Art lovers’ guide to Unicef auction
SEB CHUA’S “The Flute Player” and Gregory Raymund Halili’s “Serenade: Guitar and Moon” are just two of the reasons why you should participate in the Unicef Auction for Action 2013, which brings together 90 artists in art, design, furniture and jewelry.
Chua’s work is a perfect sculptural find for everyone’s living room (or music room) as it evokes music from a flute player while a cat listens in rapt attention.
Daphne Oseña Paez, Unicef’s special advocate for children, said the online auction would bring the world of art, furniture and design together for her advocacy for children.
Unique program
This year, the proceeds will benefit a unique education program that will provide children access to early learning through the Supervised Neighborhood Play Program (SNP).
“I have personally seen how play makes learning more fun and engaging through my own children and the children I’ve met during my Unicef trips,” said Paez. “Play makes children happy, and children who feel secure and loved usually do better in school, are more self-confident and are able to cope more easily with life’s challenges.”
For this year, specially made pieces will be available in the auction to help Unicef in its goal of raising a total of P5 million.
In her first foray as Unicef envoy, Paez visited Tropical Storm “Ondoy”-affected mothers in Laguna, malnourished children in Maguindanao, frontline breast-feeding workers in Taguig, and families displaced by Typhoon Pablo in Davao Oriental.
“I feel honored for this opportunity to once again work with Unicef,” she said. “As a mother, it gives me great joy to be able to work so that all children everywhere can get the best start in life.”
Unicef country representative Tomoo Hozumi said all the funds for the children’s program came from voluntary contributions. “This auction provides a venue for people to acquire works of art from leading Filipino artists and help disadvantaged children at the same time.”
The auction goes live on Oct. 21 to 27 at www.ebay.ph/unicef.
Items for auction are on exhibit at the Yuchengco Museum in Makati until Oct. 26.
This year’s auction was made possible through the participation of the Consuelo Zobel Alger Foundation, Ebay Philippines and Yuchengco Museum.