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After graduating in 1988, she worked for several interior design outfits where she gained experience in furniture design, window displays, etc. Several years later, she became fascinated with and gradually made the transition into the world of computers. The years that she spent teaching computer applications at the Futurekids, Shangri-la branch in Mandaluyong City, would intensify her interest in computer graphics and computer art. When not painting, Pia works in the fields of website publishing, web graphics design, and tutoring people on website design and the use of web publishing applications. Her website, EESP, which documents and tracks the various endemic endangered species in the Philippines has attracted quite a number of environmentalists and biologists all over the world. Another website which she designed and continues to manage, the CHS Alumnae Foundation website, is visited by numerous alumnae of the College of the Holy Spirit, Mendiola. When Pia turned to painting as a relaxing hobby, she picked the rarely-used melted crayon as her medium, creating colorful canvasses in which nature is clearly her vital inspiration. Her works feature mostly flowers, leaves, and landscapes, all of them reflecting some little-noticed beauty feature of nature. While some dark shadings and earthy colors do reveal a more pensive side, the many bright and cheerful hues that predominate, through her innovative use of color-mixtures, and an interesting variation of strokes make her works come alive with the joy of living and the message that, indeed, beauty is all around us. A must for lovers of nature and its beauty, each Pia Belardo creation is an affirmation of this truth. Her works have been displayed at the Mondo Bar, at the Fort, and the Contempo Art Gallery, at Cityland, Mandaluyong City, and presented at her previous one-woman exhibit held the Art Circle Gallery, Shangrila Plaza, Mandaluyong City and recently at the Manansala Hall at the Galleria Suites - Ortigas.
HOW THE EESP
BEGAN The EESP just started out as a hobby, because I was interested and thought other people should also be aware of our plight. I am not a biologist by education - I started out with a degree in Interior Design, and spent several years teaching computer application to children at Futurekids, Shangrila. Everything kicked off when I was asked to teach Website Design. I created a site called "Endangered Species of the World" which is still alive on geocities, and while I was researching stumbled on the IUCN site.. searched out Philippines and the rest is history. I printed out the whole list... and spent a couple of days in tears.. imagine I had 10 sheets printed back to back with the margin being .25" and the size of the text being "tiny" <-- like that big lang. So many animals I didn't even know existed... So I set out to check if anyone had any information.. only coming up with the Philippine Eagle Foundation.. in those days websites were few and far between. I decided I would change all that by putting out a site to educate the uneducated and clueless like myself. Kick-off: I went to UP Diliman (my first time there), people sent me on a wild goose chase... finally I found the Zoology department, bought the "PHILIPPINE RED DATA BOOK" and a man named Michael de Guzman said that I should make a site called "Endemic" Endangered Species of the Philippines since just being endangered was too vast. Hence, the EESP was borne. Spent months researching.. calling all the agencies.. for help but non-would acknowledge me for I was a lowly non-biologist. Until one day, God took pity on me and sent me JC Gonzalez - he had written me email.. commenting the site and asked me if I needed help.. which he would be glad to give. Alleluia! JC was a gift from God. I now had pictures information and contacts.. life was looking up for the EESP. From the hoopla the EESP was causing I met the BWF people, the Haribon people, Arvin Diesmos, Rafe Brown, and the rest of the gang. People who were so nice and unself-serving that they were glad to help out for the betterment of all. I was even sent resumes by biologists from abroad thinking I was a big organization... yep! I was a big organization of ONE. And you only need one with a big dream to make things happen. I think I have come ways from the non-biologist with a small website (13 pages and one contributor) to an advocate with a big website (405++ pages, lots of contributors) and even bigger dreams. I know I'm doing good even if not everyone believes it. I know I AM.
And that's the story.. It's been a hard battle but it's worth the fight don't
you think
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This website is designed
and maintained by
Pia Belardo
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Born
in Davao City, the artist, Pia Rowena Belardo, spent her childhood years
in the environs of San Juan and Pasig. She took her elementary and secondary
education at the Maryknoll College in Quezon City, while her college years
were spent at the College of the Holy Spirit in Manila, where she took up
Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in Interior Design. Her background in the
arts and the opportunities it gave her in experimenting with various art
media would serve her well in her present avocation.
