Junkyard Art: Life resurrects from the junkyard through art.

Junkyard Art

Life resurrects from the junkyard 
through art.  

"Rising from the confines of his ingenuity,

like giant Gulliver among his little kind;

    man reigns over earth with his technology,

   sans happiness if ever he could find."- avr

  

Dr Abe V Rotor

The useless, the forgotten, the eyesore, or simply junk,

they become beautiful mpieces of art:

A neo-renaissance movement with ecological message,

redeeming man from morals defiled;

Monuments, big and small, they speak of human frailty

turned ingenuity.

Fine art and craft, artist and artisan, formal or informal,

they make no difference, they are one;

Aesthetics defied, the ugly becomes beautiful, its depth

from the inner self, fountain of joy.

Monsters tamed, they live in the park, now have a home,

no longer outcasts in the graveyard;

They speak, "You gave me life, I'll always be your friend."

Music Reborn 

Bring back music from the dead but not a dirge; 
it is rejoice.  
Music is the language of renewal, of rebirth. 
It is Grieg's Morning, Beethoven's Pastoral, 
Handel's Alleluia, Abelardo's Mutya ng Pasig.
It is God's voice.

  

 

Man, the Genie

Rising from the confines of his ingenuity,

like giant Gulliver among his little kind;

Man reigns over earth with his technology,

sans happiness if ever he could find.

 

Requiem to the Park

Whatever happened to people's park,

Nothing roams around but ghosts;
Empty chairs, empty kiosks,

Leafless trees, blind lamp posts

Eerie, man seems lost.

Ecological Message

Too much glare from the hole in the sky, the thinned ozone layer.

 The air is heavy and thick, it is suffocating. The earth is burdened,

like an overloaded spaceship, poorly kept and manned.   

Function to Dysfunction Immortalized in Art. 

Anti-thesis of peace, methodology, dialectics and law;

of dreams and goals, plans and programs - ultimately, 

disregarding the cycles of Nature, immortalized in art. 

 

Metal Sunflowers 

A replica of Vincent van Gogh's painting of Sunflowers in our times, 

sans fragrance, freshness, and daintiness - yet proud and bearing; 

to the bold and courageous, unafraid to face and follow the sun.  
   

  

Wind with a Face

Imagine where the wind blows, clouds in many faces changing, 

treetops swaying, leaves rustling with the passing breeze. 

Make it funny, make it queer, copy nature 

in man's folly and cheer.  

Fairy Tale Alive

Disneyland brought dreams alive;

many times children would laugh or cry. 

Castles in changing view, ever new, but nothing

compares with the castle in the sky.  

 Picasso Revived

Abstract art in collage, once whole and true;

but who argues about life today tired and rue? 

NOTE: Acknowledgement - These photos, discovered from an old file, were taken way back circa 1996.  It was an exhibit I attended upon the invitation of a student of mine from St Paul University QC who was then connected with Pylox Philippines. ~ 

48 Days until Christmas to prepare a Living Christmas Tree. It is a great expression of love this Christmas Season.

48 Days until Christmas to prepare a Living Christmas Tree

Plant a tree this Christmas Season

Dr Abe V Rotor

The living Christmas Tree gives food, water, shelter, energy, the basic provisions of life.  Above all, it is a great expression of love this Christmas Season.

 Don't cut trees for Christmas, don't!

Plant trees instead and build beautiful memories with the family as the trees grow Christmas after Christmas.  In the process they become living Christmas Trees the year round, and year in and out. For Christmas is not just for one occasion where a tree top is decorated and thrown away after. Millions of trees are sacrificed every Christmas this way. 

Pine treetops for sale. Please, don't buy.

This contributes to loss of vegetation, which in turn results in soil erosion and siltation, flooding and largely to global warming.

Loss of trees decreases oxygen in the air, since trees absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen.  They are the earth's primary lungs.  And they contribute to favorable micro climates in their domain. They catch the rain and store it as groundwater and spring.  They feed the streams and rivers and keep the ponds and lakes full, and the estuaries in good condition.

Just a single tree, we may say, does not mean anything - and it's Christmas. Anyway and it comes once in a year.   With millions, nay billions, celebrating Christmas, collective loss is unimaginable.  

What can we do to have an instant living Christmas tree? You don't have to go far if there is a tree in your backyard on along the sidewalk.  

You can have a potted tree seedling by the window with simple decor.  No lights.  Just some ribbon and colored cutouts.

 
Tree planting to save Mother Earth. Join and be a part of the project.

If the tree is large, decorate sparingly with a dozen lights, preferably LED.  Don't forget the traditional parol on its top, lighthouse effect of sort.

• If there's a tree house, the ambiance of Christmas should be focused there.  The tree itself may be sparingly decorated.

