“Civilization, a much abused word, stands for a high matter apart from telephones and electric lights. It is a matter of imponderables, of delight in things of the mind, of love of beauty, of honor, grace, courtesy, delicate feeling. Where imponderables, are things of first import, there is the height of civilization.” – Edith Hamilton
The Birth Pangs
The Pasig Art Club is the brainchild of Prof. Ambrosio Morales, the retired dean of Filipino engravers. Prof. Morales was still the head of the sculpture department of the University of the Philippines when he conceived the idea of gathering the artists of Pasig together to form a club. The organization of the Pasig Art Club started on March 24, 1957, at the residence of Mr. Nemensio Dimanlig in San Nicolas, Pasig, Rizal. On that day seven artists who responded to the call of the elderly sculptor met at the Dimanlig residence to lay the groundwork for establishment of a club dedicated to creative activity and the fostering of a healthy artistic climate in the community.
The charter members, all busy with their respective employments as illustrators, advertising artists, art directors and educators, saw in the formation of the club a challenge. They saw in it, too, a chance to break the monotony of daily routine with creative activities – even if they had to become Sunday painters. The first meeting undoubtedly gave the conferees a foretaste of the camaraderie that the projected association could offer. And most important, they saw in it a worthy means to do something constructive.
Subsequent meetings held at the residences of various charter members increased the membership and gave ample time to draw up plans of activity and draft the constitution and by-laws of the association. Finally on July 28, 1957, the members of the new club met at the Bahay na Tisa at P. Gomez Street to sign the organization’s constitution and by-laws. With the ratification of its constitution the final birth pangs of the Pasig Art Club were virtually over.
Like Naked Wounds
Soon the club buckled down to work. More meetings were scheduled. As usual these were held in the residence of different members as it was made a standing policy to make a round of the homes of all the club members. That was meant to give each one a sense of belonging. The meetings very often wound up into some form of seminar and open forum – a chance to meet comrades-in-trade- and discuss the latest trends and techniques in advertising and in art. Their subject invariably drifted to vital topics of the day.
In their enthused exchange of opinions it became evident that the artists, sensitive to happenings around them as naked wounds are to the touch of the wind, react similarly against the ills that plague contemporary life. Everyone waxed eloquent on such topics as false nationalism, colonial mentality, materialism, hypocrisy and distorted sense of values. They knew only too well that individually they could at most be fence sitters spitting invectives at the ugliness of things while basking with the complacence of one content with the case of self-containment as resigned to merely raise eyebrows on the efforts of others who would try “lighting candles in the wind.”
The Motivation and the Goal
By now their goal was more clearly defined. They would join the ranks of civic organizations and help in creating an atmosphere conductive to wholesome community life. The foreword to the brochure of one of their exhibition later editorialized: “In our times when the forces of material gains are steadily beclouding the moral perspective of many a people, the need for strongly advocating thee value and importance of culture in our everyday life becomes more pronounced and imperative. Indeed, the situation calls for positive and decisive measures that will instill love of country, sense of honor, discipline and aesthetic values in the minds and hearts of our people.”
It is no more coincidence that Governor Isidro S. Rodriguez, in his message published in the same brochure, stated in a similar vein: “In these days of struggle for power and crass materialism, it is markworthy to note that there are still among us who believe in the promotion of arts and in the development of the aesthetic values of life. We have long overlooked the importance of art appreciation. It is about time that we stir in ourselves the enthusiasm that goes along a proper conception and evaluation of the role of art in our life.”
Bringing Art to the People
The club members sought to realize the aims of the association through the only way they know best: bringing art closer to the people. They started to gather their works and produce new ones. Soon they had a sizeable collection with the Historical Research Club at the Rizal Boy Scouts Pavilion held from July 4 to 14 in 1957. The exhibition was under the auspices of the Pasig Lions Club.
The opening of the exhibition provided a fitting climax to that year’s July Fourth Celebrations. Mrs. Adelina Santos-Rodriguez, the guest of honor, cut the ceremonial ribbons after the floral offering at the monument to the World War heroes at Plaza Col. Flores. The widow of the late President Magsaysay, Mrs. Luz Banzon-Magsaysay, was a special guest. Among those present during the opening were the mayor and other officials of the town, officers and members of various civic organizations, artists, art lovers, and guests from Manila and neighboring towns. A big crowd awaiting the opening of the show flowed into the exhibition halls after the ribbon-cutting ceremony and for long hours eager eyes feasted on works of art, historical collections and relics. Brochures introducing the two clubs were distributed to exhibition goers. For a long time art was the talk of the town.
