Introducing Cebuano Art to the World.

     an online art collective with the goal of "introducing" the entire gamut of Cebuano art is in the works. dubbed, "ArtCebu," this online art collective cum art gallery is the brainchild of christine rom and features a lot of brave and new ideas.

     first off, there's christine rom, eo cedeño, king montecillo, jagat rubio, japamala arnaldo, roro fernandez and myself, committed to this project. we're the organizing committee of sorts. then, there are our artist-collaborators, raymund fernandez, josua cabrera, and radel paredes. there are a few others, but i forget their names. we met last saturday (06May2006), to discuss the project.

     jagat and japamala have vast contacts in the cebuano art community and have already began trickling the word about this project. from what they say, their artist-friends are looking forward to such a project, particularly those who do not have the time and means to put up their own sites for exposition.

     the concept for ArtCebu was to come up with a way to showcase the artwork of local artists, and to an extent, to present the Cebuano artistic movement through an online site or gallery. the success of “Panagtagbo” charged the idea and urged christine and jagat to open preliminary discussions and consultations with various Cebuano artists.

     in the ensuing meetings to discuss the architecture and form of the site, jagat had asked if we were limiting the scope to just visual artists, which i took to mean as only painters. after a mildly active exchange of ideas, everyone agreed that to discriminate so would be counter to what we may envision ArtCebu to be. thus, it was agreed that the online gallery may post images of artworks in various media, provided these are of high quality. thus, paintings, sculpture, photography work, and even mobile art and short film may be presented through the site. Eventually, ArtCebu was also expected to include artists from the other Visayan regions in the next few years. furthermore, the site would have section where Cebuano art history and the like would be featured, as well as profile features, exhibit and event updates.

     ArtCebu therefore, emphasized christine, is an online gallery intended to showcase Cebuano artwork through the Internet. jagat and christine, as well as the rest of the organizing group as looking forward to launch ArtCebu by the end of may. they both agree that ArtCebu can make a great contribution in promoting Cebuano art and giving Cebuano artists exposure in the international art scene, as well as to online browsers worldwide.

     together with its Cebuano visual and graphic artists and sponsor-collaborators, ArtCebu is hoped to promote Cebuano culture and its artistic tradition internationally, as well as establishing worlwide contacts for its member-artists and artist groups. The thrust of the site is to become an online hub for having a site where ArtCebu artist-members may be able to show their work, as well as meet other artists, interested sponsors, buyers and patrons, and other art groups based abroad. ArtCebu also aims to become the info central for exhibits and art events organized by and for Cebuano artists, and a directory on Cebuano and Visayan artists.



PENUMBRA:
     05102006
          - i invited noel cabangbang to be part of the writers' pool for artcebu's features section. after the content plan meeting earlier this evening, we discussed artcebu a bit further. it is a massive effort, no doubt, but one that i am inclined to see to the very end, or when it begins tying up with other regional and international art networks. while noel expressed concern that we may be limiting ourselves to merely representing the visual art medium for the very reason that literature, and a few other art media may not be accurately represented through the site. that the enormity of such a venture may leave out some of the other art media, leaving space only for such art media as visual and graphic art, which by themselves comprise of a myriad of sub-media! despite the general idea of presenting the whole gamut of Cebuano Art, noel has raised a valid and valuable point indeed --- something that i had not taken account of, nor explored in detail --- and one, i mean to contemplate on, now.
          - i concede to Noel's point and intend to present this to christine and the rest of the web and organizing committees as soon as possible. to represent the entire gamut of Cebuano art is indeed an ambitious and noble effort. i hope and pray that the gods and muses of the Cebuano Arts may help us in this venture. i, for one, am confident of features secton of artcebu, which will be manned by capable and knowledgeable artist-writers, such as Raymund Fernandez (and hopefully, his wife, Estela), Josua Cabrera and Radel Paredes, and young writers Ederts Cojuangco II and Noel Cabangbang, among a host of others who will be guest-writing from time to time.
          - updates and info on artcebu soon...