HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE
Anita Magsaysay-Ho, Nena Saguil, Pacita Abad, Geraldine Javier, Virginia Ty-Navarro, Impy Pilapil - are these artists you look up to and admire? Are you a budding Filipina artist yourself? If you’ve been nodding your head, and internally saying “yes” to all those queries, my next question would be whether you’re aware that there’s a Sining Filipina art competition that’s tailor-made for you?
Sining Filipina is on it’s second year, and it’s a nationwide all-women art competition that’s brought to us by SM Supermalls, Chinabank, and AirSpeed, for the benefit of the Zonta Club of Makati and Environs. The theme for the artworks to be submitted this year is Her Earth, Her Future: Women at the Forefront of Sustainability. And for the women artists out there, it’s open to your interpretation on how to address that theme, and the entries can be in figurative art, or non-figurative. Paintings must be original, and in oil, acrylic, or mixed-media. And there are substantial cash prizes at stake!
You have until Feb. 13, 2025, to submit your entries, as it’s to allow enough time for the judges to go through the anticipated number of entries, and still manage to announce the winners on March 27, 2025 - a culminating event of the Women’s Month activities of SM Supermalls. Those joining can only submit one artwork, and it will be sent to the Sining Filipina Secretariat, along with the official entry form. The accepted sizes of the artworks are on a three-feet-by-three feet square canvas, or a two-feet-by-three-feet rectangular canvas.
This official entry form is very crucial, as it’ll help establish the correct credentials for the artist, among which are that she’s a resident in the Philippines, and that she has submitted a government issued ID to confirm her gender. Entries will be executed on a stretched canvas, that should not be framed. To preserve the anonymity of the artists vis-a-vis their entries, it’s asked that they sign only at the back of the painting. All these have to be strictly complied with, or the submitted work can be disqualified.
Despite the short period of time between launch and judging last year, the Zonta women were proud to say that the first iteration saw over 700 entries submitted. Winners included Hanna Joy Sayan from Negros Occidental in the figurative category, and Maria Gemma San Jose from Ilocos Norte, who took the top prize in the non-figurative category. This delineation between figurative and non-figurative may be dispensed with this year, and it was announced that a grand total of 10 winners will be picked.
Applause greeted the remark of Art Association President Fidel Sarmiento to expect two to three times the number of entries this year, as several female artists were looking forward to this; and in anticipation, had begun work on their intended submissions since late last year, 2024. What that means for the judges, time will only tell; but definitely, they’ll have their work cut out for them.
SM Supermalls, represented by Grace Magno at the media launch, expressed how SM is a proud partner, as the competition is a unique one, advocating women empowerment and championing local artists. It’s been said that if one looks back at the history of art in the Philippines, one sees a history characterized by male domination, and how women were often relegated to organizing shows, running galleries, and/or taking care of the artists and their egos.
So it is only fair to now mount art competitions that highlight the artistic merit of women, and push them into the proverbial spotlight. Zonta Makati, with SM Supermalls, Chinabank and AirSpeed are trying to make this as big a competition as possible, and it’s nice to note how they’re sustaining the wonderful first effort of last year.
And when you think about the artists I mentioned at the start of this column, it’s only right that we push the envelope, and search for the next batch of women artists. Both Anita Magsaysay-Ho and Geraldine Javier produced works that have fetched astronomical prices, when under the gavel of the more illustrious auction houses in the region. So more power to Sining Filipina!