Tops Artfest 2025- Brushstrokes of Legacy, Honoring Traditions and Diversity

-

 


The Tops ArtFest is an annual art festival held at the TOPS lookout point in Busay, Cebu City. It is known for celebrating Filipino artistry in a unique setting with breathtaking views of the city. The festival brings together a wide variety of art forms and features both established and emerging artists from Cebu and across the Philippines. 



Key features of the festival
Diverse exhibits: The art fest showcases diverse artistic styles, from traditional Cebuano realism to contemporary pieces from different regions of the Philippines. The exhibits feature both paintings and sculptures.

Interactive workshops:
To make art accessible to all, the event offers hands-on art workshops for different ages and skill levels. Workshops have included landscape painting, printmaking, clay modeling, and tie-dye sessions.

Art talks and demonstrations: 
The festival provides an educational component, with talks led by art experts on topics like art critique, pricing, appropriation, and plagiarism. Attendees can also watch master artists at work.

Competitions: A highlight of the festival is a plein-air (open-air) painting competition, where artists capture the scenic beauty of the TOPS complex in real time.

Unique venue: The event's location at TOPS, a famous landmark in Cebu, allows visitors to enjoy art exhibits while overlooking the city skyline and mountains. 

Popular posts from this blog

The Kudyapi- The Philippine Two-Stringed Lute

-
Image
The kutiyapi or kudyapi, is a Philippine two-stringed, fretted boat-lute. It is the only stringed instrument among the Maguindanao people, and one of several among other groups such as the Maranao and Manobo . It is four to six feet long with nine frets made of hardened beeswax . The instrument is carved out of solid soft wood such as from the jackfruit tree.   Common to all kutiyapi instruments, a constant drone is played with one string while the other, an octave above the drone, plays the melody with a kebit or rattan pluck (commonly made from plastic nowadays). This feature, which is also common to other related Southeast Asian "boat lutes", which were influenced by varying degrees by Indian concepts of melody and scale via the Malay archipelago .   Among the T'Boli , Manobo and other Lumad groups, the instrument (known as Hegelung, Kudyapi or Fedlung) is tuned to a major pentatonic scale . Among groups like the Bagobo , the Kutiyapi (Kudlung) is also used as...
Read more

Glimpses of Old Cebu: Images of the Colonial Era

-
Image
"Glimpses of Old Cebu: Images of the Colonial Era" is a 276-page coffee table book of nearly 600 of the best photographs, postcards , stereoviews and lantern glass slides of Cebu and its many towns taken between 1870-1945. More than just a mere showcasing of rare, never-before-seen images, the book also provides a treasure trove of information accompanying nearly every picture. The author, Lucy Urgello Miller has been collecting vintage Philippine postcards and photographs for over 20 years, the thrust of her collection being Cebu . She acquired 90% of her Cebu collection in the United States where she is living with her husband Richard "Rick" Miller. Most of the collection was bought at antique postcards shows. Lucy has about 1,000 pictures and postcards on Cebu but she selected only the best and most interesting for this book. Mommy Gingging, Lucy and my wife Grace A blue-blooded Theresian, Lucy spent her entire education from kinder...
Read more

Whispers of Time- The Art and Vision of Tatz Lee

-
Image
  Tatz Lee  (Maria Carmen Lee) is a rapidly rising contemporary Filipino visual artist celebrated for her luminous landscapes and deeply spiritual paintings that serve as visual prayers. Balancing an early passion for music with fine art, she took up drawing in 2017 before transitionally adopting wet mediums like oil and acrylic by 2021. Today, her name is closely tied to evocative, soul-stirring oil, mixed media, and watercolor works that explore the themes of faith, hope, and divine creation - these contextualizes her artistic journey, signature themes, and growing legacy in the contemporary art world. In a frantic and heavily digitized world, art often serves as the final frontier for silence and reflection. Among the rising voices in contemporary Philippine art who masterfully cultivate this space is Tatz Lee . A painter who explicitly views her practice as an offering of gratitude to her faith, Lee has established a unique niche through landscapes that transcend physical...
Read more

Cebuano Artists Painting Collection- Celso Duazo Pepito

-
Image
The Will to Live 2021, ( Autostereogram )     When we look and appraise a painting by color deficient   Master artist Celso Duazo Pepito , one will immediately come face to face with a brilliantly made work of art.    He was born 54 years ago on the 22nd of November in Daan Bantayan , Cebu . He plunged into the world of art as a young man who showed special skills in lettering . He was surprised when he steps into the halls of the University of the Philippines that the fine arts course was after all about painting. His painting career soon took off soon after college.    There were years of facing struggles hurdling one trial after another. But, like college education, experience is considered as the best teacher. His paintings are known to contain imagery that is brought to life by crisp and clear lines, bold strokes and his usual usage of bright color scheming. But deep within his subjects are personal motives and intentions that come from hi...
Read more

Jose Maria Picornell- My Final Farewell to a Master

-
Image
Every city has a soul, but only a few chosen individuals possess the vision to capture it before it slips away into the modern landscape. For Cebu , that visionary was Jose Maria (Joe Mari) Picornell. Often hailed as the " Van Gogh of Cebu," Picornell did not just paint landscapes; he immortalized the fading pulse of old streets, ancestral corners, and vanishing scenes. To the art world, he was a master of color and texture. To me, he was a gentle soul whose humility, vulnerability, and brilliant creative spirit left an indelible memory in my mind. Our story began with a chance encounter that felt entirely dictated by fate. I bumped into him at Ayala Mall , where he was carrying a few of his paintings. He cut a slightly dejected figure; he was supposed to meet a buyer but had just been stood up. Seeing the master standing there with his life's work in his hands, I introduced myself and asked if I could see the pieces. Right then, amidst the bustling mall crowd, I secured...
Read more

Haom- Cebu's First Painted Photography Exhibit

-
Image
 Experience Haom , a unique fusion of photography and painting as seven of Cebu's photographers collaborate with acclaimed visual artist Pierre Famador, in a one-of-a-kind exhibition.  Pierre Arcillo Famador II (also known as Pikoy) is a prominent contemporary Cebuano painter and digital artist from Busay , Cebu City, Philippines. Born on August 7, 1978, he is highly celebrated for his signature "happy art" style, which prominently captures the warmth of traditional Filipino culture, nostalgic childhood games, and daily moments of joy through vibrant, pastel-toned colors.  Artistic Background & Education Education: Graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines Visayas in 2000.  Early Career: Spent 16 years working in corporate concept design, product presentation, and early-stage digital animation before fully committing to full-time painting in 2016.  Creative Hub He returned to his roots in Busay, Cebu, where he opened a u...
Read more

Threads of Resilience: The Life and Symbolic Language of Lida Marie Aguilar

-
Image
  In the traditionally male-dominated sphere of regional Philippine art, certain figures emerge not by mimicking established classical tropes, but by carving out an entirely unique visual lexicon. Lida Maria Aguilar stands as a premier contemporary Cebuana visual artist. As one of the few prominent female mainstays within the prestigious Cebu Artists Inc. (CAI) group, Aguilar has built a reputation for recontextualizing everyday items into profound symbols of female identity, societal struggle, and human resilience. Through her distinct use of symbolic realism, her canvas serves as both a mirror and a shield for the modern Filipino woman. Biography and Artistic Foundations Lida Maria Aguilar’s journey is deeply intertwined with the cultural landscape of Cebu City. Developing her creative sensibilities in an environment saturated with classical realism—heavily influenced by the lineage of Martino Abellana—Aguilar chose a path that balanced high-level technical execution with modern...
Read more