• Shrubs and small trees are not exacting to decors.  Just don't over decorate.

• Plant a tree this Christmas can be made as a community campaign.  Decide the place of tree planting: a park, along the highway, on a watershed.  Celebrate Christmas with this occasion. Don't forget to take care of the trees thereafter. 

• Plant trees that are adapted in the area.  Conifers (pines) are temperate; get tropical species (e.g., narra) for the tropics.

Artificial Christmas trees are most convenient to have, but consider the cost and effect to health and environment. Recycled waste materials draws out artistic talent. This is fine, it reduces waste - or at least gives a "second life", beautiful at that of materials otherwise thrown away. Just be careful with the harmful effects of deteriorating second hand and recycled materials.  Don't keep them indoor. 

The most meaningful Christmas is one that addresses our time and effort to solving problems concerning our well-being and the environment. The living Christmas Tree is one that gives food, water, shelter, energy, the basic provisions of life, above all it is a great expression of love to Nature and our fellowmen this Christmas Season. . 

---------------------------

CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY WITH POINSETTIA

                   Poinsettia pulcherrima cultivars

 

 

 

Acknowledgement: Internet Photos ~

Ecology Enhances The Good Life

 Ecology Enhances The Good Life

Original Title: Ecology - Reflection of the Good Life

Dr Abe V Rotor

There are people who live happy and full lives while others do not. This leads us to look into the role of human faculties. When we talk of human faculties we refer to holistic intelligence. It is beyond IQ. It dwarfs the common concept of rationality. 

The Good Life in two perspectives. Mural painting by students in Humanities under the author's supervision, SPUQC, circa 2000

In fact, it defies definitions that scientists thought of plotting into various fields.
All of us are endowed with a wide range of intelligence which is divided into eight realms, namely:

• Interpersonal (social intelligence)
• Intrapersonal (meditational, spirituality)
• Kinesthetic (athletics, dance, body language)
• Languages or linguistic
• Logic (dialectics, mathematics)
• Music (Auditory art)
• Spatial intelligence (drawing and painting, sculpture, architecture, photography)
• Naturalism (green thumb, relationship with the Natural World)

These realms reside in both left and right hemispheres of our brain, with the left doing more of the reasoning and the right of creativity. How we live a happy and fulfilled life largely rests on how balance we use our brain, making use of these eight God-given faculties. It is also with this premise that we find peace with ourselves and with our environment and ultimately with God. Thus it is not only how much we are endowed with this gift, but more importantly, it is how we make use of it fully and in the right way.

Why don’t you make your own assessment? Rate yourself in each realm. Analyze your top three. Are you not proud of them? Look at the other realms. You may not have tapped them well. Do you realize that there is a big room of improvement, and that there are latecomers in this world?

Lastly, let me emphasize another component of peace, that of sharing. I can not find a shorter way to explain it more clearly than to present this excerpt from “How to Live With Life,” published by Reader’s Digest. To wit:

“Every human being on this earth faces a constant problem: how to make the most of life. There is no simple solution; the art of living is the most difficult of all the arts. But fortunately for all of us, experience can be shared. Insights can be learned. Wisdom can be taught. Experiences, insights and wisdom of men and women – from teachers to clergymen, housewives to scientists, ordinary citizens to statesmen - who have lived deeply, thought profoundly and cared enormously about sharing with others what they learned have found some fragment of truth that cushions the harsh impact of reality or brightens the marvelous tapestry of living. From them we find some answers to the most fundamental of all questions: how to live with life.”

A Piece of the Lost Eden in acrylic 

by AV Rotor 2024 

Final Reflections
Let us

• Reflect on re-creating Nature with the image of the lost Eden
• Reflect on bringing the dead tree back to life.
• Reflect that everything in this world is interconnected. Reflect on the lost lamb, the prodigal son.
• Reflect on the new concept of heroes, hope of a tired Planet Earth
• Reflect that our lives can not be ruled by the faceless side of
• science and technology
• Reflect on long life but one lived with noble cause
• Reflect on that sailboat riding on the wave and wind towards a destination.
• Reflect on the multiple intelligence which God endowed singularly to man and how we make use of it in gratitude to the Giver.
• And if we think we are too little in this wide, wide world to make any difference, let this verse permeate in our thoughts and heart.

                                       Cumulus

Rise up from the sea and come as rain,

wake the ponds, make the rivers flow,

fill the lakes, make the fields green;

the trees a curtain to hide the sun

a moment of your ephemeral beauty

of changing faces and a myriad figures;

delight many a child to draw,

to dream and grow;

and if one day the water of the sea is not enough,

drink, drink deep

from my little cup.

