Looking for Juan at the Athenaeum

January 2008 marks a milestone for CANVAS as we organize and launch our very first art exhibit overseas. We're bringing the works of ten artists to The Athenaeum Arts and Music Library in San Diego, USA's upscale La Jolla where guests will be introduced different aspects of Juan de la Cruz, as seen through the eyes of some of the Philippines' most promising young artists.

The Athenaeum will present Looking for Juan from January 10 to February 14 in the Rotunda Gallery. The exhibition will raise money for the building of a Pacific Rim Friendship Park in Puerto Princesa City in the Philippines, as organized by CANVAS, in partnership with artist Jim Hubbell and the Pacific Rim Park Project.

A special reception, by invitation, will be held on January 14 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The public reception will be held together with the opening of Genie Shenk: Dreams and Other Lost Languages on January 16 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

* The painting, “Cinco de Noviembre” (48”x36” acrylic on canvas) by Anthony Fermin is one of the works featured at the exhibition. On the island of Negros in the Visayas, the 5th of November marks the victory of the locals in a bloodless revolt against the ruling Spanish colonizers in 1898. This festival of Cinco de Noviembre is celebrated yearly and Anthony Fermin - who is based in Negros Occidental - captures with his naïf style the revelry of the Negrenses in his rendition with ferris wheels, street vendors, and fire works.