Pinoy Pride Weekend

 

Last weekend, I enjoyed back-to-back Filipino cultural events up in Seattle.  I was able to reconnect with old friends, experience some amazing art, support some important causes and express my Filipino pride. Special thanks to my hubby for being on double daddy daycare duty AND for driving Cedro to Tagalog class on Sunday without me.

I planned the trip around the Here Lies Love musical, written by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim about Imelda Marcos and the political climate in the 70s-80s in the Philippines.  The show stars some NYC friends (who I had met through my dear friend, Liz Casasola).  I thought the show was closing on June 4th, but it has been extended until June 18th at the Seattle Rep Theatre.  I highly recommend it.  It’s not just for Filipinos!  It is the most unique musical/theater performance you will experience.  Get your tickets now!

Then I found out that coincidentally a Broadway Barkada benefit concert was happening the following Monday night in Seattle.  It was the perfect excuse to have a mini reunion with friends and to support Fil-Am performing artists as well as The Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project.

Liz Casasola and Brian Jose — Broadway Barkada co-founders at rehearsal // Seattle, WA // 04 June 2017

Filipino Festival Time with Liz — This was moments before a raven swept down and STOLE my Filipino BBQ stick that was sitting on my plate that I had put down on a table while I was buying a drink! // June 2017 Seattle

https://www.instagram.com/p/BU_rZdbFxxg/?taken-by=ardiddy

Lately, I have been struggling with balancing Filipino culture and language exposure to my kids in our trilingual household. Those couple of days in Seattle were exactly what I needed to stay strong.  Mabuhay!

B Sweet

https://www.instagram.com/p/BP3REskFVmO/

Wow!  A Filipino dessert bar in the heart of the bustling Sawtelle area of West LA!  Beautifully designed indoor and outdoor space with a play kitchen area for the kids.   B Sweet.  Represent!

Artisan Made Philippines

Ay nako!  It has been almost 2 years since my last post!

Yesterday, I attended an amazing launch event for Artisan Made Philippines.  Overnight my cup runneth over with the sense of Pinay Pride.  And just in time!

One of the biggest things that has been weighing down on my mind, heart and soul has been my struggle to teach my kids Tagalog and cultivate their Filipino identity.  Yes, I speak to them exclusively in Tagalog, but I know my version of Tagalog is not enough.  I myself need some immersion crash course in order to discuss more complex thoughts and feelings with them.

Thanks to Artisan Made, I came away from last week feeling connected to a vibrant Filipino-American community.  I’m feeling happier.  It’s the kind of feeling you might experience when you spend a whole day with cool cousins.  Mind you, I only knew Kristine Surla, the founder of Artisan Made when I walked in the door, but everyone felt familiar as they shared their stories of being Filipino or Filipino-American.  It didn’t matter that we were from all different parts of the Philippines or different parts of the US.

It’s a huge understatement to say that I was thrilled and inspired.  The day wasn’t about fleeting fashion trends.  It was about Filipinos and Filipinas making a difference in other people’s lives.

• Moved by the work that the non-profit, Gawad Kalinga, is doing to end poverty and hunger in the Philippines.
• Lost my mind shopping for beautiful pieces by Anthill – a social and cultural enterprise in the Philippines working to preserve local weaves through contemporary design to sustain livelihood and tradition.  Each piece had a story about the specific weaves and the weaver or craftsperson who created it.
• Witnessed the inventive and improvisational culinary skills of The New York Times-featured Filipina chef, Yana Gilbuena.  I inhaled the 5-course kamayan meal after admiring her artful presentation.  I also learned that you can peel ginger with a regular spoon!  It’s work, but it means that you don’t waste any of the ginger!  Genius.
• Discovered that “heirloom Philippine rice” exists!  Last night’s menu included black rice by Social Products — an organization that sources organic food products from Philippine coop smallholder farmer partners that empower rural farmers, women, and indigenous peoples with a more sustainable way to eradicate poverty.
• Excited to taste and learn about Kalsada Coffee from the Philippines and roasted in Seattle.
• And wow!  Theo & Philo artisanal chocolates.  Yum!  They’re the Philippines’ first bean-to-bar artisan chocolates.  You have to try them!
• And calamansi liqueur?  Yes, please!  I am now on the hunt for Manille Liqueur de Calamansi.  According to Forbes, it was “conceived as a Filipino take on the Italian limoncello by president and CEO Olivia Limpe-Aw, in collaboration with restaurateur-turned-writer-and-television-host Stephanie Zubiri-Crespi, Manille Liqueur de Calamansi, launched in January 2014, is a vodka-based drink that uses the essence of the zesty calamansi rind sourced from Mangyan farmers in Mindoro, a province located off the coast of Luzon, and northeast of Palawan.”
• And most importantly, I have secured some SoCal Tagalog play dates in my family’s future!  In fact, because of the press coverage leading up to the event, I now know that there’s a show, Kababayan Today.  And because of that show, I now know that there’s a summer school program by the Filipino Cultural School here in LA!  It’s far but it will be worth it to enroll Cedro next summer.

