Oolite Arts: New acquisitions program, new home, new virtual offerings

Oolite Arts CEO Dennis Scholl and artist Diego Gutierrez in his studio at Oolite Arts. (Photo courtesy of Christina Mendinghall)

About five years ago, Oolite Arts’ board chairwoman Kim Kovel visited the Cranbrook art center in Michigan. While touring the art museum’s collection of works created by students – many of whom became renowned as alumni – Kovel had a revelation that percolated over several years.

“She came to me six or eight months ago and said, ‘How would you feel about having an Oolite art collection?’” said Dennis Scholl, Oolite’s CEO and president, in a recent interview.

The idea: To acquire and display the works of Oolite’s artists-in-residence and alumni.

Scholl loved it and suggested that after a few years of exhibition in Oolite’s new facility – currently in the planning stages – the works be gifted to museums, chosen to best support each artist’s developing career. Scholl and wife Debra, renowned collectors who also initiate traveling exhibitions and make major gifts, have strong connections to many museums.

Scholl and Kovel agreed it was a very good, virtuous circle. With an approved budget and a long list of candidates, the Oolite Arts Acquisitions Program was born.

A committee, led by board members Lin Lougheed and Marie Elena Angulo, selected works by seven current and recent Oolite studio residents and presented these to the full board.

“We originally were going to only take one or two,” Kovel said. “But in the end, we decided to take all of the recommendations, just because of the times and the need in the community.”

Additional funds were promptly budgeted, totaling $46,000, Scholl said. The acquisitions include two commissioned pieces – a baroque-style interior charcoal drawing by Gonzalo Fuenmayor, and a vividly painted, expressionistic masked portrait of a young man wearing a bandana by Michael Vasquez. Both are improvisations based on prior works, expanded in scale.

Michael Vasquez’s work in progress is not yet titled; acrylic, acrylic spray paint, acrylic paint markers on canvas; 40 x 30 inches. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

“These are artists who are working at the top of their game and in our community among the best,” Scholl said.

In phone interviews and transcribed excerpts from recent videos, the artists commented on their works.

“I’m really interested in showing the process that goes along with making the painting, and so I’d like to leave things really dirty and gritty. I don’t like to have a refined finished product. I don’t see it like that. For me, it’s more capturing an energy.”

– Diego Gutierrez, “45 minutes to myself,” 2018

“It’s a Victorian-style room used as a storage space for Hollywood-style letters, spelling out ‘BANANAS.’ When I came to the U.S. [from Colombia], I was making work with bananas as a way to exoticize myself, coming from a ‘banana republic,’ and bananas became a vehicle to explore my identity, power dynamics, immigration, luxury, labor.”

– Gonzalo Fuenmayor, not yet titled, 2020 (reference image)

“The [Malcolm X] text and phrasing are re-phrased as a ‘we’ statement and layered on and about impressions of flowers and leaves — the botanical and natural. The rest is art, so the artwork is my layering of those things together as an offering, a kind of reminder, a marker – hoping the viewer goes there.”

– Adler Guerrier, “Untitled (We will join Malcolm) IV,” 2017

Adler Guerrier’s “Untitled (We will join Malcolm) IV,” 2017;
solvent transfer, graphite ink, colored pencil, collage,
and enamel paint on paper; 30 x 22-1/4 inches. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

“Partially revealed elements are essential components in my work. This veiling alludes to protection – preservation as a way of cloaking historical elements previously distorted by external forces. Both the Oolite purchase and the piece currently on exhibition endeavor to protect their coded meanings, otherwise skewed by commercial fabric production.”

– Yanira Collado, both pieces she cites in the quote are known as “Untitled”

“We live in an irrational, absurd and surreal time. I am building improbable structures, which would collapse in the real world, but let me dream, believe in and explore on paper. These works, more so than ever, reflect the ever-tenuous relationship to what we believe we know and reality. It’s a delicate balance.”

