MAGNIFICART 2024…We’re Back!
By Ana de Villa – Singson Proud to Be HS 1983
CLICK TO VIEW THE MAGNIFICART 2024 GALLERY. REGISTER. SAVE THE DATE. SHARE WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND BID GENEROUSLY ON SEPTEMBER 28-29. ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE REBUILDING OF THE HOME OF OUR BELOVED ASSUMPTION NUNS.
After Magnificart 2020, an online art, jewelry, home auction that raised record sums during the fund-strapped pandemic era, I told myself that I would hang my auction hat and call it a day. The Magnificart 2020 team composed of Chin Bautista – Joson, Pilar Villanueva, Tessa Mortensen, Abbie Limqueco-Chan, Brin Panlilio, Pin Cojuangco-Guingona and I had done what we had to do…and surpassed our financial goals. Universal celebration! What’s the saying “Quit while you’re ahead?” …or so we thought!
In 2021, the AAA board requested for a reprise…but we had no second act then. 2024 rolled in and there was a loud clarion call…one that tugged at our heartstrings! Our beloved Assumption nuns had to relocate from their homes which were ridden with termites, eroded by extended wear and tear and crippled by the lack of adequate medical facilities. The mission was clear: BRING THEM HOME! And once again, Magnificart had a purpose, one that is dear to all the red plaid and blue-clad hearts. LET’S BRING OUR BELOVED MOTHERS HOME!
Magnificart 2024 has a lofty purpose. Every centavo of profit in the Magnificart 2024 reincarnation will benefit the rebuilding of the home of our beloved purple-robed mothers. They who nurtured, shaped, disciplined, admonished, loved, counseled, and helped to make us the women we are today. They who never asked for help, who never believed they deserved better facilities. They who never complained and never will. They who are embarrassed by the fuss and activity and call to bring them home. But…BRING THEM HOME we will…and Magnificart 2024 aims to bring them that much closer to clean, new rooms, with an elevator that can fit the caregiver (the former one was good for one person only, so the caregiver would run up to meet her charge!) and heaven help us…an elevator that actually works (many meetings were canceled due to elevator breakdowns).
And so it began. Reprising our 2020 roles are Chin Bautista-Joson, Pilar Villanueva, Abigail Limqueco – Chan and me with new committee members Dr. Ola Regala, Carmella Gana-Araullo, Marie Concepcion – Young, Cookie Feria, Aileen Tence Dionisio, Jana Ortega Purugganan, Dette Aruego, Pudgy Garcia, Marnie Torres. Together, we curated an inventory of approximately 400 pieces for auction. Covering the art, jewelry, home, and religious genres, we are proud to have auction pieces that range from affordable to the sublime! We have masters and well recognized names in the art world: Juvenal Sanso, Angelito Antonio, Norma Belleza, Hermes Allegre, FerdieCacnio, Christian Tamondong, Ram Mallari, Carlos Saavedra, Eduardo Castrillo, Jerry Morada, Cesar Arro, Ernesto Tagle, Jovan Benito. We have modern young artists beginning to create waves in the art world and our very own homegrown Assumption talent: Conchitina Bernardo with her signature gold and silver leaf metallic finish, Vicky Lopez Tuazon whose ballerinas sold out in 2020, Ivy Lim with her ethereal flora and fauna, Josephine Turralba with her edgy and out of the box rendering with layered meanings, Marissa de Leon Lopa and her jigsaw faces (on one of our poster covers!) and her breathtaking, nostalgia-inducing flame trees, Pandy Singian’s delicate water color roses and poppies (her pieces sold out in 2020), Aina Valencia’s vivid abstract palette, Pam Bermejo – Warner’s sun-kissed still life, Trixie Mutuc and her eye-catching and one-of-a-kind acrylic sculptures on canvas, Gina Crisostomo whose pieces speak of her passions and advocacies, Bing Lim Liboro’s portraiture of textured layer upon layer, the Dayrit sisters’ exquisitely crafted Miladay jewelry, Lilibeth Campos’ bespoke sapphire and pearl creations, the Velayo sisters’ heritage gems, Gigi Bermejo’s curated heirlooms, Ginny de Villa’s Triple AAA Pearls offered at very accessible prices, Olive Del Rosario’s animal quilts and my humble crochet pieces hand-crafted to soothe my frayed nerves while orchestrating this auction and a craft I proudly learned during one of our AAA Club-bing’s Craft lessons. There is also Rona Santos, my friend and batchmate, who once again donated pieces for our auction, one of her many and sustained acts of generosity to Assumption. The faculty contributed too, with Rita Bustamante previously of the Assumption College Faculty donating 10 of her gorgeous acrylic pieces which come to life even more when held up to the light. And our darling nuns, they hand crafted 10 icons which Sr. Ana Melocoton presented to me as gifts for Magnificart benefactors and which I promptly rechanneled as auction pieces (haha…we are fundraising after all!). There is a surfeit of talent, an outpouring of love, a wellspring of goodwill and infinite sky-high hope that we will BRING OUR PURPLE-CLAD MOTHERS HOME through this auction.
The past few weeks have seen the Magnificart Committee frenetically uploading auction pieces which we proudly offer as a preview of our upcoming auction. Chin, in her usual mode of eschewing any unnecessary expenses, turned down my offer to get professionals to do the website. “Why spend when we can do it ourselves” is her motto…and how right and sage she is. Over zoom lessons, AAA trustees were given crash tutorials on how to upload and overnight we became tech savants toiling in the backroom of the Magnificart auction site. Pilar Villanueva, Carmella Gana-Araullo, Dette Aruego, Pudgy Garcia, Marnie Torres, Marie Young and moi!…thank you, thank you for the many hours spent uploading. Chin and Sul too, her very patient and high-tech hubby who is forever roped in to respond to our website development SOS calls, we are ever grateful for the all the website development work offered with big hearts and infinite patience.
And here…we proudly present…MAGNIFICART 2024. Click the link below to view our offerings. AND THEN…DON’T FORGET TO REGISTER. There are ORANGE FLORAL MAGNIFICART POSTERS SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE SITE. CLICK THE REGISTER NOW BUTTON…THEN REGISTER. When you register, you will be sent an email link to the actual auction which happens on September 28-29. When you register, you can participate in the intoxicating bidding frenzy (it was so much fun watching little bidding battles going on in Magnificart 2020. Most amusing was a bidding war between 2 good friends bidding over an art piece of another good friend. As for me, I lost out on all my bids because I was tightly guarding my mom’s bid…a bid for 40 crystal glasses which she told me I absolutely had to bring home to her! Happily…I brought those glasses home to Mom!). When you register and bid, you give life to the bricks, the walls, the nooks and crannies of the home of people we love. Because when you register …then bid…you are expressing gratitude, appreciation, profound love for our beloved Assumption nuns. When we bid,we are telling them: “Thank you for all the love and care you showed us. It’s our turn now. Let us love and care for you in return.”
HURRY…DON’T WASTE A SECOND…CLICK TO VIEW OUR AUCTION OFFERINGS…THEN REGISTER…THEN SAVE THE DATE…AND BID AWAY ON SEPTEMBER 28-29. Oh, and don’t forget, spread our link far and wide…to family and friends…encourage them to register, nudge them to bid…because it takes a village to build a home!
From the Magnificart 2024 team…thank you, thank you and thank you again!
All Hail!
CLICK TO VIEW THE MAGNIFICART 2024 GALLERY. REGISTER. SAVE THE DATE. SHARE WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND BID GENEROUSLY ON SEPTEMBER 28-29. ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE REBUILDING OF THE HOME OF OUR BELOVED ASSUMPTION NUNS.
