A CONVERSATION WITH THE GREATS

A Conversation with the Greats

By

PROF. ROLANDO S. DELA CRUZ
Educating a Nation


May 24, 2012, 3:05pm
MANILA, Philippines —


A FLYING SAUCER IN A GARDEN
The buses first went around the Oblation to familiarize the youngsters whom I brought with me to the State University. Then, they savored the foliage enveloping the academic oval.

As they got off the buses with their parents, the young visitors were enthralled by the round building which was the focus of the visit.

I recalled the feeling when I first visited the UP campus during a high school bivouac. That time, UP to me was a sprawling forest where one could get lost. It appeared to me that my students were also at a lost for a moment, with a question in mind: what is this flying saucer doing here? The UP Chapel looks like an airborne structure if one does not notice the pillars supporting the dome, as the columns are partly swathed by plants.


HUMANISTIC EXPERIENCE
I was a teenager when I first entered the Chapel of the Holy Sacrifice. That time, I was not particularly impressed by it, perhaps because nobody guided me to explore it. How I wish I learned more about the UP Chapel in my freshman Humanities.

Unfortunately, cramming the best of world art in one semester is unrealistic, so there went the UP Chapel. Nonetheless, I pursued the humanistic track as I grew older, that is why I personally endeavored in recovering the things that I thought I missed in college. This is why my Basic Education students study the Humanities as a subject from nursery until high school.

The inspiration of immersing my students in the Humanities came from my personal experience in London and Paris. There, I witnessed pre-school students experiencing a well-rounded, participatory, fun, activity-oriented and well thought-out study tour at the British and Louvre Museums. I figured: no wonder the French and the British people value their identity and national interests in a sea of Europeanism.


THE U.P. CHAPEL
Yearly, I bring my students to places where they will have their own personal encounter with the best of Philippine art and culture. In the UP Chapel, they had a taste of five national artists.

It is the first and only round church in the Philippines. Thus, it is unique in terms of its vision. Leandro Locsin’s architecture deconstructed the traditional four-sided polygon church structure in the country. His de-centering proceeded with the re-centering of the priest, except that this time the physical focal point is not the celebrant but the whole congregation in a rotunda of spirituality glorifying God.

This radical approach by Locsin is aesthetically supported by other artistic expressions from other greats in Philippine art.

Arturo Luz designed the flooring titled “The River of Life”. Each panel of Luz on the flooring emanates from the center flooring, radiating like rivers of petals, if not petals of rivers, towards passage ways that literally do not have doors.

Vicente Manansala and Ang Kiukok painted the “Stations of the Cross”. Their works panoramically bombard the faithful as if they were verses from the Gospels, only in cubist lines and colors.

Napoleon Abueva, on the other hand, sculpted the crucifix and the marble altar. The two natures of Jesus Christ, both man and divine, expressed in the hanging crucifix beneath the center of the dome remind each member of the church of the promise of physical death on earth and spiritual rebirth in paradise.


A CONVERSATION WITH THE GREATS
My students came into contact with all these magnificent physical renditions of the spiritual. They enjoyably drew their own church: from within, emphasizing its roundness; from outside, highlighting its spaceship-like contour.

Others analyzed the playful shapes on the aisles and recorded them in their activity sheets. Some chose their favorite paintings and copied these using crayons. The remaining students were absorbed by the distinctive two-sided crucifix, creating their plates. Their parents were either assisting them or viewing with them, or both. Like the children, the parents were also learning about their culture.

But more important than the artistic activities in which the students immersed themselves, what impressed me the most was the seriousness and care that these children were capable of while pleasantly undertaking their individual tasks.

They were heedful of the reminder that they must not touch nor vandalize the works to help preserve these so that future generations will have the good fortune to study, too, and appreciate all these beauty. I cannot help but admire the students for their discipline and curiosity to explore these ingredients of their humanity.


An alumnus and former faculty member of UP Diliman, PROF. ROLANDO S. DELA CRUZ is President of the Darwin International School System. He studied in Osaka University (Japan), the University of Cambridge (England) and at the University of Leiden (the Netherlands).

(Source: MANILA BULLETIN, May 24, 2012)

(Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/360335/a-conversation-with-greats)