Plet Bolipata

(b. 1962, Manila, Philippines)

Plet Bolipata is a graduate of St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia with a B.S. in Computer Information Systems (1984), she began her career as a self-taught painter in the late 1980s. She later trained at the Art Students League of New York and has since exhibited widely in the Philippines and abroad.

Her work is known for its vibrant, whimsical style that blends figuration with dreamlike narratives. Often drawing inspiration from other artists’ works and lives, as well as her own personal mythology, her paintings, installations, and public art projects explore themes of memory, childhood, nature, and the fantastical. Her visual narratives are marked by bold compositions and an intuitive sense of color and form. Beyond the canvas, her practice extends into film, sculpture, and collaborative community-based projects, reflecting a multidisciplinary approach that resists categorization.

She was awarded the Freeman Fellowship Grant from the Vermont Studio Center in the United States (2006) and was a recipient of the Natividad-Galang Fajardo Award from the Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings (2012). Her works are held in the collections of the Gallery of Women’s Art at Miriam College, Insular Life in Makati, the Bencab Museum in Baguio, and the Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo.

Her notable projects include the large-scale public art installation ImagiNation (2014) at the Ateneo de Manila University and the film Imaginarium (2017), which won Best Director at a regional film festival. Past exhibitions include solo and group shows at the Pinto Art Museum, Ayala Museum, Bencab Museum, and the Red Mill Gallery at the Vermont Studio Center.

This year, Bolipata returned to New York to study lithography at the Art Students League under Filipino printmaker Caroline Ongpin, later training with Japanese Master Printer Tomomi Ono. Drawn to the medium’s sincerity and precision, she produced six original prints and joined a class exhibition before flying back to Manila.