Pacita Abad

Ati-Atihan (1981). Acrylic on stitched and padded canvas.

Both of Abad's parents served, at different times, as Congressman/Congresswomen of Batanes,[1] and Abad earned a BA in political science at the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1967. In 1970, she went to the United States intending to study law, but she instead earned a master's degree in Asian history at Lone Mountain College (which would later become part of the University of San Francisco) in 1972 while supporting herself as a seamstress and a typist.[2] Abad studied painting at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. and The Art Students League in New York City. She lived on six continents and worked in more than 50 countries,[3] including Guatemala, Mexico, India, Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, Mali, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, and Indonesia. At the Corcoran School of Art, Abad studied under Berthold Schmutzhart[4] and Blaine Larson, and the two professors helped launch her artistic career. Abad then pursued her studies at The Art Students League in New York where she concentrated on still life and figurative drawing under John Helicker[5] and Robert Beverly Hale.

Filipina: A racial identity crisis (1990). Acrylic, handwoven cloth, dyed yarn, beads, gold thread on stitched and padded canvas. The painting is considered as Abad's greatest work on canvas.

The Painted Bridge in Singapore is believed to be Abad's last creation before succumbing to cancer.

During Abad's time in San Francisco's art scene, she married painter George Kleiman, though they later separated. She traveled to art scenes across Asia for a year with Stanford business student Jack Garrity, then returned to the U.S. to study painting, first at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington D.C. and later, at The Art Students League in New York City. While in California, she married Garrity, who became an international development economist.[6]

Abad created over 4,500 artworks in her career.[3] Her early paintings were primarily figurative socio-political works of people and primitive masks. Another series was large scale paintings of underwater scenes, tropical flowers, and animal wildlife. Pacita's most extensive body of work, however, is her vibrant, colorful abstract work - many very large scale canvases, but also a number of small collages - on a range of materials from canvas and paper to bark cloth, metal, ceramics, and glass. She painted the 55-meter long Alkaff Bridge in Singapore and covered it with 2,350 multicolored circles, just a few months before she died.

Abad developed a technique of trapunto painting (named after a quilting technique), which entailed stitching and stuffing her painted canvases to give them a three-dimensional, sculptural effect.[7] She then began incorporating into the surface of her paintings materials such as traditional cloth, mirrors, beads, shells, plastic buttons, and other objects.

Abad received numerous awards during her artistic career. Her most memorable award was her first, the TOYM Award for Art in the Philippines in 1984.[8] The Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM)[9] is an award that had always been given to men, until 1984, when Abad became the first woman to receive this prestigious award. After she received the award, a public uproar erupted in which angry letters were sent by male artists to editors of published newspapers who thought that she should not have received the award. Despite this opposition, Abad was thrilled that she had broken the sex barrier, and she stated in her acceptance speech that "it was long overdue that Filipina women were recognized, as the Philippines was full of outstanding women", and proudly referred to her mother.

• "Parangal for Pacita Abad" - in memory of the late international artist, National Museum of the Philippines, January 2005
• "Art in Embassies - Indonesia", United States Department of State, September 2001
• "Pamana Ng Pilipino Award" for outstanding achievement in the arts, given by the President of the Philippines, Manila, June 2000
• "Plaque of Recognition to Pacita B. Abad, Ivatan Painter, Internationally Acclaimed Artist", from the Province of Batanes, 2000
• "Filipina Firsts", a compendium of 100 Filipino women who have broken ground in their fields of endeavor organized by the Philippine American Foundation in Manila and Washington, D.C., June 1998
• "Likha Award", marking the Centennial of Philippine Independence, given in recognition of outstanding achievement, June 1998
• "Art in Embassies - Philippines", United States Department of State, February 1996
• "Excellence 2000 Awards for the Arts", given by U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. (Website www.uspaacc.com), May 1995
• New York State Council on the Arts Grant for Visiting Artists Program at Amuan, 1993
• "Gwendolyn Caffritz Award", given by the Washington, D.C. Commission for the Arts, June 1992
• "Mid-Atlantic Arts Regional Fellowship", US, June 1992
• "D.C. Commission on the Arts Award", June 1990
• "MetroArt II Award: Six Masks from Six Continents", five-painting mural installed at Metro Center, Washington, D.C., June 1990
• "National Endowment for the Arts", Visual Arts Fellowship, 1989 to 1990, June 1989
• "D.C. Commission on the Arts Award", June 1989
• "TOYM Award" for the Most Outstanding Young Artist in the Philippines, July 1984

Abad died of lung cancer in 2004 in Singapore.[10] She is buried in Batanes, Philippines, next to her studio which is called the Fundacion Pacita.[11]

Abad established a unique trapunto technique in painting, and has influenced numerous art scholars. She received numerous international awards in the field of painting. Her works have been acquired and prized by art museums in Tokyo, Paris, London, Singapore, San Francisco, New York City, Hong Kong, and Manila, among others. Her art has been in the national collections of at least 70 countries worldwide.

The Fundacion Pacita Batanes Nature Lodge in Basco, Batanes, "was lovingly refurbished" by her brother, Butch Abad.[12]

Pacita Abad's works have been displayed in numerous galleries and museums in the Philippines during the annual Philippine Arts Month and art festivals.[13][14][15]

On July 31, 1984, Abad won the Ten Outstanding Young Men award. On July 31, 2020 Google commemorates the anniversary of the award and also commemorates Abad's legacy through a doodle paying homage to her art style.[16]

"I always see the world through colour, although my vision, perspective and paintings are constantly influenced by new ideas and changing environments. I feel like I am an ambassador of colours, always projecting a positive mood that helps make the world smile."[17]

• Shaped canvas

• Abad, Pacita; Lapid Rodriguez, M Teresa (2001). Palay (rice) : Trapunto murals by Pacita Abad. Upper Montclair, N.J.: Montclair State University Art Galleries. OCLC 48787832.
• Findlay-Brown, Ian (1996). Pacita Abad: Exploring the Spirit. ISBN 978-979-95029-0-2.
• Abad, Pacita (1998). Alice Guillermo (ed.). Abstract Emotions. Museum Nasional (Indonesia). ISBN 978-979-95424-0-3.
• Abad, Pacita (1999). James T. Bennett (ed.). Pacita Abad: Door to Life. ISBN 978-979-95029-1-9.
• Abad, Pacita (2001). Lin, Tay Swee (ed.). Pacita Abad: The Sky is the Limit. ISBN 978-981-04-3407-6.
• Abad, Pacita; Findlay-Brown, Ian (2002). Pacita Abad: Endless Blues. National Gallery of Indonesia. ISBN 978-981-04-7128-6.
• Abad, Pacita (2003). Cid Reyes (ed.). Pacita Abad: Circles in My Mind. ISBN 978-981-04-9418-6.
• Abad, Pacita (2004). Ian Findlay-Brown; Ruben Defeo (eds.). Obsession. ISBN 978-981-05-1549-2.
• Abad, Pacita (2004). Jack Garrity; Michael Liew (eds.). Pacita's Painted Bridge. ISBN 978-981-05-1020-6.
• Garrity, Jack (2004). A Passion to Paint: The Colorful World of Pacita Abad.

• Pacita on Brooklyn Museum's Feminist Art Base
• Pacita Abad's Artsy Page
• Pacita Abad's Website
• Pacita Abad's eBooks
• Pacita Abad on AWARE
• Pacita in Singapore and other Vimeo videos
• Pacita's Painted Bridge and other videos on YouTube
• Pacita's Painted Bridge Website
• Interview with Jack Garrity
• Artnet.com
• Pacita Abad on Artstor