Topic: Rizal and the Arts Title: RizaLarawan: Rizal as an Artistic Sculptor Research Description: This (photo essay)

research focuses mainly on the life of Rizal as a sculptor. It includes photos and information about some of his sculptures, how his being an artist helped and influenced the art particularly the sculpting industry of the country. To make the all the information here in our research more reliable, we will use books, search in the internet, and visit a museum in Fort Santiago to personally see his one of his work, The Triumph of Science over Death. Gathering information from different sources and visiting a museum like the one in Intramuros, will help us appreciate and understand more the contribution of Rizal to our industry of arts.

Research Objectives: The goal of this research is - to give knowledge to the people who do not know yet about this specific talent of Rizal. - to serve as an inspiration to Filipino youth, sculptors and artists to revive the currently dying industry of sculpting in the Philippines. - to let Filipinos have their own little contributions for the development of the art industry. - to provide specific actions to make ones self be involved in art to serve as a ways of expressing feelings, emotions, etc. - to further appreciate the gifts we have. Research Plan: Day 1 We did brainstorming about the theme and focusing on one specific topic and did a little research related to our topic. Day 2 Finished our research and start working on our research description and objectives. Day 3 Paraphrased historical narratives, made our problematization and start to brainstorm about our production plan. Day 4 Finished production plan and conclusion.

Discussion a. Historical Narrative Jose Rizal is the national hero of the Philippines, yet, many do not know about his other side as an artist. As a youngster, he already showed inclinations to be an artist. He wrote novels and poems. He drew and sketched. He also molded clay. His parents became very supportive of whatever Rizal wanted to do. Rizal's pencil sketches also show techniques that were later used in comic strips. For these, the historian Gregorio Zaide nicknamed Rizal as the "Leonardo da Vinci of the Philippines". Rizal's clay sculptures, including the one entitled Prometheus Bound, are very original. They are not only pleasing to look at, but also show social issues. Rizal used art as a medium to effect societal change.

1. The Triumph of Science over Death is a clay sculpture made by Jos Rizal as a gift to his friend Ferdinand Blumentritt. The statue is composed of a naked, young woman with overflowing hair, standing on a skull while bearing a torch. The woman symbolizes the ignorance of humankind during the Dark Ages of history, while the torch she bears symbolizes the enlightenment science brings over the whole world. The woman is shown trampling at a skull, a symbol of death, to signify the victory the humankind achieved by conquering the bane of death through their scientific advancements. This blog has its icon Dr Jose Rizal's clay sculpture "The Triumph of Science over Death". Since Dr Rizal was a physician and the sculpture is in the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in the Manila campus, people think it really is the Triumph of (medical science) over Death. 2. Prometheus Bound is a clay sculpture created by Jose Rizal and was given to Blumentritt in 1890 in Brussels. Rizal used the mythic hero Prometheus as symbolism to further explain his philosophy. In his NOLI dedication addressed to the Filipino people revealed that his aim is not only to expose the Spanish government and the Church abuses but also to remove the veil of ignorance that has kept his countrymen 300 years of ignorance and superstition. By opening their minds that will bring light through education will liberate them from eternal darkness. It is logical to equate Light, Torch and Fire to mean Knowledge, Learning, Education, awakening, liberation and emancipation.

3. The Dapitan Girl - Model of a head of a Dapitan girl made by Rizal during his banishment to Mindanao. 13 x 20 cm in size. 4. Victory of Death over Life The sculpture is composed of two different figure a woman and a hooded skull figure. The hooded skull figure is holding the nude body of a woman lying lifeless in front of it. Rizal made this to represent the time when death to us is very inevitable, the time when we cant help ourselves when we know its coming and the time when our life cannot be prolong. But it is a sculpture not only representing physical death but also the death of our being a Filipino during the Spanish occupation. 5. Wild Boar The composition of steel engraving in a French art journal suggested his model in clay of a Philippine wild boar; the head of the subject in a painting in the Luxembourg Gallery and the rest of a figure in an engraving newspaper are combined in a statuette he modeled in Brussels. 6. Oyang Dapitana Oyang is said to be a nickname of a girl whose real name is Leonor, Leonora or Teodora. This woman in the sculpture may be his mother or his former lover. It is a clay sculpture of a woman doing laundry. He did this wood sculpture on his second year of exile in Dapitan b. Problematization of the Topic As a youngster, Rizal started to engage himself in sculpting, painting, woodcarving and sketching. Through art, he expresses his sentiments toward the issues in his life and the society. During Rizal's time, sculpting is one of the peoples hobbies. People nowadays are techie. They express their emotions and thoughts through social-networking sites. They blog, tweet, post statuses, etc. Because of the new-world facilities, we tend to forget the essential things in life. In a sophisticated type of society, how can the youth be more participative in the line of art?

c. Production Plan Our group has decided to make a compilation of photo essays that covers Rizal's involvement in art, especially in sculpture-making. By researching books that contain several sculptures of Rizal, we gained new information and the reasons why he made his sculptures. As we visit different sites that contain the different sculptures made by Rizal, also the replicas, we will be able to reflect on deeper meanings of his works. RizaLarawan is a series of posts by three students who traveled to Fort Santiago and found sculptures made by Jose Rizal. They learned new information related to art

which makes it more interesting to them. It aims not only to interpret those, but also, to show the audience why and how he came up with his ideas. This is to deepen the connection between the audience and art, that there is more in what we can see. Since the youth of today is more engaged in social networking sites, we will present Rizals sculptures in Facebook wherein they will be posting his works together with its narrative and their thoughts. In the end, the students will learn to appreciate art more. The group will also show different ways to encourage yourself to be more passionate when it comes to art, since it is not considered as professional nowadays. We would like to let our audience engage their selves in art with the help of the people and things that they find important. Conclusion This research will help us to connect ourselves with art through the works and life of Rizal. We will appreciate the part of our National Hero being a sculptor artist. This research will use the modern era to its advantage communicating with others easily, to display our photo essay to the public especially for the Filipino youth. Jose Rizal is not only a national hero, but also an artist. This has been showcased through his differents works of art such as his sculptures, The Triumph Triology, Oyang Dapitana and many more. These artworks showed Rizals nationalism as he becomes more mature. Through his art, it can be seen how he expressed himself and be able to address it to the audience indirectly. It makes the audience think of their own personal meaning. We therefore conlude that, Jose Rizals artistic side was molded because of his other hobbies and likes. Through his works, he was able to express his point of views and also the situations during his time. Art can help express what words cannot say.

Bibliography http://pogingrizal.tripod.com/rizal.ambag.iskultura.htm Tirol, Jes, Bohol Chronicles www.boholonmymind.blogspot.com (November 6, 2011)