Wolfsonian’s ‘Big World’ Skews the View of Landscapes

“The City,” 1936, Virginia Berresford (American, 1904–1995) New York City, Oil on canvas, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection at Wolfsonian-FIU is part of the exhibition “The Big World: Alternative Landscapes in the Modern Era” at the Wolfsonian-FIU through Sunday, June 2, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Wolfsonian-FIU)

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “landscape painting?” Perhaps it’s a pastoral scene from the English countryside, something by John Constable or Thomas Gainsborough. Maybe it’s a scene from the American West, a Monument Valley picture worthy of a John Ford cowboy classic. Or maybe it’s one of Claude Monet’s iconic impressionist works.

All of these are conventions that the Wolfsonian-FIU in Miami Beach wants to dispel in the design-focused museum’s latest exhibition. “The Big World: Alternative Landscapes in the Modern Era” is about changing our ideas around one of the most well-known genres of art. But instead of gardens and farmland, we see cityscapes and industrial scenes, workers laboring on farms and in factories, and even scenes of war and turmoil.

Painting, “Agro Pontino Redento (The Pontine Marshes Redeemed),” 1940
Antonio Federico Leonardi (Italian, 1901–1977) Genoa, Italy. Oil on canvas. The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection at Wolfsonian–Florida International University. (Photo courtesy of Wolfsonian-FIU)

“Our collection really contains a lot of materials relating to urbanization, to industrialization, to the expansion of the built landscape,” says Lea Nickless, who curated the show with the Wolfsonian’s chief curator Silvia Barisione.

“The Big World” opens on Thursday, Sept. 21 and runs through June 2, 2024.

The two conceived of the show as a way to make do with limited space and resources while the museum building remains only partially open due to renovation. They drew from the institution’s existing collection, featuring art and objects dating from 1850 to 1950, and its idiosyncrasies were a factor in determining the show’s concept and focus. Mitchell “Mickey” Wolfson, Jr., the museum’s founder, didn’t collect popular genres like impressionism, the “big revolution in landscape painting,” according to Barisione, which was defined by “plein air” pictures of outdoor scenes. What the museum could draw on were movements like futurism and Art Deco that emphasized the way the world was being changed by human activity.

“It’s really kind of interesting to see artists and designers really responding to these changes with, almost kind of elation in a lot of cases,” says Nickless. “I think it’s ironic, in a way. You’re looking back and seeing how these visions are being used.”

Painting, “Transparent Sierra City,” c. 1930 Rinaldo Cuneo (American, 1877–1939) San Francisco, California. Oil on canvas. The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection at Wolfsonian-FIU. (Photo courtesy of Wolfsonian-FIU)

The show is split into three sections in roughly chronological order, which takes into account the move from the agrarian and rural to the industrial and urban. “The Natural World” is the start with traditional scenes of mountains, forests, and farmland. Soon, in “The Built Environment,” industry begins to take over, and the wild landscapes are replaced with factories, skyscrapers, and cityscapes. Barisione in particular refers to one painting, one by Norman Wilkinson showing a power station with massive smokestacks rising above a riverbank.

“I see them as the new monuments in the landscape,” says Nickless.

The show also does away with the idea that a proper landscape has to be a flat, two-dimensional image. Plenty of other objects feature in the show, demonstrating the genre’s use in applied arts and design. The biggest and most impressive of them all is a Baldwin baby grand piano created for the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, carved ornately from mahogany by Clement J. Barnhorn and featuring side panels painted by Joseph Henry Gest. There are a few ceramics, including a George Schreiber vase depicting Manhattan skyscrapers and an ornate Wedgwood vase with a Chinoiserie dragon-and-temple motif.

Piano, American Art Piano, 1904. For the 1904 St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition Joseph Henry Gest (American, 1859–1935), painter Clement J. Barnhorn (American, 1857–1935), sculptor Baldwin Piano Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, manufacturer Mahogany, paint, metal, ivory. The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection at Wolfsonian-FIU. (Photo courtesy of Wolfsonian-FIU)

The Wedgwood take on Oriental themes contrasts well with an object of actual Asian origin, one with a much darker subtext: An ornately painted black kimono from Imperial Japan depicting the invasion of Manchuria. Part of the Wolfsonian’s collection of propaganda kimonos, it features a soldier on a white horse waving the Japanese “rising sun” flag, today considered a symbol of the country’s militarist past equated by some with the Nazi swastika. Several other objects in the show feature political undertones, from Works Progress Administration murals to a souvenir plate showing Adolf Hitler’s Bavarian chalet. Nickless says the museum aims to encourage people to explore the intent behind these artworks.

Kimono, Cavalry Officer in China, 1930s Japan. Painted and embroidered silk, metal thread. Gift of Erik Jacobsen at Wolfsonian-FIU. (Photo courtesy of Wolfsonian-FIU)

“That’s another layer that, when you’re looking at each of these images, you kind of have to try and figure out a little bit. Like ‘Okay, what was the purpose of this image? Was it used to promote an idea? To promote an agenda? Is it the underlying message of a national entity, or of a corporate entity?’”

Painting, “La bataille pour la ville” (“The Battle for the City”), 1944. Raymond Daussy (French, 1918–2010) Paris. Oil on canvas. The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection at Wolfsonian–Florida International University. (Photo courtesy of Wolfsonian-FIU)

It’s the show’s third part, “The Battle for the Land,” which perhaps feels the most prescient to our era. Artists begin to contend with the dark side of industry and progress, the continent-spanning wars that dominated the early 20th century. Artists like Raymond Daussy depict cities in ruins; others show the effects of human progress on the surrounding landscape. One by Virginia Beresford shows a man looking upon a gnarled, dead tree in the midst of a barren field; skyscrapers rising in the distance behind it.

“Our founder Mickey Wolfson was always looking at the iconography of the defoliated tree,” says Nickless, “how it’s almost a symbol of degradation of the land.”

WHAT: “The Big World: Alternative Landscapes in the Modern Era”

 WHEN: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday. Opens Thursday, Sept. 21 through Sunday, June 2, 2024.

 WHERE: The Wolfsonian-FIU, 1001 Washington Ave., Miami Beach

 COST: $12 for adults; $8 for students with ID, seniors, and children ages 6 to 18. Free for Florida residents; students, faculty, and staff of the State University System of Florida; children under six; disabled visitors and caregivers; and museum members.

 INFORMATION: 305-531-1001 or  wolfsonian.org

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

Meet the purveyors of Miami’s printmakers row

Ingrid Schindall moved her IS Projects from Fort Lauderdale to Miami’s Little River-Little Haiti neighborhood not far from Tom Virgin’s Extra Virgin Press. (Photo courtesy of Brooke Frank)

Finding workspace can be a challenge for South Florida artists, especially when one’s practice requires an etching press, book-making equipment or letterpress. But Miami is in luck. Settled into the Little River-Little Haiti area are two exciting options: Tom Virgin, local artist, art teacher, professor and master printmaker, runs Extra Virgin Press on NW 2nd Avenue, where he works with fellow artists, writers, poets and the community. IS Projects, formerly in Fort Lauderdale, is nestled on NW 73rd Street, in a capacious space where artist-owner Ingrid Shindall offers a suite of printmaking, workshop and book arts opportunities to local artists, artisans and to the book-making and print-curious.

Both shops have letterpresses and join a few other letterpress shops in the area. Yet outside of university settings, it’s difficult to find the kind of operations that Virgin and Shindall oversee.

One of the most engaging aspects of printmaking is the materiality of the medium: the thickness and feel of the paper; the smell of the inks, the hand and arm movements when cutting woodblocks or turning the press wheel.

Virgin’s studio is all about actual and metaphorical light. Rays from a skylight illuminate the well-ordered space where woodcut prints adorn the walls. His two letterpress machines are placed diagonally in order to optimize the space. Flat files and drying racks are against the walls and a mellow wood cabinet sits close to his desk.

Miami printmaker Tom Virgin at Red Dragonfly Press at the Anderson Center at Tower View in Red Wing, Minn. (Photo courtesy of Scott King/Red Dragonfly Press)

“I always wanted to make art,” says Virgin, who grew up in Michigan, where his art odyssey began with the study of painting and printmaking. He then moved to South Florida where he earned a BFA from Florida Atlantic University and an MFA with a printmaking focus at the University of Miami. Afterward, Virgin taught at area schools, universities and colleges, while crafting a career as a fine artist. He is represented in private and public collections, and has won numerous awards and grants. He opened his current shop in 2017, in a building close to and owned by the Emerson Dorsch gallery principals, longtime supporters of Virgin and his vision.

