My (He)Art and Soul
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Happy Reuel (Photo by Mayang Sison Pascual)
It took Reuel many years before he could confidently identify colors, and would just keep on guessing their names until one day he had it all click together, thanks to his very talented and patient teacher Domini Robledo, who home-schooled him in music and functional art. Now, he can identify colors that most don’t even know— cerulean, indigo, apricot, ochre, dandelion, mahogany.
I recall that I started drawing when my cousin, the architect and movie actor Johnny Misa, introduced this reticent five-year-old to his two artistic daughters, Yasmin and Edith, now both published artists and art teachers. They would while away dog-day afternoons doodling, sketching, and conjuring childish cartoons while I would be the saling-pusa (tag-along), drawing my all-time favorite Mayon Volcano during those hot summer days, and going home always a happy child.
In high school, I would find myself doodling instead of taking down notes. In fact, when periodical exams came, I would borrow my brightest classmates’ notes because I had nothing written down on mine (!), mostly pages of forms and figures from my unconscious while listening to the droning lectures of my teachers. Surprisingly, I would find my grades among the highest in class because apparently, my doodling was imprinting the lessons I was “mindlessly” listening to at the time. Now I know I am a kinesthetic and auditory learner.
Fernando Sena, a fine arts student and scholar of Children’s Museum and Library, Inc. then, and now a sought-after artist and teacher, offered a summer art class when I was 17. Since it was free for members of the CMLI, I eagerly took it and enjoyed a more formal approach to art. In one session, I unknowingly sketched the image of Jesus Christ facing left, when it was actually facing right. I am wondering now that maybe I see an opposite side to things. As they say, art is an interpretation of what one sees, and we choose what we want to see, if only to have us survive the harshness of reality and eventually thrive in this world.
I painted in watercolor when I found myself on hiatus and took this as a chance to immerse myself when I was in my thirties with the same art teacher. Little did I know that this medium is so challenging and frustrating at times. Although water-coloring could be so fluid and fast to finish, one must have a basic structure and preparation before application and, most of all, be tenacious and courageous enough to experience disappointments. Never one to waste materials, I have mixed some of my “disappointments” with another medium and transformed them into pieces I never expected to be happy with. Little did I know that my art forays would prepare me to deal with the most challenging parenting task of all — collaborating with my neurodivergent son, Reuel.
Ginger Flower (Painting by Mayang Sison Pascual)
In my forties, The Husband who was supportive of my artistic inclinations, asked me when I would take up painting again. I told him to wait until I would be like Grandma Moses who started painting in earnest in her seventies. By then, I would definitely be done raising children and helping him feed, clothe, and educate them.
However, six years ago, my heart belied my words when I wrote on my 2014 bucket list a yearning for Reuel and I to be enrolled in an art program and daydreamed of exhibiting our collaborative work along with those of other children who have neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD) like him.
Little did I know that all it would take was the Covid-19 pandemic to tick this off my wish list.
Quarantined and bereft of the critical routines to ground children with autism, I was going bonkers creating a daily rhythm for Reuel. During one of my video chats with co-parents who also have NDD children, we came up with the idea of having our children who have aged-out of school come together and do activities online to keep them engaged during the pandemic. Hence, the online art-journaling program was born with artist and teacher Amos Manlangit, who was heaven-sent. Along with Reuel’s friends in the NDD foundation called Boundless Possibilities, these art sessions kept our children busy and happy during the trying times.
You see, Reuel was having frequent meltdowns, lashing out on himself and family members whenever he is agitated by thwarted intentions and circumstances he cannot control or things he cannot express. This was further exacerbated by not going to his Being Home Training Center, not jogging at the University of the Philippines’ academic oval with his Tito Nene, and having no functional academics with his homeschool teacher.
Having a structure in life is so important, especially for persons with infantile autism like Reuel who always wants to be supervised. For him, not knowing what to expect and what to do next is like inviting a major volcanic eruption. Any small thing like putting in the wrong color or not playing the right notes on the piano can trigger him off.
I was desperate to fill his schedule, not just with having him fix his room or peel garlic and chop veggies in the kitchen, but also with fun activities like bringing to life images and colors on paper that he can create on his own. It is also crucial for him to socialize with friends even if only online to say “hello” and “goodbye.”
