IN CELEBRATION of Women’s Month, Sentro Artista paid tribute to some of the most influential female artists in the country.
Magel Cadapan — the only child of the great late artist and feminist Inday Cadapan — thanked Sentro Artista for honoring her mother’s contribution to the art world.
“I was approached by Marj [Ruiz] through a common friend and she asked me how we can honor my mother. I sensed the sincerity of her offer and I’m so thankful for this tribute,” Cadapan said.
Cadapan, now working as a consultant in the Arts and Culture Tourism of Antipolo City office, said her mother was a first prize Higante contest award in the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) in 1985, Top 50 in Philip Morris Art Contest in 1980 and Foundation University awardee in 2003.
Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan, the vice chairman of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and a governor of the Philippine Red Cross, expressed her appreciation to Sentro Artista’s creative director Marjorie Ruiz for providing a home to women visual artists, jewelry designers, and musicians at their galley in Arton Strip Quezon City.
“There is an artist in all of us,” Kapunan said after the ribbon cutting. “I am very thankful to Jay [Ruiz] and his wife Marjorie for hosting an event like this.”
Also present at the event were broadcaster Rikki Mathay and artist Helena Alegre.
“There are only a few female national artists, but they are emerging now.”
Besides honoring the legacy of feminist and artist Inday Cadapan, Sentro Artista featured the works also of Lydia Velasco, Daisy Carlos, Michelline Syjuco, Maxine Syjuco, Fatima Baquiran, Melissa Yeung Yap, Tanya Gaisano Lee, Mylene Quito, Kahlila Baquiran, Ayen Quias to name a few.
“This event is very exciting because I want to champion the creativity of Filipinas from different generations and we gathered a very eclectic mix of contemporary and traditional art styles,” Marj Ruiz said.
“There are painters, sculptors, and there are singers as well,” she said. “It’s really time for our Filipino women to show their creativity in arts.”
Jazz singers Melinda Torre, Anna Torre, and Coleen de Guzman of Baihana serenaded the guests with various original Filipino music and jazz covers after the ribbon cutting.