“There is a huge community that makes this place exist, and that has made this little letterpress into a small community press,” Virgin said. Groups, like O Miami Poetry Festival, and Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator come to Virgin, and he often also donates his time, energy and his artwork. He is deeply invested in collaborations with other artists, writers and poets on art books – sumptuous volumes with thick creamy papers, combining words and images. “I am a bookworm, and a lot of what I’ve been doing has been books,” he said, noting that he also teaches book arts, including how to print, sew and bind them. “Books have been part of my practice for a long time.”

Still, his print work is unmistakable, with wry humor and masterful use of deep and shallow space. Hanging on the wall is “13 Views of Mount Hood: Through Downtown,”  homage to storied Japanese master printmakers Hokusai and Hiroshige, which conjure thoughts of nature and the civilization built upon it.

“13 Views of Mount Hood: Through Downtown,” 2010, woodcut print on Okawara, by Tom Virgin, one in a series of 13 prints that were made in an artists residency at Oregon College of Art and Craft as an homage to Hokusai and Hiroshige, heroes of print. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Only four miles away, IS Projects has a dedicated book-making area that Gutenberg might envy. Schindall moved to Miami from her Fort Lauderdale space when her rental building was slated for demolition. Reaching out to friends and colleagues, she came upon Matthew Vander Werff and Ashley Melisse Abess, principals of MVW Partners, which had assembled a group of properties in the Little River area. The Miami-based real estate firm’s focus is on urban culture which honors the neighborhood and attracts interesting and diverse tenants in the arts, retail and restaurant spaces.

“IS Projects was a natural fit for the neighborhood as Ingrid offers so much to the community from an education, gallery and fine art perspective,” MVW commented by email. “Historically we have rented studio spaces to local artists and current tenants include Dalé Zine, Bill Brady, Kelly Breeze and Brian Butler.”

In 2021, AJ Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in MVW Partners’ Little River portfolio. Local talent is a priority for both parties, according to MVW, who also said that Schindall was connected to MVW Partners via current tenants and friends of the neighborhood.

“It was very Cinderella the way it all came together,” says Schindall. Over a month, she and her team moved several letterpresses, including a behemoth Heidelberg, screen printing equipment, and a papercutter large enough to hold a seance on. The doors opened in June of 2022.

Tom Virgin, “Seaoats (Uniola paniculata),” Diptych Relief print on Chinese paper with gold leaf, (Photo courtesy of the artist)

It’s been a journey for Schindall. A Delray Beach native, she studied art with a focus on printmaking at The Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, and had several residencies, including an apprenticeship in South Africa at David Krut Arts Resource before deciding to return to South Florida.

A contemporary artist whose main medium is prints and books, she explores both. One small area of the space is reserved for her work. On the wall is one of her recent works that deals with an issue close to her heart: the ocean.

Titled “Best Laid Plans,” folds of found water management surveys, with the ocean imagery screen-printed on top, cascade downward, toward a poem written by Schindall. It’s somewhere between a print and an artists’ book.

“My current work is exploring the material language of the book as a signifier or authority – that is where the book structure comes from: The imagery and the message, there are a lot of different ways it can be interpreted,” she says.

“Best Laid Plans” references Ingrid Schindall’s concerns and thoughts about the ocean. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

The surface of the ocean has multiple meanings for Schindall. It is meditative and gives rise to ideas of self-reflection. And, as global warming accelerates, the ocean is increasingly an urgent environmental focus.

Schindall is not afraid to push the traditional boundaries of her craft, while repurposing discarded materials, like the old blueprints.

“I’ve been playing around with the idea of printmaking as a practice of tool making that makes particular marks,” she says. “I love making tools, I love making things that can do other things.” That fascination comes naturally. As a child, much of her after-school time was spent with her grandmother, Signy Schindall, who ran a business buying and selling antique dolls. Many afternoons were spent restringing miniature arms and legs, she recalls.

The range of offerings at IS is broad. Along with lessons there are classes, and the space can be rented for private events. There are residencies and internships, while Schindall and her team work with other artists on special editions of prints and books.

Ingrid Schindall and Amanda Linares next to type cabinets at IS Projects (Photo courtesy of Johnny Zhang)

Both Virgin and Schindall provide a range of traditional commercial services, such as creating posters, business cards, invitations and signage. Schindall’s commercial business is named Nocturnal Press.

The printmakers have positioned themselves in an ever-expanding artists community that will eventually be home to Oolite Arts, which evolved from Art Center South Florida. Oolite will move from its Lincoln Road space in Miami Beach to a new 26,850 feet campus on NW 72nd Street, where it will offer artist studios, residency and community programs, and art classes.

WHAT: Extra Virgin Press

WHEN:  9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment

WHERE: 5920 NW Second Avenue, Miami

INFORMATION: 786-385-3838 or extravirginpress.com

 WHAT:  IS Projects

WHEN: 11 a.m. – 7 p.m., Tuesday through Friday: by appointment Saturday and Sunday

 WHERE: 290 NW 73rd Street, Miami

INFORMATION: 305-646-1065 or isprojectsfl.com

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

Ernest Withers’ Exhibit Captures Legacy in Photos of Black History

Women with signs denouncing segregation photographed by Ernest Withers during the Civil Rights Movement are part of a free exhibition in Opa-locka at The Arts and Recreation Center through Thursday, Aug. 31. (Photo courtesy of Ten North Group)

History can be erased or obscured if nothing is done to prevent it. This is particularly true for Black history. And this is where Ernest Withers’ photography steps in.

“It provides historical truth and visual proof that African-American history and its culture are important,” says Rosalind Withers, Ernest’s daughter and director of the Withers Collection Museum & Gallery in Memphis.

Now in its final week, through Thursday, Aug. 31, Withers’ photography is on display at The Arts and Recreation Center (The ARC), in Opa-locka, in an exhibition titled “Flash Points: The Photography of Ernest C. Withers.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., left, and Rev. Ralph Abernathy riding the first desegregated buses in Montgomery, Alabama, on Dec. 21, 1956. (Courtesy of Ten North Group)

Curated by Ten North Group, in partnership with Rosalind Withers, the exhibit showcases 41 original photographs by Memphis-born African-American photojournalist, Ernest C. Withers, who extensively documented pivotal moments of the Civil Rights Movement.

Born in 1922, he died at the age of 85 in October 2007 in Memphis. The exhibition is representative of his 60-year career and features striking images from the nation’s Civil Rights battles, including the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-56; the Poor People’s campaign; Tent City in Fayette County, Tennessee; the Memphis sanitation strike; and the 1955 Sumner, Mississippi, murder trial of Emmett Till.

“These images reflect people and communities at the precipice and center of change. We see people actively working towards resisting oppression. Working towards self-preservation in a world that has discarded, discounted, and devalued them,” says Joel Diaz, director of the Ten North Arts Foundation and the co-curator of “Flash Points.”

Highlighting how Withers’ work shaped the visual narrative of the Civil Rights Movement, Diaz says that Withers’ images capture the intimate portraits of the Southern landscape during the Civil Rights era. Many of the moments are documented in large part because of Withers’ photography, he adds.

“In Flash Points,” Diaz continues, “the images–presented alongside one another–provide a chronology of the events that ushered forward new experiences for Black Southern people. The black and white film photographs hold emotive sensitives, tensions, and commemorations- that together offer a visual language of the era.”

The exhibit focuses on historical moments that ignited actions and ultimately influenced outcomes within the Civil Rights Movement. It features images of Tent City in Fayette County, Tenn., which was the result of voter registration/suppression efforts in the city that led to the evictions of many of Fayette County’s Black residents.

“Flash Points” also features images of the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the Memphis Thirteen, a group of 13 African American first graders who integrated Memphis schools in 1961. The exhibit also showcases photographs depicting the aftermath of 14-year-old Emmett Till’s murder in 1955. He was kidnapped, tortured and lynched, his body dumped from the Tallahatchie River Bridge in Mississippi. Withers stood as one of the few photographers to visually record the trial proceedings.

The “Flash Points: The Photography of Ernest C. Withers” exhibit is happening in a particular context for Black history in Florida.

Rosalind Withers at the opening of “Flash Points The Photography of Ernest C. Withers,” at the The Arts and Recreation Center (The ARC), Opa-Locka. (Photo courtesy Ten North Group)

“Currently, the Florida state governor has made it clear that African-American history and culture should not be taught in any educational platform to the constituents of his state. He feels that African-American history is not significant,” says Rosalind Withers, the famous photographer’s daughter. “That’s not the case. This exhibit is clearly to exemplify the importance of letting the public know that this history exists, that this is not just African-American history, it is American history.”

