Past Invited International Artists

In 1999, the International Invited Artist program was first introduced with Mr. Tadishiro Fukui, a master woodblock artist from Pensacola's Sister City of Hagiwara, Japan exhibiting at the festival.

Since then, the International Invited Artist has become a mainstay of the Festival. Many of the artists have come from Pensacola Sister Cities.

The Festival seeks to bring an international visual artist to Pensacola each year. If you are interested or know an artist who might be, please see the Call for Entries.

2022: Lara Sophie Benjamin, a painter from Nicosia, Cyprus.

2019: Esmeraldo Abalde, a painter from Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines.

2018: Abigail Nnaji, an artist from Abuja, Nigeria who paints and experiments with papercutting

2017: Yume Matsuo, an artist from Wakayama, Japan who creates "circle" drawings

2016: Diego Carbajal, a Peruvian artist/silversmith who creates sculpture.

2015: Alan Weston, a painter from Cornwall, England

2014: Yixin Lin, porcelain artist from Jingdezhen, China

2013: Tri Suwarno, Indonesian traditional puppet artist

2012: Rosanne Barr, a painter from Scotland.

2011: Andrea Spinelli, a painter from Florence Italy.

2010: Pierre Gable, a photographer and a poet from the Haute-Provence area of France.

2009: Artist was Joan Bailey, an artist from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

2008: Spanish painter Isabel Maria Sola Márquez.

2007: Textile artist Zenon Cirilo Pumayalli Quispe from Chinchero, Peru, in the Andes Mountains.

2005: Valentyn Filipenko, an oil-on-canvas painter from Odessa in the Ukraine

2003: Another husband and wife team, Mr. and Mrs. Lin Shin-Hui from our Sister City of Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

2002: Ceramic artist from Xalapa, Mexico, Ms. Leonor Anaya.

2001: Another Sister City artist, Luz Becerra from Miraflores, Peru. Ms. Beccerra works in leather.

2000: Mr. Mario Parra, a sculptor and his wife, Elizabeth Thompson, a textile artist visited from another Pensacola Sister City, Escazu, Costa Rica

1999: Tadishiro Fukui, a master woodblock artist from Pensacola's Sister City of Hagiwara, Japan