{"id":3791,"date":"2024-10-23T16:52:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T08:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/energetic-pink-donkey.109-123-235-239.cpanel.site\/artrising-dee-escalante-is-always-meant-to-be-an-artist\/"},"modified":"2024-10-23T16:52:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T08:52:32","slug":"artrising-dee-escalante-is-always-meant-to-be-an-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/energetic-pink-donkey.109-123-235-239.cpanel.site\/?p=3791","title":{"rendered":"#ARTRISING: Dee Escalante\u2019s Journey Proves She Was Always Meant To Be An Artist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Within the four corners of her bedroom, Dee Escalante\u2019s 10-year-old self didn\u2019t imagine that she would someday become an artist, especially when she had just written it on a whim in her yearbook after seeing a wall poster of a Filipino painter in their classroom, but the Master Designer seems to have established the course of her life without her younger self knowing; 16 years later, she would eventually become the person she never expected to be.<\/p>\n

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Based on the wisdom from the book of Ecclesiastes, there is indeed a time for everything\u2014a predestined season for an artist to become one. This encapsulates the unmistakable life of Desiree Jane \u201cDee\u201d Escalante, a visual artist from Bicol, Philippines.<\/p>\n

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For Dee, art was a foreign place where she didn\u2019t see herself. Yes, she liked sketching anime characters as a teen and yes, there was a time when she didn\u2019t go to sleep until the bright, raw, and overwhelming images filled her mind, compelling her to unleash them on paper, but pursuing art as a grown-up wasn\u2019t part of her childhood imagination. What made her the artist she is now is purely divine; one chance encounter is all it took for her.<\/p>\n

During the start of the pandemic in 2020, Dee ventured into gardening which she turned into a business as a side hustle. She made and sold garden pots, along with garden soil and plants. One of her customers who owns a business in Bicol, whom she refers to as Ms. E, saw great potential in her painting skills after seeing the little designs she added to her garden pots. With just one question\u2014\u201cWhy don\u2019t you do murals for me?\u201d\u2014she finally got past the threshold of her destiny.<\/p>\n

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As a muralist, Dee\u2019s world expanded; the wall became her canvas and the world became her inspiration. Numerous mural commissions followed her after her successful deal with Ms. E; it became her gateway to traveling the country and decorating the walls with huge leaves and flowers, representing her love for nature and the happiness it brings to people.<\/p>\n

From garden pots and walls, Dee\u2019s artistry also found its way to canvas. She uses acrylic, gouache, watercolor, and colored pencils as her medium. Like her murals, her canvas creations are nature-inspired with the addition of winged creatures and increased vibrancy. The switch from wall to canvas made her realm feel smaller but it didn\u2019t restrict her from creating the way she used to.<\/p>\n

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Bold, striking, and colorful, Dee\u2019s artworks exude comfort and delight, but unlike most artists who express themselves candidly to the point that it penetrates the viewer\u2019s heart, her magnum opus is the opposite. In a world where people are mulling over sadness and melancholia, she intends to conceal her real emotions in hopes that they will be uplifted upon looking at her art.<\/p>\n

The lives and works of Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Polina Bright, Valerie Lin, and Jess Karp inspire Dee and her works the most, but it was Filipino visual artists Joey Hugo and Angelo Perida from the Bicol region whom she considers her mentors. <\/p>\n

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Art, for Dee, is a journey where an artist gets face-to-face with herself; it is a doorway to many opportunities, letting the artists experience everything all at once.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi rin siya madali. Maraming pagdadaanan [pero] ang kagandahan sa art, madami kang matututunan. Marami kang matututunan sa sarili mo, madidiscover sa sarili mo, marami kang mae-experience, marami kang mapupuntahan, marami kang makikilala\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

[Art is not easy as well. There\u2019s a lot to go through but the beauty of art is the lessons it carries; you\u2019ll learn and discover more about yourself, you\u2019ll experience many things, you\u2019ll go to many places, and you\u2019ll meet a lot of people.]<\/p>\n

Dee\u2019s younger self might not understand how the world works yet, but if there\u2019s one thing she needs to know, it\u2019s that what\u2019s meant for her will always find its way to her, even if it takes a long time, that\u2019s why she need not be worried\u2014the heart will always know when it\u2019s the right time to awaken someone\u2019s love for artistic expression.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think nakikita ko \u2018yung sarili ko [in the future] na full-time, ito pa rin \u2018yung ginagawa. And I\u2019m praying and I\u2019m hoping na ito pa rin habang buhay, wala nang iba.\u201d<\/p>\n

[I think I see myself as a full-time artist in the future, doing the same thing. I\u2019m praying and hoping that I\u2019ll continue doing nothing but this, forever.]<\/p>\n

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Dee\u2019s artworks have been displayed at the Panalmingan Art Exhibit at Robinsons Place Naga (2023), Tagboan Art Fair 2023 at Naga City Hall Grounds, and Lilang Malaya, Radikal, Liberal at the Universidad de Sta. Isabel on March 22-31, 2024. <\/p>\n

Photo Courtesy of Dee Escalante<\/credit><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a world where art felt distant, Dee discovered her calling hidden within. What once seemed uncertain has transformed into a masterpiece. #ARTRISING<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-great-filipino-story"],"pageone_source":{"pageone_source":"","author_name":"PAGEONE Online Network"},"_pageone_source":"","zyndk8_nxtgen_metadata":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/energetic-pink-donkey.109-123-235-239.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/energetic-pink-donkey.109-123-235-239.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/energetic-pink-donkey.109-123-235-239.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energetic-pink-donkey.109-123-235-239.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energetic-pink-donkey.109-123-235-239.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/energetic-pink-donkey.109-123-235-239.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energetic-pink-donkey.109-123-235-239.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/energetic-pink-donkey.109-123-235-239.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energetic-pink-donkey.109-123-235-239.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energetic-pink-donkey.109-123-235-239.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}