In February of 2011, Rosalind Withers established the Withers Collection Museum & Gallery with the purpose of safeguarding her father’s pictorial legacy.

Rosalind goes on to explain the importance of imagery and how it can change the course of history, even today, citing the example of the George Floyd video that went viral two years ago and sparked protests around the world.

“Imagery,” she explains, “is profoundly important. It is something that is etched in people’s minds. And when you get that etched in people’s minds, it’s not something that is erased. It’s something that is retained. And the world in which we live in today, that world lives on imagery.”

For Rosalind Withers, hosting the exhibition in Miami, particularly in a state where these events might not be widely acknowledged as significant, holds immense importance. “Sharing these images becomes crucial as visual representation aids people in retaining the memory of these pivotal events that shaped the trajectory of history,” she says.

Ernest Withers’ lens not only documented the Civil Rights Movement but also immortalized legendary figures in the realms of entertainment and sports. Within the music industry, he captured artists who were then striving to establish themselves, including Al Green, Tina Turner, B. B. King, and Isaac Hayes. His portfolio extended to the world of sports, encompassing shots of Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Roy Campanella, Willie Mays, Charley Pride, and the players of the Negro league baseball.

Photographer Ernest C. Withers. (Photo courtesy of The Withers Collection Museum and Gallery)

While the Flash Points exhibition features only 41 images from Ernest Withers’ body of work, it’s important to note that the collection of the Civil Rights Movement photographer is quite extensive since it spans over six decades.

Rosalind Withers, entrusted with the guardianship of her father’s legacy, shares that the collection encompasses a minimum of 1.8 million images. Only a fraction of these images, specifically less than one percent amounting to around 17,000 photographs, have been digitized to date.

“For me personally, when I first got the responsibility as being his trustee, I had to walk into the room where his whole body of work was. And it was just very daunting. You walked in there, it just looked like a mass of material that was just everywhere, and it was endless,” she says.

Rosalind Withers concludes that photography is important because it is proof that history happened, and it can’t be erased. Citing the account of the Black Wall Street massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she said there was an attempt to bury history in this case. And it was successful for some time. The massacre began during Memorial Day weekend in 1921 in Tulsa. It wasn’t until 1996, that the Oklahoma legislature authorized a formal investigation into the events.

Emmett Till’s uncle, Moses Wright and his friend in Mississippi, circa 1955. (Photo courtesy of The Withers Collection Museum and Gallery)

“But guess what? There were some photographs that were found, and those photographs helped to bring that story to life. And that’s the beauty of this body of work. You can say that our history is not important, but when we have proof of our history, you can’t erase it.”

“Flash Points: The Photography of Ernest C. Withers” is a traveling exhibition that has been showcased in various American cities, such as Memphis, Tenn., Jackson, Miss., and New York, New York. It has also been displayed internationally, including in countries like Brazil and England. In Miami, the exhibit opened on Saturday, June 17, and closes on Friday, Aug. 31.

 WHAT: “Flash Points: The Photography of Ernest C. Withers” 

WHEN: Through Thursday, Aug. 31

WHERE: The Arts and Recreation Center (The ARC), 675 Ali Baba Ave,, Opa-locka

COST: Free

INFORMATION: 305-687-3545 or  olcdc.org/flash-points

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

Live Arts Miami Blends Art, Immersive Installations and Tech at Superblue

“Flowers and People, Cannot be Controlled but Live Together, Transcending” (Photo courtesy of Superblue Miami)

Calling it a testament to the “power of collaboration” and “the transformation nature of art,” Kathryn Garcia, executive director of Live Arts Miami, says a partnership between the organization and experimental art hub, Superblue Miami in Allapattah, is meant to be an adventure, both for the artists and the audience.

The experience, which will fuse live arts and immersive installations and technology takes place at various times on Saturday, Aug. 12 and Sunday, Aug. 13 and on Saturday, Aug. 19 and Sunday, Aug. 20.

Garcia says it is a new kind of art experience that combines dance and world music in an immersive art setting.

“I think it’s good practice to get ‘out of your box’ as often as you can. Trying something new, experimenting – it takes you on a journey outside of the familiar which can lead you to some really beautiful places if you are open to the adventure,” says Garcia.

Live Arts Miami is part of Miami-Dade College’s Cultural Affairs division.

The series begins on Saturday, Aug. 12 with a performance by choreographer Mike Tyus, along with collaborator Luca Renzi. Tyus has worked with Cirque du Soleil and joined Pilobolus Dance Dance Theater in 2013 as well as is one of the founding members of Jacob Jonas The Company. His work combines circus theater, acrobatics, ballet and Greco-Roman wrestling, originating from techniques and styles from his experience.

The Live Arts Miami-Superblue experience is set against the backdrop of Superblue’s “Pulse Topology” exhibit, an installation created by Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer known for his participatory installations. Consisting of 3,000 suspended light bulbs, Lozano-Hemmer’s works are activated by participants’ real-time biometric data such as their heartbeats, breaths, voices or fingerprints.

“Pulse Topology,” an installation by Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. (Photo courtesy of Superblue Miami)

According to Shantelle Rodriguez, Director of Experiential Art Centers at Superblue, which opened in Allapatah in 2021, the space invites visitors to participate actively in completing the artwork, adding an engaging dimension to the overall artistic encounter.

Rodriguez says the exhibitions are constantly evolving and meant to offer visitors a myriad of perspectives in the center’s four rooms. “We often say there are four rooms and 1,000 ways to experience them.”

She says that with the addition of Live Arts Miami, the works will activate in a new way . . . “taking audiences on journey, blurring the lines between performer and spectator, and creating an intimate and transformative encounter with these works.”

There is potential, she says, in integrating Live Arts’ performances with their exhibitions.

“The combination of the immersive installations with added elements of music and dance will be a feast for the senses,” says Garcia.

“Universe of Water Particles and Flowers and People.” (Photo courtesy of Superblue Miami)

Tyus says he is excited to experience what Lozano-Hemmer has created. “I imagine that it will be the perfect setting for the work as our heartbeat will elevate throughout the performance and will constantly affect the way the lights pulse. Aesthetically speaking it will transport the audience into another world – one of light movement and sound.”

The following weekend, Tyrus will return to the avant-garde art hub with an ensemble of Miami-based dancers. Within the vast teamLab 3D exhibition titled “Between Life and Non-Life,” they will interlace intricate patterns and mesmerizing formations. Each performance will be tailored to complement the specific exhibition and its sensory activations, announce the organizers.

“Between Life and Non-Life” features several works by the interdisciplinary collective of artists, programmers, CG animators, mathematicians, and architects fascinated by humans’ engagement with the natural world. In the interconnected digital works, users are meant to see, in real-time, their impact on nature, whether that be changing the spray of a digital waterfall or stepping on rendered flowers that wither and die.

Tyus says that his ambition is  to explore novel avenues of movement creation, “and find unique ways to tumble, ripple, push, fall, and fly through space, using our extensive partnering background to combine human bodies in a way that ignites curiosity and wonder.”

The series will also feature a concert by Jobarteh, who comes from a lineage of West African Griots. A virtuoso on the kora, a traditional West African string instrument, and with a soul-stirring voice, she will also perform in the settings of the “Pulse Topology” installation.

“I hope we’ve been able to create something extraordinary, a one-of-a-kind experience that audiences will remember, one that will transport them out of the ordinary into something spectacular,” says Garcia.

WHAT: Live Arts Miami at Superblue

WHERE: Superblue Miami, 1101 N.W. 23rd St., Miami.

WHEN: Mike Tyus Dance in “Pulse Topology” exhibit: noon, 2, 4 and 6 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 12 and Sunday, Aug. 13. Also, 1, 3 and 5 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 19 and Sunday, Aug. 20; Mike Tyus and Company Group Dance in teamLab exhibit, noon, 2, 4 and 6 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 19 and Sunday, Aug. 20. Sona Jobarteh Concert: 8 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 19.

COST:  For Mike Tyus show, tickets start at $39 for adults , and $32 for children (ages 3-12) at superblue.com 

For Sona Jobarteh, tickets start at $50 at liveartsmiami.org and eventbrite.com

INFORMATION: 786-697-3405 or superblue.com

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at artburstmiami.com.

The Vibration and Color of Jesús Soto and Carlos Cruz-Diez at Coral Gables Museum

In Carlos Cruz-Diez’s physichromies, the colors of the stripes are perceived differently according to the angle at which they are observed. “Physicromie 2203,” mixed media (1987), is part of the exhibition of Cruz-Diez’s and Jesús Rafael Soto’s work at the Coral Gables Museum. (Photo courtesy of Ana María Carrano)

They were both born in Venezuela in 1923. Each moved to Paris where they would live and eventually die. Both explored color, light, movement, optical illusions, and interaction with the viewer. They developed monumental works into architecture and are internationally recognized as masters of kinetic art.

