BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
Coffee painter Dennis Valenciano, from Victorias City in Negros Occidental, won his second international award in a recent coffee painting competition in Iran that was participated in by over 420 international artists worldwide.
Valenciano was among the top eight winners in the 3rd International Coffee Painting Competition hosted by the International Watercolor Society cafe in Tehran, Iran for 2021.
His winning entry, titled “Nicole”, was done in an 18×12 inches 300gsm Strathmore paper in 100 percent coffee medium rendition.
He chose this entry, modeled by Nicole Garganera, to showcase the inner beauty, and the physical outlook of a true Filipina, Valenciano said.
Valenciano won his first international coffee painting competition, sponsored by IWS London Cafe Gallery and IWS British Isles, at Kosovo in May last year.
He was one of the top 10 winners and among three Asians included in the more than 580 participants worldwide.
Some of Valenciano’s artworks are available at the AAB Gallery+Cafe, on his Instagram account instagram.com/dennisvalenciano_artstudio/ and FB Artwork of Dennis Valenciano.
IWS Cafe galleries aim to contribute to the development and promotion of watercolor painting all over the world through exhibitions, contests, and other activities, as well as discover and provide worldwide recognition to new talents.
The cafe also serves as a meeting place for local watercolor artists and watercolor lovers.
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Meanwhile, another art gallery opened in Bacolod City to provide a venue or art space for artists to showcase their talents, and conduct other activities, like workshops or meetings.
Now on exhibit at Artful Art Gallery/Cafe along Lacson-18th streets in Bacolod City are the works of Rodney Martinez, Tey Sevilleno, Tiano Beto, Ramon de los Santos, Ryn Paul Gonzales, Ian Valladarez, MayMay Camarines, and Vicky Gaspar.
Sevilleno said the place will also serve as a creative studio, workshop space, and shop. They had their soft opening on March 18 but officially opened after the Holy Week.
Despite the pandemic, they opted to open the gallery/cafe because they saw that there is a market for people who want to see the artworks physically, aside from selling them online, she said.
Sevilleno said they also offer food, aside from coffee, so they could attract people who are not usually gallery or museum goers to come and enjoy, not only good food but also nice art and little things or artworks that they can bring home, which are very affordable, to help them start their little art collection.
She and fellow artists Tiano Beto and Orlando Canlas have partnered to come up with an art gallery in order to also help promote other artists and provide them a venue for other branches of art, she said, adding that there are many artists in Negros who can produce good artworks.
They encourage artists to make their own art merchandise that they can mass produce to provide them income, such as mugs, bags, prints, and notebooks that bear their paintings, Sevilleno said.
One of their slogans is “Home of Creators” because they do not want to limit the space for art but will offer it to people who create content, as well as provide social media management that they can offer to artists to help promote their works, she said. Sevilleno comes from a family of artists. She is the younger sister of watercolorist Edbon Sevilleno and the niece of Manila artist Francisco Maravilla Verano of the Saturday Group.*
