Biographical notes Oswaldo de León Kantule He taught himself to paint in the 1980; and he received his Fine Arts Degree from the University of Panama in 2001. He has also studied Interior Design at the School of Architecture of the University of Panama (1986-1990), and Textile and Industrial Print Design (1995) at the University del Istmo. He has won several contests in photography and in painting in Panama and in 2004 he received a Research Grant from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. He has participated in fifteen individual exhibitions and forty group exhibitions in museums, art and cultural centers, libraries and galleries in Panama, the United-States, France, Mexico and Canada, among others. His work can be found in private collections in different countries in the Americas and Europe. Some of his work has been used as illustrations for book and magazine covers, as well as for theater posters and CD album covers in Panama, Australia and Canada. He has given lectures on Kuna art and culture in the United-States: Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts, American University and Howard University (Washington DC), and Trinity College (Hartford, Connecticut), and in Canada: the University of Western Ontario (London), and the Textile Museum of Toronto. He is affiliated with the National Union of Artists of Panama (UNAP) and the “Galu Dugbis” Association of Kuna Painters. |