Two museums in Venezuela bear their names: the Jesús Soto Museum of Modern Art in Ciudad Bolívar and the Carlos Cruz-Diez Museum of Stamp and Design in Caracas.

On the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jesús Rafael Soto (June 5, 1923 – Jan. 14, 2005) and Carlos Cruz-Diez (Aug. 17, 1923 – July 27, 2019), the Coral Gables Museum organized the exhibition “Masters that Transformed the City” as a tribute to them.

In the center of the room of the exhibition at the Coral Gables Museum, “Masters that Changed the City,” is the “Penetrable azul de Valencia” (1999) by Jesús Soto. Wood and PVC tubes. (Photo courtesy of Ana María Carrano)

“We decided to hold the exhibition because these artists have worked on art linked to the city and architecture, which aligns with the museum’s focus,” says curator Yuni Villalonga. The exhibition showcases the “most important stages and significant explorations” of these creators, adds Adriana Meneses, member of the board of directors of the Coral Gables Museum.

In the center of the exhibition hall, is “Penetrable azul de Valencia,” created by Soto in 1999. The artwork is a semi-transparent blue volume formed by the repetition of flexible PVC tubes hanging vertically from a rectangular platform. Upon entering the installation, your body moves the blue fibers, generating optical vibrations. In this way, motion becomes visible.

Soto began developing this type of installation in the mid-1960s and created over 30 “penetrables.” He presented the first one in 1967 at the Denise René Gallery in Paris, accompanied by a performance by the dancer Sonia Sanoja, dressed in a mesh of vertical stripes that seemed to vibrate when viewed through the rods of the installation.

In Soto’s pieces, a poetic space is created between the viewer and the artwork. As the perception of vibration is triggered by movement, a subtle fragment of the atmosphere seems to transform before our eyes.

This optical experience occurs in all the artist’s works selected for the exhibition. It is a vibration that is present in all stages of his work (whether from the ’60s or the ’90s) and through the materials used to construct them, which range from nylon, wood, metal, plaster, to plexiglass.

“Gran Tríptico Amarillo” (1968), by Jesús Soto. (Photo courtesy by Ana María Carrano)

In my case, I had the opportunity to interview Carlos Cruz-Diez in 1998 at his home in Caracas. It was an assignment for the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional. “Every work of art should provoke astonishment,” he told me.

Cruz-Diez explained to me that in his structures, “color is revealed through concealment. It goes from a monochrome situation –through many processes of perception, psychology of vision, light– to another monochrome situation. The fact that you can perceive that this color is there, that it appears and disappears, that you can look at it, provokes that principle (of astonishment).”

That’s why, to fully appreciate his “physichromies” – pieces filled with stripes of colors– one needs to walk through them and discover how the hues change with each step. How they blend to show an ambiguous reality with colors that do not exist in the artwork but are only revealed through movement.

“Transcromía Cilíndrica Miami, París” (2012) by Carlos Cruz-Diez. Acrylic and aluminum. (Photo courtesy of Ana María Carrano)

“My work is humanity itself. Color, line, represents a cell of humanity,” I recall hearing him say. “I represent a cell that, when multiplied, is the essence of humanity.”

Around Soto’s blue penetrable, the other pieces by both artists are displayed, six of each in total, as well as an educational panel with documentary videos. Which, although the exhibition’s name refers to the changes these masters brought to cities around the world, the few references about the influence of their works is only found within the documentaries.

Villalonga, however, asserts that among the efforts made by the Coral Gables Museum for the exhibition was the restoration of the pedestrian crosswalks designed by Cruz-Diez for the city of Coral Gables and, which were implemented in late 2017. “The experience will begin from the outside. It was something we wanted, to bring the exhibition a bit closer to the city,” says Villalonga, emphasizing that Cruz-Diez was a scholar of color theories.

Pedestrian crosswalk (2017) by Carlos Cruz-Diez. Coral Gables City Hall, Le Jeune Rd. and Coral Way. (Photo courtesy of Ana María Carrano)

Located just a few blocks from the museum, on the streets Le Jeune, Biltmore Way, Aragon, Salzedo, and Coral Way, the crosswalks are integrated artworks within the urban landscape, displaying the creator’s chromatic scheme.

The curator adds that Soto and Cruz-Diez were artists who were observing the laws of nature and the universe. Villalonga also points out that among their fundamental contributions are the “perception of color and movement, volume, and viewer participation.”

“It’s a joyful exhibition, one that will leave you with a smile,” says Meneses, “not only because of the color and energy that the pieces transmit but also because it allows you to enjoy and play. I believe that’s what it will convey, and the audience will leave content, eager to come back.”

WHAT: Masters that Changed the City: A Tribute to Jesús Rafael Soto and Carlos Cruz Diez on their Centennial.

 WHERE: Coral Gables Museum, 285 Aragon Ave, Coral Gables

 WHEN: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. Through Oct. 22, 2023

 COST: $12, $8 students and seniors, and $5 children aged 7 to 12. Military personnel and children up to 6 years old can enter for free.

 INFO: coralgablesmuseum.org and 305-603-8067

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

Traditional Rituals and Current Violations Meet in Jee Park’s Dimensions Variable Show

Jee Park’s “Chrystie Street,” which references the murder of 35-year-old Christina Yuna Lee, is part of the artist’s exhibition “Close to Home” opening at Dimensions Variable on Saturday, July 29. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

In Korea, when someone dies and is prepared for burial, family members dress the departed in a garment called a suui. Made of hemp, it is part of a tradition that artist Jee Park knew she wanted to contemplate and explore in her art.

The practice is a key part of Park’s exhibit “Close to Home,” which opens Saturday, July 29 at Dimensions Variable. The show brings into conversation the suui custom with the violent attacks against Asian-Americans in the United States over the last several years. Using fabric, wood, paint and other media, Park’s work asks what is left when a life is taken, especially when it is snatched away by a deranged gunman or hate-filled attacker.

“That could be my aunt, a friend, or me.”

Jee Park in her Allapatah studio. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Her work particularly references the 2021 shooting of eight people, six of whom were Asian American women, at Atlanta-area spas. “That incident shook me to the core,” says Park.

It wasn’t the only outrage that affected her. Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino and others of Asian background or descent were targeted during the pandemic and beyond. They include the 2022 murder of 35-year-old Christina Yuna Lee, who was followed and stabbed to death in her own home, on Chrystie Street in New York’s Chinatown. “Chrystie Street” is the title of one of Park’s Dimensions Variable installations.

Park grew up in Seoul, and went to an art-focused high school, then attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City. The relocation wasn’t easy, especially in the beginning.  “I think I understood 50 percent of what was going on in the classroom.” She began exploring beyond the medium of painting, eventually moving into fiber and a melding of surface and frame. “At the same time I was more free – it’s very structured in Korea.”

She later earned her master’s degree at NYU. Park moved to South Florida with her partner and fellow artist Clara Varas in 2000. During a visit to her Allapattah studio, where she was preparing work for the upcoming show, Park explains how she began exploring ideas around grief, remembrance and anxiety after the death of her father five years ago. “Those feelings intensified during the pandemic,” she says, and grew more insistent because of the gun violence epidemic that has roiled the United States over the last few years.

Installation view detail, Jee Park, 2023. Elements in her work reference everyday life. “Close to Home” opens at Dimensions Variable on Saturday, July 29. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

“Chrystie Street,” combines a variety of fabrics – muslin, gingham and pieces of clothing – attached to a wooden frame. There are fragments of lingerie, the arm of a T-shirt and a hand-crafted sock similar to that used in the suui dressing. In the front of her studio, Park has a pair of Singer sewing machines where she transforms with fabric the memory of lives, now flattened, stretched and deconstructed.

The work “reminds me they may be wearing something, working every day, not knowing their lives are going to be cut short,” Park said. “I wanted to capture the everyday lives, and that we never know when they are going to be taken away by some crazy hate crime.” Swaths of gingham bring to mind picnics, and pretty domestic aprons. A box stuffed with a pillow speaks to the confinement experienced during the pandemic.

Park has garnered recognition as an Oolite Arts’ Ellies Creative Award winner, and has been shown in a number of galleries, particularly in South Florida and New York. Frances Trombly and Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova co-founded Dimensions Variable in 2009, after deciding to create a project space where they could welcome other artists. They have known Park for some time, meeting her first through her partner, Varas, who has also had a show at Dimensions Variable.

From left, Holding, Folding, and Opening, 2023, Installation view, Dimensions Variable. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Rodriguez-Casanova notes that he and Trombly use elements, including fabric and found objects that are in harmony with Park’s work.

