Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

ART is often a source of truth, order, harmony and meaning. It can unlock our imagination and make us pause, think and reflect. This critical role of the arts in our lives enables us to see the world and the human condition differently. Through this, we can view reality in a particular work of art, and see a truth that we might not have understood before.

This is why the Kulayan Arts Program offers more than basic drawing and coloring activities. Funded through the Kularts Visual Arts Program, which received a Cultural Equity Grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission to bring Filipino arts programming to the Excelsior district, Kulayan partnered with the Filipino Community Center (FCC). Kularts Director Alleluia Panis approached artist James Garcia, also known as gaNyan in the art world with the idea of creating a visual arts program that incorporated Filipino folklore into the curriculum. James then asked a fellow artist, Christopher de Leon, to join as a co-instructor. In cooperation with the FCC, James and Christopher aligned Kulayan with issues that are culturally relevant, as well as create a dialogue bridging the struggles in the Philippines and the Filipino community here in the Bay Area.

"Christopher and I have developed projects that integrate foundation building skills (i.e., value studies, color theory and basic perspective) that include prompts that challenge the student to create narratives around a particular theme and/or issue," said James then added, "For example, the current project revolves around the issue of ‘landlessness,’ with focus on the indigenous peoples in the rural countryside of the Philippines who are being subjected to displacement due to modernization." He explained that through this activity, students are tasked to illustrate this issue and incorporate Filipino folklore characters in their piece.

James has always been interested in art, learning that at the age of 7 he had the ability to draw. Since then he hasn’t stopped. He admits his love for comic strips, books and cartoons, claiming that they were his main source of inspiration when he was growing up. As he got older, artists like Picasso, Van Gogh and the Bay Area’s figurative artists of the 50s and 60s influenced him during his undergrad years at San Francisco State University where he graduated with a BA in Art in 2002.

Christopher on the other hand, started younger, at the age of 3—the first day he picked up a crayon. "I became interested in creating things as early as 3 or 4 years old," he said and added, "My love for crayons, play-doh and legos continue to this very day." He has since studied at Cal Arts, Art Institute of San Francisco and the Academy Art University. Gaining influences from Michaelangelo, Marcel Duchamp and Norman Rockwell, Christopher also explained that it’s so hard not be influenced by artists or from things in his everyday life—from the flick of a marker stroke in graffiti on the bus, rusted and worn down machinery and buildings, to old peoples’ wrinkles. "I love to see the world around me whether it’s pretty or not."