oblivious nerd girl
hood chronicles

I have been a fan of Genevieve Santos for years. There was a really cool boutique in Chinatown called Flock Shop that would sell her work. She made these Valentine's day cards that I picked up and had them framed. Through random USC connections we were able to connect and I commissioned her to do a piece as my wedding gift to Mike.  

I explained that we loved the movie Ponyo. In our relationship Mike is Sosuke and I'm Ponyo. The fact that she would yell out "HAM!" had us rolling in our seats because when I get hangry, I can do that in real life.  Mike and I are Disney geeks so I asked that Genevieve include the balloon element from Up plus a Mickey balloon. She also included our favorite animals. Mike's favorite animal is a sea otter and one of my favorite animals is the narwhal. What was awesome about our piece was that she not only created what I wanted, but since the characters in the piece were taking a selfie, she included the selife! It's so cool. Mike totally loved my surprise gift to him. These pieces have never really left us either! My icon when folk gchat me is actually the selfie pic. And Mike's image on his gchat is the group picture. ​

This piece by Genevieve will be featured at Color Your Troubles Away tonight at The Park's Finest (1267 W Temple St, Los Angeles, CA 90026). So come by to add your own color to her work! 

Tonight is Color Your Troubles Away at The Park's Finest (1267 W Temple St, Los Angeles, CA 90026) in Historic Filipinotown.  We'll be there from 7-9pm tonight. Bring yourself, your own coloring pencils or markers, and an appetite for some delicious bbq! 

Also for folks who can't make it to tonight's event, I'm so happy to announce that Color Your Troubles Away will be coming to the Great-One-Eight! We'll be at Wanderlust Creamery (18511 Ventura Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 91356) on Sunday, November 15th from 11am-2pm.  You can RSVP here: Color Your Troubles Away - Great-One-Eight 
Many thanks to Celeste Perez of Wellfed for working out this collaboration!

The Festival of Philippine Arts & Culture (FPAC) will be held on November 7th this year! There is currently an open call for Filipino American artists to participate in the festival this year. If you are a Filipino American artist with work to share I highly encourage you to participate! 

The press release for the Call for Artists is provided for you below!

Festival of Philippine Arts and Cultures Call for Artists | #FPAC24 #OnPilipinoTime

Deadline for submissions: 11pm PST, October 08, 2015

As we begin Filipino Heritage Month, FilAm ARTS is pleased to announce a call for artists for FPAC 2015 — the 24th Annual Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture (FPAC). It will be held at El Pueblo Historical Monument, 125 Paseo De La Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012 on Saturday November 7, 2015. 

FPAC is the largest celebration of Filipino arts and culture in Southern California, with the most extensive gathering of multidisciplinary Filipino artists every year. The festival will feature performances from many creative disciplines including Traditional, Folk, and Contemporary Art, Dance, Theatre, Music, Visual Arts, and Literary Arts. The festival is free and open to the public and we expect to reach an audience of over 10,000 this year.  

This year’s theme is “Balik Tanaw, Pananaw Bukas” a Tagalog phrase meaning “Looking Back, Looking Forward.”  While rooted in the native tongue of the motherland, this year’s theme celebrates the rich experiences of being Filipino American. As a community we honor the culture paved by our ancestors, and move forward with a grateful understanding of our Filipino American history. This is the spirit that keeps FPAC going, largely sustained by the dedicated audiences that return to the fest every year.

This open call is for contemporary and traditional artists and performers. All levels of talent are encouraged to apply and submit your work. We are looking for artists and performers that do one or more of the following:
Showcase the Filipino and Filipino-American experience
Incorporate the theme “Balik tanaw, Pananaw bukas”
Engage the audience
Collaborate across artistic disciplines
Collaborate across traditional and contemporary genres

All submissions will be reviewed by a Curatorial Panel that will select a diverse set of artists and performers based on the above criteria, as well as quality of work, and potential audience reach. 

The festival is accepting submissions now. 
The deadline for submissions is 11:00pm PST on Thursday October 8, 2015.

To Apply

Visual Arts, please submit:
1. Photographs of three (3) current works. 
2. Description of works (title/year/medium/ dimension).
Please send to [email protected]. Please put VISUAL ARTS in the subject line.

Performing Artists, please submit:
1. Video clip 2-5 minutes of a performance within the past year. 
2. Vocalists or Musicians, please submit links to original works/songs/music; and/or one cover song
Traditional/folk dance & music performer(s)/organizations must have interest in and/or ability to collaborate with others.
Please send to [email protected]. Please put PERFORMING ARTIST in the subject line.


Literary Artists (Writers, Poets, and Spoken Word Artists), please submit:
1. Writing samples – 2-3 of your best writings: a. short poems (under 40 lines each for a combined total of 5 pages); b. long poems (combined total of 10 Pages); c. short prose or an excerpt from longer work. 
2. 1-2 video clip(s) of performance(s) (in front of a live audience is highly preferred).
Please send to [email protected]. Please put LITERARY ARTIST in the subject line.

You will be informed if you are selected (or not) by October 15, 2015. If you are selected, you will be expected to arrive at the venue 1 ½ hours prior to your scheduled performance.

All applicants are invited to join the Pilipino Artist Network (PAN), which connects artists to valuable resources across the state. Consignment opportunities are also available at the Pilipino Artists Network (PAN) Pavilion on the day of the festival to sell visual art and handmade, one-of-a-kind crafts. 

For more information, please contact Program Co-Directors:
Kim Retardo [email protected]
Eseel Borlasa [email protected]
Office: (213) 380-FPAC

Welcome to October! September was a crazy emotional roller coaster ride with birthday month celebrations galore. Thank you to all my family and friends who showed me love this past month. It is all greatly appreciated. This September was a surreal amount of growth for me. There are lots of new and awesome things on the horizon.

Now that it's October it means we are closer to this month's Color Your Troubles Away event!  October is also Filipino American History Month and I am excited to share coloring pages by Filipino American artists! If you follow me on instagram (@obliviousnerdgrl) I'll be posting a coloring sheet every day leading up to Tuesday, October 13th. 

Genevieve Santos of Le Petit Elephant contributed the star and space inspired sheet! I have always loved Genevieve's work and am so stoked to have this sheet at Color Your Troubles Away! See you in a few weeks!

Tuesday, October 13th, 7-9pm
The Park's Finest BBQ (1267 W Temple St, Los Angeles, CA 90026) in Historic-Filipinotown!  
RSVP by clicking on the picture below or RSVP HERE