The University of Makati is celebrating its 50^th Founding Anniversary (2022) a milestone for the institution. Like many other milestones and historic events, a commemorative cultural symbol is launched.

Objectives

A symbol that will stimulate collective memory and institutional pride.

A legacy to the next generation of students and employees.
Gives the community a privilege to experience art any time of the day.
Will enhance the existing architecture and highlight the campus landscape.

Hence, a committee was formed to work on the UMak Legacy Sculpture Project.

Artists’ sketch

Timeline

September 9, 2021
Appointment of Working Committee
September 21, 2022
Call for Artworks
The committee, started the first coordination meeting via Zoom due to the COVID-19 Alert level status, not all of the employees are physically reporting in the office. The committee decided to invite artists to present their pieces on the Legacy Sculpture to represent the University of Makati.

September 21, 2022
September 13, 2021
Pitching of Artworks
Six (6) artists have presented their proposed artworks. And the committee chose the top three from the artworks and presented them to the Management Committee on September 21, 2021.
September 24, 2021
Online Voting
The UMak employees’ and students’ opinions were also heard since they were invited to cast their votes on the top three choices of artworks, which as posted on the Official Facebook Page of the University of Makati last September 24, 2021. The Legacy Sculpture Project – Vote casting

September 24, 2021
October 22, 2021
Announcement of Results
The committee announced the artist’s artwork that was chosen and was given the documentary requirements for the processing of the Project’s budget.

As soon as all the required documents have been submitted and the budget has been approved. The artist started the work with continuous coordination with the committee
March 22, 2022
Groundbreaking Ceremony
was held at the UMak Grounds

March 22, 2022
September 16, 2022
Delivery of the Sculpture
October 5, 2022
Unveiling
The community will take a peek and will fully see its beauty on December 2022. Hence, there is an Unveiling series, in two parts…

October 5, 2022

About Sculpture

“As the day ends and the bounties of the land have been harvested, they race towards the setting sun. Home to their nests, they nestle peacefully in their shelter, ready to calm themselves before they shut their eyes. For tomorrow, the sun will rise, and they will again prepare for what life has to offer, adapting to their ever-changing world. The clock of nature has again been set. And these creatures, among all living things, are once more prepared for any challenge they’d face. For as certain as the rising and setting of the sun, this sedge of Herons will take charge, flap their wings, and take flight.

This Public Art sculpture is a sculpture in the round where every angle is deemed in accordance with its artistic composition. It is considered to take command of its space that no visual obstruction of any form will disgrace its integrity. Being exposed to the elements, it is expected that the art piece will tarnish organically, making its patina greenish verdigris by atmospheric oxidation. For its material, the artist specifically chose to use bronze and brass, being used in these mediums for their malleability and strength. The artist wants to emphasize also that it has been used by the great masters since time immemorial, making it last very long. Being advised of having a standard height requirement for this sculpture, it will stand 15ft. without the base.

This artistic creation is made up of a sedge of Herons with its wings deliberately exaggerated for its visual fluidity. It expresses a marriage of two vital energies essential to the existence of these creatures: Land and Water. As lifted from the school’s hymn, The artist furthers his approach by completing the five elements. In this composition, the dominant sets of wings are suggestive, representing Air. The plant life that is part of this creature’s habitat holds the five birds, representational of the Wood element. And lastly, Fire, represented by the ever-iridescent sun, is emphasized mainly for its glory, making every living thing depends on it. Collectively, with every element in its proper place, the whole composition will show a silhouette of a figure expressing gratitude to the Creator. This would only be possible if the sculpture’s back part faces west, where the sun sets.

With all this being said, I present the “RISE OF THE HERONS.”

Bumbo Villanueva
September, 2021

Gallery and Photos

About Artist and Collaborators

Lead Artist

BENHUR JOSEPH “BUMBO” VILLANUEVA

Lead Artist

Arko ni Apo Art Gallery, Baguio City

A sculptor, painter, installation and performance artist, and art educator, Bumbo has become all these, more as a result of a process than of deliberate intent. In his 30 years of art making, he has seen his life and art through phases of upheaval and transformation. The long journey to find his creative path has mostly been about testing his limits: learning, changing, growing, and becoming a composite of the artist he is today.

Many of his works draw from awareness of Cordillera cultural traditions and reverence for the innate spirituality of nature and indigenous communities.

He works in a variety of mediums. His sculptures are mostly in brass, but he works with other materials. Among his notable public art sculptures is the “Supremo” in bronze; a 15 ft. three-figure freestanding sculpture of Andres Bonifacio, Gregoria de Jesus, and a Katipunan member, that he co-sculpted with his father in 1988 and now stands in BGC, Taguig. In 2009, they commissioned “The Builders,” a 10 ft. five-figure representation of the first builders of Baguio City that now graces the grounds of the city’s Botanical Garden. He has mounted solo exhibitions and joined several group shows in the country and abroad.

He works with out-of-school youth, children in conflict with the law, differently-abled kids, and young scholars. He is an art teacher in the Alternative Learning System for street kids in Baguio and a mentor for other aspiring young artists/sculptors. He is active in art activities to help calamity victims and cancer patients.

