Perhaps, it is its stirring environment – the lush mountain ranges and the scenic spots, coupled with cool breezy weather – that provides a creative backdrop and makes Baguio a natural haven for artists.

Replete with vibrant traditions, rich heritage, and colorful history amidst a modern and contemporary setting, Baguio is indeed the heart of arts and culture up north, and the Baguio artists want to keep it that way.

This was the main thrust of the recent Tam-awan International Arts Festival, organized by the Chanum Foundation and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts headed by chairman Vilma Labrador, which aimed to promote the gift of arts and culture, preserve the tangible and intangible Cordilleran traditions, and raise awareness of and respect for the indigenous customs and heritage.
 
A home for artists

Baguio is home to several prominent Filipino artists who have decided to take up permanent residence here, such as National Artist Benjamin “BenCab” Cabrera, Kidlat Tahimik Jr., Jordan Mang-osan, and Rishab, among others.

There are numerous artistic spots in the Summer Capital where both professional and amateur artists thrive concurrently. The Baguio Botanical Garden located along Leonard Wood Road is the home of the Baguio Arts Guild.

Then, there’s the Arko ni Apo, a gallery and studio of artist BenHur Villanueva, who decided to reside in Baguio following a decade-long teaching career at the Ateneo de Manila University. Tourists can sometime see the artist working on a sculpture in his studio.

Along the Asin Road, there are several woodcraft shops, collectively known as the Woodcarvers’ Village, where one can find a remarkable collection of carved wooden figures in varying sizes and shapes. Tourists can watch as local wood carvers create bulul sculptures and “stickmen.”

Several meters away is the BenCab Museum, the latest artistic tourist destination up north. Built on a promontory, the museum commands a breathtaking view of the adjacent garden, farm, mini-forest, the surrounding mountains and hills, and the South China Sea in the distant west.

More than just the home and studio of BenCab, the museum houses the National Artist’s personal artwork collections by Filipino masters such as Ang Kiukok, Juvenal Sanso, Victorio Edades, Roberto Chabet, Anita Magsaysay-Ho, and National Artist Jose Joya, among others.

Because of BenCab’s fascination for  the rich Cordilleran culture and traditions, the museum is also a repository of tribal artifacts and indigenous crafts of the northern Philippine highlands such as bulul rice granary gods, carved objects, utilitarian implements, and weapons of several mountain tribes.

The Artists’ Haven

Another popular artistic and cultural destination is the Tam-awan Village located in Pinsao Proper. With the unique amalgamation of indigenous aesthetics, exquisite Cordilleran craftsmanship, and Baguio’s distinctive natural features, the village is truly a haven for artists.

Managed by Chanum Foundation Inc., Tam-awan got its name from the word tanaw since one can have a good vantage point (usually from a deck on a clear day) of the South China Sea. It started as a tambayan of several artists, until it evolved into a tourist destination.

The artist group began to reconstruct Ifugao houses, with a vision to create a model village which can be accessible to people who don’t have the capacity to travel to other parts of the Cordilleras.

They built three knocked-down huts which were transported from Banga-an, Ifugao. Using the original materials and adding several cogon roofs, the traditional artisans reconstructed the houses and laid them out near an abundant spring to resemble a traditional Cordilleran village.

Deceptively small, an Ifugao house is compact but with quite a sophisticated architecture. The house is usually made with heavy hand-hewn timber, elevated to about shoulder height by four posts made of hardwood. It is amazing to note that the house can last several generations even when it is built without nails or hardware.

A Kalinga house, on the other hand, is more spacious but is also made with hand-hewn pinewood. Tam-awan boasts of its binayon, the traditional octagonal house of the Southern Kalinga province. At present, there are only three remaining binayon in the country.

Today, the village has seven Ifugao houses and two Kalinga houses. Each house is named after the areas where they come from. For the Ifugao houses, they have the Banga-an, the Anaba, Kinakin, Nagor hut, and the Dukligan or the fertility hut. The Kalinga huts are Luccong and Bugnay which serves as a lodging place and as one of the galleries, respectively.

Tourists who want to experience Cordilleran life can lodge in the various authentic Ifugao and Kalinga huts and immerse themselves in the village life. One can join the village men as they gather around the dap-ayan. Or traverse around the village and navigate through the natural terrain. One can also visit the several galleries where local artists exhibit their masterpieces.

In a time when change is inevitable, a visit to the Tam-awan Village reflects the idea that modern living and indigenous traditions can co-exist.