Plein Air Curacao Festival 2019

Art Foundation Curacao is organizing the fifth edition of the international

Plein Air Curacao Festival 2019

from 14 – 23 of March 2019
location gallery: Hanchi Snoa 27 in Punda (Willemstad).
Contact: artfoundationcuracao@gmail.com
Website: www.pleinaircuracao.com

After a casual happy hour event at the gallery, during Punda Vibes on Thursday evening, the Art Foundation Curacao held a well attended Meet & Greet for all participants, volunteers, buddies and host-families on Friday, March 15. 
As it is an international festival participants come from all over the world. They come from countries like Brazil, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Cuba, Trinidad, Costa Rica, the US, Canada and Ukraine. Of course, local artist also participate in one or more parts of the event.

Every two years the Plein Air Curaçao artists paint Curaçao on land (Plein Air), underwater (Plein Eau) and from above (Plein Aerial) because the island, its people and cultural objects make for very paintable subjects, while the documentation in paintings also aims to preserve a sampling for future generations.

The official opening of the event took place on Tuesday, February 19, 2019 when the organization felt sure that all participants had arrived. Many participants are recurrent visitors of the festival. The schedule for the week is packed with interesting workshops and places to paint. All over the island groups of artists are spotted, documenting and copying the island’s nature, architecture and its people on canvas.

All the artworks are made during the event. Blank canvasses, paper and cartons are stamped by the organization before participants can use them for the festival. All finished artworks are returned to the gallery to be exhibited and sold. Many paintings find their way to happy local buyers. Paintings of the local architecture and landscapes have always been popular on the island. Since the gallery is strategically located in Punda, it also draws many tourists who consider themselves lucky to encounter the ultimate souvenir in the form of a freshly created painting of a precious local sight.

Art Foundation Curacao every year meets the challenge to come up with new and different locations for the participants. This year the festival included for instance a boat trip to paint the refinery, an end of the day trip to the salt pans for beautiful sunset paintings and admission to the ‘belly’ of the Juliana-bridge for a great view of the harbor entrance and the capital. Apart from this activities like the Plein Eau, painting under water while scuba diving, are recurrent events of the Plein Air Curaçao program.

The festival is closed with a Paint Out Competition, held in Punda. Different categories ensure that the competition is open for everyone and every level. Each festival a new panel of judges is given the task the select winners in the different categories. This year’s jurors were: Michele Russel-Capriles, renowned visual artist Philippe Zanolino and Ismael Checo.

Winner of Open Category: Carlien De Witt Hamer.
Winner of Teen Category Kitana Rumnit.
Winner International Category: Shinhuey Ho.
Winner Local Category: Arthur Oster.

Art Foundation Curaçao is a non-profit organization founded based on the idea that people of Curaçao are creative and talented and that Curaçao has all the ingredients to be an art destination.

 

Posted by Josée Thissen-Rojer.