Written by: Dhruvaa Ramesh (DLSZ 2020)
Contemporary art can best be described as a free expression of one’s ideas, not being confined to a set standard of artistic elements. It’s a reflection and commentary of the modern self, our surroundings, the environment, and all forms of life in general. Through it, we can gain more insight into relevant social issues that affect the world around us. With the power of cultural diversity, global influence, and advancing technology, contemporary artists are able to come up with more and more innovative creations that convey dialogues to entire families, communities, and nations.
We, the Senior High School Grade 12 STEM students, are currently taking a course called Contemporary Philippine Arts from the Regions (CPAR). This subject educates students about the Philippine artist’s identity, resources, inspiration, and techniques. To incorporate the emphasis on the study of these lessons to our strand, the term “STEAM” is used to represent the inclusion of art into the traditional STEM strand. As Philippine contemporary art has no clearly defined style, there can be a large variety of combinations of tools, techniques, materials, concepts, and subjects depending on the preference of the artist to push the boundaries of art formation. Over the span of a month, we’ve created carvings from different kinds of fruits, quick sculptures made out of ordinary classroom materials, and sculptures from recycled objects we found in our homes and at school.
One of our main group projects this term is to conceptualize, create, and exhibit a sculpture that uses all kinds of different locally found materials to showcase the importance of STEAM in relation to our Lasallian vision-mission, which is to develop into Lasallian Achievers for God and Country. In accordance with this, over 30 of these projects from five STEM sections will be presented in “Lilok: A STEAM Exhibit” from October 23 to 25, 2019 in the De La Salle Santiago Zobel School – Vermosa Campus. This is a free to view exhibit held at the Ground Floor Lobby of the Senior High School Building. It aims to empower STEAM students, promote arts from the regions with the recycling of found objects, and establish varied constructing techniques with integrated STEM skills. You may find out more details about this presentation in the poster below. Thank you and we hope to see you there!
