"Sining ni Juan" is a series of blogs that features the creativity and resourcefulness of Filipinos in the field of Art - two particular attributes of a Filipino that were nurtured from time to time and were successfully employed and expressed to the community thru commitment and dedication. From traditional to modernized and digitized art and culture, “Sining ni Juan” will be the embodiment of Filipino artists as a whole and in a context of producing and sharing the most pleasing output of art.

Artistically Protecting Trees

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In a highly urbanized place, trees seldom grow and if any of them still stood out in today’s time, preserving them is very crucial work especially on century-old trees.

In this post, I would like to feature a different approach of protecting trees in an artistically unique, eye-grabbing, cost-efficient and low maintenance way. This group of artists from Cebu, the Ganchillo Artistico, a Cebu Crochet Group made a simple yet elegant way of showing their craft to the community. They wrapped up half of the trees’ trunks from the bottom with Crochet garments. They covered those trees with different alluring colors that added vibrancy to the place.

A crochet is a handcrafted garment, wearable or not. It is made up of colorful yarns patterned and looped with the use of hooked needle. I remember back when I was in my middle school, I did my first crochet craft, a bonnet. It took me several weeks to complete that but the hard work has paid off when I saw the output of my dedication. I could say that crochet is for protection. But for atleast, on human skin and never in my wildest imagination that it can be used for trees too.

It’s so fascinating to see that this group of artists does not only helped in protecting and preserving antique trees around the place but at the same time made the whole place a mini-tourists spot. We could potentially say that because of this alluring and intriguing kind of art, there will be more audiences coming in to see the spot. Needless to say, a huge impact on economical side of place like restaurants nearby. More costumers would choose to dine in after taking selfies and family shoots behind and in front of those lovely trees.

On the other hand, if you think that this group of artists has done the opposite way or let’s just say, harming those trees and depriving them to grow bigger and wider, then you’re just over thinking. Because crochets are stretchy type of garments and by the time those crochets reach its stretch strengths and limits, it will just tear apart slowly. As slow as those trees grow.

Place: Pueblo Verde, Lapu-Lapu City
Artists: Ganchillo Artistico
All photos are taken using smartphone and edited via Lightroom and Snapseed