“Her work speaks to both me and my partner,” says Rodriguez-Casanova, who added that Park’s creations have a soft and subtle feel. “It is really using a very light palette with infusions of color,” he says, adding that Park’s work “is very personal to her,” bringing up issues of loss and grief, relatable to many people.

WHAT: Close to Home, Jee Park solo project at Dimensions Variable,

WHEN: Opening reception, Saturday, July 29, 6 to 9 p.m. runs through September 2023. Open Thursday and Friday, noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment.

WHERE: Dimensions Variable, 101 NW 79th St., Miami

INFORMATION: 305-606-0058 or  305-607-5527 and dimensionsvariable.net

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

Enthralling ‘Mythic Creatures’ Casts a Spell at HistoryMiami Museum

A white unicorn bathed in violet light is 10 feet long from tail to tip of horn and featured in the exhibition “Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids” at HistoryMiamiMuseum through March 31, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Justin Namon/HistoryMiamiMuseum)

Miami museums are perfect for escaping this summer’s sweltering heat and you can’t get much farther from South Florida – or from anywhere for that matter – than HistoryMiami’s second floor. That’s where “Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns  & Mermaids” is taking visitors around the world and beyond to contemplate bizarre beasts, fabled fauna, and natural objects that may underlie many a fairy tale.

Adding to the show’s delights is a section with Miami’s own creepy crepuscular, from the Swamp Ape to the Chupacabra. Joining them are mermaid iterations, arising from the region’s diverse cultures.

Tales of the Chupacabra emerged in Puerto Rico in the 1980s and 1990s, then migrated to Miami in 1996, according to Vanessa Navarro Maza, the folklife curator at HistoryMiami Museum. (Photo courtesy of Justin Namon/HistoryMiami Museum)

The exhibit, which opened Saturday, July 8 and runs through Sunday, March 31, 2024, features “life-size” models of fantastical beings, including both European and Asian dragons, sea maidens from across cultures, unicorns – of course – plus a variety of art and artifacts. Illustrations and textual representations provide historical references. But there is a twist– the show reveals how our fore-bearers may have translated fossils and other finds as proof of mythic creatures. For example, the extinct fossilized dwarf elephant skull on display could be interpreted as that of the giant Cyclops of Homer’s “The Odyssey” fame.

Likewise, alongside the dragon exhibit is a woolly mammoth skull – which might look suspiciously like a dragon to those from olden days whose imaginations were steeped in chivalric questing lore. “It ties mythology back to the natural world, taking things from the perspective of ancient people,” says Christopher Barfield, director of exhibitions at HistoryMiami Museum.

Enthralling interactive elements, which will keep kids engaged, illustrate the relationship. For example, a magnetized table-top lets visitors transpose scaled model bones of a Protoceratop into a Griffin, the legendary creature both eagle and lion. Likewise, small modeled mammoth bones can be rearranged to create a humanoid giant – giving participants a feel of how our ancestors made sense of the world. “We are using natural history to understand how the unknown bones they were digging up looked surprisingly human – it (therefore) must be a giant,” says Barfield.

An interactive game at the HistoryMiami Museum lets visitors transpose model fossil bones into mythical creatures. (Photo by Justin Namon/HistoryMiamiMuseum)

Other interactive elements include creating a virtual dragon and being able to touch and explore casts of the narwhal tusk and the lower jaw of the Gigantopithecus, an extinct group of apes.

The exhibition notes that “Mythic Creatures” is appropriate for children 4 and older. Younger ones may find some of the actual-size models (a towering 17-foot dragon with a wingspan of over 19 feet, for instance) and other intense depictions frightening.

What South Floridians will especially savor is “Mythic Miami,” the section devoted to the Chupacabra, plus our own Skunk Ape – a Bigfoot-type creature– and mermaids, which hail from several of Miami’s cultural heritages. What makes “Mythic Miami” both enchanting and chilling are documents, photos, and other ephemera. For example, one display shows Miami officials investigating reported blood-sucking Chupacabra animal attacks. Yet there is also the campy 2017 sculpture “Chupie” by Michael Casines on loan from Zoo Miami.

A fossilized dwarf elephant skull could be interpreted as the one-eyed Cyclops. (Photo courtesy of Justin Namon/HistoryMiami Museum)

Tales of the creature emerged in Puerto Rico in the 1980s and 1990s, then migrated to Miami in 1996 when the reported animal attacks occurred, said Vanessa Navarro Maza, folklife curator at the museum, whose research and assemblage created the Miami section.

In Navarro Maza’s Skunk Ape display, there are photos of reported sightings, plus a plaster cast of alleged footprints from the large creature – four-toed rather than five.

“What is really interesting, which I learned doing this work, is that recorded stories go back about 200 years,” says Navarro Maza. Anyone who wants to know more about the Skunk Ape or the Chupacabra is in luck. Visitors can scan a QR code to hear from Zoo Miami’s Ron Magill, who was tapped to help with the actual Chupacabra investigation, or from Dave Shealy, likely the world’s top Skunk Ape expert.

Mermaids and women from the sea are common across many cultures. (Photo courtesy of Justin Namon/HistoryMiami Museum)

The bulk of the show was organized by the American Museum of Natural History in New York, in collaboration with the Australian National Maritime Museum, the Canadian Museum of Natural History, the Fernbank Museum of Natural History and the Field Museum in Chicago.

The exhibit is divided into three sections, Land, Sea and Air.

The Sea section may be the most alluring, for both children and adults. Along with depictions and models of mermaids from the western tradition are sea creatures from other cultures. Those include Africa’s water spirit Mami Wata, who can be both helpful and dangerous, and Haiti’s Lasirèn who can conduct people to her undersea home from whence they return with new powers. She is often portrayed with a mirror – the doorway to her realm and is associated with voodoo priestesses and practices.

A diorama of the giant squid is exceptionally thrilling – the Kraken’s 12-foot long tentacles rise from the gallery floor. (Photo courtesy of Justin Namon/HistoryMiami Museum)

From the Inuit in Canada and Greenland comes the tale of Sedna, who, after being tossed overboard by her father, creates the whales, seals and walruses. And, a diorama of the giant squid is exceptionally thrilling – the Kraken’s 12-foot long tentacles rise from the gallery floor while it stares at visitors with baleful red eyes.

“As an institution, we tell stories, and this is just a wealth of different cultures,” says Barfield. “It’s a storytelling opportunity.”

WHAT: Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns  & Mermaids

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday; noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday

WHERE: HistoryMiami Museum, 101 West Flagler Street, Miami

COST: $15, adults, $10, students/seniors, and $8 for children, and free for HistoryMiami members

INFORMATION: historymiami.org

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit source of dance, visual arts, music and performing arts news. Sign up for our newsletter and never miss a story.

Four Decades of Oolite Artists Featured in ‘It Was Always About You’

Frances Trombly is one of more than 40 artists whose work is featured in Oolite Arts’ summer exhibition titled “It Was Always About You . . .” (Photo courtesy of Diana Larrea)

A piece of pottery by the late Ellie Schneiderman sits in the center of the gallery at Oolite Arts on Lincoln Road for its summer exhibition, “It Was Always About You  . . .”

The clay pot is on a pedestal, conjuring a dual meaning.

In the annals of Miami’s visual arts community, Schneiderman’s legacy is deservedly put on a pedestal. The visionary artist founded the South Florida Art Center on Lincoln Road in 1983, after persuading the Miami Beach Commission to take her up on an offer to buy three properties on the thoroughfare with grant money. Her idea was to provide low-cost art studios and exhibition spaces.

A piece of pottery by founder Ellie Schneiderman is on display and placed in the center of the gallery at Oolite Arts on Lincoln Road for its summer exhibition, “It Was Always About You . . .” (Photo courtesy of Oolite Arts)

In a taped recording released as a tribute to Schneiderman, who died on April 18, 2020, at the age of 80, the arts pioneer recalled starting the center, which would create lasting change on Lincoln Road, sparking careers and camaraderie among artists, along with a resurgence of the area itself.

“I applied for a grant,” the artist explained.  She received it after going to the Miami Beach City Commission with her idea of starting an urban artists’ colony. The city approved $62,000 ” . . . and that allowed me to figure four bucks a square foot . . . an artist could tell me, once they’d be juried in by a panel, how many feet they could afford.”

“It Was Always About You . . . ,” which opens Wednesday, July 12, and runs through Sunday, Sept. 17, features more than 40 artists who have been a part of Oolite Arts’ four decades on Miami Beach.

