A beautiful place

the main campus of ateneo de zamboanga university isn't really a beauty. it's okay, you know, clean, utilitarian.

there is one place in campus though that IS indisputably beautiful and that is the gallery of the peninsula and the archipelago.

good thing then that the powers that be of this school placed it by gate 1 because it does create quite an impression, no?


on the threshold, this is what you'll see when you glance right


and then when you glance left, a blue wall that inspires you to be anything but


one of those two birds on the white pedestals in the far corner is a bronze sculpture by the national artist imao who is from around here. he had an exhibit here soon after this gallery was opened. here is a close-up. if this item suddenly goes missing, it would probably be because i brought it home.


i really like the dividers here. naturally stained wood slats punctuated with iron ends/legs in the form of ancient warrior's shields.


do you see the bench in the foreground above? that was made from true-blue ateneo trees that were felled when the new college building (a truly ugly structure) was being built. oh well. they might have cut down those beautiful trees that shielded my classmates and i as we we watched soccer (or more truthfully, the boys who played soccer) so many years ago (by now, those soccer boys would not make it halfway through the field walking, much less dribbling a ball) but at least they found a very good use for it. there are several of these benches in the gallery.


i just realized i was not able to take pictures of the other walls. i only have one of the blue wall. the other sections have different color walls, but of the same intensity as the blue. you'd think it would look like a kindergarten classroom, but really, it does not. it's actually pretty sophisticated. there's a red wall, a yellow wall, violet, green. amazingly enough, they don't clash. i would hazard that it's supposed to reference a vinta's sail.

the architect is rodel falcasantos, a local guy. of course. a local architect to design a gallery that will feature local artists. i've heard of this person a long time ago, he did work for my former bosses over at TV 11. He did the station, i think, and he did their other stores too.

though i love the main part of the gallery, the place i gravitate towards when i visit is the workshop and library at the back.


such a restful place. the pale walls a reprieve after the bright colors of the walls and the paintings in the main exhibit area. and great art books too.

it's also here that my favorite painting hangs.


it's by edwin jumalon. he probably spent seven million days doing the short horizontal strokes up and down the canvas. beautiful. and that is saying a lot because i normally do not like yellow green.

a pity it's too big to fit in my bag. unlike the bronze bird.