Our First Year Anniversary Celebration in Bontoc, Mountain Province

In celebration of Color Your Life’s first year anniversary, the team decided to go to Brgy. Mainit, Bontoc, Mountain Province. An hour away from Bontoc Town proper is a small village called “Mainit”, a place known for its hot sulfur springs.  Apart from such natural beauty, little did we know that Mainit has a loving community that raises wonderful children who participated in “Project Bontoc” last August 19, 2018.

Individual Art Activities

Out of 188 students of Mainit Elementary School, 107 participants attended the art workshops the team designed and prepared. The event started with the basics—energizers and storytelling. The children were then grouped according to their age range—kids from 6 to 9 years old participated in the DIY mask making, while ages 10 to 13 were taught a more advanced workshop, a portrait painting activity.

Collab and Mural Painting

Since Color Your Life has been doing collaborative art activities for a year, the team created a more vibrant approach wherein the community had the freedom to choose acrylic colors in painting an empty 3×5 ft. canvas. The collab art entitled “Circles of Life” manifested a holistic result, and by its allegorical definition, a circle represents the notions of totality, wholeness, and oneness. The activity was a magical experience for every individual who contributed to the creation of the artwork given that each came from different walks of life but had a single journey: to immerse in the artistic momentum of the collaboration.

Further, the collaborative art activity did not stop with filling the canvas with colors, as Color Your Life had the privilege to do a mural painting of the school’s stage sidewalls. It was an impromptu art painting for the team, and of course, a first in Color Your Life’s memoir. Hopefully and if permitted, this small organization is ready to create more mural paintings for the community we’ll visit.

Distribution of Art Kits

The Mainit community indeed embodies the true meaning of hospitality as they embraced us with their warm welcome. We were outsiders but they treated us as a part of their community, and rather a part of their family. It was a mutualistic symbiosis for both parties, the community and us, who took part in the whole event and benefited based on the genuineness of the experience.  As a part of the Color Your Life program, we distributed start-up art kits as tokens of appreciation to the children and also to make use of the kit as leverage to draw, paint, and explore their artistic prowess.

Many Thanks To You!

Project Bontoc would not be possible without our sponsors: Caring Cup by The Coffee Bean, Dermcare, The Office of Senator Loren Legarda, Ms. Zenaida Palisoc, Mrs. Rhea Marie Buenviaje, Mr. Franco Dino Lacambra, Mr. Cedric Santos, Ms. Kristine Debbie Ramos, Ms. Ellah Rubia, Ms. Ria Coronel, Ms. Mary Jeane Laurel-Marcelo and Mr. Kevin Mark Rendor. The team would also like to extend our deepest gratitude to Principal Manuela Lomasoc and Teacher Joan Galingan of Mainit Elementary School, Mainit’s Brgy. Captain Johnson Tangchor, Ms. Virgie Kilito, and her family who took us as part of their family during our stay in the community, to our families for allowing us to go on this trip to Bontoc, to our friends who willingly promoted Color Your Life and its projects, and most especially to the children of Brgy. Mainit for they have been the core reason why we do these projects.

Project Bontoc is dedicated to Ms. Yvonne Geston to whom we extend our deepest gratitude for introducing the community to us. Ms. Yvonne was a native of Brgy. Mainit, although no longer with us, continues to inspire through her example and dedication to the people she served over the course of her life and career.

More Projects To Come

This is just the first year of Color Your Life but we already had a fruitful journey of splashing colors. We hope to create more art projects because Art should be accessible to the community, especially to children at a very young age.

If you wish to support our cause, you may send us a message or contact these numbers 0917-304-7551 (SAM) and 0917-150-6002 (LOUIE). You may also email us; send us your messages, comments, recommendations, and/or suggestions at coloryourlifeproject@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you. Project proposals and proposals for possible collaborations are more than welcome!