Potter-turned-artists’ advocate Ellie Schneiderman bought empty storefronts on Lincoln Road and in 1983 founded South Florida Art Center, which became ArtCenter/SouthFlorida. In 2019, the name was changed to Oolite Arts. (Photo courtesy of Oolite Arts)

“Having Ellie at the center of the show makes sense,” says Laura Guerrero, Oolite Arts programs coordinator, who co-curated the group show with Dennis Scholl, the nonprofit’s president and CEO since 2017. “When I was reaching out to different artists that we asked to participate in the show, I was really struck by the long-lasting community that Ellie started. It was apparent that this was something that wasn’t only close to her heart but also to everyone around her.”

For Scholl, there’s a bittersweet nostalgia built into “It Was Always About You. . .” It will be the last show he curates at Oolite Arts in his position:  He is stepping down at the end of the summer to focus on his own art practice.

“Her line was always ‘helping artists help themselves,’ so when Laura and I started to talk about this show, we both agreed almost immediately that it all started with Ellie and it would be important to honor her,” says Scholl.

Roscoè B. Thické III, “Hear No Evil,” will be exhibited as part of Oolite Arts’ “It Was Always About You.” (Photo courtesy of Oolite Arts)

The South Florida Art Center, which became ArtCenter/South Florida, sold its signature building at 800 Lincoln Road for $88 million in 2014, with the profits from the sale allowing growth for the organization. Then in 2019, when it was announced that the center would eventually be moving to Miami’s Little River neighborhood, where it is building a new $30 million, 26,850-square-foot campus, ArtCenter/South Florida became Oolite Arts. It continues to house resident artists and produce arts programming at 924 Lincoln Road.

“This show,” says Guerrero, “is about art, community, and intimacy. It’s about exploring the relationships of the artists that have been part of the evolution, the relationships created among the arts, and the impact of Oolite on them and their careers.”

Luis Gispert, who is one of the artists featured in “It Was Always About You . . .,” had a studio at Art Center/South Florida for a few years during the 1990s.

Co-curators of “It Was Always About You. . .” Laura Guerrero, Oolite Arts’ Program Coordinator, and Dennis Scholl, Oolite Arts President and CEO. (Photos courtesy of Oolite Arts and Mary Beth Koeth)

“At the time, the art scene in Miami wasn’t as big as it is now. There weren’t many places for young artists to hang out and do things. We were a bunch of kids in our 20s. There were some artists like William Cordova and John Espinosa who have gone on to bigger and greater things,” says Gispert, who Scholl says was one of the artists that he first thought of to be in the group exhibition.

“There are people like Luis who have gone on to have pretty big art careers. I wanted this exhibit to be the works of people for whom Oolite has meant a lot and for those that Oolite has been very appreciative of, too,” says Scholl.

When he called Gispert to ask if he would be part of the group show, Scholl says he had a special request. “I asked him if he would lend us one of my favorite pieces.” Gispert said yes.

In 2001, Gispert began documenting Miami’s iconic “chonga” girls in his photographic series entitled, “Cheerleaders,” which attracted widespread critical acclaim and induced the chonga image into high art.  His 2002 digital video, “Blockwatching,” part of the series of works based on Miami culture, will be at Oolite: A girl dressed a la Miami chonga is in a green room and she’s dancing to a car alarm as if it’s a techno beat.

Luis Gispert, “Block Watching,” Digital Video 1:53, 2002, is part of the summer exhibition at Oolite Arts, “It Was Always About You . . .”(Photo courtesy of Frederic Snitzer Gallery)

When Gispert thinks of the Miami art scene now compared to when he was at the Art Center studio, he says “it’s night and day. You couldn’t find a place to do a show. There were no galleries, no collectors that would buy anything. You couldn’t make a living.”

Frances Trombly, another artist featured in “It Was Always About You . . .” spent a year in 2019 as an Oolite artist in residence. Then in 2022, Trombly received one of the grants for Oolite Arts’ Home + Away program to attend a five-week residency at Artpace in San Antonio, a life-altering experience not only for her work but for her family.

“I was able to bring my daughter (Penelope) and my husband (artist Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova). It’s rare to have the opportunity to be in residence with family and for my daughter to be there alongside me,” says Trombly. “As a mother, it would be difficult for me to leave my role as caregiver for a month. Oolite understood my needs. It’s that kind of thinking that we need, organizations that meet artists where they are.”

Trombly also received one of Oolite Arts’ Ellie Creator Awards (named in honor of founder Schneiderman) to create large-scale works that examine textiles and their relationship to painting. The piece she’s showing in the summer exhibition is one of the smaller works from the series created as part of the award.

Frances Trombly, Weaving, (Weld with Canvas Warp),” 2020 Handwoven, Hand-dyed (Weld) silk and rayon,
cotton, wood. (Photo courtesy of Emerson Dorsch)

“They have been really supportive of my practice for a long time,” says Trombly.

She co-founded Miami alternative art space Dimensions Variable with Rodriguez-Casanova in 2009 and says her time with Oolite has made an impact on how she approaches her business, too.

“We look to them as a visionary organization in the community. We have a lot of influences, and they are definitely a place that is inspiring,” she says.

The title of the show speaks to what Trombly expresses about Oolite. Scholl explains that he wanted to come up with a name for the exhibition that would differentiate the group show from anything else the organization has done. And that led to the notion of Oolite putting artists at the center of its mission from Day One.

William Osorio, Mayabe, 1978, 2022, oil on canvas, is featured in Oolite Arts’ summer exhibition, “It Was Always About You.” (Photo courtesy of the artist)

“It always comes back to being there for them,” Scholl says. “It always is, and has been, about the artists.”

Artists exhibiting in addition to Trombley and Gispert include Michael Loveland, John Sanchez, Alette Simmons-Jimenez, Regina Jestrow, William Osorio, Jayme Gershen, Barron Sherer, Amanda Bradley, Carlos Betancourt, Gonzalo Fuenmayor, Pablo Contrisciani, Laura Marsh, Vickie Pierre, T.E.S., Tom Virgin, Chire Regans, Ahol Sniffs Glue, Roscoè Thické, James Herring, Christina Pettersson, Ema Ri, T. Elliot Mansa, lou anne colodny, Marielle Plaisir, Cara Despain, Diana Eusebio, Jen Clay, Kelly Breez, Germane Barnes, Rose Marie Cromwell, Juan Luis Matos, Beatriz Monteavaro, Gavin Perry, Thomas Bils, Rafael Domenech, Mark Koven, Matthew Forehand, Ernesto Oroza, Carolina Sardi, Agustina Woodgate, Kristen Thiele, Michael Vasquez, Robert Thiele and Reginald O’Neal.

WHAT: “It Was Always About You”

WHERE: 924 Gallery, Oolite Arts, 924 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach

WHEN: Opening Wednesday, July 12. 6 to 8 p.m. Through Sunday, Sept. 17. Hours, daily, noon to 5 p.m.

COST: Free

INFORMATION: 305-674 -8278 or oolitearts.org

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit source of dance, visual arts, music, and performing arts news. Sign up for our newsletter and never miss a story.

Nomadic homework gallery launches 2 summer shows in 2 locations

Gallerists Aurelio Aguilo and Mayra Mejia, co-founders of homework, have one show at the former Miami Club Rum distillery in Little River and another coming up at the Sagamore. (Photo courtesy of Gabriel Duque).

Pipes coming out of walls, derelict machinery yet to be carted away – contemporary art gallery homework’s newest temporary home is a far cry from the pristine walls of a museum. Located just one door down from art bookstore Dale Zine, until recently it was the Miami Club Rum distillery in Little River, yet another one of those Miami businesses that pops up out of nowhere with a fancy showroom and disappears just as quickly as it came.

Yet Aurelio Aguilo, the homework gallery’s co-founder along with his partner Mayra Mejia, isn’t fazed by the abandonment. “It’s curatorially interesting,” he says.

“Lenguaje,” a mixed-media work by Joaquin Stacey-Calle, created from pool screens. The artist is one of eight featured in homework’s “Summer School” group show. (Photo courtesy of homework)

The duo is used to bucking tradition when it comes to showing art. Since holding their first show in 2021, they’ve jumped around various locations in keeping with their ethos as a “nomadic” art gallery, attempting to break free from the commercial fairs and white-walled asceticism of the establishment. They’ve activated in New York at the Ace Hotel and are currently planning a project in Los Angeles to coincide with Frieze Week in February. But most of their shows have been in Miami, where they currently live, and the majority were held at The Knoxon, a gutted former motel on Biscayne Boulevard. It’s an innovative approach, but one that certainly has its pros and cons.

