FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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blend studio
Sep 17, 2023, 3:09:16 PM9/17/23
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API Middle Tennessee
Contact: Joseph Gutierrez
Blend Studio
Contact:Ben C. Vitualla
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bahay (House) Works by Filipino Artists in Middle Tennessee.
Artists: Malaka Gharib, Heather Moulder, Aimee Cericos Cedro, Giro Gabayoyo, Benedict Cabatingan Vitualla
October 1, 2023-October 31, 2023
Opening Reception:
Fido: October 4, 2023; 6-9pm
Presented by API Middle Tennessee, five Filipino artists will be exhibiting at Fido and Bongo East Café during the month of October to coincide with Filipino American History Month. There will be a reception with drinks and light refreshments at Fido on October 4, 2023 from 6-9pm.Artists will be available at the opening with a short meet and greet panel at 7pm.The word Bahay is Tagalog for house in the Philippines. Author Carl Lorenz Cervantes describes the word Bahay as homes of people you care about. Bringing the artists together for the show
who come from different parts of the world to bring their own story about their home experience and the people they care about.
About API Middle Tennessee
API Middle Tennessee is an Asian and Pacific Islander-serving nonprofit organization working
towards racial justice by building API community, lifting, API voices, and celebrating API
identities. Learn more about them by visiting their website at apimidtn.org.
API Middle Tennessee is an Asian and Pacific Islander-serving nonprofit organization working
towards racial justice by building API community, lifting, API voices, and celebrating API
identities. Learn more about them by visiting their website at apimidtn.org.
Malaka Gharib
She is the author of "I Was Their American Dream," a graphic memoir published in 2019 about
being first-generation Filipino Egyptian American, which won an Arab American Book Award in
2020. Then in 2022, she published "It Won't Always Be Like This," a graphic memoir about her
summers in the Middle East.
By day, she works as a digital editor at NPR for Life Kit, a lifestyle podcast about health, finance,
relationships and more. Her comics and writing have been published in the Los Angeles Times,
Catapult, The Believer Magazine and The New Yorker. She has been profiled in The Washington
Post and The New York Times.
Some of her comics and zines are archived at the Smithsonian Institution, the New York Public
Library, the Arab American Museum and Barnard College’s Zine Library. She lives in Nashville,
Tenn., with her husband, son and Shiba Inu.
Heather Moulder
Heather Moulder is a graphic designer, printmaker, and piano player from Woodbury, TN. In
2011 she earned her BFA in graphic design from Middle Tennessee State University, and since
then she has worked for Hatch Show Print designing and printing letterpress posters. Heather
also serves as White Oak Program Coordinator at the Arts Center of Cannon County, where she
helps manage their gallery spaces and coordinates their long-running White Oak Craft Fair. She
creates her own work, freelance design projects, and the occasional song at her home studio,
Lordymercy.
Aimee Cericos Cedro
Dreamland REvisited ver.forever is a reimagined introspective work from quirky Filipina
performance artist and *occasionally* Burlesque star, Grandmafun. With hints of dumb
absurdity and mostly based on factual events, she imagines a world where humanity might
have been kind to one another and celebrated distinct and unique perspectives, traditions and
customs in this weird [ INSERT EXPLETIVE] thing we call life.
She is the author of "I Was Their American Dream," a graphic memoir published in 2019 about
being first-generation Filipino Egyptian American, which won an Arab American Book Award in
2020. Then in 2022, she published "It Won't Always Be Like This," a graphic memoir about her
summers in the Middle East.
By day, she works as a digital editor at NPR for Life Kit, a lifestyle podcast about health, finance,
relationships and more. Her comics and writing have been published in the Los Angeles Times,
Catapult, The Believer Magazine and The New Yorker. She has been profiled in The Washington
Post and The New York Times.
Some of her comics and zines are archived at the Smithsonian Institution, the New York Public
Library, the Arab American Museum and Barnard College’s Zine Library. She lives in Nashville,
Tenn., with her husband, son and Shiba Inu.
