that always seem to be beyond one's grasp but at times, especially when our minds are clouded. Through selective conditioning and unrealistic expectations, we fail to see any sort of redeeming beauty in the "ugliest" of places. To travel and explore the community you live in is a path one navigates to discover your own history, and discovering your place and the part you play in your community. Metro Manila is the center of commerce; the most populous city in the Philippines. One can be disheartened and discouraged to explore the city because of the impending traffic, noise and air pollution combined. However, as Carlos Celdran, an artist and cultural activist, puts it in is TED Talks, " If you can't find beauty and poetry in Manila, you'll never find it anywhere." Watch Carlos Celdran TEDx here:
With this in mind, I am planning my "walk this way" of Manila. Here are my pitstops for the month of August: 1. Revisiting Vargas Museum
Where: Roxas Avenue, University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City
Operating
hours: Tuesday to
Saturday, closed on most holidays, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Museum fee: Php
20.00 for UP students, alumni, faculty and employees, PhP 30.00 for
everyone else; entrance is free every Wednesday for UP students, alumni,
faculty and employees.
I used to teach pre-school and I'd say that it was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. Since I have, and will always, love the idea of creating I incorporated arts and crafts in every subject; whether it's science, math or english. I handled a class of 4-5 year olds who had so much energy and curiosity, which I channeled to creative activities. Being with children reacquaints my adult self with the child inside me. Participating in art projects can be a form of self reflection; a way for a person to pause and be in the moment. Even as an adult, I recommend that you still participate in arts and crafts activities. Here are some interesting Arts and Crafts Activities organized by CRAFT MNL, TWEED AND TWINE and SOUL FLOWER this August.
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.
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.
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.
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.
As a philosophy, we support our Style Advocates with their passion and dreams. Nikki Ocean's dream is to live by the sea while she creates and shares her art with mother nature as her school yard. This weekend, The Mobile Shack and Nikki Ocean will be holding a Surf and Art Attack travel experience to San Juan, La Union. If you are not doing anything this weekend, sign up and enjoy surf x art with them.
The Mobile Shack is a surf tour company built in passion and enthusiasm of two individuals who wants to share their love for surfing, adventure and good vibe. We take pride on our uniqueness and our different approach to surf tours and adventure by making it more personalized and packed with fun-filled experiences.
Our itinerary is different from the rest. We, at The Mobile Shack, inject interesting spots and activities along the way depending on our clients’ mood and availability. We bring you to places not only picturesque but lets you explore and experience nature at its best.
Imagine a weekend packed with adventure, surfing, beach and fun-filled interaction with the locals and your co-adventurer. We, at The Mobile Shack, commit to give you a weekend that will fuel the adventurer in you.
"Prepping something special for my students this weekend. Praying for sunny days ahead; because by the sea is where I want to be. It's a different kind of classroom (and adventure) this time around."- Nikki Ocean
Nikki is a teacher, make up artist, writer,
fashion stylist, an environmental advocate and a fashionista; but mainly she’s
a visual artist whose goal is to inspire others with her love for the arts.
She’s a graduate of Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines and is
currently with Finale Art File Gallery. She paints with her heart, treating
every canvass as a way for her to share her gift to others. In each of her
paintings, she gives a piece of herself to her audience. She uses her gift to
push for her social advocacies. Her main goal is to become an inspiration for
the youth to pursue their creative dreams and instill in them that with hard
work and discipline they can create opportunities for themselves in the field
of art and culture.