– Karen Rifas, “1225,” 2017

Anastasia Samoylova’s “Miami River,” 2018; archival pigment
print; 40 x 50 inches. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

“[In Miami Beach], it’s like I don’t have to invent light anymore. It already exists here, and it reflects off of the multitude of shiny surfaces. It is sort of this jungle, but it’s so unnatural already, and so there’s plenty of artifice for me to work with that I’m absolutely fascinated.” 

– Anastasia Samoylova, “Miami River,” 2018

“I’m most recognized for my figurative paintings and portraiture that explore identity, pride, place, and belonging. With this new commission, I am acknowledging the current moment of social progress and the health crisis, and creating an image that’s imbued with a sense of resilience and a will to overcome.”

– Michael Vasquez, not yet titled, 2020 (sample work)

In selecting next year’s acquisitions, the board plans to adopt a more formal jurying process.

Kovel, who also heads her family’s antiques publishing business and has a background in finance, said Oolite administers an endowment of about $95 million – primarily from the 2014 sale of a Lincoln Road property. That bounty still requires judicious management to maintain a positive balance sheet, particularly with commitments such as the annual Ellies artist awards and its new $30 million building project.

Karen Rifas’ “1225,” 2017; acrylic on Arches Hot Pressed 140
lb. watercolor paper; 45 x 45 inches. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

OOLITE COMMUNITY 

“Helping artists help themselves” is the oft-quoted motto from later founder Ellie Schneiderman. Oolite Arts, once known as the South Florida Art Center, offers an array of services – with a particular focus on residents and alumni (more than 1,000 since 1984). Scholl calls it “a 360-degree holistic support system, with a place and opportunity for every artist in the county.”

Among the benefits afforded Oolite residents and alumni is the chance to exhibit alongside nationally and internationally celebrated artists “in the same show with equal dignity,” said Scholl. “That’s the best thing you can do for an artist. Every year, artists are given two or three such opportunities.”

EMERGENCY FUND 

As an organization intimately connected to working artists, Oolite quickly responded to the economic pain induced by the pandemic with an emergency relief fund, offering grants of up to $500 to artists who demonstrated need. Initial seed money was supplemented by individual and institutional contributions and, to date, about $200,000 have been awarded to 464 Miami-Dade County artists. Moreover, no staffers were laid off or had hours cut, Scholl said.

NEW FACILITY

Despite the pandemic, planning for Oolite’s new mainland home – at 75 NW 72nd St. – continues relatively unimpeded. Scholl expects the schematics from Spanish architectural firm Barozzi Veiga to be made public this fall, with an anticipated buildout by spring 2023.

“I’ve got really the dream team in terms of the facilities committee helping us and guiding us,” said Scholl, praising Oolite board members with architecture and development expertise.

In addition to more education facilities and 22 studios, “it’s going to have a theater, a significant exhibitions space, a makers’ space where people can come in and use very interesting tools – CNC routers and things like that. So we’re going to be a lot of different things,” Scholl said.

Complementing these expanded facilities, there will be scholarships and outreach available to open opportunities for residents of the Little Haiti/Little River community.

Already, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Oolite’s Video Art Club engaged middle-school students at nearby St. Mary’s Cathedral School. “We bring in some of the best filmmakers in our community and invite them to make a film,” Scholl said. The students develop the story, design the sets, even use green screen for special effects.

While the new facility is intended to pull Oolite’s audiences to its mainland neighborhood, Kovel and Scholl both said that retention or sale of Oolite’s second Lincoln Road property is one decision they’ll make only when the new dynamics can be assessed. Considering these turbulent times, that’s an uncertainty they can live with.

Seasoned arts executive and entrepreneur Dennis Scholl became president and CEO of Oolite Arts in 2017. View more video interviews with Scholl in Florida International University’s Inspicio e-magazine. (Video courtesy of Inspicio)

VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING

Following Centers for Disease Control guidelines, Oolite’s facilities remain closed, but staff and board regularly meet via Zoom sessions. Programming has also adapted to virtual platforms, as a range of film screenings and commissions, curatorial talks, professional development workshops, and hands-on classes are offered – currently at no charge to participants. Meanwhile, instructors are paid.

