The highlands of Scotland were immortalized by a movie and a subsequent TV series about a race of immortals. The Philippines has its own version of the highlands known collectively as the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) most famous of which is Baguio.

Largely due to its cool climate, Baguio is a major tourist destination and is considered the “summer capital of the Philippines”. Apart from its cool, crisp weather, Baguio is also home to one of the strongest artistic communities in the country.

It is not a big surprise that quite a number of past winners of the Philippine Art Awards actually came from Baguio including the Grand Prize winner of PAA 2010. Further review of the PAA records revealed that there are 8 winners of the PAA that came from the Highlands. These are: John Frank Sabado (PAA 2002 Jurors’ Choice Winner), Kawayan Thor De Guia (PAA 2004 Jurors’ Choice and AAA 2005 Jurors’ Choice Winner), Leonard Aguinaldo (PAA 2004 Jurors’ Choice and AAA 2005 Grand Prize Winner), Danilo Delos Reyes (PAA 2006 Jurors’ Choice), Jordan Mang-osan (Luzon 2007 Regional Winner), Arthur Lozano (Luzon 2007 Regional Winner), Joey Cobcobo (PAA 2010 Juror’s Choice Award of Excellence) and Augusto Elopre (PAA 2010 Grand Pize Winner).

These 8 artists represent the brightest and most promising artistic talents that Baguio has to offer and so these same artists were put together to form the Highland 8 exhibit.

It’s is also just fitting that the exhibit was held at the BenCab Museum as the National Artist BenCab was one of the founders of the Tam-awan Village which provided support, education and skills training to aspiring artists in Baguio. Almost all the Highland 8 artists have nurtured by Tam-awan Village at some point in their artistic development. Tam-awan Village is situated in a property owned by National Artist BenCab and is managed by the Chanum Foundation also initiated by BenCab.