Good news from the periphery of Pinoy showbiz
The event was one of the exhibits organized by Marie Pe-Yang, practically every two months or so.
A kin of filmmaker, Nuel Naval is a painter-sculptor. And a daughter of Rey Valera is a painter.
We’ve been missing Direk Nuel Naval’s always optimistically ending films. His last was Family of Two, an entry in the 2023 Metro Manila Film Festival top-billed by Sharon Cuneta and Alden Richards.
And so when we once attended an art exhibit and saw some sculptures and paintings created by someone with Naval as a surname, we immediately asked the artist if he was related to the filmmaker.
“Yes, Nuel Naval is my uncle. We both come from Navotas!” replied sculptor-painter Patrick Naval-without batting an eyelash, as the saying goes.
CLARISSE Guardiano Aguilera and her paintings.
Photograph courtesy of CLARISSE AGUILERA/INSTAGRAM
The event was one of the exhibits organized by Marie Pe-Yang, practically every two months or so, as president of the UST Atelier Alumni Association for some years now. The Association seems to be the most active alumni group from the University of Santo Tomas.
The Association’s members have been increasing as many graduates of the former UST College of Architecture and Fine Arts and the present College of Fine Arts and Design who hardly join exhibits get warmly encouraged by Pe-Yang to show her their works so she can schedule any of them (or as many as three artworks) in the Association’s curated exhibits. The dean of UST College of Fine Arts, Mary Christine Que, a UST alumna herself, has attended several Atelier group shows.
In a recent group show, Pe-Yang’s favorite coverage photographer, Nilo Mark Odiamar, told us that he was glad he caught Rey Valera’s daughter and managed to pose her with one of her paintings in the exhibit.
If the woman he is referring to goes by the surname “Valera,” then she’s most likely not a daughter of the famous OPM singer — because it is not the singer’s real surname. Rey’s real surname is Guardiano.
“The daughter’s name is Clarisse Guardiano Aguilera. I’ve always known that Rey is not a Valera but a Guardiano,” Odiamar corrected us.
Naval has participated in three to four exhibits put up by UST Atelier, the last one being “Seated in Sentiment: A Rocking Chair Art Exhibition” at Eastwood Mall Atrium in celebration of Grandparents’ Day last 11 September.
