Culture Carousel: Cynthia Arre advocates forest conservation through art, by Ms. Irene Obligacion (The Sunday Times, June 18, 2023)

Cynthia Bauzon-Arre, from ‘big idea’ to Philippine forest conservation projects fueled by design, by Ms. Chaela Mirano (Adobo Magazine, February 2023)

We featured five trees under Binhi’s Flagship Species Initiative – the Mapilig of BacMan, Red Lauan of Negros, Igem Dagat of Burgos, Almaciga of Mt. Apo, and Katmon-Bayani of Leyte which are some of the most rare and threatened Philippine native species. I made line art for each of the flora based on reference photos the EDC team sent, and we provided them to the participants upon registration.

Here’s a video showing highlights from the 4-week online event (please hit the play button) –

 

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Our workshop participants were also treated to trivia games in which plush toys of Binhi’s flagship fauna, the Apo Myna and the Golden-Crowned Flying Fox, were the prizes. The plushies were handmade by EDC’s partner community organizations in Sorsogon.

 

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One tree painted = one tree planted. Apart from the fun games and prizes, Binhi planted native trees in the name of the first 20 participants from each session (100 all in all) to submit their artworks. The trees and the tree-growing activities can be monitored in an interactive Communitree Portal.

On Philippine Arbor Day, June 25, a virtiual 360 exhibit of the participants’ outputs was shared on FB. Zoom, scroll, and view the works here. I had a great time spending my mornings with the participants all month (a number of them attended all the sessions and there were a lot who attended more than one) so it was such a pleasure seeing all the beautiful paintings!

At the closing of the final session, the wonderful EDC Binhi team surprised me by presenting five native trees (one for each workshop) that they planted in my name at their nursery in Antipolo.

Hoping to visit and see these trees in person soon! <3

Below are the pattern designs along with sample applications. You can see the complete line of products they’re available on in my C.A.P. Artist Page.

Banaba Pattern Philippine Native Trees Tote Bag

Ilang-Ilang Pattern Philippine Native Trees Throw Pillow

Katmon Pattern Philippine Native Trees Wallpaper

The designs on acrylic trays and risers. (Featured in this NoliSoli post!)

Sharing also this photo of the three designs on throw pillows in my good friends Earnest and Buddy Zabala’s home.

 

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Inviting you to check out my C.A.P. Artist Page to see what other items the designs are available in. 🙂

Promoting Forest Conservation and Heritage Preservation Through Art | DZUP Atin ‘To Interview, March 23, 2021: Link

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Drawing Native Trees for Conservation – Presentation + Demo | Ang InK, November 2020: Link

Business Mirror, Sept. 27, 2020: Link

Arts for Conservation Episode | MUNI on this Podcast, August 2020: Link

MB Lifestyle, July 17, 2020: Link

This app is completely FREE and was built by Gabby Lacuesta of Funny Cow Games under my ongoing Grant with Forest Foundation Philippines. (You can read Gabby’s notes on building the game as a touching tribute for his Dad here.)

The project sprouted as early as May 27, 2020 when Gabby messaged me on IG to talk about building a game around some of my illustrations. He had already built an engine for a memory game app back then for his own children, and I already had some native tree, leaf, flower, and fruit illustrations. Combining them into a fun match-up game that could teach kids (and kids at heart!) about our indigenous trees was the dream project. But how to fund it?

The very next day, I messaged Schenley Anne Belmonte, Communications Officer of FFP to ask if we could explore making a memory game app as I was already in the process of re-allocating my Grant funds since a lot of our planned activities couldn’t materialize due to the qurantine. Shen and the rest of the project management team, Forester & Program Officer Diane Estephanie Bagui and Knowledge Management Specialist Bryan Joel Mariano, were excited about the idea. The next step was for me to write and submit a formal project and budget proposal to FFP along with a request for the realignment of funds. Fortunately this got approved, so then I needed to gather all the materials (illustrations + info on the native species), create graphics, and send them over to Gabby.

The title of the game, “ForesTree” – which I personally think is pretty catchy — was the brainchild of the Forest Foundation Ph project team. Gabby suggested adding music and voice overs to make the game more playable, so I got in touch with my good friends, award-winning musician Jazz Nicolas (who composed a lot of the Itchyworms’ greatest hits, and more!), and Patti Malay (GM of FleishmanHillard Manila and also a radio DJ and podcast host so her voice might sound very familiar to you 🙂 ) to lend their skills. So grateful they said yes despite their busy schedules! After a quick briefing, Jazz composed four beautiful music tracks + incidental sound clips in less than two days, and we ended up using all of them in the game. Patti, meanwhile. articulated the species names clearly and perfectly, with some of the more difficult ones guided by our resident forester Diane.

 

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And what you see above is the result of months of building, testing, and discussing. Would also like to thank Scientist (and fellow FFP Grantee) Dr. Denise Margaret Matias for her very helpful builds during the game testing phase.

