A 19-YEAR-OLD native of Daanbantayan, northern Cebu who made portraits using Rubik’s cubes has been given formal recognition by Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino.
In a meet and greet, Dino gave Mel Ann Shane Lauron a Plaque of Appreciation in recognition of her artwork.
Lauron went viral on social media for her portraits of some famous figures, including superheroes, using Rubik’s cubes.
Dino said he is glad to learn about Lauron’s artworks and expressed his support to young artists like her.
“I really would like to support you guys (artists). It’s my first time to hear of someone who does this in Cebu or in the Visayas,” Dino told Lauron.
As his way of support, Dino has commissioned Lauron to make Rubik’s cube portraits of him, President Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go.
Philanthropist Augusto Go, president of the University of Cebu, has also promised to give Lauron a full scholarship for her college education.
Go, who was with Dino during the recognition of Lauron, said talented young people like her deserve to get support like a scholarship.
Dino encouraged Lauron to finish college even as she continues with her hobbies in art.
“While continuing what you do now, you must finish college. Nothing beats finishing your education,” the Cabinet official said.
Lauron shared that it was only in January when she thought of using the puzzle cube as a medium for her artwork.
While waiting for the Rubik’s Cubes she had canvassed, she had started learning and practicing how to make mosaic portraits using the puzzle cube.
“So, I made my first portraits (using Rubik's cubes) just last March,” she said in an interview.
She said she has already made portraits of some international heroes, local artists and her parents.
Lauron has long been into arts. She has been into crafts making claw machine and vending machine using cardboard; a bahay kubo made of bamboo sticks and banana trunks; and portraits of super heroes using cardboard and banana leaves.
She features these creations on her YouTube channel, I’m Yowawerts, which now has 110,000 subscribers.
She usually features her various artworks in her channel, which she said has a following of several viewers from abroad. (PR)