I discovered that this journey through art is strewn with challenges and surprises in how to get Reuel to participate. At first, he was excited and curious about the online art program and was open to trying new things with me. Then as the days went by, he would refuse to draw, leaving me to co-create with him by lightly penciling-in the figures. Only then would he want to trace them with a Pentel pen and gladly fill them in with oil pastel and smudge chalk pastel for background color.
Reuel’s first drawing (Photo by Mayang Sison Pasual)
Bonding Through Art
There were days when he would be missing out on the sessions, sleeping late or just preferring not participate. A lot of times he would rather finish one whole coloring book of mandalas than attend the sessions. We would have a lot of unfinished work, and it would take us several days to submit one. Other times, he would draw some of the figures and this is when we would happily co-create and post our finished artwork on time for others to comment.
It’s during those times -- when Reuel is smiling and concentrated, whispering some sort of “mantra” under his breath -- that I feel everything is well with the world; I would imagine the art muse hovering, gracing us with her quiet and reassuring presence.
Zoom Party (Photo by Mayang Sison Pasual)
Mandalas by Reuel (Photo by Mayang Sison Pasual)
Philippine Day Parade (Photo by Mayang Sison Pasual)
It seems like Reuel is teaching me more than I am co-teaching him in this online program. I learned that by keeping quiet as he worked on his colors, I was able to “read” his facial expressions and tune-in to his non-verbal cues more intensely, such that I could anticipate his needs more and could, at times, dissipate a potential meltdown. I also learned to be more other-centered and less self-centered; to gently guide him and celebrate his little wins in gaining control of more complicated media like watercolor and acrylic. Most of all, through art, I was able to connect with him in a meaningful way.
Through art journaling, I was able to process a very sad time and help him get over his Training Center’s closure. When I told him about it, he quietly shed a few tears. I thought of drawing the facade of the Being Home and showing it to him, hoping he would trace it with Pentel pen and finish off coloring the teachers’ faces as they wave their goodbyes. When it was done, he agreed to have his picture taken with his smiling eyes still swollen.
Through art, Reuel is teaching me a lot about who I am and who he is when I am present to him. I would be there patiently waiting when he would oblige me and choose to work with me. I know now that he doesn’t like anything he cannot follow and prefers coloring by numbers anytime to choosing the colors himself. He still needs to build his confidence in drawing and he certainly loves to color and be certain of their names.
Because of Reuel and his friends’ differently-wired brains, they have created a refreshing view of the world through art. It is unadulterated and childlike, unschooled and authentic, pure and innocent. So much so that they have elicited so much interest in their artworks. Many groups have mounted our children’s online Art Exhibit and Forum called Art and Disability 20/20.
These children’s artworks were presented by teacher Amos who got sponsorship from so many institutions here and abroad. They have partnered with Aestheletic, an online clothing company in Singapore to use selected works for a T-shirt line. University of Brighton School of the Arts Deputy Head Alicia Fox, founder of the pioneering MA Inclusive Arts Practice, is also keen on assisting our Art and Disability Initiative to get funding for visual arts and performances like the Arts Council England-funded learning disabled Rocket Artists.
And soon, these Gentle Giants, as they are called, will be coming out with mugs, all-occasion gift wrapping paper and the like for their capacity building and therapy programs with Boundless Possibilities Foundation, set-up by parents who banded together so our children will lead happy and healthy lives.
My experience with Reuel is a healing process as our journey continues in using Art as a caring channel for children that are differently abled. This rather rough road is made less bumpy when we liken it to making our favorite comfort food: cooked with Compassion, spiced with Awareness, and stirred constantly with Resilience and Perseverance. Then, what we have is a generous serving of Empowerment!
Never did I imagine this future happening right now for my son Reuel, whom I had dared to ask God for, even if I already had four children, unaware that what I was asking for was the child of my (He)Art and Soul.
Check out Reuel’s online exhibit:
https://www.inclusiveartsinitiative.com/happy-reuel---exhibit-series.html
This article was first published for Boundless Possibilities Foundation Inc.’s Art Journaling Online Exhibit of their Gentle Giant’s Artworks as a testimonial piece in 2021.
A shorter version was then published in CARE magazine of Regeneration, Care & Wellness (RCW) foundation that same year.
Mayang Sison Pascual is married to Ruben and has five children and twin grandsons. She is a Board Member of Boundless Possibilities Foundation and a Benedictine Oblate (Postulant) of the World Community for Chrsitian Meditation’s Monastery without Walls.
