Pia Soriano started dabbling with crayons and pastel when she was only 3 years old. She grew up surrounded by artworks, and has memories of her parents painting using watercolor and pastel. It is perhaps this environment that fostered within her, a creative pursuit in art.

Although one might say that painting is her first love, Pia graduated with a Master’s degree in Development Education at the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA+P). Much of what she knows with respect to the arts, she learned from an art class in high school, and lots ofpractice. Later on, she pursued a more formal training in Fine Art with a year-long certification course at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), Singapore’s pioneer fine arts education institution established in 1938. She is in a constant state of learning though, and enjoys listening to interviews of different artists, attending gallery exhibitions and reads up as much as she can. This forms part of her journey as an artist, and contributes to the proverbial 10,000 hours to perfect a craft. 

She has had several commissioned work, mostly portraits. The rendering of a human face fascinates her. It is challenging to get the character to show through in each portrait but that is her goal. It makes the artwork more relatable and draws the viewer’s eye to what you normally don’t see in pictures–the eyes that she draws tell a whole story and that is what she and the viewers often focus on. 

Some of her preferred subject matter is the natural environment. She paints and sketches landscapes and animals, and these bring out her lovefor nature. She uses a variety of media to bring out the characteristics of the subject–from pencil to ink, from acrylic to oil, each medium castsits own essence to the subjects drawn.

Pia also works on religious paintings and would like to bring back the more traditional approach into the world’s churches. In her trips abroad, she has seen how these magnificent creations elevate the soul into searching for the divine. She would like very much to contribute to that–“I believe in a power greater than any of us and I owe Him my talents. It is ingiving back this way that I am able to show my gratitude.”

We invite you to join Pia in her journey as she finds her voice among the many great artists of our day, who contribute their heart and soul to the ever-present representation of beauty that fills our world–from the side streets of a small town to the great museums of major cities. “Putting what I see or imagine on paper liberates my soul and it is my simple homage to the God-given beauty around me. My ultimate dream is to create masterpieces that help connect man to God–whether it be through the beauty of portraits or nature, or the church paintings I wish to create more of.”