• CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
A visual artist and former educator has converted her home in Talisay City, Negros Occidental into an art gallery where she is currently holding her third solo art exhibition.
Pablita Nava said she opened an art gallery at home to showcase her artworks that reflect her different painting styles, using different medium such as acrylic, oil, pen and ink, coffee, and white ink on black paper.
She once had a two-storey art gallery near her home called Ablit Nava Art Gallery at 21 Domingo Lizares, Talisay which she started in 2014, after her retirement. It housed her paintings, six aquariums, and toys that have been outgrown by her grandchildren.
Nava is a retired teacher of Carlos Hilado Memorial State College (now Carlos Hilado State University). She started to paint seriously when she turned 60, after teaching for 38 years. She has no formal training in painting but acquired her skills through experience.
“Let us make the most of the opportunity given us to learn, connect, and grow together believing that art has a healing effect on humans,” she said during the gallery’s soft opening on April 29.
Guests of honor at the opening were Art Association of Bacolod (AAB) past presidents Anette Feria and Sony Golez, Bessie Delfin, and AAB-Negros treasurer Patty Jane Ong.*
