Manuel Rodriguez Sr., Filipino par excellence

For a man in his 90s, Manuel Rodriguez, Sr. exudes the spirit and zeal of a young lad who is madly passionate about his art. He ought to be, having numerous art awards and achievements to his name and having been dubbed as the Father of Printmaking in the Philippines. Over the decades, he had taken his craft across the globe and now, Mang Maning is back in his birthplace Cebu after a 72-year absence for a long-awaited homecoming.

"It seems like I've gone all around the world and now I'm back where I came from," says Rodriguez of his homecoming. He had spent his childhood in Cebu since his birth in 1915. He can vividly trace his early artistic memories as a precocious child. When he was 5 years old, he was playing and he drew a smiling face. He felt that he wasn't alone then, as though the Holy Spirit was telling him that he was going to be an artist. When he was in Grade 3, one time, his teacher couldn't draw the map of Cebu on the board. So young Rodriguez back then volunteered to draw the map and he did, amazed that he could draw what his teacher couldn't. It was then he became more sure he was destined for art. By the seventh grade, even though his brother discouraged him from art because there was no money in the craft, still the young Rodriguez longed to an artist. As the Lord planned it, the budding artist couldn't be stopped.

Rodriguez grew up to earn his place as the Father of Printmaking in the Philippines. Throughout the 1950s, he garnered the top prizes for his paintings at art shows and also held his own one-man shows. By 1960, the Rockefeller Foundation gave Rodriguez a grant he couldn't refuse. He was able to study printmaking at the Pratt Graphics Center in New York, USA. He says printmaking is a unique form of art because it is the creating of multi-originals and he believed that this form could help bring art closer to the masses. In 1962, he was also taught under Mauricio Lasansky at the Iowa State University and under William Hayter at his Atelier 17 workshop in Paris. From those cornerstones, Rodriguez brought his prints to art shows across the continents and toured the Philippines giving lectures and demonstrations in printmaking throughout the 70s up until the present day. Some of his most notable works are The Traveller and Nipa-Hut Madonna. His career awards among many others include the National Heritage Award (1967), Patnubay ng Kalinigan Award (1979) and the University of the Philippines Alumni Association of New York Achievement Award (1991). More recently, he is to accept the Rajah Humabon Lifetime Achievement Award from the City of Cebu and the Garbo sa Sugbo award from the Province of Cebu.

Manuel Rodriguez, Sr. comes home to Cebu to conduct printmaking workshops and to bring with him a special message that we could all relate to. "Art isn't about making money. Art is a language not of the mouth but of the heart, of the spirit, of love. It is the language of the universe, of nature. Art is a legacy to all mankind. It is for healing, wherein the spirit, the mind and body are one," Rodriguez tells us wisely, like a good father to a family. "Only when all people understand the spiritual language shall we have peace in the world. Each one of us is unique, each with a different mission. You have to know what you're here for and when you know, God will give you what you need. We are created to serve, to give and to share. We have to understand art on a higher level, to have a spiritual understanding of one another. We need this higher level of understanding for oneness, progress and peace."

To promote oneness among artists, he plans to write a book about art as a spiritual language and he hopes to see a national art workshop someday, where artists can come together to teach and learn art.

After 95 years of experience, Manuel Rodriguez, Sr. must know something we don't and sees something in art that we have yet to see. Let's take our cue from him then to look at art on a deeper perspective. Here's a warm welcome once more to Mr. Rodriguez and salutations for his contributions to Philippine art.