Curare Art Space

07/03/2026

The third week of Art in Healing with was an exercise in how we hold ourselves. 🌅

​We sat with George Catlin’s Landscape (1846–1848), allowing mindful looking and creative visualization to surface, and transform into creative writing.

​The session moved into a one-on-one work on groundedness, focusing on the words we hold onto during troubling times.

💚 bit.ly/salusaloart

13/02/2026

Art can offer profound experiences in times of rest, reflection, and renewal. 🎨

Through weekly mindfulness and expressive arts practices, we create space to notice, feel, and move with what arises, using imagination and the body as guides.

Art in Healing: Imagination & Embodied Expression

⚪ Mindful Art Appreciation
Group practice for creative mindfulness
Tuesdays, 9:00–10:00 AM

⚪ Expressive Arts as Therapy
One-on-one guided embodied art-making
Tuesdays, 10:00 AM–1:00 PM (30-minute sessions)

is a spiritual table, a place where we gather stories, hold one another with care, and make space for gentle healing.

👉 bit.ly/salusaloart

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Lex is a certified Meditation Teacher, Psychological First Aid provider, and Reiki Master-Teacher with over a decade of contemplative and healing practice. Trained in Vipassana and Ch’an Buddhist traditions, including monastic immersion in the Philippines and Taiwan, his work approaches healing as a compassionate, liberative practice. ​As an educator, cultural worker, and founder of Wounded Healer PH, he creates reflective spaces that integrate mindfulness, expressive arts, and care—for self, community, and the wider world.

13/02/2026

Art in Healing: Imagination & Embodied Expression

A weekly mindfulness practice with expressive arts modalities for creativity and well-being with . Salu-Salo is a spiritual table, a place where we gather stories, hold one another with care, and make space for gentle healing.

⚪ Mindful Art Appreciation
Group practice for creative mindfulness
Tuesdays, 9:00–10:00 AM

⚪ Expressive Arts as Therapy
One-on-one guided embodied art-making
Tuesdays, 10:00 AM–1:00 PM (30-minute sessions)

Art can offer profound experiences in times of rest, reflection, and renewal. Through weekly mindfulness and expressive arts practices, we create space to notice, feel, and move with what arises, using imagination and the body as guides.

Salu-Salo Soul

👉 bit.ly/salusaloart

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John Alexis Balaguer is a certified Meditation Teacher, Psychological First-Aid Provider, Expressive Arts Facilitator, and Reiki Master-Teacher. He is also an independent curator, arts writer, cultural worker, and founder of Curare Art Space. His explores curatorial pedagogies for the speculative, creative art writing, and artistic modes of reenchantment. He currently teaches at the University of the Philippines - Diliman, integrating expressive arts and contemplative practices into the classroom.

31/08/2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Cultivating Creativity Through Mindful Presence! 🏵

Together with and the Culture First community, last August 29, we explored mindfulness through visual art and poetry, offering a new way to reconnect with ourselves and spark creativity.

A grounding and inspiring space to pause, reflect, and create together.

🖼 The Island Garden (1929), Frederick Childe Hassam

29/04/2025

A BALM AND A BRIDGE

A Capstone Project by JA Balaguer
for The Arts and Health Institute Philippines

K. Almazan | J. Almazora | S. Carpio | I. Ebro | B. Ong | M. Padilla | S. Reyes-Talampas

In expressive arts facilitation, a skillful prompt finds a middle ground: it gives just enough structure to hold someone, but leaves enough space for personal interpretation, imagination, and agency. The facilitator also carries a set of core values that shape the space they hold—choosing to witness without judgment, to contain with care, to affirm each participant’s truth, and to gently guide without control.

The exhibition A Balm and A Bridge brings together the works of expressive arts session participants: visual narratives, inner landscapes, and creative reflections on healing, clarity, and resilience. [...] As both facilitator and witness, I engage with the works through deep listening and intuitive writing, approaching them phenomenologically and framing each encounter within prompts that honor every participant’s story. (JAB)

⚫️ www.curareartspace.com/abalmandabridge

31/12/2024

🔶️ Curare extends heartfelt gratitude for the unwavering support and collaboration in 2024!

To the brilliant artists, dedicated gallery partners, generous patrons, and passionate friends in the arts community—thank you for making this year unforgettable.

Our Highlights of 2024:

🔸️Bodies That Matter by Gelo Zarsuelo at Anima Art Space

🔸️There Is A Stranger Breaking In. I Am The Shadow, featuring Alee Garibay, Benedict Simbulan, Carlo de Laza, KR Rodgers, Pancho Alvarez, and Steph Lopez at Studio Maya

🔸️Planet of the Pangit by Mel Araneta (A73) with Inconnu Ictu and Mantiw at Anima Art Space

🔸️Imo Kalag, Imo Bakero by Frank Alexi Y. Nobleza at Art Camp

Here’s to an even more inspiring 2025 ahead!

JA Balaguer
Curare Art Space

--artspace .artph .garibay
.studio

30/12/2024

Mel Araneta at Negros Fashion Fest 2024

12/12/2024

Last few days to see the exhibition "Planet of the Pangit" by Negrense artist, A73! 🔶️

Planet of the Pangit
Mel Araneta (A73)

Anima Art Space
Curator: JA Balaguer
16 Nov - 14 Dec 2024

--
"Within trusted circles, terms like "pangit" become playful markers of familiarity and authenticity, symbols of camaraderie that come from shared experiences and mutual acceptance of one another’s flaws."

"For his third solo exhibition, Bacolod-based visual and sound artist Mel Araneta (A73), contemplates the encounters he's had along his journey, presenting over a hundred works in acrylic on canvas, paper, and fabric assemblages, that depict a variety of beings—both human and non-human—he has met on this seemingly preposterous planet."

"By confronting the "pangit," in the planet and its diverse inhabitants, we get to see life for its true face." (JA Balaguer)
artphbalaguerartspace

11/12/2024

A huge thanks to Bluprint for their insightful review of Frank Alexi Nobleza's fifth solo exhibition, "Imo Kalag, Imo Bakero" (Your Soul Is Yours to Tend).

https://bluprint-onemega.com/arts-culture/art-camp-janice-liuson-young-frank-alexi-nobleza/

: "It feels post-apocalyptic at times in its depiction of the world, its occupants miniscule within the scale of the universe. The paintings show less of the surface and more of the underground, crafting tunneling circuits of vastness underneath the dirt."

"At times, these tunnels even feel essential; Frank Nobleza depicts the surface in different colors that suggest radioactivity and destruction. It showcases a humanity cut off from our surroundings, lacking responsibility in its treatment of the world around us." (Elle Yap)

--

Imo Kalag, Imo Bakero
(Your Soul Is Yours to Tend)

22 Nov - 10 Dec 2024


Curated by .balaguer

04/12/2024

04/12/2024