BY KATRINA C. GUEVARRA
Left: Maria Nellie Bautista with her works at her 2004 exhibit
Right: Maria Nellie Bautista and the writer at PAG’s exhibit at the Ayala Museum
“I have no limitation in my art. I like to do everything”.
Maria Nellie Bautista is known for her skill in porcelain painting. Her works takes on ordinary subjects but sheds it a different kind of light through her vibrant use of colors, her attention to detail and her mastery of technique.
She has a penchant for doing ceramic/porcelain paintings despite its difficulty. “It’s hard to paint in ceramic. Why I do it? Because it is challenging, I find satisfaction in doing it and it makes me happy.”
In porcelain painting, she sketches and designs her own composition on paper before she draws and paints it on porcelain plate or platter. “It takes a long process to paint from light to dark colors and to fire in a kiln at high temperature for several times.”
Seeing her works is like being transported in her own little world. Her paintings reflect that of her own perspective, how she view the little things that we often take for granted like flowers, fruits and such. Drawing inspiration from nature, her paintings, though some depict those that are in Canada gives me a feel as if I am really in the particular scene. It’s like being stuck in a story book, it gives you a picture but there is still room for your imagination to work.
Hers was a story of a typical deprived artist. “I was already passionate about painting ever since I was a kid. When my cousin took up Fine Arts in the University of Santo Tomas, I was so jealous.” Coming from a poor family, she wasn’t able to pursue her dreams of becoming an artist early on. “My mother wanted me to take up a course that would be easy to finish.” So she put her dream of being an artist behind her and took up Bachelor of Arts and Foreign Service at Lyceum of the Philippines. She landed a few secretarial jobs here and there after graduation. It was her sheer determination to have a better life and support her parents that brought her to Toronto, Canada.
Bautista was already 50 years old, when she rediscovered her love for painting. “I felt that there was something lacking,” she said. She started taking art courses one after another in famous artist studios in Toronto. She also took workshops here in the Philippines at the Ayala Museum, where she had been classmates with the elite. She compares her passion for painting to eating. To her it is really something unquenchable, “When I’m not painting and I’m busy doing other things, I crave. Even in my sleep!” Bautista said.
She joined the Philippine Artists Group of Canada around four years ago. “I discovered PAG through a postcard. I originally just wanted to join them in their group painting sessions outside,” Bautista said. She submitted one of her porcelain paintings for proof that she is an artist. Then suddenly, Bautista received a call from one of the officials of PAG that they loved her work – so much, that they have already displayed it in their website. Her painting, “Peony”, in watercolor was her first big break.
As of writing, she has had six exhibits both in Canada and the Philippines. Three of those were with PAG June 2004, September-October 2005 and at Art Space last 2006. She also had one with her international artist friend Gion Gounet in Manila last 2006.
Her artworks, like her life, carry the same optimism that Bautista has. As she mentioned in her art statement, “Like in any other paintings I do, still life, landscapes, figures and portraits, and either in Chinese brush painting or in printmaking, there is always a story behind that I am trying to communicate to the world. It shows the past, present and future feeling, movement, reality, dream, Zen and the balance of yin and yang. I am an optimist, so that each of my artworks tells that after struggle in life and you are still at the edge, just focus on what you are doing well, and believe that "In every cloud, there is a silver lining”
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