Doll Eyes Book Launch & Art Exhibit

I got another invite to a book launch cum art exhibit from CANVAS' Gigo Alampay. I'm not sure if I can make it though. Maybe I'll drop by and touch base with some friends in the industry. The event is tinged with KUTING (Kwentista ng mga Tsikiting) connections!

KUTING's Eline Santos did a great job at writing the story which won the 10th Romeo Forbes Story Writing for Children contest. Joy Mallari, the artist of Doll Eyes, on the one hand is Alice Mallari's aunt. Alice is another KUTING (my batchmate in the organization ca. 2004)who has several Palancas to her name. Augie Rivera did the translations in Filipino. Yes, he is yet another KUTING and one of its past presidents, besides. Oh, I hope I can go!

Below is the e-vite and an excerpt from the book. Ganda!

You are cordially invited to an exhibition of the first set of artworks that Joy Mallari has painstakingly rendered for “Doll Eyes,” the latest winner of CANVAS’ flagship Romeo Forbes Children’s Story Writing Competition. An original story written by Eline Santos and inspired by a Joy Mallari painting, “Doll Eyes” will be CANVAS’ 10th children’s book when it is launched simultaneously with the exhibition of Joy’s final set of paintings in early June 2010.

The exhibit opens with cocktails at 6pm on Thursday, February 25, 2010 at the ArtistSpace of the Ayala Museum, and runs until March 9, 2010.

Proceeds from the sale of the artworks and books will be used to support CANVAS initiatives to promote broader awareness, appreciation for and access to Philippine art, culture and environment.

For more information, please email info@canvas.ph or visit www.canvas.ph.

She kept scanning the crowd. If she had one virtue, it was patience.
Manang Bolabola had the patience of a hunter...

There.

The doll maker sensed the little girl. Alone. A street urchin.
One of seven kids. Blood ties broken.
Hurting, hurting, hurting...

Manang Bolabola licked her lips.
Yes. This one was ripe for the picking.

With a wave of her hand, she beckoned the little girl to come over.
Obediently, the child approached.

"What is it, lola?"

The doll maker smiled toothlessly, whispered in the girl's ear, and
drew back the curtains covering the shop's entrance.

The girl stepped inside.

--Excerpt from "Doll Eyes" by Eline Santos; with artworks by Joy Mallari