Earth Day Event with HOME magazine. Artists: Wendy Fernando-Regalado, Ann Wizer, Robin Haines Merrill, Mark C. Merrill, Benji Reyes, Jim Orencio

April 16, 2009

Upper Room Art Gallery hosted an Earth Day event with HOME magazine

in one of the unsold developers units at Bamboo Flats, a 4 story

European style work/live space in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Bamboo Flats Art Project

The Upper Room Art Gallery has a new annex in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It's the "Bamboo Flats Art Project", at 718 NE Third Avenue. Project Director is Timothy Hamilton. Please check out the blogsite to get complete information and more photos. Stop by and see the work! http://www.bambooflatsartproject.blogspot.com/

Upper Room Art Gallery

wins 2008

"Best Art Gallery in

Downtown Fort Lauderdale"

from Riverwalk Trust/

Go Riverwalk Magazine !

"Light of the World Lamps" by Wendy Regalado

"Cocoon Lamp" 8 available $ 650
Incredible Room Dividers made from bamboo and handmade paper

with steel frame. 6 ft. x 6 ft. $5,000

"Lobster Lamps" 5 available

Handmade paper and bamboo

The organic paper used in these creations is an economic development project for the poor, in the Philippines. It is a church-based job creation program called "Village Handcrafters".

The Chairs are here!

We have 4 chairs from Benji Reyes, now here at the Upper Room Art Gallery in Fort Lauderdale Florida. 2 of the "Eena" chairs as seen above. This chair is made from recycled hardwoods, many of which are endangered or protected. Benji sources his wood from salvage crews demolishing ancestral homes and other buildings, in the Philippines. His furniture features a multitude of gorgeous woods...these Eena chairs have the following special woods: Kamagong, Narra, Yakal, Ipil, and Dungon. The Eena chairs are $2,200 each. We also have a Benru chair @ $3,000, and a special one-of-a-kind "Badjao" bench (Surfboard) for $4,000- made from Dao, Yakal and Kamagong. This furniture is not only gorgeous and meaningful, but surprisingly comfortable for hardwood. The back piece has a "give" to it, a little spring action.

See for yourself!

At Mark Merrill's show "Divine Design", Rockwell Makati, July 2007

Old timers

rekindled acquaintances

time

art

friends

compadres

See Malang (sir), Mark did a drawing of you, during one of the Saturday Group sessions

(fill in a comment as to what you think Malang is responding)

Malang is a former cartoonist, so he won't mind if we put a comment balloon on this and fill in the imaginary space as to what he might be saying.....

Here's a gathering of some of the Bricktown Bible Study Group, from way back in the mid-80's.

Cesar Legaspi, Tita Betty and Nestor DeVilla were also a part, but now gone on

to be with the Lord.

Jing Malic was also a member.

Romulo Olazo, Mauro Malang Santos, Popoy Vilchez, Robin Haines/Merrill.

Rockwell Show, July 2007 Makati, Metro Manila

Mark couldn't be present at his own show in Manila, so he appeared on the plasma screen

from a recent segment made by Palm Beach PBS affiliate WXEL, South Florida Today show.

Mark's tapestries were a big hit.
Jun Aves, filmmaker, with Robin Merrill
Our new show tradition: Crocodile tinapay (bread) from Antipolo, our mountain town.

Cut up and used in dips during the opening, obtained by friend Wendy Regalado.

"Fragrant Presence", a show of paintings by Mark C. Merrill at Onessimo Fine Art, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, March 2007

A major exhibition of 40 oil paintings by Mark C. Merrill

Thank you to Trish Halverson for the photos of the exhibit

Coming Soon

Ann Wizer's "Empty Legacy"

Chandeliers made from discarded cigarette lighters, harvested from the beach. Ann said that during a diving trip in the Philippines, she has picked up more than 300 lighters from the beach and reefs herself.

This piece is currently in Jakarta, Indonesia.

We hope to have it in the U.S.A. for display at

Upper Room Art Gallery's new site in Florida.

The Garbage Furniture

The work of Ann Wizer. This lounge was made from cut up non-biodegradable plastic garbage.

Ann has a non profit project in Jakarta, Indonesia, and employs the dump scavengers to collect and clean plastics from the dump, which she then uses to fashion into furniture art. Her jobs provide much better pay, and healthier jobs than their life as scavengers on the dumps.

Ann lives in Manila, and attended the same art school as Robin Merrill (although we didnt know each other at college, we met in Manila) - California College of Arts & Crafts.

Upper Room Art Gallery has one of these chairs here in Florida.

It is our hope and goal to begin a limited edition line of furniture made by Ann Wizer and sold here in the Upper Room Art Gallery in Fort Lauderdale. This will be an economic development project among the poor that we work with in the Philippines and Indonesia.