Respected Artist, Beloved Mentor

 

Essay 34. RESPECTED ARTIST, BELOVED MENTOR

By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol

FERNANDO SENA's place in Philippine art history, as the father of Philippine art workshops, is already secure. An art educator for most of his life, Sena began his career as a volunteer teacher in the art classes of the Children's Museum and Library Incorporated (CMLI). It was his way of paying back, because Sena himself attended art classes for free at the CMLI, after which he was awarded by the museum director a painting scholarship to the University of the East School of Music and Fine Arts. Sena taught at the CMLI for almost ten years, and later on at the University of the East and the University of the Philippines. Sena branched out to conducting art classes of his own in various venues. He was also routinely invited by organizations to conduct art classes for them.

Fernando Belen Sena was born in Tondo. His father, Arturo, was a "plantsador", a fellow who irons clothes for a living. His mother, Faustina Belen, was a market vendor. Sena's parents struggled hard to provide him an education. To be of help, Sena peddled newspapers. Menial though the job was, it was Sena's stepping stone to becoming an artist because the movies and comics sections of the newspapers provided him plenty of pictures to copy.

His diligence in learning how to draw paid off. Sena's skill as a draughtsman, and later on as a painter adept in the use of various media, allowed him to create little masterpieces done in a range of styles. His series of still-lifes that feature the pan de sal was iconic. It was his signature body of work, his trademark. These still-lifes that include not only pan de sals, but also cups of coffee, salted and fried eggs, and kitchen objects were rendered the classical realist way in pastel. On the other hand, another set of pastel artworks that include the mother and child motif and assorted landscape scenes were fine examples of Sena's impressionist works, because he employed here short daubs of the pastel sticks he was using and minimal blending of colors.

Sena in time started another series, his paintings of toys in disarray and jumbled together tightly, which when viewed from afar would seem to be cubist-like abstractions. He revealed in an interview that his two boys' very toys inspired him to do the series. It was perhaps Sena's way of preserving the memories of his sons' childhood days, which I presume was the happiest phase in his life as a father.

In 1975, Sena founded the Kabataang Tundo Art Group and in 2001, the Art Discovery.and Learning Foundation Incorporated. Inherently generous, Sena facilitates free art workshops for the poor, and also for cancer patients, children in orphanages, and prisoners. Those civic activities prompted institutions to grant him various awards, like one of the "Ten Outstanding Manilans" in 1979, the "Outstanding UE College of Fine Arts Alumni" and "Most Distinguished UE Alumni" in 1986 and 1989 respectively, and the "Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan" in the field of Painting, which was given him by the City of Manila during the Araw ng Maynila celebration in June 1995.

Sena's life is a life well-lived: a challenge to the youth, especially to the deprived ones like Sena once was, to never give up in the struggle to make something of themselves. Definitely, Sena is savoring now the fruits of his tortuous yet triumphant journey to become a renowned, respected, and beloved artist and mentor.