Sculpture Julie Lluch considers her Gawad CCP award as a validation of her life’s work.
Lluch is one of those who will be given special tribute in the awards night on September 20, 2024, 7 p.m. at the Samsung Theater for Performing Arts in Circuit Makati.
She is cited for her terracotta sculptures that mirror and reflect the wisdom she had acquired as she took on different life roles.
“The Gawad CCP is a validation of my life’s work. The mere thought of it makes me happy. I have always championed clay, arguing for its nobility and strength against the nobler and harder bronze or marble for its great potential and viability as a major medium for sculpture. I’ve defended it against the biases which regarded it as being lowly provincial and folksy like the palayok. It is a sweet vindication of my wondrous medium which is ubiquitous in all regions of the country,” she enthused.
Life for her has been providentially good as she took on the challenges of an artist’s life. “The joy of the creative impulse is reward in itself. There was never a day that I did not give thanks to God’s faithfulness. I thank the CCP for considering my work worthy of the incredible honor and for recognizing its significant contribution to our culture and society. I accept this honor with deep humility and gratitude.”
The Gawad CCP award
The award is the highest honor given by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) to artists or groups in dance, music, theatre, film and broadcast arts, literature, visual arts, architecture, and allied arts and design who consistently produce outstanding works in their medium.
Other awardees include, in the first category Generoso “Gener” Caringal for his choreographic works that integrate ballet, modern dance, and folk dance; Jose Iñigo Homer “Joey” Ayala for his works as a composer, songwriter, and singer who uses indigenous musical instruments; Jose Lacaba, Jr for his great works of writing as a poet, essayist, screenwriter, and journalist; Miguel “Mike” De Leon for his work as a director, writer, producer, and cinematographer;
The late Mario O’Hara will be awarded posthumously for his work as a director, actor, and writer.
In the B Category, the award goes to the Loboc Children’s Choir for its performances that promote Bohol’s heritage.
The late senator Edgardo Angara and Zenaida “Nedy” R. Tantoco will get the Tanging Parangal ng CCP for their advocacy in the arts.
Rachmaninoff as her inspiration
Lluch said since her medium involves use of clay and endlessly massaging them to meet her required artistic outcome, she turns to music to make sculpting a source of gratification.
Symphonies and concertos were her refuge and work companion as she does all the banging, grinding, welding and hammering of her chosen subjects.
Not surprising since music is part of her growing up in an ancestral house in Iligan City. She lived in a house overflowing with music. In her fifth or sixth grade while taking piano lessons, she remembered the large vinyl discs her father brought home. “He played it on the phonograph and lo and behold, it was a recording of the Piano Concerto No. 2 of Rachmaninoff and with Rachmaninoff himself playing on the piano! I’ve always thought Artur Rubinstein was incomparable and he looks like my father. But for me, Rachmaninoff is still the best interpreter of himself!”
Lluch retraced how she became an artist.
It all began when she saw this potter on television demonstrate his craft. “That had me mesmerized. It was magical! Seeing a lump of clay turning and rising from the potter’s hands—I was so inspired. The next day, I rushed out to buy a bag of clay, instinctively mixed it with water, and started kneading and kneading. I guess until today I’m still kneading clay.”
That started her long love affair with clay as a medium. “I wax romantic every time I describe it as a very sensuous medium, so wonderful to the touch and so good to be playful with. You become like a little child again when you work with clay. I’m not surprised that God chose it as his medium to fashion the figure of Adam and Eve, the very first sculpture ever, the Book of Genesis tells us.”
Tribute to Jose Villa and Nick Joaquin
Her first exhibition was in the Sining Kamalig Gallery along Taft avenue. It was her tribute to her literary idols, José García Villa and Nick Joaquin.
“I gave it its title that sounds like a syllogism: If Joaquin, then Villa; or Busts!”
Apart from Villa and Joaquin, the show included portraits of her daughter, grandmother, brother, husband, some nudes, figures, landscapes—all in baked terracotta.
“The show was simple and innocuous enough, nothing hefty or sensational, but it was enough that Nick Joaquin showed up to open it and I was completely happy.”
The discovery of clay as her medium was a pivotal moment, coming as it did “like a flash of lightning in a dreary day.”
Lluch recalled switching on the TV and saw a potter’s demo in one program. “The hands of the potter gently and firmly grasped the lump of clay that was rising with a turning wheel, moving this and that way to the slightest pressure of his strong, steady hands.”
The prophet Jeremiah came to her mind and her heart skipped for joy.“ Early the next morning I rushed off to buy a bag of clay, and the rest is, shall I say, history?”
