There’s a gem in De La SALLE University

It was not too long ago when I took an art appreciation class in school. If I remember right, I was a sophomore in De La Salle University and I was lucky to have been exempted from the final exams of that class. I enjoyed every session we had which was a delightful treat for me. Each painting, film, photograph and sculpture tickled my senses and challenged my appetite for art. More importantly, the quatro that I earned from that class became an inspiration to me. It gave me the zest to set out on a journey to explore more about art.

I go to the movies at least twice a month. I have VCDs and DVDs at home of flicks I’d appreciate watching one, two or three (hundred) more times. I can lie in bed, drowning in Friends and Sex and The City videos until I develop bedsores. It wouldn’t be hard for me to scream my lungs out at a mosh pit of a rock concert until I realize that I’m just about to collapse due to my inability to find air that is actually suitable for breathing. However, I couldn’t imagine myself walking around in a museum. Actually, I could imagine myself walking around in one, admiring paintings and masterpieces of artists whose names I can barely pronounce. Maybe what I can’t imagine is keeping my mouth shut all throughout the journey – let alone, write about the experience!

It is sad that the younger generation is gradually being squeezed dry, almost barren of cultural appreciation. The re-opened De La Salle University Museum offers a respite from the lack, even absence of culture among the youngsters.

The Museum is housed on the second floor of the Don Enrique Yuchengco Hall. The Museum reopened and welcomed new visitors on January 30 – a fitting start of they year 2004. The rebirth of this museum can be attributed to the rich and generous contribution of the family of the couple Wili and Doreen Fernandez. All 413 pieces of their collection was donated to the De La Salle University, provided that the collection stays intact and is displayed.

My family being art patrons have pieces of the same artists within the Wili and Doreen Fernandez collection. I was amused and amazed to experience a whole plethora of pieces from highly esteemed artists such as Carlos "Botong" Francisco, Arturo Luz, Cesar Legaspi, Vicente Manansala, J. Elizalde Navarro, Ang Kiukok, Anita Magsaysay-Ho, Benedicto "BenCab" Cabrera, Manuel Rodriguez Sr., Federico Alcuaz, Lao Lianben, Eduardo Castrillo, and Solomon Saprid, Hernando Ocampo, Jose Joya, and Fernando Amorsolo.

On display are 70 pieces. "The works must be rotated on exhibition. There will be a permanent space that will be called the Wili and Doreen Fernandez Gallery, where we will keep on rotating the works. Another part is the Changing Exhibition Gallery where we will invite Filipino and International artists for one-man shows. The visioning and planning will have to be done by the future director," explains Judy Sibayan, in charge of curatorial design and member of the ad hoc museum committee. At present, the Museum is still searching for a director and curator.

Sibayan, who has traveled around the world to experience various museums, was one of the major contributors to The Museum’s interior design. She shares that everything in the museum is a collaborative effort of the committee headed by Carmelita Quebengco, interim president, with members Enrico Cordero, Engr. Aurellano dela Cruz, Arch. Manolet Garcia, Ayi Magpayo and Wilfred Marbella. Museum fabrication was done by CENTREX. Sibayan adds, "Centrex proposed the plan. We refined it."

Sibayan, who was director of Contemporary Museums of the Philippines in 1986 volunteers, "There is a very wonderful hallway gallery where we envision intimate works like small sculptures, small paintings, and photographs can be exhibited. The Museum has an open space in front where classes in groups can be held. The next part is where you can wander. Eighty people are allowed inside, only two to three people can experience an artwork at a time."

The Museum has become a major campus landmark devoted to art lovers, artists and art enthusiasts. "It’s there to encourage the habit of museum going. So when you leave school, it becomes part of your life – instead of going to the movies, you can add to your cultural habits, going to the museum. It’s no different from going to the movies. It becomes part of your lifestyle," Sibayan adds.

Sibayan has been my teacher in two of the most heart-wrenching and demanding subjects in Communications. And it was fun talking to her about her passion – love for the arts. "The Museum is a welcoming womb. Silence can be observed for contemplation and reverie. It aims to invite people and say – this is your home‚"

The Museum in De La Salle University is a gem to be discovered and experienced.