The Second Annual Panama City Beach en Plein Air Art Festival, held on November 14, 15, and 16, was a resounding success. Artists from across the Southeast and as far away as New York City gathered to paint the vistas and venues of the World’s Most Beautiful Beaches. En Plein Air is an event where artists leave their studios and paint “in the wild”, taking their canvases and brushes to create art in the open air. Subjects range from beach dunes to a jogging path to lily pads in a bayou.
The Panama City Beach en Plein Air Art Festival was hosted by the Gagnon Atelier and sponsored by Simon Malls (Pier Park), Beachy Beach Real Estate, My Paint Party, and Meaningful Life Counseling. At this year’s event, nearly 30 artists painted inside Pier Park, Aaron Bessant Park, Russel Fields Pier, and the beach. The public was able to watch and interact with the artists as they took blank canvases to completed paintings.
On Friday, two workshop demonstrations were available to registered artists to learn painting techniques in gouache and oils. That evening, the artists gathered at Beachy Beach Real Estate offices for an Opening Reception.
On Saturday, Artists competed in three Paint Offs, with a time limit of just under three hours for a morning, afternoon, and evening session. In each Paint Off, the artists were required to have their finished paintings back at the judges’ station within a specified time limit. Painting from 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. made for a long day, but the weather was perfect and the artists had a great time.
On Sunday, the eligible artworks were reviewed by the event’s judges, Tammy Marinuzzi from Gulf Coast State College, and Tana Plyler from My Paint Party, who chose winners, awarding first, second, and third prize, as well as Best of Show. These prizes were awarded at a special ceremony held at Beachy Beach Real Estate’s offices, which displayed all the artwork created on Saturday.
Aside from the prizes and awards, the artists connected, creating lasting friendships. Some even sold their paintings to people passing by who fell in love on the spot with their artwork.
According to Tim Gagnon, the festival’s organizer, “This annual event is about showcasing that Panama City Beach truly is one of ‘The World’s Most Beautiful Beaches,’ and the artist who came from afar certainly agreed! What better way to demonstrate that than by bringing artists together to create beautiful works of art, highlighting the incredible vistas and venues of our area? Doing this at Pier Park made perfect sense, as it is by far the location with the most visitors. It was exciting to see the public interacting with our artists.”
Prize winners:
Best of Show: Suzanne Dougherty
First Place: Lydia Ellis
Second Place: Ann Moeller
Third Place: Katherine Meade
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