Heather Moulder
Heather Moulder is a graphic designer, printmaker, and piano player from Woodbury, TN. In
2011 she earned her BFA in graphic design from Middle Tennessee State University, and since
then she has worked for Hatch Show Print designing and printing letterpress posters. Heather
also serves as White Oak Program Coordinator at the Arts Center of Cannon County, where she
helps manage their gallery spaces and coordinates their long-running White Oak Craft Fair. She
creates her own work, freelance design projects, and the occasional song at her home studio,
Lordymercy.
Aimee Cericos Cedro
Dreamland REvisited ver.forever is a reimagined introspective work from quirky Filipina
performance artist and *occasionally* Burlesque star, Grandmafun. With hints of dumb
absurdity and mostly based on factual events, she imagines a world where humanity might
have been kind to one another and celebrated distinct and unique perspectives, traditions and
customs in this weird [ INSERT EXPLETIVE] thing we call life.
Giro Gabayoyo
Giro Yap Gabayoyo was born and raised in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines. A self-
taught artist, interior decorator, RN by profession and an avid traveler. After graduated from a
degree of Bachelor’s Science of Nursing and passed his licensure in the Philippines, he migrated
to USA 29 yrs ago. After living in different states , he settled here in Nashville. Currently
employed in University of Vanderbilt Medical Center as an orthopedic / trauma nurse.
Giro works in mediums including oil, acrylic, and mixed media. His style of art evokes expressive
Impressionism, abstract, still life, and landscapes. His love of nature, travel, and simple
mundane things in life, translate into the colors and emotional brushstrokes of his work.
As a nurse and an artist , he is constantly challenged to deal with traumatic changes, recovery,
and healing .Helping patients to deal with health issues reminds him as an artist that it’s ok to
express oneself in fear, anger, or grief. For him, creating art provides him with comfort, peace
of mind, and healing to balance his personal life with the world.
Giro Yap Gabayoyo was born and raised in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines. A self-
taught artist, interior decorator, RN by profession and an avid traveler. After graduated from a
degree of Bachelor’s Science of Nursing and passed his licensure in the Philippines, he migrated
to USA 29 yrs ago. After living in different states , he settled here in Nashville. Currently
employed in University of Vanderbilt Medical Center as an orthopedic / trauma nurse.
Giro works in mediums including oil, acrylic, and mixed media. His style of art evokes expressive
Impressionism, abstract, still life, and landscapes. His love of nature, travel, and simple
mundane things in life, translate into the colors and emotional brushstrokes of his work.
As a nurse and an artist , he is constantly challenged to deal with traumatic changes, recovery,
and healing .Helping patients to deal with health issues reminds him as an artist that it’s ok to
express oneself in fear, anger, or grief. For him, creating art provides him with comfort, peace
of mind, and healing to balance his personal life with the world.
Benedict Cabatingan Vitualla
Ben was born in Cebu, Philippines. In 1979 his family moved to the United States. He received a BFA in studio art from University of Memphis and a MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He is now living in Nashville, TN where his studio practice utilizes research as integral component on
responding to crime prevention and awareness. His collaborative mixed media projects are
created by using photography, sculpture, painting, and video.
Manage Blend Studio downtown Nashville for 12 years until 2022. Blend Studio was a space for
artist to create and developed work that engages in a collaborative practice that response to
contemporary topics. He was an adjunct professor at Austin Peay State University four 4 years.
Ben has exhibited work regionally and nationally in Nashville Public Library, Nashville, TN,
Material Art Space, Memphis, TN, Rawls Museum, Courtland, VA, and Salisbury University,
Salisbury, MD.
created by using photography, sculpture, painting, and video.
Manage Blend Studio downtown Nashville for 12 years until 2022. Blend Studio was a space for
artist to create and developed work that engages in a collaborative practice that response to
contemporary topics. He was an adjunct professor at Austin Peay State University four 4 years.
Ben has exhibited work regionally and nationally in Nashville Public Library, Nashville, TN,
Material Art Space, Memphis, TN, Rawls Museum, Courtland, VA, and Salisbury University,
Salisbury, MD.
"The Persimmon Harvest" Heather Moulder
” Island of Dreams”
Aimee Cericos Cedro
“Hands Up”
Benedict Cabatingan Vitualla
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