Tag: May 23, 2014

FUSING aesthetics and alternative energy to promote a functional lifestyle, Edilberto "Butch" Cunanan and Manuel Dacanay, professors from the College of Fine Arts and Design, launched a collaborative exhibition titled Sustainable Community + Mobility at the UST Museum last March 27 to April11.

“NuvaliTree” by Cunanan and the “APT Scooter” by Dacanay applied “ecologically and environmentally compliant and sustainable design” approach. The art pieces are products of their thesis at the UST Graduate School.

Inspired by the Nuvali, a sustainable community development in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, Cunanan developed the functional art NuvaliTree that uses solar energy to produce 500 watts of electricity to power outdoor sculpture lamp posts.

UST SYMPHONY Orchestra’s annual Tribute to the Thomasians offered a variety of renowned classics at the Main Theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) last March 30.

Conducted by Korean maestro Jae-Joon Lee, the event also featured “Outstanding Alumnus” and award-winning pianist Fr. Manuel P. Maramba, OSB.

Beginning with a four-minute overture from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” the audience was serenaded with a leisurely middle segment with a melancholy oboe solo. The witty and sophisticated tone in the overture showed a foretaste of its four-act comic opera.

SOME develop skills over time, others are born with them.

Painter Eleazar Abraham Luna Orobia is the latter. Fondly called Abe by his peers, he took formal art education at the College of Fine Arts and Design (CFAD) in 2001.

But before that, Orobia had already been holding the brush since he was seven months old; at three, he learned how to draw; and at six, he held a one-man exhibit.

Orobia, who taught in CFAD from 2007 to 2012, comes from a lineage of artists. His father Rogelio is an established painter while his mother Fe is a granddaughter of Juan Luna, one of the first recognized Filipino artists and the man behind the famous “Spoliarium.”

DUBBED as the “affordable art fair,” the eighth installment of Art in the Park continued to cater to both art enthusiasts and novices with various art pieces at friendly prices at the Jaime Velasquez Park in Makati last March 23.

Spread out in the park with tents and booths were 58 galleries and art groups that boasted of works from both established and emerging artists. Works of students from the University’s College of Fine Arts and Design (CFAD), Feati University, Far Eastern University, Technological University of the Philippines, and University of the Philippines-Diliman were also showcased.

FROM holography to fashion and bamboo-based technology advancement, this year’s best theses from the College of Architecture, College of Fine Arts and Design (CFAD), and the Graduate School featured creative media and innovative concepts.

Among the 11 students who were recognized by the College of Architecture, Christian Salandanan and Jym Manuel also placed first and second, respectively, in the 1st National Architectural Thesis Competition last April 12.

Salandanan’s “Casa Kawayan: A Research and Development Complex” was named Thesis of the Year (see photo below, courtersy of Salandanan).

IT WAS the afternoon of Good Friday, Mario was watching attentively as his mother sliced the tomatoes and diced totatoes she was preparing for the family meal.

He then grabbed a knife beside some carrots and started imitating his mother’s actions. Just as he was about to graze the vegetable with its blade, Mario’s mother halted him immediately.

“But why, Mama? I want to help!” uttered the little one while trying to seize back the knife his mother sequestered.

“Anak, you might injure yourself. It’s bad to get hurt on a day like this.”

Puzzled, the child asked why. Putting down the blade on the kitchen counter, Mario’s mother abandoned her work to pick up the child and rest him on her lap.

HISTORY is meant to work alongside literature.

This is how Filipino-American novelist Gina Apostol puts it in her stories, ranging from the playfully written history of a young girl’s book life, to a blind man’s convoluted glimpse of a spawning revolution.

Aspiring writers and littérateurs witnessed “Conversation with Gina Apostol,” organized by the UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies last April 14 at the Tanghalang Teresita Quirino of the UST Graduate School.

PALUWA na ang araw nang umabot si Hulian at ang iba pa niyang kasamang sundalo sa San Fernando. Ikalimang araw na nang pagmamartsa at kaunting lakad na lamang ang kakailanganin. Tagaktak na ang pawis mula sa kaniyang pisngi at puno na ng pasa ang kaniyang mga binti na parang bibigay na sa susunod pa niyang paghakbang. Gayunpaman, ang silahis ng araw na tila tinutusok ang kaniyang balat ang bumubuhay sa kaniyang loob na umabot sa Camp O’Donnell.

MARAHIL ang pagbabalik ay hindi isang pagbabagong inaasam ngunit isang pagpapatuloy ng pilit na tinatakasang nakaraan.

Pinatunayan ni Anril Pineda Tiatco, propesor ng Theatre Arts sa University of the Philippines-Diliman, na hindi matatakasan ang mga lihim na pilit nang ibinaon ng nakalipas sa kaniyang librong Cuaresma: Isang Dulang Ganap Ang Haba (UST Publishing House, 2013).

NOONG panahon ng pananakop ng mga Kastila sa bansa, tanging mga mag-aaral na may katibayan ng limpieza de sangre o purity of blood ang tinatanggap sa UST.

Naglabas ng kautusan ang Espanya noong 1619 na ang mga purong Kastila lamang ang maaaring makapag-aral sa mga kolehiyo sa Pilipinas, bagkus kinakailangang ipakita ng mag-aaral ang katibayan patunay nito.

Tinutukoy din ng kautusan na dapat Katoliko lamang ang makakapasok sa Unibersidad. Kaya ang mga Hudyo, Muslim at heretiko ay hindi tatanggapin.

Hindi naglaon, pinayagan ng Unibersidad na makapasok ang mga mestizo ngunit tanging “bachelor’s degree” lamang ang maaari nilang kunin.