“It helps us a lot, because we don’t have that constant overhead of having a permanent space. But if we find a space that is worth it for us business-wise, and we can do these nomadic options more frequently, and actually control what we have permanently, for a year, I think it would be a good evolution for the gallery,” says Aguilo.

After the owners of the motel finally leased the space to a full-time tenant, homework struggled to find a new spot. They came up against Miami’s difficult commercial real estate market, where landlords in Little Haiti and Wynwood were unwilling to rent to a temporary tenant or were charging unreasonable rates. But through a twist of fate, they ended up not just with one exhibition space, but two.

Heading into July, homework will present a smorgasbord of summer offerings in two locations across the city. Starting on Friday, July 7 at the Little River space, a group show titled “Summer School” will show eight local artists throughout the cavernous distillery’s four rooms. The show will close on Saturday, July 22, and the gallery will move to the Sagamore Hotel on Miami Beach for “Retreat Volume 1,” a solo show for Miami-based Argentinian pop artist Falopapas running from Saturday, July 29 to Wednesday, Aug. 12.

A homework presentation at Ace Hotel in New York City. Though they’ve become fixtures of Miami’s art scene, the gallery doesn’t see itself as tied to any specific city. (Photo courtesy of Jodie Love)

Like their last summer show “Salad Days,” which presented art based around themes of youth and innocence, “Summer School” also carries with it a concept. With summer marking the low season in Miami’s tourism industry, Aguilo says, the show marks a chance to explore what rest, renewal and reflection can do for us in a world defined by the “constant grind” of work.

“Summer, for me, is always like a time where the year cuts in half, there’s a break, there’s a reflection, and then you come back with some new energy to finish off the year. But it’s also, I think, for artists it’s very important to  . .  . filter and limit the stuff that they’re always showing out there, and to take the time to reflect on the work that they’re actually doing, not just doing work to do work.”

Aguilo’s experimental attitude also extends to the artists in the show. During my visit Richard Verguez, who showed constructivist-inspired collages of trains and rail infrastructure with homework during Miami Art Week in December, stopped by to see the space and plan out an installation. Other featured artists include Matt Forehand, known for sumptuous figurative and landscape paintings; Joaquin Stacey-Calle, who incorporates patio screens into his mixed-media canvases; and photographer Roscoè B. Thické III.

Then there’s the stuff beyond the art. One signature of homework’s summer shows that has made them a fixture of Miami’s alternative art scene during the low season is supplementary programming. The gallery is making sure there’s plenty to do at both sites besides look at artworks, with opening and closing parties and more, and also aim to provide a space for artists and creatives to hang out.

At “Summer School,” homework will host a Relaxation Tea Ceremony (4 p.m. Saturday, July 8), a wine tasting hosted by Boia De sommelier Gabriela Victoria Ospina (5 p.m. Sunday, July 16), a panel discussion on fine art, branding, and commissions featuring artist and designer Brian Butler (6 p.m. Friday, July 14), a pair of film screenings, and more. They’ll round out programming at the space by hosting the monthly vintage market Walter’s Mercado, which has been in residence at the building.

An untitled painting by artist Andrew Arocho, who features in homework Gallery’s “Summer School” group show. (Photo courtesy of homework))

Programming at the Sagamore is a bit more sporadic. An opening pool party (beginning at noon Saturday, July 29) will feature sounds by vintage Latin music crew Rum & Coke, during which Falopapas will execute a mural painting. There will also be a “Meet The Artist” session (6 p.m. Thursday, August 3, RSVP required) sponsored by the Consulate General of Argentina.

Beyond the summer, when Miami’s scene kicks into high gear, homework is pondering their options. Weary of constantly searching for spaces in the city, they’ve considered applying for one of the Miami Art Week fairs such as NADA or Untitled. They’ve even thought of ditching the traveling aspect and finding a permanent space – the Sagamore has expressed interest in an extended partnership. Or, they may leave Miami altogether.

“We don’t want to drown because we weren’t able to adapt or evolve, and that evolution can even mean leaving the city,” says Aguilo. “We’re nomadic in nature.”

WHAT: homework Presents Summer School; homework Presents Retreat Part I

WHEN: Summer School runs through Friday, July 7 through Saturday, July 22; Retreat Part I runs Saturday, July 29 through Wednesday, Aug. 12

 WHERE: Summer School at 7401 NW Miami Place, Miami; Retreat Part I at Sagamore Hotel, 1671 Collins Ave, Miami Beach,

 COST:  Entry and programming are free; some events encourage RSVP but is not required.

 INFORMATION: For schedules, RSVP links, and other information, visit homework.gallery or instagram.com/homework.gallery.

Miami indie bookstore Dale Zine takes on the art world

Rows of books, zines, and artwork line the walls inside Dale Zine’s colorful space in Little River. (Photo courtesy of Alfonso Duran)

The bright, welcoming space of Dale Zine’s shop in Little River has a pull — it draws you in and makes you never want to leave.

Sunlight streams through the windows and onto the funky orange-and-off-white checkerboard linoleum floor. Art books and zines, the majority published by independent presses, line the walls and tables alongside stickers, candles, t-shirts, sunglasses, and other ephemera.

The shop, recently declared “Best Bookstore” by Miami New Times, sells books on all kinds of subjects: exhibition catalogs from prestigious museums, experimental photography books, zines featuring rave culture memorabilia. One can walk out of the place with a quarterly magazine on natural wines or a funky jigsaw puzzle from an independent designer, a photo book of street art in New York or a pack of incense. You never know what you’ll leave with, but you’ll always leave with something.

Outside Dale Zine’s storefront in Little River. (Photo courtesy of Alfonso Duran)

The space’s focus on art and visual culture has seen it survive where more traditional bookstores have closed. They also use the shop as a community space, holding events like small press fairs, book signings, and art classes.

“I’ve noticed a lot more people being more endearing to Miami, and being like ‘we want to support what you do, and we understand how hard it is,’” Lillian Banderas, the shop’s co-owner, says. “I think, definitely, our demographic has grown into that, where before it’s just been, I feel like, people that geek out about specific things like we do.”

Her partner Steve Saiz agrees, pointing to things like a comic book on Drexciya, a conceptual techno group from Detroit. “If one person comes in they’re obviously gonna be (excited) like, ‘Why the hell do you have this?’ And that’s what we love so much. It’s not like, ‘where’s the bestseller section.’ We try to get the deeper things in there.”

Dale Zine expanded from a shop selling art books into a gallery selling art. It recently showed work from local artist Kelly Breez at the NADA New York art fair. (Photo courtesy of Vanessa Diaz)

It’s this kind of esoteric appeal that’s made Dale an inseparable part of local life for many Miamians, especially when such spaces remain threatened by rising rents and encroaching development. Banderas and Saiz both hold down full-time jobs in addition to running Dale, and the physical shop itself has been forced to move frequently – their first locations were small, booth-sized storefronts in Downtown Miami. Their current space, adjacent to the Fountainhead Studios arts complex, is the largest they’ve ever had. Artists with studios in the Fountainhead complex frequently pop in, adding to the shop’s neighborhood feel, and although the building has been threatened with demolition, Banderas and Saiz feel confident in their landlords and their ability to source another location nearby, should the need arise.

“I feel really secure in the neighborhood, but I’m starting to feel like, you know, really our brand is always on the go. It’s a part of Miami, too,” says Banderas.

“We’re movers and we also sell books and art,” Saiz says jokingly.

Dale Zine’s owners have been forced to move locations multiple times. They’ve gotten creative by reusing materials, such as creating this display table out of an old shop sign. (Photo courtesy of Amanda Martinez)

“I think we’re a good example of how hard it is to have a small business in Miami,” Banderas continues. Saiz adds, “That’s not like a tourism or nightlife thing. Something cultural in Miami, I feel like, I grew up here and (small art businesses) aren’t really a thing that survives.”

For Dale, sustaining their business has meant traveling down a new avenue: art dealing. The shop began showing art as a gallery when the current location opened in 2021, including at NADA Miami during Miami Art Week. Buzzy locals such as Alejandra Moros and Thomas Bils, both known for their hyperrealist paintings, have held down shows with Dale, which usually shows artwork on the shop’s back wall (on a recent visit, works on paper by Portland artist Momo Gordon were on display). Their gallery activity has been such a success that they were invited to show at NADA’s New York art fair in May; they recruited friend and Fountainhead resident Kelly Breez, who curated the space’s inaugural show “Sun Showers,” to show new work.

“. . . Starting to sell things in that kind of atmosphere will help us support having (the shop) and having this platform for keeping things accessible,” says Banderas.

