On the occasion of Women´s Month and in celebration of International Women´s Day, the Philippine Embassy in Berlin successfully hosted the opening of “Pieces of Dreams,” an exhibit featuring the works of Philippine Prints Artist Lenore RS Lim.

Lim is an acclaimed Filipina printmaker based in Manila, New York and Vancouver.  A self-confessed late-bloomer artist, she is firmly rooted in her Filipino heritage while she mostly developed, practiced and exhibited her art abroad.

Guests at the Vernissage included trailblazing women from the German government and private sector, the diplomatic corps, and the Filipino community in Berlin.  The Federal Foreign Office’s Director for Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, Ms. Birgit Ory was the guest of honor. Ms. Ory joined Ms. Lim and Ambassador Melita S. Sta. Maria-Thomeczek in the ribbon cutting ceremony to formally open the exhibit.

In “Pieces of Dreams,” the viewers were allowed to probe the artist’s dreams, memories and aspirations, and in the process invite them to reflect on their own.  The exhibit presented recurring images of nature as well fabrics and heirloom clothing which are wistful, nostalgic, graphic, and grotesque.

When asked about the difference between the art of printmaking and painting, Lim explained that “a painter paints directly on canvas, paper or fabric. As a printmaker, I draw on wood, silk, metal or stone.  If I use wood, it’s called woodcut: silk, it’s silk screen; if metal, like copper, it’s etching; and if I use stone it’s called lithography. A printmaker uses a press and chemicals to transfer the design to the paper or another surface.  This way, we can do multiples or what we call – an edition.”

On the beginnings of her discipline as an artist, Lim said “I studied at the College of the Holy Spirit, Mendiola.  The school was run by German nuns, the Servants of the Holy Spirit.  I got the discipline and value of hard work from the German nuns.  Our art teacher invited me and some other classmates to come on Saturday mornings for free art lessons. When my father learned about this, he bought a drawing book for me right away.  Because of these art lessons, I decided to continue and take Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines.”

After graduating Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines, Lim taught art at the Assumptions Convent and at the International School Manila.

Lim received the Presidential Award (Pamana ng Pilipino Award) for Filipinos overseas, in 2004 and the Outstanding Professional Award for Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines Alumni Association in 2005 for her accomplishments in the arts. She enjoys a growing audience of collectors in the United States, where she was awarded a prestigious Jackson Pollock-Lee Krasner Foundation Grant, among other honors.

Her work is included in the U.S. Library of Congress and the private collection of Agnes Gund, Chairman and President Emerita of The Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan among others.  Ms. Gund penned the foreword to her monograph Profound Afterglow: The Prints of Lenore RS Lim, published by Reyes Publishing in 2005.  She is represented in New York by Tally Beck Contemporary Art and in the Philippines by Altro Mondo Gallery.

In 2010, she was given a grant to hold a solo exhibit at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Main Gallery.  “FULL CIRCLE: A Retrospective” featured 100 of her artworks – etchings, serigraphs and monoprints.  Just before her Berlin stint, she opened the exhibit “Layered Life” at the Altro Mondo Gallery in Makati.

“Pieces of Dreams” is available for public viewing at the Philippine Embassy from 9 to 22 March 2016, 0900h to 1600h, Mondays to Fridays.  More information on Lim’s works and upcoming events may be accessed through her website, www.lenorelim.com. END