Fourteen artworks bedeck the exhibit panels of Galeria Sinag of UP Open University (UPOU). These are works of the kids aged 5 to 13 years old who participated in the Art Workshop, incorporated in the conduct of the Organic Agri (OA) Farmers’ Market this 26-27 May 2017.
Dubbed “Sining at Organikong Agrikultura: Pinagsama para sa Pagsasakang May Konsyensya,” the UPOU Faculty of Management and Development Studies (FMDS)-organized OA Art Workshop featured the Four Principles of Organic Agriculture shared by Prof. Raymundo M. Lucero, Course Coordinator of the UPOU Continuing Education Program (CEP) in Organic Agriculture, and lectures on Basic Drawing, Oil Pastel Painting, Acrylic Painting and Poster Making by Mr. Dante Palmes, a visual artist, sculptor, art instructor and a Master of Fine Arts student in UP Diliman. The workshop and art competition, done on the second day, carried the four principles of OA as the theme – Care, Health, Ecology and Fairness. The top three entries, along special award winning pieces and the rest of the entries, now adorn the Galeria Sinag at the UPOU Community Hub in Los Baños, Laguna until 17 June 2017. After this date, the exhibit will be moved to Pook Ugnayan, UPOU Community Hub, and will still be open to the public.
Dr. Primo Garcia, Dean of FMDS, commended the efforts of Mr. Larry Cruz, the Program Development Associate for CEP, for the successful conduct of the event and willed him to continue excellence in this advocacy and public service. When he welcomed the participants and opened the workshop on the first day, Dean Garcia shared how he also attended his first art workshop when he was their age. With most of the kids being tech-savvy, he shared how studying at UPOU can also be an option for them in the future.
The OA Farmers’ Market and the OA Art Workshop is part of UPOU’s support of the RA 10068 known as the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010. The “Organic Agri Fair” was launched in December 2015 as part of the UPOU’s 20th anniversary celebration, which gave birth to the “Organic Agri Farmers’ Market” conducted every last Friday and Saturday of the month at the UPOU Community Hub. (Anna Cañas-Llamas)
