at the grand opening in december 2010, artists had their works of art lined and hanged on the wooden walls of the ground floor of the Cafe.
artwork featured includes oil paintings, acrylics, drawings, pastels and photography.
one of the guests during the exhibit, kristian cordero, who hails from iriga city, said it is wonderful to have a place like the cafe des artes. and i must agree with him. it is shocking to realize and see the lack of art, lack of anything cultural, really, in a town as culturally rich as baao. so this humble effort hopes to snowball into other events of the kind.
there are many artists in town and the 4432 project held last december hopefully allows other artists to come out.
the gallery is my personal realization of a dream. the idea of turning cafe des artes into a permanent gallery for baao artists sprung from the first exhibit of bicol masters like penera, belarmino, daliva and gomez, which i hosted last august. the then newly-elected mayor gaite and the regional executive director of DAR, atty waying manlangit were special guests during the opening of the exhibit. the glaring message that came forward that time, which i actually spelled out, was the need for a gallery in the community for the local artists. we, as a town, don’t have an opportunity to display local talent. . .to respect the local artists, more importantly, we don’t have the opportunity to celebrate as a community. although it may be unlikely to hold large shows in my cafe des artes, i believe, with all my heart, that the place will definitely serve the purpose, for now, with my vision for an art community hub.
cafe des artes is a chance to emphasize the cultural side of the community with people all over baao and display their artwork. there is a lot to be inspired by in this town, from the natural beauty of the surroundings, to the distinct beauty of the people.
since the announcement about the exhibit way back in november, spearheaded by meryll barandon and ps fajardo, the response has been amazing. the members list has since expanded.
now, the first group of baao artists have formed themselves into an art group which will be known as Burikbutikan Baao (buribod sa kultura ag buway tinubuan kana baao). we have scheduled a regular monthly meeting, and the latest was last 12 march 2011, wherein we decided to take the group on a higher level, by commissioning a master in the person of wilson belarmino, to mentor the members and give professional tutoring to improve our talents. members voiced their need on how to get training and work on improving their artworks. and now that we’ve got a place to show our works in public, we truly are motivated to go further with our passions.
the burikbutikan baao will continue to hold exhibits at cafe des artes and more events are being planned for the future, including a harvest-themed exhibit in april to coincide with the harvest season, a students’ exhibit in june to coincide with the philippine independence day celebration, a second harvest-themed exhibit in august to celebrate the town fiesta and other smaller and solo shows.
there is so much to look forward to, now more than ever, about art, in our sleepy rural town of baao. local artists are beginning to rouse from their slumber and are starting to make those pens and pencils busy, those colours splashing on blank canvasses for the next event soon to open, again, here, at cafe des artes.
