SAMANTHA Kaspar, the 19-year-old Filipina-Swiss artist, brings a beautiful and, at the same time, heartwarming perspective to the local art scene.
What makes Samantha’s works special is the inspiration she brings to special children to harness their potential. Through the support of her parents Martin and Mitzi and the Center for Possibilities, Samantha auctioned off around 30 to 40 artworks in her self-styled exhibit on January 28 at the RCBC “Plaza in Makati City.
Some of these are shawls, while some are paintings. Moreover, she also uses several media for her work. “We wanted to show the gamut of her abilities. Samantha works primarily on piña silk using silk paints. She also uses acrylic paint on canvas sometimes,” Mitzi said.
“She has a consistent style with a lot of edges and lines, her artworks can be very linear. She also has this certain way of giving shapes to her images, which aren’t necessarily realistic but are more cartoonish,” Martin described.
She also promotes her Filipino roots by painting Filipino-themed artworks. Moreover, Samantha will be presenting a component of local culture when she heads to the Philippine Center in New York for the Fashion Arts Autism Benefit (FAAB) on April 7.
FAAB serves as a venue to showcase the artistic talents of children with special needs. Samantha, diagnosed with autism when she was one-and-a-half years old, is one of eight artists chosen to present their paintings on piña silk to be translated into clothing by featured designers for the fashion show, Patis Tesoro and Anthony Legarda. Master weaver India Legaspi is credited for teaching the artists the technique of piña silk painting.
Samantha hopes to fund her trip with the proceeds of her auction. After the auction the Manila Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Prof. Arturo Molina, conducted the concert Soundtracks and Symphonies that was annotated by Jeffrey Solares. Included in their repertoire was a John Williams tribute, as well as pieces from greats, including Beethoven, Mozart and Bach.
The concert was for the benefit of Special Education (SPED) Centers that have been the focus of the Center for Possibilities’ recent efforts. The SPED Center promotes learning to indigent persons with special need. Each SPED Center is operated by a teacher trained in the SPED division of Reach International School.
The Sagada SPED Center is now open and aims to introduce a series of livelihood and vocational programs that will be teaching skills for income-generating activities.
“Caring for special kids is very taxing because it’s usually just a one-income household, so we also need to help the parents improve their finances,” CFP Founder Dolores Cheng explained.
Cheng added that they have to build more facilities in the center. “We are also in the process of doing our due diligence by determining the number of special children in all the barangays relevant to Norzagaray.
Next will be an orientation for all the parents within the community. We are subsequently planning for the provision of testing, diagnosis and analysis for the children with special needs,” Cheng added.