Rocky cliff against cumulus cloud,

 in acrylic by the author 2020

Allergy-Proof Your Home: 10 Simple, Quick and Inexpensive Ways

  Allergy-Proof Your Home

An allergy is an overreaction by your body's immune system to a harmless substance (like pollen, pet fur, dust, or certain foods) that most people's bodies easily ignore. AI Overview

Dr Abe V Rotor

These are fairly quick, simple, and inexpensive methods of making your home friendlier to your asthma and allergies.

Brick farmhouse, painting by the author

1. Build house on spacious lot and surroundings

2. Free house of carpet and wall paper

3. Knock on wood. Wood is preferable to any construction material.

4. Prefer shiny floors, materials of low-gas ingredients.

5. Provide good natural ventilation

6. Let sunshine in, façade towards the east

7. Integrate house plan with garden

8. Screen out plants that are allergen potential

9. Design home in unity and harmony with natural environment, 

     not the other way around.

  

10.Always maintain cleanliness and orderliness at all times.

Five Practical Ways to Combat Pollen Allergy (Allergy rhinitis)

 Five Practical Ways to Combat Pollen Allergy (Allergy rhinitis) 

Pollen allergy is often the cause of sneezing fit and asthmatic symptoms.

Dr Abe V Rotor

It is true.  It is called allergy rhinitis There are people who are highly sensitive to pollen grains. And their allergy is specific to certain plants, and at certain seasons these plants are in bloom. Plants belonging to Family Poaceae or Graminae which include rice, corn, wheat, sugarcane, talahib, cogon, and the like generally bloom in the last quarter beginning October when dry season the habagat season is about to end and dry season starts. 

 

Here are tips to prevent or minimize pollen allergy.      

• Keep away from flowers and flowering plants
• Stay home to prevent exposure to pollen
• Avoid touching eyes and skin to prevent spread of allergy.
• Don’t bring in flowers and plants inside the house.
• Use mask and proper clothing. 

There is a pollen calendar developed by the late Dr. Lolita Bulalacao* of the National Museum, a pioneer in palynology (the study of pollen grains) in the Philippines. The calendar warns  people who are susceptible to allergy to keep away from pollen coming from certain flowering plants in season and from specific areas that may cause allergy. The symptoms of allergy rhynitis are generally relieved by antihistamine, which comes in different preparations and brands, as tablet or ointment.~

 Lolita J. Bulalacao, 'Pollen Flora of the Philippines, Vol. 1 Siwert Nilsson To cite this article: Siwert Nilsson (2000) Lolita J. Bulalacao, 'Pollen Flora of the Philippines, Vol. 1', Grana, 39:1, 63-64, DOI: 10.1080/00173130150503821 Acknowledgement: Internet images.

Time out! Nature awaits you on a wall mural.

 Time out! 

Nature awaits you on a wall mural.

Wall Murals by Dr Abe V Rotor

 

"There is something infinitely healing in the repeated ref- rains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter."- Rachel Carson

The biggest heart, the measure of three,

if only the wall is alive to make it five;

Alone, one can't be truly happy,

although able to survive.

The blue whale, biggest creature on earth ever;

while man is supreme in every corner;

they live in fear and suspicion together,

one the hunted, the other the hunter.

The most relaxed moments of life come with Nature abiding,

give her your worries and cares, your pains notwithstanding.

Who is afraid of the sea, they seem to say;

knowing her moods and rules, and obey.

A pose as fresh as a stream flowing

down the mountain laughing, singing,

weaned from the shed, its mother,

lovely and free as a teenager.

Animals in the wild, gentle, tame,

if we treat them just the same.

Dwarfed by a wall of trees and endless stream;

Paradise is regained from a beautiful dream.  

“Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.” – John Muir

While away time for good reason,

hold the world on a standstill;

true freedom to control your own

and emptiness in life to fill.

Only a child can see the sun in the deep

from his mother's womb to deep sleep;

while grownups miss the sun rise and set

with so many things to do and keep. 

 

 "We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us." - Albert Einstein

Annex - AI Overview

Time out! Nature awaits you on a wall mural.

Dr. Abercio "Abe" V. Rotor uses wall murals and eco-art to bring the tranquility and order of the natural world into urban spaces, schools, and homes.

Key Themes in His Work
Nature as Art and Order: He views nature as an ordered, divine arrangement that connects humanity, the earth, and the cosmos into a single harmonious family.

Transforming Concrete Spaces: His murals convert plain or decaying urban walls into lush landscapes, forests, and parks that offer a visual refuge from city life.

Notable Installations: 

• A tropical rainforest acrylic mural at his residence in Lagro, Quezon City.
• A wall mural at St. Paul University Quezon City (SPUQC).
• Composite murals and stage backdrops in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.~