Hope you’ll enjoy playing and learning from it! The game is completely free* and you can download it from these links: iOS | Android

*Full transparency: Forest Foundation Philippines and I do not earn anything from the downloads or use of the ForesTree App

Also thrilled to have been interviewed in NoliSoli.Ph where I was asked to talk about the #DrawNativeTreesPh campaign plus how my advocacy got realized, and also how the collaboration with Forest Foundation Philippines began. [ GO ]

Was also invited by Team Asia to be a guest in Part 3 of their live webinar series, “Experience Online” with the theme, “Live to Drive Passion.” The other guests were singers Karylle Yuzon and Acel Bisa van Ommen, and dancer Stephen Biadona. We all talked about how our passions fuel us to pursue our advocacies and live with purpose. You can watch the hour-and-a-half-long webinar on Team Asia’s FB page via this direct link to the video.

The nice thing about Zazzle is that they will fulfill all the orders from me, which is awesome because they ship internationally. And because they have a vast range of products, you can tell me if you want the designs on something other than a notebook. For example, a t-shirt:

Native Birds in the Philippines T-Shirt
by cynthiabauzonarre

Or a kitchen towel (lol):

Filipino Breakfast and Meryenda (Snacks) Pattern Kitchen Towel
by cynthiabauzonarre

And of course the crowd-favorite postcards and notecards are all there:

“Para sa ‘yo” (For you) Philippine Flowers Card
by cynthiabauzonarre

“Mamulaklak” (Bloom) Filipino Motivational Postcard
by cynthiabauzonarre

***
Since I was already making new patterns out of my food illustrations, thought I’d give you some free mobile lockscreen wallpapers. Download links are below the image. 🙂

Download links:
Pinoy food (Design 1) mobile lockscreen wallpaper (750 x 1334)
Pinoy food (Design 2) mobile lockscreen wallpaper (750 x 1334)

My work with Forest Foundation Philippines was featured recently on Adobo Magazine. Hope you can read the full interview, here. 🙂

At that time, it hadn’t been publicized that he unfortunately contracted Covid-19, and I only learned about it when he accepted my follow request and I got to see the photos on his feed. He also sent me this very touching direct message, and with his permission, I shared the gist of our encounter with my private list on IG Stories, and a few days later, on Twitter. Reposting the thread below for documentation.

https://twitter.com/arncyn/status/1250628657527193600?s=20

While trying to deal with pandemic-related uncertainty, stress, and anxiety, I’ve been thinking on and off if art ~ the only thing I can do – had any use at all, but Sir Howie’s message (above) made me see its worth even at a time like this.

Sir Howie also showed me an awesome photo of him, his wife, and son, posing by the roots of a huge Dao tree and wondered if he could commission me to draw it. I don’t accept portrait commissions anymore, but this was different. Around that time, his essays, “Ako si Patient 2828” and “The Anti-virus Warriors in My Blood” had already been published on the GMA website, and I read both of them in one sitting.

While drawing, I kept thinking that there’s no way I can accept any payment after he had been through so much suffering. It was going to be my gift for all the good he has done, and is doing – undergoing even more tests in the name of medical research, and continuing to share what he knows in order to help others.

After I told him, he sent yet another touching message.

https://twitter.com/arncyn/status/1250629901880705025?s=20

If there’s anything I will remember during these past 1.5 months of extreme-whatever lockdown, this experience would be it. In case you get to read this, thank you, Sir Howie. I’m actually the one who received a “gift” through our encounter because it has inspired me all the more to keep creating and helping in any way possible. 🙂

Edit (April 24, 2020): I just learned that our exchange was also featured in an article on the GMA News website.

Philippine Forest Blooms 2020 Desk Calendar and Notepad Set,a follow-up to my collaborative project with Forest Foundation Philippines in 2018, the Philippine Forest Blooms Planner.

Philippine Forest Fruits Set of 30 Postcards, another collaboration with Forest Foundation Philippines featuring native fruit-bearing trees (an their fruits) this time.

(Can’t say enough how grateful I am to be working with such a wonderful organization that does a fantastic job of empowering people and organizations to take care of the country’s forests.)

The third project is different, but in a way also the same:

UTMeArtPh x Fiesta T-shirt for Uniqlo Philippines, a shirt design inspired by the Baguio flower festival “Panagbenga,” but featuring Philippine native flowering tree species.

I was also interviewed by Hinhin.com

 

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This Dalagang Pilipina Rocks: “Maria Clara” artist Cynthia Bauzon-Arre opens up about building confidence, working with rock stars, and the healing power of art

I was roaming around the Sakuya Konohana-kan by myself in Osaka when I received the messages from Tricia and Pierra of Hinhin, saying that they wanted to feature me on the site. I love the clothes and the general mood and idea of Hinhin.com so, powered by my pocket wifi, I chatted with them  in between attempts to take photos of papyrus leaves and desert candles. 😀  It was also my first time to be photographed modeling a dress (from Hinhin’s 2019 collection), and that was quite a treat. 😉

Ending this update with some free downloads for you. Here are mobile and desktop wallpapers starring a few native flowering and fruit-bearing trees. I’ve uploaded the low-res verions here but you can go to Forest Foundation’s site to get the high-res. 🙂