A Found Self through the Arts

47 years ago with only $200 in my pocket, with a California destination to be with my elder sister, Rose, I became a regulatory official for a state public health agency. I have retired after 27 years of public service and I have been writing a column for 11 years for a community paper.

My eldest sister, Rose died 60 days after my mother in 2016. In 2016, I wrote a book called Even The Rainbow Has a Body, as a lifeline to bounce back from my two tragedies. The book cover was designed by Ysabel Grace Simon. She said, “Half of the face is what you inherit from your parents, the other half is what you make of your life.” She was just 18 yo at that time.

At 18yo, I was a lost immigrant yearning to be back home in the islands, Philippines, and had just migrated to America. The sting of racism pierced my being and rattled me to simply return. But, my eldest sister, Rose, her boyfriend then, my Kuya Eduardo Alcantara, and roommates distracted me from my pain with trips to Disneyland, bowling, and movies.

Today, 47 years later, I just finished interviewing this 21 yo artist, an American of Filipino descent, whose love for the arts was lovingly nurtured by her global citizen parents, a practicing licensed NY and CA psychiatrist, and a global director of IT in one of biggest universities in NY, as her hard work and the work ethic she has displayed to nurture her talents.

She is Ysabel Grace Simon, whose 9 portraits are on exhibit at #5thAvenue at the #PhilippineConsulateinNY, for the month of September. Her exhibit opened on Sept. 5, Thursday.

I loved our interview this am and here is the revelation – I prepared at least 10 questions which she answered through a free-flowing discussion without me having to read half of them.

I asked her – how in the heavens could you have read my mind? It dawned on me #oldsouls can, particularly when God is at the center of both of our lives.

She encouraged me to visit her favorite, #neuegallerieny, and its 5-star cafe. Only two rooms had exhibited as they were curating the fall exhibit for October, one of the most stunning exhibits is #GustavKlimt #womaningold, a painting of Adele Bloch-Bauer, painted in 1903 to 1907, inspired by 6th Century Byzantine, after Gustav visited the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy. It is a painting created without modeling. It reflects the richness, luxury, and Japanese lacquer work, an epitome of refinement and nobility, while lavished in gold.