The wonder world of art

MANILA, Philippines - Life is a do-it-yourself project and every journey starts with a thought. With each idea building upon another, we are carpenters — constructing and tearing down — with a prayer in our heart for each block. We are artisans of our destiny. I do not speak for all, but I can tell you what I have built so far and walk you through the path I have taken.

I suffered from asthma in my childhood so I was absent from school quite a lot but I didn’t mind, as long as I had a book in bed. I never knew which I loved more, the pictures or the stories.

Fairytales, myths, folklores, legends, I would read over and over. I would wonder what kind of lives the authors led. How did such wonder come from their minds and hearts?

As I grew up, I wondered why these tales catered less and less to an older age group and why those prescribed for my peers and myself lacked the luster and wonder of those myths.

The language and vocabulary became more draining and less archetypal. Then, coming into adulthood, finding the time to read became a luxury.

Today, I am still drawn to bookstores and libraries, seeking the stories in the children’s section that had set my imagination on fire and put sparks in my eyes. I would skim pages and remember my favorite illustrations and feel transported back into those Wonder Years.

Even then, I knew those stories struck a chord with me and made me wonder why life did not have the spark I saw in those books. I grappled with the struggles of the heroes and heroines and reveled in their triumphs.

In my 30s, while living in Manhattan, I saw a riveting PBS program called Joseph Campbell and the Power Myths. I was transfixed. I was deep in my studies in the practice of oil painting, printmaking, and sculpture at that time, and I remember that Joseph Campbell put into words exactly what I had been feeling for quite a while.

Art had reopened for me this wonder world inside, where color, line, texture, lights and shadows illuminated a divine order — a parallel feeling to his living in the world of myths.

Working directly from nature showed me hidden truths about life and how everything is in constant motion.

Through listening with my eyes, I heard the breath of nature and the whispers of the air that surrounds everything.

Joseph Campbell was a teacher at Sarah Lawrence College in New York and believed that “Following Your Bliss” was the key to life and its odyssey. He spoke of myths from around the world that reflected this. The myths are about us, all of us — we are the heroes in our lives and the incredible deeds are mirrors of what our souls can do if only we allow ourselves to understand deeply. It was then that I felt my epiphany.

Today, about a decade later, I am living in a world within me, no matter where I am. Here, doors open and a Great Being leads the way where there was none before. This is my road to bliss, and it sure feels like an odyssey. It is not an easy road to follow though, as I look back to many a dark night and groping for the light I still could not see.

Believing in oneself is the only way to go, but were it not for the gentle spirits who help to inspire me, painting as a career is pretty much like being a one-man band.

Accepting God’s gift is both a challenge and responsibility. I flourish in the world of imagination and insight where the people I admire live as well. In the workshops of their minds and hearts, they nurture their souls, bearing fruits like Star Wars by George Lucas, The Wonderful World of Disney by Walt Disney, the notebooks and paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, “Peanuts” by Charles Schultz, even the lives of saints. We all have access to the wonder world; it is living life in awe and rapture for the miracle it is.

In my solo exhibition “Wonder World,” which opens on Nov. 10 at the Met Museum, I want to share with viewers how I continue to see the world. Open your eyes and heart with me to hear a Song of Life in the people I have met, the flowers that have inspired me, the places I have seen through this open door of art. Maybe, it may lead you to enter into a wonder world of your own.

As my daughter, Lana, would say, “It’s not just a story Ma, it’s really real.”

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“Wonder World” is on view until Dec. 10 at the Met Museum. For inquiries, SMS 0917-8901219 or e-mail miaherbosa @yahoo.com.