MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/10 March) — Bukidnon-based artists are organizing a soil painting festival in April 2014 to put the province on the map as the “Soil Painting Capital of the World.”
Rodelio “Waway” Saway, an artist and musician from the Talaandig tribe in Songco, Lantapan town, told MindaNews they want to show to the world Bukidnon’s beauty through art.
“It will feature Bukidnon culture, environment, skies, buildings, and people,” Saway said in a chance interview after the awarding rites of the 6thAnnual Indigenous Peoples Visual Arts Exhibit at Bukidnon State University on Friday.
Saway led a group of artists who focused on soil painting or painting using the natural material and colors of the soil in their ancestral domain.
He said they are eyeing the Guinness Book of World Records for soil painting.
Bukidnon, Saway said, is home to original and authentic soil painters, adding, Bukidnon artists have “wide consciousness about visual art.
The soil painting festival will form part of the celebration of Bukidnon’s Centennial in September 2014.
“Art can be a legacy to the youth and it provides empowerment towards development,” Saway added.
Saway together with his fellow Talaandig soil painting artists will hold a soil painting workshop on April 14 to 15, 2013 at the Kaamulan Open Theater in Malaybalay City in preparation for the festival next year.
He said after the workshop in April, there will be a series of workshops in the run up to the event. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)