The wood chosen for the sculpture, Ipil, has other names including Borneo teak and scrub mahogany, to name a few. It’s native to the Indo-Pacific region and can grow to 50 meters (160 feet) high. The bark and leaves are used in traditional medicines and the wood itself highly durable. It is endangered but remains popular for local carvers.  
 
Napoleon “Billy” Veloso Abueva (1930 – 2018) was an accomplished artist and was proclaimed the Philippine “National Artist for Sculpture” in 1976, the youngest recipient to date. His school instructors nick-named him Napoleon, after Napoleon Bonaparte. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture at the UP College of Fine Arts in 1953. Abueva became known for his varied media choices, including hardwoods, stainless steel, iron, bronze, brass, cement, marble, alabaster and coral. Abueva helped shape the local sculpture scene in the Philippines, being adept in both academic representational style and modern abstract. He is recognized as the ‘Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture’ and exhibited his one-man-show in the Philippine Center in New York in 1980.