Araceli and old lace

Paintings that combine varied subjects of nature with delicate cloth, art pieces that evoke symbolisms and ironies by creating harmony between materials considered as junk and those with the elegance of lace always attract exhibit viewers. This was clearly shown at the opening of ArtSpeak, a lecture series featuring artists in the Ateneo Art Gallery.

Araceli Limcaco Dans displayed such genre, the so-called calado painting, for which she is widely acclaimed. Her works as well as the vignettes from her glorious past, which she narrated, were at once enlightening and fascinating.

From Dec. 6 to Dec. 20, the Metropolitan Art Gallery in SM Megamall will mount an exhibit of her recent paintings entitled Pamana ni Inay. Also on view will be a specially designed calendar with 12 of her selected works, one for each month of the year. The beneficiary of Pamana ni Inay and the calendar is the 9- year old Bridges Foundation for Special Children, run by her daughter Barbra Dans Paguia and two sisters Grace and Leah Reyes.

The proceeds are envisioned to help maintain another year of scholarship for some children from the marginalized sectors of society.

With this project, "Cheloy" as Mrs. Dans is called by her friends, comes full circle: In the 1960s, after organizing the Art Department of the Ateneo de Manila Grade School, she worked as studio teacher in the Ateneo Educational Television. In 1967, she spearheaded the Creative Interaction Program between her students at the Ateneo Grade School and the St. Joseph of Cupertino for Retarded Children. Teaming up with Brenda Fajardo, art teacher at the Ateneo High School and the Cupertino mentors, she led the exchange of artworks and musical numbers of the Ateneans and the Cupertinians; a "first" in Philippine education.

Cheloy says "Few people know that special children are gifts from above. They are innocent angels and will remain so for the rest of their lives. In the forthcoming exhibit, it is my hope that we in our society may realize our responsibility in taking care of our innocent ones. So that in caring for them we may realize that they bring out from within us certain virtues we never though we had before."

For more information, call Barbra or Grace at 372-07-52 to 53, 0918-9158772, or Noni at 637-83-87 or 637-83-88.