Maraming salamat, Kristine! Mabuhay!

 

 

Interview with Ardith on “The Art Directed Life”

I am proud to be featured this week on the art blog, “The Art Directed Life.”

(The story behind the photo: Here’s a collage that I created with one of my illustrations.  I felt weird submitting a picture without my son, Cedro, so I included his sippy cup.  (a) He is obsessed with Lightning McQueen right now, and (b) I have been known to drink the rest of his drinks at the end of the day straight from his cup.)

Tribute to Freda

Cedro and Freda // October 2010 // San Francisco, CA

My good friend, Freda Koblick, passed away today.

If you know me well, you know how much she meant to me.  She was a great friend and mentor and huge inspiration.  For those of you who don’t know her, here’s a great article describing her life and her work.

I can’t believe she was 90 years old (almost 91)!  I’ve known her for 17 years.  I met her right after graduating from college in ’94.  It was a happy accident.  I was trying to figure out what to do with my life and it just so happened that a good friend wasn’t available to work as her apprentice so I took the position instead.  I always looked forward to visiting her at her space in the Mission District of San Francisco — half of an entire synagogue converted into a loft/gallery above and studio and machine shop down below.

She taught me so much about being an artist and living life to its fullest.  She was infinitely wise and elegant and charming, yet warm and approachable and hysterical at the same time.  I always felt smarter and a better person after hanging out with her.  We spent a lot of time chatting at her dining table over the years.  I smile at the memory of her casually sipping her chilled vodka from a beautiful pewter shot glass at meals. She always seemed so regal but at the core she was always so much fun and so funny.  I loved hearing her adventures from when she was younger.  For example, she would talk about those McCarthyism days when she was certain her phone was tapped.  She and her best friend, Henrietta, would call each other up and just read smut novels out loud to make fun of the FBI agents listening in!

And she continued to have adventures!  Despite all her serious physical ailments from the past 5 years, she was always so sharp and alive and gracious. She would always joke, “I’m gettin’ old!”  But she could recall details about our friendship just like that.  No problem.  No matter how much time had passed since we last spoke, she could always pick right back up from where we left off.

I’m so glad she was able to meet my husband, Brian, and was so supportive of his acting career.  The last time she saw him back in October of 2010, he played the shakuhachi (Japanese flute) for her in her living room and it sounded so amazing resonating through the loft space.  I know she enjoyed it… And I’m so glad that she was able to meet my baby boy, Cedro.  I was so pleased by how much she enjoyed his company and how much she would talk about him afterwards.  It’s a great feeling when important people in your life meet each other!

I’m so glad that I got the chance to know Freda Koblick.  She will always be an important part of my life and who I am.

I was able to visit her one last time a couple weeks ago.  We didn’t say any final good-byes then; more like “See you later…”

See you later, Freda.  I love you!

Portrait by Imogen Cunningham, 1945

Barkada(ko) Boxing Fans on TV!!!

It’s nothin’ but MANNY MANIA this week!

We’ll be posting some of our own videos soon from our “Up Close and Personal” encounters with Manny Pacquiao. (Check out our previous blog posts.) In the meantime, here’s a short clip of us in the background for a moment in Episode 3 of HBO’s 24/7 series on the Pacquiao vs. Cotto fight. OK, so it’s blurry and you can’t really tell it’s us, but we WERE there and SO PROUD and honored to be there! It’s not every day that one gets to meet the Pride of the Philippines!

They’re replaying all the episodes tonight to get us all pumped for the fight! If you take a close look you’ll see us in the background during a shot of Buboy Fernandez in the parking lot of the Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles… That’s Arlene wearing the orange Team Pacquiao hoodie (given to her… by Buboy himself!) and Ardith is wearing the Barkada(ko) Logo T in gold while our new friend from Team Pacquiao, Roweena Encarnacion, is rockin’ the Barkada(ko) Philippine Flag T in navy… PINOYS UNITE!

Many thanks to our close friend and Barkada(ko) supermodel, Gary Zane, who introduced us to Roweena and got the ball rollin’ so we could get on this Pacquiao Train!

ARTY PARTY 2009

part of the ARTY PARTY projection

I can’t believe that 4 days have already passed since my Arty Party last Saturday!  It came and went in a blink!  I couldn’t have been happier!  Great turnout (~100 guests), great vibe (Gstaad bar and lounge), great music, and great friends!

