Expanding Panama’s heart at the Penonome Art Festival

The arts and social scene
with Dra Lourdes Quijada

In terms of longevity the Penonome Art Festival is a stripling. This year’s staging will be only number 5, but in a few short years it has built a reputation as both an  art, and social must-attend event. 

It’s a look, enjoy, gossip and take your ease day,  and  you could even end up enhancing your home with a purchase of exhibits from one of Cocle’s professional artists or even some of the works of students from the Penenome Art College who are invited to exhibit alongside their more experienced, but not necessarily more imaginative confreres

Last year, our arts commentator, Yolanda Van Der Kolk,  herself an artist of renown, described it as a “valiant exhibition”
“Not one crafty item to be seen” she wrote. “No painted feathers, woven baskets, hammocks, garden gnomes or molas were present in this contemporary exhibit.” She said her spirits were lifted as she viewed the familiar painted country scenes of Panama reminding her of what she had fallen in love with; the beauty of the people, small towns, colorful foliage and terrain, where time runs half speed, and on occasion backwards.
With an introduction like that, how could you stay away? Penonome is only 2 hours from Panama. No need to rush. The Festival is open  on Saturday, February 12 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Penonome Park. See you there.