Bumbo survived a heart attack in 2016 and had to undergo major surgery “to fix his heart.” His sensibilities now reflect a deeper meaning of faith and gratitude for second chances. He treats his works like an offering and a sign of his abiding trust in the Maker he calls the Greatest Sculptor. Grateful that he has been allowed to thrive as an artist, He has vowed to share his talent by extending help to others through art.

To share knowledge and interact meaningfully with people in the community is personal advocacy, believing that “the happiness of one’s heart alone cannot satisfy the soul; one must include, as necessary to one’s happiness, the happiness of others.”

Written by Erlyn Alcantara

Sculptor/Welder

MARIO LITO CABRERA

Sculptor/Welder

Mario Lito Cabrera hails from San Mateo, Rizal. The third son of Mario and Juliana. As everyone knows, Lito started working with the late master sculptor, Mr. Ben-Hur Villanueva Sr., as an assistant sculptor at seventeen. Ben-Hur and Lito worked on a 10 ft. sculpture, “Mandaragat.”

On top of his other art projects, he again worked with the art master Ben-Hur Villanueva on the three-figure, 15 ft. high public art. This was the grand prize-winning entry of the first Bonifacio Art Foundation National Competition awarded to Ben-Hur G. Villanueva Sr. titled “Ang Supremo’’.

Mario Lito works as an assistant sculptor and continues doing his welding work commissions.

Soil Painter, Sculptress

MICAH “MEEKA” HILOTIN

Soil Painter, Sculptress

Micah “Meeka” Hilotin is a soil painter and visual artist from Camarines Sur, Bicol.

She received her Bachelor in Fine Arts Degree at the University of the Philippines Baguio. Her undergraduate thesis titled “Hinga Ka Lungs: A Site-Specific Installation Art Using Moss as an Indicator of Air Pollution” was awarded as the Outstanding Thesis in the College of Arts and Communications for Creative Production. She welded an 8-ft. metal sculpture with moss as the main material and installed at the University of the Philippines Baguio’s Oblation Grounds. The artwork was a visual representation of the affected respiratory system and aimed to create awareness of the alarming air quality of Baguio City. It was a culmination of skills she gained from the academe and apprenticeship program from artist/metal sculptor Mr. BenHur “Bumbo” Villanueva of Arko ni Apo Art Gallery.

As an artist who explores different art medium and art processes, she exposed herself to local and international art events through attending workshops and co-organizing art programs locally and internationally that encourages meaningful collaborations with different artists and community. She supports projects that promote Philippine culture, art appreciation, inclusive art education, and preservation of the environment through arts. Her works were exhibited in Bicol, Baguio, Manila, Japan, and Singapore.

In 2016, she started her Soil Searching Art Journey, wherein she collects soil samples and creates handmade paint as her medium in painting. Aside from being a soil painter and visual artist, she is the current Chief Operating Officer of Artdialogo Asia. She works with passion and service to the younger generation of artists. She helps promote and implement international and cross-cultural programs for young artists, especially in South East Asia.

Last 2021, she was chosen as one of the fellows of the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) for the Arts for Good Fellowship batch 2021. Along with other artists and art leaders from other countries, they worked virtually to create a project for the NalandaWay Foundation’s children in India.

The 15 ft. sculpture for the University of Makati was her first time working with public art; she assisted her art mentor, Mr. Ben Hur “Bumbo” Villanueva.

Visual Artist/Sculptress

Alexandrea “Alex” Dioso is a virtual artist from Makati City. She holds an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines Baguio, and currently pursues a Masters in Fine Arts degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman. Her academic research revolves around the experimentation and exploration of the materiality of metal and other industrial materials and their significations to urban spaces.

“My art production has become conversations with myself, resolutions to be translated for others and obsessions that should transpire one way or another… I recognize that materializing conceptualized artworks are part of a culmination of the dialectical process between myself and society. And so, I aim to effectively link the themes and materials into cohesive dimensions created to be read within the very context that contributed to its production. Each interaction and relationship within my immediate environment are prompts for art pieces (…) With this, I stay keen to metaphors that can be poured into creations, reflecting on what society is giving us and returning it back to our culture.” (Excerpt from full artist statement).

Alex primarily utilizes metal, as an art medium, in her sculptures due to its robustness and socio-cultural value throughout history. She is also versed in using other media (wood, plaster, epoxy, among others) in her art production. Her art revolves around human circumstances and vulnerabilities, each aiming to exhibit an understanding of specific occurrences she observes or experiences daily.

Several of her works have been showcased in art exhibitions in the country, some of which are in Metro Manila and Baguio City. Alex has been an apprentice to the artist/metal sculptor Mr. Ben-Hur “Bumbo” Villanueva Jr. of Arko ni Apo Art Gallery since 2014.

The University of Makati is celebrating its 50th Founding Anniversary (2022) a milestone for the institution. Like many other milestones and historic events, a commemorative cultural symbol is launched.

Objectives

Timeline

September 9, 2021

September 21, 2022

September 21, 2022

September 13, 2021

September 24, 2021

September 24, 2021

October 22, 2021

March 22, 2022