Design Folder: Your Online Design and Decorating Resource

a-list: pepper roxas

Isabel “Pepper” Roxas is a young Filipino illustrator and graphic designer based in Astoria, Queens, New York. She was a Fullbright scholar and a graduate of the Pratt Institute’s graduate design program. She’s a member of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK) and has been drawing for kids since 1998. I stumbled upon her and her website last week through a recent post in Always Saturday about her art prints and her store in La’O Center in Arnaiz Ave., Makati.

I love her art! It’s quite rare that I come across artists who produce what I call “child-friendly” art or artworks that can be displayed in a nursery or kid’s room. I especially love one drawing in her website (top photo) of a girl with a huge flower because it somehow reminds me of my flower drawings when I was a child. I also like her illustrations for Araw sa Palengke (Day in the Market) which bring back childhood memories when I used to go to the market with my mom. (Hmmm, now I know what to give for my godchild Sophia’s birthday!)

It’s such a shame that it was only now that I came to know about her and her work. I had two children’s rooms for Space Starters early this year and I could have featured her art prints there!  Maybe next time…

To know more about Pepper and her art, visit her website here and her blog here. You can also purchase her prints, illustrated cards (above), and other items in her shop here. -ardel

a-list: kwentong barbero

Ulo ng mga (Walang) Balita by Dawani de Leon

The 3rd year UP Fine Arts students recently held a one-month exhibit at the Pasig Museum entitled, “Kwentong Barbero”.  The exhibit showcased art works by 12 artists, each one doing an interpretation of  Kwentong Barbero, our local term for hearsay.

Untitled by Clara Herrera

Interference by Amil Asuncion

Click here to see more of their works.  For inquiries, you can email camilleangelica@gmail.com

Special thanks to Angge and Clara!

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a-list: CANVAS

I have always loved art. Like interior design, I was exposed to art at an early age because my uncle is a painter. I have always enjoyed watching him work on his plates while he was still studying in UP Fine Arts. My appreciation then was limited to their aesthetic/visual value. It was only recently, through my clients and a couple of art enthusiasts whom I have interviewed for the magazine, that I learned to appreciate their value in a broader sense. Unlike before, when it was a thing for the elites, art is now reaching out to the general public with restaurants, coffee shops, and furniture showrooms being new venues for their exhibits. To join in this endeavor, we are including a new section here in Design Folder called A-list (art list) where we will feature anything and everything related to Philippine art and Filipino artists.

Recently, through their Facebook page, I stumbled upon CANVAS (Center for Art, New Ventures & Sustainable Development), a local organization that promotes awareness and appreciation for Philippine art, culture and environment. Apart from organizing exhibits that showcase the best among our young contemporary Filipino artists, they also engage in projects that lead to the publication of books, prints, and other merchandise that make artworks become accessible to more people.

I especially love their program on children’s books. CANVAS’s Romeo Forbes Children’s Literature Initiative is a program wherein they come up with children’s books whose stories are inspired by a particular artwork.

Elmer Borlongan’s contest piece (left) which inspired the first CANVAS storywriting compretition. The winning story went to Becky Bravo’s “The Rocking Horse”.

Rodel Tapaya’s contest piece (left) in 2006 which inspired the winning story by Fernando Gonzales entitled “Ang Batang Maraming Bawal”.

CANVAS first commissions a young Filipino artist to do an original, large scale painting. Then, the artwork becomes the inspiration of an open writing competition. The winning story is finally illustrated in large scale paintings by the same artist. This initiative allows for a less intimidating venue to promote Philippine art and literature to children and to more people, globally.

We are so happy to see sir John (Jose John Santos III), our former painting teacher back in high school, as one of the featured artists of CANVAS (below)! I wonder if he still remembers us, hehe!

Check CANVAS’s website here to learn more about the organization and to see the rest of their children’s books. They also have an online store here where you can purchase their art-related products.

*all images via CANVAS’s facebook album here