Throughout its eleven-day duration the exhibition attracted a motley of visitors – employees coming home from work, class after class of school children trooping to the exhibition halls, priests, professionals, students, friends of exhibiting artists and some cognoscente from metropolitan Manila. What is most significant is that the exhibition also attracted the plain townsfolk. Even market vendors found time to visit the exhibition they had heard so much about. So successful was the first exhibition that other organizations readily lent support to similar affairs in the years that followed. Even the Pasig Town Fiesta Committee saw fit to sponsor a joint sculptural show as a feature of the town festivities in 1958.
On Its Own
Since the first joint cultural exhibition the Pasig Art Club has consistently held its succeeding annual group shows on its own. It has even taken the initiative of sponsoring exhibitions other that its own anniversary group shows. In 1958 it presented the works of Dominador Castaneda, the director of the College of Fine Arts of the University of the Philippines. On other occasion the club treated the town constituents with a one-man exhibition of non-objective paintings by Jose T. Joya. It also sponsored in conjunction with Juan Luna Centennial Exhibition in 1958, giving a chance for the town populace to view some of the original works of the eminent painter Juan Luna, the first Filipino painter to win international renown. The most recent exhibition sponsored by Pasig Art Club was the one-man show exhibition of extra-dimensional paintings by Kendall E. Robinson, an American oldtimer residing in Biyak na Bundok near the Pasig Capitol site who, together with his protégés, became a member of Pasig Art Club in 1960. The exhibition was held from July 4 to 19, 1961.
Of And For Pasig, And More
When the Pasig Art Club held its fourth annual exhibition last year, it started devoting a portion of its exhibits to a particular theme. The exhibits were predominantly paintings of scenes in different sections of Pasig. A sampling of titles showed how busy the Pasig Sunday painters had been. Their entries include: Pinagbuhatan Bridge, Quarry across the Pasig, Tawiran sa Ugong, Simbahan ng Pasig, Summer and theCreek in Ugong, The Fallen Bridge of Pulo, Industrialized Pasig, Recuerdos de Pasig, Isang Panganib sa Nayon ng Buting.
Towards the end of the current year, the club will hold a joint cultural exhibition, again with the Historical Research Club, as a contribution to the observance of the Rizal Centenary. The projected exhibition will have for its theme “Rizal, Artist and Researcher.” It is intended as a commemoration of Rizal who in his lifetime stood for reforms, peace and enlightenment. It will be a tribute to a man who was not only a hero but a man of culture.
It is with the awareness of the uplifting effect that art has on the beholder that the club takes advantage of every opportunity within its means to hold art exhibitions. From time to time it also holds programs intended, in the words of Gov. Rodriguez, “to stir the enthusiasm that goes along a proper conception and evaluation of the role of art in our life.” The club also looks after the professional and cultural growth of its members. It holds sketching sessions, landscape trips, field trips to art galleries, museums and historical places. The club sent four delegates to an international convention of artists and art educators, the Third General Assembly of the INSEA (International Society for Education through Art) held in Manila 1960.
Still Lighting Candles In the Wind
Like any other club the Pasig Art Club has its own disappointments. It failed in its efforts with the Historical Research Club to work for the conversion of a beautiful but barely noticed rock0strewn site called Bahay Kuwago near the Rizal Provincial Capitol into a provincial park. It has not made any headway, either, in its efforts with the Historical Research Club to work for the conversion of the Tribunal de Naturales into an art gallery and museum. But the club members have never lost heart. They still nurture hopes for the accomplishment of their pet projects. They are finalizing plans, too, for future projects like art seminars for teachers, participation in national art movements’ classes for talented children and traveling exhibitions.
The Art Association of the Philippines has taken notice of their efforts to stir interest in the arts on a community scale. The AAP has been considering Pasig for its pilot project in connection with its projected mobile art exhibition. During the 1961 “Passing the Buck” program of the Art Directors’ Club of the Philippines six members of the Pasig Art Club who are also members of the ADCP were cited as a “rebel segment,” an organization within the organization and given an award taken from the ADCP bucket: a glassful of water from the Pasig. For some time it was a standing joke among art directors that the Pasig Art Club was more well-known than the ADCP. With the little stir that the Pasig Art Club has been creating in the local art circle, its members have been aiming lately at another target: stimulating artists in other localities to start a similar organization aimed at bringing art to the people. Indeed, they could not bask with the complacence of one merely resigned to sit or raise eyebrows. They are concerned with giving its utmost to help in stirring love and pride for our national heritage and in effecting a cultural renascence on a community level. They are among others who still would try “lighting candles in the wind.”