Honoring my Mother: An art market turned youth art expo

The recently concluded Art Market at Abreeza, which ran till the 24th of February, had mainly featured works from Davao’s local visual arts community, and their beautiful paintings, executed in clearly varied styles and influences had dominated the floor at affordable prices. If among the goals of the event were to bring art appreciation closer to everyone, the huge turnout of mall-goers who visited the exhibits would have been a definitive sign of being so.
An art camp of sorts finalized the affair, with the public enjoined to partake in a “buffet” where everyone could experience hands-on art activities together with the artists.
For us, two art fiends prowling the area for art goodies (and eventually buying a painting done by an artist-friend), the most pleasant surprise came discovering that almost half of the participating artists had come from the youth sector! Art practitioners thriving among millennials? What trickery is this? (Just teasing my son, folkies.)
Not only that, the depth of their work were not limited to paintings alone, but had extended from intricately-designed accessories like ethnic inspired earrings and bracelets, to functional brass and metal installations (with some cleverly doubling-up as musical instruments) as well. We even spied some grade 12 coeds, future Fine Arts students at university, displaying their original art designs on shirts, jackets, pants, skirts and even tote bags.
Literary art was represented too, and one of our favorites turned out to be outputs from a shy young poetess who displayed her printed booklets of original poems, with accompanying drawings which she meticulously sketched and inked herself.
On the whole, many other Davaoenos may have missed this rare weekend activity, but for the lucky ones, the art market, a first-time event, was clearly worth it. For the city’s budding community, a venue for showcasing their talent and creativity, and the 101 experience at entrepreneurship, will always be two stones to build from. These will further be strengthened when everyone, in future events, band up together, and gather all their support of our local artists.