IN’s global art heroine reveals path to success

By Grazielle Mae A. Sales

PGIN-CMO

“Everyone possesses talents before even being born to the world. Other people just either forgot them or failed to put them in good use,” so said Lucia Najera Mangapit Valdez, the Batac-born global painter and fashion designer who stunned the world during the post-war era.

Having nurtured an array of talents and skills such as designing, tailoring, sculpting, singing, dancing, photography, poetry writing and painting, Lucia is a living testament to the limitless potential any Filipino can have.

The path to success for Lucia started when she pulled down the curtains of their house and turn them into dresses when she was seven years old. Upon discovering their daughter’s promising art prowess, Lucia’s parents gave her their total support.

A couturier in her 20s, she was able to establish a premier boutique along Lepanto Street, Manila which sold haute terno—a formal dress which has evolved from the native baro at saya ensemble. Among her clients were wives of lawmakers. 

Migrating to the United States of America, her fashion taste won her numerous foreign clients after few years, including the wives of ambassadors and the then famous American TV host, “Inga” who willingly aided her in staging her first fashion show in Washington D.C. that featured Caucasian models.

She became the first Ilocano to earn arts and design degrees from prestigious schools such as the American University and the Traphagen School of Fashion in Broadway, New York and almost underwent training with Hattie Carnegie had she not chosen the path of love and married diplomat Casimiro Valdez.

“I was very attractive to the media which is a rare opportunity for Filipinos [in USA] not until the end of the war,” Lucia intimated, pertaining to The Washington Post which made an announcement of both the couple’s engagement and marriage in 1951.

Casimiro is a beloved uncle to two former Philippine presidents, Fidel V. Ramos and Ferdinand E. Marcos, making Lucia closely acquainted with each of them.

Lucia recounted her memory of the late former President Ferdinand E. Marcos as “a good and intelligent man”. She was once a dance partner to Marcos when they stayed in the Ramoses’ residence in the late 1940s. Former President Fidel V. Ramos, on the other hand, is Lucia’s most favorite nephew. 

Her life story, however, proves that her association with these two influential clans was never the reason for the success of her new chosen career path.

When the work of her husband began to intervene with her career in fashion design, Lucia found her way back to a nurtured talent—painting—when she was suddenly inspired by the places she and her husband visited.

From still life to abstract, lively colors to moody, her paintings did not fail to awestruck the people she met during their travel. Her highly-dynamic style in painting was widely praised in Germany with critics coining her as the Ilokana Impressionist in Europe.

She is also the first Filipino to make it into London art scene when her paintings were featured in exhibits by the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the Hesketh Hubbard Art Society and the acclaimed Chelsea Society. Some of them now even hung in several important homes, offices and galleries in the world.   

A legend at 95

Lucia is now staying at the Spanish-style bricked abode of her granduncle, the late Aglipayan supreme bishop Servando Castro in Barangay Ben-Agan, Batac City. The garden surrounding the house is the richest among the neighborhood—a signature of an artist deeply connected with “nature”, which Lucia reveals to be the inspiration for most of her paintings.

The house interior gives a museum-feel: her paintings hang on panels and on every wall; her vintage loveseats and rattan chairs line up near the entrance to welcome guests; the two armories which house the porcelain dolls and other antique souvenirs she collected from different countries hinted on her remarkable adventures as well as her several triumphs as a celebrated artist.

Now at 95, Lucia has retired from several activities which require physical strength including tailoring and painting. Nonetheless, the art heroine’s vivacity in conversation remains incredible.

Whenever a guest comes in to check on her artworks, it has been Lucia’s will to guide them through and convince them to give their interpretations of the paintings. This is because for her, a “painting can have multiple meanings” and that she can only know her painting’s worth by how her audience appreciates it.

Lucia is an excellent storyteller as well. In one comfortable sitting, she can narrate countless first-hand stories about the war and some of the most important people in the Philippine history including Gregorio Aglipay, the father of the Philippine Independent Church who also hailed from Batac.

For Lucia, however, one account in history is always true and shall always be a beacon to share: Ilocanos are “talented and versatile”. To attain great achievements, she said that the rules are to “know your roots”, and complement hard work with “patience”.

Molded by time and wisdom, Lucia considers fear as the ultimate culprit that separates a person from his or her dreams. “If you have talent, don’t be afraid to show it,” she said.