AIA SANTOS Halili has been drawn to the visual arts all her life, but sculpture was one area she never explored until one of her friends’ son was kidnapped in 2012.
Since then, she has mounted several shows, the latest of which also happens to be her biggest.
“Heritage Revealed,” the ongoing exhibit at The Address in Wack Wack, features 47 of Halili’s figurative and impressionist works done in resin, bronze and gunmetal silver. (Show ends on June 8.)
Halili, 57, draws inspiration from such themes as the environment, nature, rural life, family, Philippine history and her deep Catholic faith.
The female figure plays a prominent role in the artist’s narrative, as she captured her in various ways to interpret almost anything—from weather disturbances like “Bagyo” and “Ulan,” to idyllic scenes revolving around recurring themes like mother and child, nature, women in period costumes and female bonding.
Her works range from figurines measuring three to five inches long to huge bas-reliefs that can double as ideal focal points in any collector’s living room or study. She’s also fond of incorporating other materials such as wood and glass to act as counterpoints to her main medium.
“I was looking for a way to comfort my friend and her family,” says Halili, a graduate of Fine Arts at University of the Philippines and interior design at Philippine School of Interior Design.
“Since I was also making rosaries, I thought of attaching a decade to an elongated figure of Mama Mary and the Child Jesus that I molded out of clay.”
Halili gave the piece to her weary friend, who eventually got her son back. In turn, the artist stumbled on a new medium of expression that “was better than any two-dimensional drawing I did.”
‘Pure inspiration’
She credits her initial attempt at sculpture to “pure inspiration.” Before that, the San Mateo, Rizal, native was limited to painting and designing interiors and furniture pieces.
Halili says she also draws her spirituality and social awareness from her active involvement in Luminous Cross of Grace Sanctuary. In fact, helping design the iconic Catholic shrine that’s shape like a chalice in Agdangan, Quezon, was one of her biggest works to date.
Since she works with clay instead of chiseling a block of wood or marble to fashion her pieces, finding someone who could properly do molds enabled her to reproduce her pieces using harder, more permanent materials like resin, bronze and silver.
“I’m also working with a metal foundry,” she says. “The bronze material I used actually comes from melted shell casings of bullets.”
She also works with a group of “diyaryo-bote” boys, who supply her with glass beads, which she uses to embellish certain works.
Like the material implies, the gunmetal silver Halili uses for certain pieces are scrap silver used to make guns. Halili views her preference for components used to make lethal weapons more as attempts at repurposing than as a statement against violence.
“If people see it that way, then it’s okay,” says Halili. “Through my artworks, I’m sending out a message of the things I love and believe in like family, simple pleasures of life, spirituality and concern for the environment.”
Prices of her works range from P800 to as high as P100,000 (for a circular, bas-relief-type piece with images of five women representing the artist and her four sisters).
Like in previous shows, part of the proceeds from “Heritage Revealed” will go to value enhancement formation classes Halili conducts in remote municipalities and barangay in Metro Manila and certain provinces.
“Super Pilipino is an advocacy of mine that teaches Filipinos of all ages to visualize, be inspired and be better,” she says. “It’s my way of giving back to our countrymen, and I need to do art to finance it.”
Halili’s unexplained allergy to oils also unwittingly led her to sculpture. There was a time when she had migraines soon after working on an oil painting. It took her a while to make the connection, but once she did, she gradually lost interest in painting.
Instead, she poured her creativity into furniture and interior design. She later became active in church work, particularly in raising funds and designing the Luminous Cross of Grace Sanctuary.
“I didn’t paint for years,” says Halili. “When I look back, I always felt that there was something missing. I’m not satisfied with my work. It dawned on me that as an interior designer, I do plans and think in 3D. For me, painting, being two-dimensional, is flat.”
That’s why after having been introduced to clay, she readily enjoyed working with it. It was only a matter of time before she discovered that she had a knack for sculpture.