An afternoon with future Amorsolos

“Be drawn to the visual arts for it can expand your imagination” – Barbara Januszkiewicz

CITY of BALANGA, Bataan – Artist Edward Hopper once said, “If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” These could be the words that inspired the more than 600 young artists/art enthusiasts whose ages range from 10-50 to join the GUHIT Pinas (GP) Bataan Chapter.

Founded by Mr. Rodman Papros in 2013, the Guild for Upholding and Harnessing Indispensable Talents (GUHIT) aims to make the Philippines as the art capital of Asia. With its more than 100,000 members nationwide and still counting, and the sheer and vast talents of Filipino artists, this aim is not a shot in the dark, so to speak.

The Bataan Chapter was organized in January 2014 with 19 year old Zaldy Caoile, a sophomore IT student at AMA from Lamao as president.  The other officers are: Exequiel Cunanan, Jun Padrigon, Aileen Gatdula, Pao Cabarle, Jessie Ladines and Mr. Alexander Quizon one of the notable visual artists of the province as their administrator and mentor.

Artists and art enthusiasts are encouraged to join the GP Bataan Chapter even online. All they have to do is visit Guhit Pinas Bataan Facebook Group. As members, they can receive free basic and advance drawing lessons, take part in events and even join art contests to name a few.

In coordination with the Bataan Tourism Council thru Ms. Techie Banzon, GP Bataan Chapter members will be holding an art exhibit and even sell their art works at the Bataan Tourism Center from September 22-30. This coincides with the celebration of the Tourism month, worldwide.

To accommodate students, a General Assembly of artists from all over the province will be held, also at the Bataan Tourism Center this October during the semestral break. This is in addition to the Art Congress that is also in the planning stage.

This group of budding artists is teeming not only with talent but also with ideas as to how to inspire fellow young artists to pursue and nurture their passion for the arts. When they visited the 1Bataan news room this afternoon, Zaldy Caoile, Dennis Castor from Samal, Eric Bundalian from Bagac and their mentor Mr. Quizon of this City, even gave the staff a “taste” of their amazing talent by sketching some of our photos, to our sheer delight.

To my mind, Ralph Waldo Emerson was right when he said, “In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine”. 

From the staff of 1Bataan, we could only wish this group success in its noble endeavors. It was a great pleasure to have met the future Amorsolos of Bataan.