Bio

Cathy Lasam-Ballo is currently a Centenary Masters Scholar at University College London Institute of Education, completing her masters in Art Education at the top Education institution in the world. She is also a fellow of Australia Art Council’s International Art Leaders program, representing the Philippines as a socially engaged artist and educator. Cathy is on sabbatical as a Senior High School Principal at one of the top art and design schools in the Philippines where she serves as both a school leader, and visual arts teacher. A multi-awarded cum laude graduate of the University of the Philippines, College of Fine Arts; Cathy has received awards for her paper sculptures and paperworks from various local and national art competitions. Cathy also studied painting and printmaking in New York and Virginia, USA.

As a practicing artist, Cathy’s background has proven invaluable in the field of education. She has taught drawing, painting & crafts to students of all ages at several schools and galleries in the metro, spanning a teaching career of over twenty years. She has given workshops and talks on art, education and its power towards cultivating positive change in students and was most recently invited by ITAC (International Teaching Artists Collaborative, UK) to present her work at ITAC6 in Oslo, Norway in 2022.

In 2021, she founded ARTguro, a collective that provides community, support and opportunities for Filipino art teachers all over the nation with the vision to uplift the quality of Philippine education through the arts. A member of the Philippine Art Educators Association, she has also been a painting mentor at OWG Creative Centre and Head for Visual Arts at BEREA Arts & Sciences High School.

Cathy previously served abroad as a Visual Arts Education Officer for the Ministry of Education of Singapore, one of only a handful of foreign teachers in the service. She is a licensed professional teacher with a specialization in MAPEH. Cathy was also the President and working partner of Artists in Residence, Inc., an art company whose services included art education, art & design consultancy, events, social works and community charities among others.

Upon her return from Singapore, Cathy has since broadened her artistic field by also becoming an active mentor in the country’s prominent adult coloring community. She spearheads, together with a handful of the country’s leading artist-colorists; educational workshops, events, charities and lectures on the subject while still continuing her work as an artist-mentor and educator. She has worked with several prominent arts brands including Faber Castell, PlayCrafts Philippines, Scribe, Noteworthy, ARTBAR, and UK-based international brand Chameleon Pens as an artist, colorist and social media content creator. Her work with Chameleon Pens has been circulated worldwide most recently in their One Pen Blends campaign.

While continuing her work with mentorships, Cathy collaborated with fellow artists, educators and gallerists to co-write a subject for the Philippines’ K-12 Basic Education program for the Senior High School Arts & Design Track. Working under the National Commission on Culture & the Arts (NCCA) and the Department of Education, she and her co-writers developed the full course structure, curriculum and the official teacher’s guide for the subject Exhibits for Arts Projects. This subject has since been implemented in the curriculum and is being taught in Filipino schools today.

Cathy’s paperworks, participatory installations and paintings have been spotlighted in several exhibitions of note, including solo shows at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, 1/Of Gallery and One Workshop Gallery; group exhibitions at the Vargas Museum, Big Sky Mind, Blanc Art Gallery, Boston Gallery, Donada Art Gallery, and internationally at the IOE Art, Design & Museology Studios, London, MuseoArte de Contemporaneo Ateneo, Yucatan, Mexico, and Gallerie Gavarni, Paris, France.

Cathy returned to the Philippine art scene in 2017 with a collection of stories and drawings in a collaborative effort to invite others in a meaningful art dialogue on Filipino culture and identity.

Her art, career, advocacy and activist work has been featured in various broadcast, print and online publications and press.

PUBLICATIONS
Lasam, C. (2017) Halaw : a collection of drawings and art dialogues on the telling and re-telling of Philippine myths and legends. Intramuros, Manila: National Commission for Culture and the Arts

Ballo, C.L., Robillos, D., Santos, C. and Leonardo, G. (ed.) (2017) Exhibits for Arts Production, A Teacher’s Guide for Creating and Presenting Exhibitions. Pasig: Department of Education-Instructional Materials Council Secretariat

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
● 2017 Halaw. NCCA Gallery, Manila
● 2010 Idea Fija. 1/of Gallery, Taguig City
● 2008 Gunitain. Prose Art Gallery, Makati City
● 2007 Landscapes on Paper. OneWorkshop Gallery, Makati City
● 2006 Isinapapel. Cultural Center of the Philippines, Pasay City
● 2006 Paper Installations. OneWorkshop Gallery, Makati City

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
● 2022 Kristo Manila. NCCA Gallery. Intramuros
● 2021 Mandala: Tessellation of Culture. Asian Studies Center. University of the Philippines. Quezon City
● 2021 Pagpapahalaga 2021. Artsteps Exhibition Space
● 2009 Boxed: The Dialogue of Females. Blanc Compound, Mandaluyong
The Spoils of Love: An Imagine the Silence Exhibit.Greenbelt 5, Makati City
Beginnings. Verdana Art Gallery, Pasig City.
● 2008 Counterpoise.Two-Man Exhibition w/Jojo Ballo. OneWorkshopGallery. Makati Flames of Asia.
Museum of Arts & Sciences, University of Santo Tomas, Manila
Beginnings.Tala Art Gallery, Tomas Morato, Quezon City.
● 2007 Boxed. 2nd & 3rd flr. Hallway, Cultural Center of the Philippines,
● 2006 L’exposition d’art Philippin. Gallerie Gavarni, Paris France.
Boxed. Big Sky Mind, E. Rodriguez.
Space Launch. TheSpace at Art Informal, Mandaluyong City.
● 2005 Alay IX. Boston Gallery, Cubao
● 2004 Security Blanket. Donada Art Gallery. Katipunan, QC
● 2003 InteractivA ’03. Invitational New Media Exhibition. MACAY, Mexico