MINERVA BC NEWMAN
CEBU CITY – All systems go for the Visayas Art Fair Year 2 on November 25-27 at the Oakridge Business Park in Mandaue City with 33 art galleries from all over the country joining the event and with compact activities such as art talks, workshops, on-the-spot painting contest, fashion show and live performances to expound the relationship between the visual arts and the creative industries that fuel economic potentials for them.
Laurie Boquiren, chair of the Visayas Art Fair, in a media conference on November 16 said, the Visayas Art Fair serves as a platform to expose and educate the sectors artists and galleries from the Capital to the culture and art scene in the Visayas.
“We’re building this up to make the event sustainable in collaboration with the Creative Design Week (CDW) and the various art/creative industry in Cebu. We want to make the Visayas Art Fair as the future art tourism event destination in the country,” Boquiren said.
The Visayas Art Fair Year 2 is much bigger than last year’s because this year, the fair features various artists from all over the country with 33 participant-galleries, 14 from well-known NCR galleries and the others from the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
There will also be a variety of exhibits and performances from different art and creative categories including art installation, visual, music, interior design and architecture as well as digital art and theatre presentations, Boquiren bared.
Participating galleries include—Orange Project, Off Center Creative Initiatives, Shelter Gallery, The Lab Art Project, Galerie du Soleil Manila, Cebu Artists Inc., Fernando Kabigting, Kaida Contemporary, Mugna Gallery, Historia Arts Gallery, Daly Likha International Arts and, Nature Society Inc., Dramus Art Gallery, Espacio Manila, Space Won Plus, Dram Gallery, Space Won Plus, Women’s Booth, Artabang, Vinyl on Vinyl, 1335Mabini, Art Portal Cebu, Florentino’s Art Gallery, Abellana | Florido | Kabingue, M Gallery MNL, Galerie Artes, The Drawing Room, Linangan Art Residency, Mono8, The Joya Gallery, Qube Gallery, Gallery X, Mariah Gallery and Happy Garaje.
Challenges and what to expect from the Visayas Art Fair 2022
Mounting this year’s Visayas Art Fair has been fraught with massive challenges such as finding a wider span of a venue for the fair, funds and other logistics in bringing various kinds of art/artist here and topping the 2021 Visayas Art Fair seemed insurmountable but, Boquiren and the other organizers were surprised at how responsive and supportive the art and creative sector in Cebu to the call and challenges at hand.
Cebu Design Week (CDW) Trustee and Chair of CDW Mari Booth, Arch. Buck Sia, District Director, UAP and IDr. Sharon Revalde-Bering, President of the Philippine Institute of Interior Designers (PIID)-Cebu Chapter are partners and the workforce behind the event.
Mari Booth, Chair and trustee of CDW said, the CDW is really a platform to bring together the creative industries in Cebu and the Visayas for a week of collaboration, celebration, creation, entrepreneurship, and education for five years now.
“Part of our activities is to mount, assist and support other groups’ events such as Makers’ Market, Design Summit, The Great Recreate, Visayas Art Fair and Bodega exhibit, among others,” Booth said.
The United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) spearheads the “Blue Mango Awards” for Placemaking on November 26 with the awarding ceremony and speakers on “Intuition and Experience” relative to architecture and interior design
Arch. Buck Sia, district director of UAP bared that the Blue Mango Awards team has already received 77 entries and 21 of which have been shortlisted for the awards. It is given to architects, interior designers all over the country.
Emmanuel Garibay, artist, writer and founder of Linangan Art Residency Program will have a talk on “Art in the Region” on November 25 at 3pm at the 12th floor Oakridge Studios. On the same day at 4-6 pm, another talk on “Artist-Run Galleries: In Community” tackles the importance of space and its management as a contemporary institutional evolution in the visual arts.
On November 25 at 6:00-8:00pm, there is a film screening of Duwa-Duwa, “The Play” at the 12th Floor, Oakridge Studios at the Main Exhibit Area. Main cast include Alex Gallardo, Neolita Sarabia with Nena Jane Achacoso as its director/Producer/Writer.
On November 26 at 1:00 to 3:00 pm. Art Talks will include a discussion and on-the-spot painting of the human form while three artists, Julianne Del Mar, Kitty Taniguchi and Wyndelle Remonde will have workshops on Timelessness-Visayas in Watercolor; Future Forms, The Basics of Sculpting and Printmaking: The Art of Serigraphy respectively.
On-the-Spot Painting Contest for student participants only will be on November 27, registration starts at 10 am at the Oakridge Business Park Premises. Cash prizes include; P10,000 for the 3rd placer; P15,000 for the 2nd place and P20,000 for the 1st place.
“We’re expecting a bigger crowd this year as face-to-face events are on the rise, probably over 1,000 people to watch the Visayas Art Fair including artists, creatives, performers, social media influencers, V/Bloggers and tourists as well,” the organizers said.
The revenues and proceeds from the 3-day Visayas Art Fair become its sustainable funds for the various events and activities of the art fair in the future as “we envision this as Cebu’s next biggest choice art tourism event destination in the Philippines connecting the islands through art,” Boquiren concluded.
