Sorry, Nemiranda

My mom once sneaked me and my brothers into the Nemiranda House.

We posed as a family looking for some art classes. We couldn’t afford it so we just snooped around.

There were plenty of paintings but I think he does sculptures with much much more emotion. 

I got lost and ended up in one of the bedrooms. With all that art around, it was easy to forget that the place is actually a house. I don’t know whose room I got into. Nemiranda has all of his kids living and creating art in that one big house.

The family’s art was all around. I saw an unfinished Bob Marley portrait on a sky blue background. I bet it was from one of the kids.

Here’s one piece that was especially endearing to me.

Angono

I’m writhing in misery because I missed this.

Angono is home to National Artists like Maestro Lucio San Pedro (for Music) and Carlos “Botong” Francisco (for Visual Arts). I place it on top of Malate and Baguio as one of my favorite bohemian spots in the Philippines. I love love love Angono, Rizal.

I love it so much I had a crush-crush* on one of its sons and a crush-crush-crush** on one of its daughters. The guy was an artist and the girl was a musician. A few years back, the girl invited me to their town fiesta and I was blown away.

The Higantes Festival has roots in the Spanish Colonial Era. The farmers thought it would be cool to caricature their hacindero masters with huge paper mache effigies.

Viva San Clemente! Patron Saint of Angono

I also loved the food! Fish and shellfish is great, straight out of the Laguna Bay. Then there’s fried itik, which is a local Rizal delicacy.

The restaurant/gallery/giftshop Balaw-balaw is a favorite of tourists and exotic cuisine lovers. I happen to like the laid-back atmosphere of Scrapyard Cafe.

And of course, there’s the art:

It all started in a cave somewhere in Angono.

So it went from this….

 

To this:

Here are some more cool links

Video from Inquirer.net  http://www.inquirer.net/vdo/player.php?vid=1936

Artworks http://www.neo-angono.com/festival/antos-gallery.html

More Artworks http://www.geocities.com/ateliersph

Cafes, Restos and Bars http://www.neo-angono.com/festival/hacienda-gallery.html

 And from a fellow blogger: http://www.ivanhenares.com/2008/03/art-gallery-overload-in-angono-rizal.html

 

*crush-crush = crush due to looks and talent

*crush-crush-crush = crush due to looks, talent and attitude

so a crush is just looks

Thank you B.C. !

Thank you Ivan About Town