I have announced The Big News countless times that this was supposed to be the year that I was going to make It happen — to follow my true passion and do something about my art.  So I set a date (October 3rd, 2009) and went to work on assembling my art to share.

I spent one month prior to the party reviewing and studying my 50+ journals and sketchbooks.  I have to say that it was a fun and self-indulgent exercise.  I essentially forced myself to read my illustrated diaries from the past 24 years!  I approached my Arty Party with low expectations.  I didn’t pressure myself to create any earth-shattering masterpieces.  The event was an excuse to throw a party and force myself to create something.  Anything.

Some observations or recurring patterns in my journals:  (1) I have been complaining about how lame I am for not pursuing my art, yet I created 24 years’ worth of art (in the privacy of my sketchbooks), (2) I have been repeating like a broken record how much I want to work on some sort of film production, (3) I like to make lists and diagrams, (4) I seem to enjoy drawing mountains, buildings, plants, animals, portraits, random everyday objects, as well as images from my dreams… I know.  I know.  That’s everything!  It’s true.  I seem to enjoy drawing.

I pulled approximately 100 images and either cleaned them up in Photoshop and/or created an entirely new illustration based on a particular image or moment.  For the party, I pared down the set of images to 50 or so and animated them in Flash.  Time ran out pretty quickly so my husband, Brian, came to the rescue and animated my “mountain” sequence and stitched it together with the rest of my animation in AfterEffects to create the DVD.  The finished product was a 15-minute looping animation.

It was quite a learning experience to work in the DVD color space.  Because the venue only had a DVD player connected to their projector, I had to tweak almost all the colors of my original animation — toning down the whites and the blacks.  A pain but good to know.

I also made some limited edition prints of 10 of the illustrations in the animation.  (I’ve reordered new mats to make the rest of the collection available for sale at the Barkada(ko) website hopefully by the end of next week.)

some of the matted prints

Special thanks to my sister, Arlene, and my cousin, Stacy for matting and bagging the prints!  Wow!  I couldn’t have pulled out this event without them.  So glad that they flew in from California to help!

I also have to thank my sister-in-law, Lisa Nishii, who took my idea of providing gifts bags for the kids to another level!  She generously supplied the extra treats and went out of her way to get special snacks for the 12 kids who attended the party.  I think the kids had a great time!  I WILL take credit for these amazing LED glow cups that I purchased from ExtremeGlow.com.  Those were a big hit with the kids!  With a press of a button, you can change the color of the cup or even cycle between all the colors!

photo by Mike Wilkins

My sister also created custom stickers, tattoos, and coloring books using my illustrations!  As you might have guessed, assembling the kiddie bags was almost just as much work as creating the art for the party!  I have so many close friends and family with young kids that I wanted to make sure that they were properly entertained during the 3 hours of the party.

EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS:

• Brian Nishii: my loving husband & A/V expert
• Stacy Pascual: my cousin (aka Event Coordinator Extraordinaire)
• Arlene Ibañez: my devoted little sister & lifetime slave
• Lisa Nishii: my sister-in-law & Kid Party expert
• Kim Brothers: Ray, Chuck, Sonny (DJ crew)
• Gstaad: Anthony, Matt, Soraya, & Dan (43 W. 26th Street, NYC)
• Gourmet Garage: catering
• Rik Panganiban, Cori Kaylor, Anne Tamayo, Edowa Shimizu, Cliff Pershes, Mike Kearney, Remy Casasola: my investors!  Thank you for purchasing a print!

I finally did it.  No class project or client deadline to follow.  I finally made time for myself.  I finally made time for my art.  It feels good.

This is just the beginning.  Stay tuned for ARTY PARTY 2010. In the meantime, you can check out the animation that we projected below. You’ll have to play your own soundtrack or ask Arlene and the Kim Bros to come over and DJ for you!

AWESOME!

Now, I am by no means taking credit for the art pictured above, but i must say that i’ve ALWAYS wanted to create one large painting creating by many smaller paintings; like a mural if you will.  I thought it would be easier to tackle such a large project by doing it little by little.  Having said this, I just happened across a great piece of art at the Korean Cultural Center where i take korean language classes (yes, yes…tagalog will be next!!)  The artist took little blocks of wood and created mini-pieces of art with each one!  It really looked spectacular!!  And if you look at each block, they weren’t all flashy or intricate… but together…WOW.  Some blocks had dry cleaner tickets, some had stickers, two of them were mirror images of each other, one had a little envelope sticking out of it.  The artist used paper, stickers, paint, everykind of medium imaginable!  Totally inspiring me to get off my butt and start my “big painting made up of small paintings” project.  Keep an eye out for updates on this!