New York based novelist, poet and women's organizer Ninotchka Rosca writes, after seeing Garcia De Vera's solo show:
"I was struck by the contrast between the older and more recent paintings. The former were subtle, contained and almost tactile with reined-in tension; the latter were more exuberant, both in the exploration of form and color.  In the former, the process of the exploration of transfiguration was not even begun, just anticipated, like minute stirrings in the body and soul; in the latter, it was in full bloom.  As you can see, despite the interval between older and newer paintings, I see a thematic
unity, as in waiting to be born and being born.  I liked The Dawn Will Come and Rainy Day, the latter in particular.  This is not art critique but rather taste, as in what would I hang on my wall.  Rainy Day appeals to me since it's always a gray November in my soul."
 
Feminist writer and book author Marra PL. Lanot  writes:  "Lala Garcia De Vera has an eye for details,  and her sensitivity as a child and as a person is  quite but intense.  It's rare to find an artist  who,  at 23, has been uprooted from her native soil, yey  still observes and discovers  past and present  both  inside and outside her self.  Most astounding in  color, content and style is her oil titled  'Metamorphosis' which clearly looks at woman and  nature and change through a woman's eyes."
 
 Fellow Filipino-Canadian visual artist Rol  Lampitoc  comments:  "Even as a child, Lala has always shown  great talent for composition, reflecting a  maturity  in  art beyond her years.  She was still so small when  she  came to my studio and asked that I teach her how to  paint.  After seeing her works, I told her no, you  already have your style as an artist, so you just
 do  what you are doing, and you'll do well.  And she did.  She has developed a remarkable style all her own ---  free, bold and confident -- and her works definitely  show it."
 
 Garcia-De Vera started taking art lessons at age 4  with  artists age 7-12 under Mr. Fernando Sena at  CMLI  in Quezon City, Philippines.  She continued on  through grade school at the Art Gallery of  Ontario's  weekly and summer art classes; secondary school at  the  prestigious Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts  in  North York, Canada; and through adulthood at the  Art  Gallery of Ontario, and the Ontario College of Art  and Design.  She exhibited with professional art as a
child, toured art centers in France and Italy as  part  of her art education, and conducted art workshops  for  children.  Her paintings are now in private  collections in the Philippines, US and Canada.#
 

FREEDOM A retrospective solo art exhibition by  Kalayaan (Lala) Garcia De Vera

March 19-30, 2001
Philippine Center Gallery
556, 5th Avenue
New York, New York

Presented by:
The Philippine Consulate General in New York
University of the Philippines Preparatory School Class 1965

KALAYAAN (Lala) Garcia De Vera started drawing at a very early age,
prompting her parents to enroll her in summer art classes at age four at the Children's Museum and Library Inc. in
Manila, Philippines. She became a serious student of the visual arts, taking art lessons throughout her grade
school years (Art Gallery of Ontario), secondary school (Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts), and young adulthood
(Art Gallery of Ontario, and Ontario College of Art and Design). The Toronto-based 23-year-old artist has
participated in a number of group exhibitions, conducted art workshops for children, and completed
commissioned works.

Her passion for the visual arts has allowed her to experience her craft in varied learning environments. As a child,
she was invited to include her works in exhibitions involving experienced professional artists, do an illustration
for a children's TV program newsletter (Philippine version of Sesame Street), design posters for women's groups
in Manila and Toronto, and participate in on-the-spot painting contests for which she had won awards. At 16,
she visited art centers and institutions in Italy and France to learn from and appreciate the original works of some
of the great masters during a visual arts tour. She supervised children's art sessions as a volunteer at the Art
Gallery of Ontario. Even as she pursued business education in college, Lala continued to take advanced courses
at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Ontario College of Art and Design.

Her art was featured in a Youth Assisting Youth Talent Show, a community event at Centennial College (1993); at
the Kiwanis Club of Markham 25th Anniversary Art Show and Sale with artists from all over Canada (1993); the
Manila Pavilion of Metro Toronto International Caravan (1994, 1995); Artistic Harmony in Youth's Diversity
(1995) a multicultural youth exhibit presented in three cities within the Greater Toronto Area; and an art exhibit
with young and professional artists of the Philippine Artists Group, sponsored by the Law Society of Upper
Canada at the Osgoode Hall in Toronto (1999). Some of her works have been featured in publications in Manila
(Ani, Vol. 2 No. 1, March 1988, an anthology of women writers and artists, published by the Cultural Center of the
Philippines) and in Toronto (an official publication of an international youth conference sponsored by the
Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto).