Banderas and Saiz credit Ebony L. Hayes, a boundary-pushing curator at David Zwirner Gallery and 52 Walker, for helping them take the next step from publishing zines and artists’ books to putting on art shows. “She dry-called us, basically, and was like ‘Hey, I would love to see you guys as curators for NADA,’” says Banderas. “She was very matter of fact, like ‘I’ve been following your guys’ careers for a while, and what you guys are doing with zines is kind of disrupting how we see gallerists.”

In keeping with their grassroots sensibility, the duo tries to take a more sustainable approach to art dealing, a field that can be fraught with ethical issues and high prices designed to gatekeep art for the upper class. “Every show, we’ll try to do a scene with that artist that someone could get for like five or 10 bucks,” says Saiz. “Or you could buy a painting, depending on your economic (situation).”

Banderas believes it’s about removing barriers.

Kelly Breez’s work explores the kitschy culture of a bygone era of South Florida. (Photo courtesy of Vanessa Diaz)

“I think accessibility starts with us, and with the artists too,” says Banderas.

Both describe a certain sense of impostor syndrome when exhibiting alongside art world heavy-hitters like multinational mega-dealer Hauser & Wirth, one of several art world heavy-hitters with gallery spaces in Chelsea where NADA New York was held. But they say it is empowering considering their humble origins, comparing themselves to David going up against the blue-chip Goliaths. Maintaining a firm curatorial voice and focus on Miami’s idiosyncratic culture helps: Notable past shows have included meditations on Hurricane Andrew and illustrations by Brian Butler riffing on local iconography. Breez’s presentation at NADA New York featured “matchbook paintings” celebrating vanished and imaginary small businesses evoking the ‘80s and ‘90s in South Florida.

Not all of what Dale shows or sells comes exclusively from locals – they’ll stock whatever they think is cool whether an artist lives in Opa-Locka or Osaka. But it’s undeniable that having such an accessible space for art and artists in Miami has had a deep effect.

“We’re not trying to sell work to sell work. We’re selling the work to really empower new artists to feel really secure about their future,” says Banderas.

WHAT: Dale Zine

WHEN: 1 to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Closed Monday and Tuesday.

WHERE:  7395 NW Miami Place, Miami.

COST:  Free.

INFORMATION: dalezine.com or instagram.com/dale_zine

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit source of dance, visual arts, music, and performing arts news. Sign up for our newsletter and never miss a story.

Texas native turned Miami artist highlights environment, experience in ‘Textures of Humanity’

Troy Simmons, “Pearl,” (2023), reinforced concrete, cardboard, wood, house paint, acrylic mix, and powder-coated aluminum, is one of the works included in “Textures of Humanity” at Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami. (Photo courtesy of Fredric Snitzer Gallery)

As a boy, Troy Simmons would spend summers sitting at his grandfather’s feet on a small farm in Texas and watching as he created magic with his hands.

Totem poles were coaxed from hunks of wood and furniture emerged from deer antlers and skin.

Intrigued, Simmons attempted to follow suit and, on that farm, (his very first studio) he fiddled with sticks, experimented with concrete and dirt, and launched his career through the art of play.

Troy Simmons, “Push-Pops & Daytons,” (2023), reinforced concrete, aluminum, and acrylic mix. (Photo courtesy of Fredric Snitzer Gallery)

“I didn’t go to art school,” says Simmons. “Basically as a kid, I just was one of those kids that liked to experiment with things.”

And while his family encouraged his creative side, they also reminded him to be practical.

“My parents weren’t fans and didn’t really know much about art, so there wasn’t a discussion about ‘Oh, I’m going to be an artist. There was more of like, ‘Okay, you’re having fun playing with that wood, now go get a job, find a career and you could play with that later on.'”

And that is what Simmons did.

His first job opened his eyes, giving him a front-row seat to a whole new universe.

“I got a job working as a lab technician for a water treatment company,” says Simmons.

“It was interesting. It brought me into this world of microbes and really seeing what’s in the water that we’re drinking before we put it back into the environment and the water that’s coming through our tap. All that stuff was cool for me,” he says. But, he admits that he was bored.

“I wasn’t able to be creative . . .” says Simmons.

“Flagship ’83, (2023) reinforced concrete, aluminum, and acrylic mix. (Photo courtesy of Fredric Snitzer Gallery)

During his off hours, he made sculptures but it still wasn’t enough. He decided then and there he needed to go in an entirely different direction.

“I went back to school again for architecture. It was one of those things for me that felt like it was checking all the boxes,” he says.

Then working at a design-build firm satisfied some of the yearnings.

“I was able to take a customer’s idea from a napkin and basically put it into the real world…So this was all growing my art practice at the same time, too. So, when I got off from work as an architectural designer, I would come home and do my own sculptures.”

But when his wife was offered a new career opportunity, the couple moved to Miami and it afforded him the chance to wholly immerse himself in his artistic practice.

Artist Troy Simmons with one of his works exhibited at Volta New York art fair. (Photo courtesy of Anton Kirindongo)

“We just decided to make that career change. My art practice is pretty mobile so I was able to move my tools and everything Miami and so it was good for us.  We were young. We were excited . . . We chose to come and explore Miami. So, when I moved to Florida, I basically just jumped all into the art world.”

It paid off.

His pieces have been featured at numerous events including Art Basel Miami Beach, VOLTA New York, Art Paris and the Cornell Art Museum. He received the Oolite Ellies Creator Award and completed residencies at Artpace San Antonio and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. His pieces appear internationally in private and corporate collections and he has also been tapped repeatedly for permanent public installations. This includes “Janus Portal,” a towering 22-foot concrete aluminum and steel sculpture commissioned by Bombardier Inc. at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport and a building facade in Wynwood commissioned by Goldman Global Arts at the Wynwood 2300 building.

His latest exhibition, “Textures of Humanity,” is on view at the Fredric Snitzer Gallery through Friday, June 30.

The work of Miami artist Troy Simmons is at Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami, through Friday, June 30 (Photo courtesy of Fredric Snitzer Gallery)

“This is our first solo exhibition of his work,” says Joshua Veasey, managing director of the gallery, who adds that highlighting a local artist is important for the gallery.

“The other artists that we’re showing right now are based in Los Angeles yet have lived in Miami for a number of years, but our program is sort of rounded in the sense that we work with a lot of Cuban artists, a lot of Latin American contemporary artists, artists in Los Angeles and in New York, but it’s always important for us to be able to highlight and showcase a Miami artist.”

Veasey says that Simmons offers a unique perspective mostly because of his science and environmental studies and architectural background as opposed to formal visual arts training.

“. . .That he doesn’t come from this structure of visual art . . .  it’s pushed his own vernacular and his own voice and what he identifies with on a personal level into work that is very sophisticated and nuanced. And that also feels poetic with the way that he is juxtaposing these different materials together into his own formal language.”

The show consists of five pieces, but one, in particular, has caught Vesey’s eye and, he says, he believes it’s the most powerful work in the show.

” ‘Chasm,’ which is a work done all in black,” he says. “It’s really nuanced and it’s something that you really have to see in person.

“Chasm,” (2023), reinforced concrete, salvaged roofing tar on felt, wood, house paint, acrylic mix and powder-coated aluminum. (Photo courtesy of Fredric Snitzer Gallery)

Vesey says what draws him to the work are differentiations between the tonalities of the blacks, as well as a play between matte and gloss finishes within the work.

“You can almost see different dimensionalities in that sense,” says the gallery director.

Simmons says that the piece entitled, “Pearl,” reminds him of his grandmother’s jewelry box.

“Just a bunch of old pieces of jewelry all intertwined so that she couldn’t get the knots out. It’s just this stuff sitting in there. I’m thinking about all those colors that I saw. This gold and this green, emeralds, and these little trinkets of rusted tin copper looking stuff that was fake gold. So, all those different things are coming into play as I was completing this.”

Transforming materials in his environment is a theme commonly found throughout his work, which leads to the title of the exhibition “Textures of Humanity.”

“I use concrete as a material because concrete is the most used material outside of water in the world. it’s recognizable. It’s in everything. It’s in your highways. It’s in your streets. So, when you see the concrete facades of my work, that’s just a representation of that thing that you didn’t really know.  When it breaks down into the color, that’s that interior buildup of what you can build up over years of who you are inside. It’s more about who you are, as opposed to your exterior. So that concrete again… you see it. You’ll know what it is. It’s humanity. It’s the material that is what it is. But, when you chip away at it, you don’t know what’s inside.”

WHAT: “Textures of Humanity”

WHERE: Fredric Snitzer Gallery, 1540 NE Miami Court, Miami

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday,

COST: Free

INFORMATION: 305-448 -8976 or snitzer.com

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit source of dance, visual arts, music, and performing arts news. Sign up for our newsletter and never miss a story.