Dr. Grace J. Alfonso recognized by UP for her artistic contributions to the university.UP Open University Chancellor Dr. Grace Javier Alfonso was awarded the UP Arts Productivity System Award for the third time in 2015. In recognition of her contribution as an artist to the University, she was bestowed the title UP Artist II from 2015 to 2017, UP Artist I from 2012 to 2014, and from 2009 to 2011.
Dr. Alfonso is a painter and a sculptor, a filmmaker, director, film researcher, a multimedia expert, and a film critic.
As a painter, she participated in several group shows and has had eight solo exhibits. Among her recent exhibitions included the Siningsaysay: Philippine History in Arts, Women Empowerment in the Philippines (2014) at the Araneta Center, Quezon City, Ïmages of Three Women: Claiming Space" (2014) at the Sandbox, UP Open University; and 2 Women Voices: Visual Conversations Multiplied at Philippine Center (2012) in New York.
Her solo art exhibits include the following: Tibok ng Kalikasan (2011) which was shown at the National Computer Center in Diliman, Quezon City and Trimate Gallery in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and Lulan ng Sining at UPOU Open University is Los Baños, Laguna; Kababaihan at Kalikasan: Ang Papapalawak ng Puwang (2004) at the SSS Gallery; Babae sa Tag-ulan at Tag-araw (2002) at Vargas Museum, Diliman, Quezon City; Dahon at Damo (2000) at the National Computer Center, Diliman, Quezon City; The Third Image (1986) at Vargas Museum, Diliman, Quezon City; Bartolina, Preso, Hawla at Iba Pa (1985) at Pinaglabanan Galleries; Gigi Javier Alfonso's Latest Works (painting), the Cultural Center of the Philippines; and Sulyap (1982) at Gallery One.
Dr. Alfonso is one of only two artists that have been permitted by the University of the Philippines to cast and create the iconic UP Oblation. She had the privilege to be the artist/sculptor for the UP Oblation for the UP Open University, UP Manila, and the UP School of Health Sciences in Palo, Leyte.
As a film academic and researcher, she has written treatises on film education and the state of the Philippine movie and television industries in both local and international publications. Dr. Alfonso has written on film for Film Journal of the International Filmoche, Mannheim and Cinemaya, an international publication. She wrote the column called "Sights and Sounds" for the Daily Tribune. She likewise wrote the "Kultura Popular" column for Sunday Malaya. As a film critic, she has been an active member of the local film critics group Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino since 1991 and of which she has served as Chair in 1996-1998, 2002-2003, and 2011 to present.
Dr. Alfonso is a professor of film and mass communication at the University of the Philippines' College of Mass Communications. She is the Founding Chair of U.P. College of Mass Communication Film and Audiovisual Department. She served as Chairperson of the Film School Board of the Philippines and member of the Film Committee of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in 1989-1991.
She has participated in various seminars and workshops on the art and technique of film since 1985. She was a delegate to the Women's International Film Festival in Seoul, Korea in 2003 and at the International Film Festival in Mannheim, Germany in 1987-1989. She currently chairs the U.P. Film and Video Festival and the annual Women's Film Festival of the U. P. Film Institute's Cine Adarna.
Dr. Alfonso's visual medium extends to film and video. She has written and directed several television dramas, narrative features, documentaries, and educational videos. In addition to these, numerous educational videos that she had directed produced are now used in a range of courses at the UP Open University.
Among her other awards include winning the Shell On-the-Spot Painting Competition in 1971 and receiving in 1988 the Second Grand Prize at the Tamtam Video Festival in Turin, Italy. Just recently, she was awarded the 2013 Concepcion D. Dadufalza Award for Distinguished Achievement.
Dr. Alfonso is currently on her third term as Chancellor of the UP Open University. She became involved in distance education and open learning and served her first administrative duty as the UPOU Dean of the School for Distance Education in 1995. In 1999, she became the director of the UPOU Audio-Visual Teaching and Learning Laboratory. Her exemplary talent in multimedia and arts led her to become the Director of the UPOU Multimedia Center in 2004 before she served her first term as the UPOU Chancellor in 2007.
She earned her PhD in Communication in 1990, her MA in the Humanities (Art History) in 1980, and her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1972, all from the University of the Philippines. She also took post-doctoral courses in Media Studies at the New School for Social Research in New York in 1992.