Lala uses a variety of media, experiments in various styles ranging from social realism to surrealism, captures
themes and ideas ranging from the profound to the mundane, and works on varied subjects -- mostly nature and
people. Some of Lala's works are now in private collections in the Philippines, Canada and the US.

At present, she juggles her time with her art, her bank job, and her new family life with husband Roderick De Vera
and their six-month old daughter Serena. Freedom, her first solo exhibition, is a retrospective of the art she has
practised for two decades. Lala explains: Freedom, after which I was named, represents the way I have always
practised my art, and the kind of life I have always valued for myself and for others."

----------------------------------------------

For information about the exhibit, contact: The Philippine Consulate General
in New York: (212) 764-5618

For information about the artist, contact: Roderick De Vera: (416) 299-3425;
or Mila Astorga-Garcia (416) 461-8694

Young Filipino-Canadian artist holds retrospective solo in New York

Kalayaan (Lala) Garcia De Vera, a 23 year-old Filipino-Canadian artist, will
hold her first retrospective solo art exhibition at the Philippine Center
Gallery in New York on March 19 to 30, 2001. The exhibit, presented by the
Philippine Consulate General in New York, will be formally launched with a
reception, Monday, March 19, 7 p.m. at the exhibit site. Co-sponsoring the
art exhibition is the University of the Philippines Preparatory School Class
1965.

Garcia De Vera, a 23-year old visual artist, started painting and exhibiting
her works since she was a child in Manila and in Toronto. Her first solo
exhibition, a retrospective, will feature old favorite works as well as new
ones, depicting the breadth and wealth of her learning and experiences as an
artist during the past two decades.

Her exhibit will feature creations in oil, acrylic, oil pastel and chalk
pastel, watercolor and mixed media, using various styles ranging from social
realism to surrealism. Her works depict experiences both profound and
mundane, and her subjects are mostly people and nature. Her first solo
exhibition is titled Freedom, a theme in most of her paintings. As she
herself explains, "Freedom, after which I was named, represents the way I
have always practiced my art, the
message I always want to convey through my works, and the kind of life I
have always valued for myself and for
others."

Of her works, internationally published feminist writer and book author
Marra PL. Lanot writes: "Lala Garcia De Vera has an eye for detail, and her
sensitivity as a child and as a person is quiet but intense. It's rare to
find an artist who, at 23, has been uprooted from her native soil, yet still
observes and discovers past and present both inside and outside her self.
Most astounding in her latest show, in color, style, and content, is her oil
entitled "Metamorphosis," which clearly looks at woman and nature and change
through a woman's eyes."

Renowned multi-awarded Filipino-Canadian visual artist Rol Lampitoc says:
"Even as a child, Lala has always shown great creative talent for
composition, reflecting a maturity in art beyond her years. She was still so
small when she came to my studio and asked that I teach her how to paint.
After seeing her works, I told her no, you already have your style as an
artist, so you just do what you are doing, and you'll do well. And she did.
She has developed a remarkable style all her own -- free, bold and confident
-- and her works definitely show it."

Garcia De Vera's selections for her first solo reflect her passion for the
visual arts, and her unique learning experiences with her craft. She studied
formal art lessons at age four (Children's Museum and Library Inc. in
Manila), and continued on through grade school (Art Gallery of Ontario
weekly and summer classes) secondary school (Cardinal Carter Academy for the
Arts), and through adulthood (Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Ontario
College of Arts and Design), even as she pursued business education in
college. She exhibited with professional artists as a
child, toured art centers in France and Italy as a teen, conducted art
workshops for children, and completed commissioned works. Some of her
paintings are now in private collections in the Philippines, Canada and the
U.S.

Her earliest group exhibition was at age 4 (with other artists age 7-12) at
the CMLI in Quezon City, Philippines; her latest was in 1999 with young and
professional artists with the Philippine Artists Group at the prestigious
Osgoode Hall in Toronto sponsored by the Law Society of Upper Canada. She
was the youngest exhibitor at 16 among hundreds of artists from all over
Canada during the Kiwanis Club of Markham 25th Anniversary Art Show & Sale
(1993). Some of her works have been featured in publications in Manila (Ani,
Vol. 2 No. 1, March 1988, an anthology
of women writers and artists, published by the Cultural Center of the
Philippines) and in Toronto (in the official publication of an international
youth conference sponsored by the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto).

For photos of paintings and artist, click U.P. Prep. 65 link:
http://geocities.datacellar.net/SoHo/Cafe/2588/lalasexhibit.html

For exhibit info, contact: The Philippine Consulate General in New York
(212) 764-1330 or Mila Astorga-Garcia (416)
461-8694 or (416) 578-6996 in Toronto, Canada.