Paete’s pride brings joy to Toronto

Paete’s pride brings joy to Toronto

FREDERICK MARQUINA with his 2012 Fairy 1st place

Bloor-Yorkville Ice Fest 2015

By Veronica C. Silva

What was once the Philippine’s pride is now Toronto’s joy.

This year’s first placer in Bloor Yorkville’s 10th annual Icefest is Frederick Marquina, a native of Paete, Laguna, the Philippines’s carving capital.

2012, Cat in The Hat,
1st Place, Peterborough

It was Marquina’s fourth year in a row to win the People’s Choice award, already an achievement to a relative newcomer to Canada. He kind of literally hit the ground running, winning awards left and right soon after landing in Toronto in 2011. He has also won similar awards in other competitions in Waterloo and Kitchener, Ontario.

For Marquina, who has been carving since his late teens even without formal training, “winning (carving competitions) is like icing on the cake.”

“I love to express my love of arts in everything I do, and ice carving is only one way of doing it,” said Marquina. “Winning this event (Icefest) four years in a row really means a lot; I am very proud to represent the Filipino community in all the events that I join in, and winning is like the icing on the cake.  It gives me the opportunity to get the buzz out about how talented and creative Filipinos are.”

He has been representing the Philippines in international competitions since the 1990s before moving to Bermuda in the early 2000s to work in a five-star hotel as a kitchen artist/carver. This experience landed him a job in a related five-star hotel in Toronto where his butter carvings have been a regular holiday showcase.

2015 Frozen Elsa,
Peterborough, Carvers Choice

Professionally, Marquina is a kitchen artist or master carver. He said he likes the challenges involved in carving food and ice.

“I love the challenge of racing (against) time and being able to adapt (to) changes in temperature,” he said. “If the temperature is too warm it might not be ideal for carving, as the ice might crack or I might not be able to “fuse,” or connect the pieces of ice together properly.  However, once I finish creating my design and when I see people admiring and being amazed by what I did that is very satisfying.”

For the recent Icefest, he designed a T-Rex dinosaur in line with this year’s theme of “Frozen in Time.”

He particularly enjoys the irony that for someone who comes from a tropical country where ice and snow are practically non-existent, he has excelled.

Marquina
with his T rex, 1st Place,
Bloor Yorkville Ice Fest 2015

“I think that is the most asked question each time I win a competition — how can a Filipino win an ice carving competition as it does not even snow in the Philippines?” he said. “I myself don’t know how to ski, snowboard or skate, but ice carving is something ice-related that I can do well.”

Marquina also does wood carving in his spare time, when he’s not busy working as a master carver or when he’s not attending to his own business of food and ice carving.

“I also do wood carving… this is where it all began… this is also what I want to come back to when I retire and can no longer be in the cold temperature — sit in my porch and do wood carving.”

But since retirement is not yet evident in the spirits and face of this new Canadian, for now, he finds satisfaction in surprising people with his new creations.

“I like expressing my art in different ways and forms. For example, with fruits, people do not often think that you can do something special with them and when they see it they are surprised how versatile fruits can be, so it is fun!”

Photos courtesy of F. Marquina