Since 1989, visual artist Danni Sollesta has been engaged in numerous exhibitions, lectures, and workshops in the Philippines and overseas. Locally, he has been active in organizing art events as well as cultural work on both a regional and national scale.
Central to his practice has been a dedication to terracotta, such which led to his founding of the Dumaguete Open Biennial Terracotta Art Festival and Competition in 2005 which saw both local and international artists participate. This event singlehandedly placed the quaint city of Dumaguete on the country’s map of arts and culture.
In 2006, he was invited to give a lecture and do workshops at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by another lecture at Rowan University, New Jersey — Fine Arts Department. He also held an exhibit at the Philippine Center of South New Jersey.
By 2008, Sollesta received a nomination award from the Beijing Municipal Culture Bureau and the Culture and Ceremonies Department of the Organizing Committee for the Games of the 29th Olympiad, Beijing, China for his work “Women and Apples,” and was invited to do studio work and teach at the Feng Liang International Art College in Jiangxi, South China. Towards the end of the year, he received an International Guest Artist-in-Residence at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This led to artistic production, on-site lectures, and interactions with associate artists of the studio, which all culminated in an exhibition with resident artists from other countries.
His first foray into the professional art scene was a two-artist exhibition with Kitty Taniguchi in 1989 at the Silliman University Library Lobby. He was a finalist in the Philippine Art Awards, 1998, and has held significant terracotta exhibitions such as at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and at Mariyah Gallery, Dumaguete in 2005.
To this day, Sollesta maintains artistic endeavors from San Carlos to Siquijor, while maintaining a studio and creative hub in Si-it, Dauin, Negros Oriental.
Exhibition at Mugna Gallery:
