Ang Tanging Alay Ko
Miles I.
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Before coming into my own personal art practice, I focused on only sticking to basics like painting and drawing. I believed that the only way to make ‘good art’ was to stick to tradition. Since 2020, I have explored outside of painting and drawing, getting inspiration from fashion designers like Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood, films made by Wong Kar Wai and Paul Schrader, and even just scrolling through my Instagram page. I found love for art outside, in the physical world. I got inspired by the way trash formed on the concrete sidewalks and the way buildings intersect each other in the skyline. I even got inspired by lighting. The way the lighting from a lamp lit the room. The way the streetlight turned the sidewalk red at night. I started taking my observations and turning them into art.
Further into my high school education I moved away from public school for a semester and moved to The Oxbow School. Here, my ideas on art and education expanded. My instructors taught me how I could alter found objects into sculptures. I learned how I could put my own personal politics into a print. I turned past experiences into poetry and prose. I learned that art could be more than I could imagine. I rummaged through my instructor’s books, inspiring myself through others' experimentation. At The Oxbow School, I surrounded myself with like minded peers. We bounced ideas off each other and showed each other our favorite artists. Since gathering all this knowledge I started to create more than ever. I took receipt machines and keyboards and turned them into permanent sculptures. I strayed away from assignments and turned a painting assignment into a wearable canvas poncho. I turned paper and wire and turned it into an intricately made head and cowl piece made out of over 100 handmade paper cones. I tried new mediums. I started to dive into film photography. I started developing my own negatives and printing them. I started gathering friends to execute my photoshoot ideas. I bought a camcorder and started filming short montages with friends. Although I explored and experimented, in my downtime I slowed down and went back to tradition. I used my downtime to practice my craft with oil paints. My peers and I spent our downtime posing for each other and made our own figure drawing class. While experimenting is exhilarating, I believe that practicing traditional art helps with my experimentation. Overall, as an artist I want to push myself outside of my comfort zone, learn new techniques, create my own techniques, and let my community view it.
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I have been able to accept myself as different being Filipino American through my art and have incorporated my ancestors and my culture in my art as a way to honor them. My ancestors before me have pursued art in their lifetime which has helped me see art as a passion and a career.