GALLERY EXHIBITION

“Idioms and Taxonomies,” curated by Laura Marsh, is the current exhibition, featuring 16 Oolite artists-in-residence whose work encompasses diverse two- and three-dimensional mediums and timely themes. Absent physical access to the facility, a seven-minute video tour provides an intimate virtual walk-through, suggesting the tactile qualities of high-touch work, but also advanced digital media. View the current exhibition by going to Oolitearts.org/exhibition/idioms-and-taxonomies. 

For more information on the Oolite Arts Acquisitions Program, visit Oolitearts.org/acquisitions.

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Miami writer tells pandemic story in ‘The Decameron Project’

Miami’s Edwidge Danticat was one of 29 authors asked to contribute to The New York Times Magazine’s “The Decameron Project.” (Photo courtesy of Lynn Savarese)

“I’m thinking of a Joan Didion quote,” Miami writer Edwidge Danticat says. “‘We tell ourselves stories in order to live. ‘”

The National Book Award finalist and 2009 MacArthur Fellow believes stories are “how we make sense of what’s happening around us.”

That was the thinking behind The New York Times Magazine’s “The Decameron Project” issue, which was published July 12. The issue marked the first time – in the magazine’s more than 100-year history – that its pages were devoted entirely to works of new fiction. The coverline of the issue: “When reality is surreal, only fiction can make sense of it.”

Danticat was one of 29 authors (and one of two from Miami) tapped to write a short story for the magazine’s project, a 21st century pandemic bookend of sorts to Giovanni Boccaccio’s almost 700-year-old “The Decameron,” which was written in the midst of a global epidemic of bubonic plague that hit Europe and Asia. The book that inspired the project consists of “100 tales processing fear and grief caused by the Black Death of the 14th century,” according to a statement by the magazine’s creative director, Gail Bichler. In the current project, “against the backdrop of the coronavirus, writers from around the world tell stories that help us unpack and understand this moment.”

Among those recently using “The Decameron” and “The Decameron Project” to understand this moment were members of a University of Miami book club.

The group, created through UM’s Center for the Humanities, decided to tackle both works during its July and August virtual gatherings. They discussed the collection of novellas in which Boccaccio sends 10 wealthy Florentines, three men and seven women, fleeing to the countryside to escape the Black Death. There, they pass their time in quarantine by telling 10 stories per day over the course of 10 days.

The University of Miami’s Center for the Humanities Virtual Book Club discusses “The Decameron Project” on Aug. 13, 2020. (Photo courtesy of Meghan Homer)

“‘The Decameron’ is one of the literary masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance,” says Megan Homer, assistant director UM’s Center for the Humanities. “The introductory framework provides an unusually vivid picture of the impact of a premodern pandemic, which we thought would be of interest, given the present COVID-19 pandemic.”

The 2020 pandemic has certainly upended daily life, but what struck Danticat was the age-old ritual of how we mourn and how it has been, as she says, “irreparably altered.”

“I knew when they asked me, I wanted to write about that,” Danticat says.

At the time, Danticat says, she was “sitting in my home in Little Haiti like everyone else, so it was a good time.” Ordinarily, she’d be out making the rounds, speaking or promoting a book – most likely it would now have been a book tour to promote the paperback release of her hardcover book, “Everything Inside.” Published in 2019, it’s a collection of stories set in locales from Miami to Port-au-Prince and beyond, and is the recipient of numerous book awards.

She found the notion of writing fiction – creating characters in the moment when a true-life event was happening – intriguing.

“Fiction takes a lot longer to write than news commentaries, for instance. It takes a while to process an event enough to create characters around it,” Danticat says.

She admits she was torn about contributing a serious piece: “What I knew about ‘The Decameron’ was that many of the stories were raunchy or love stories, and there was a debate inside of me if I should write something that was lighter to try to help people forget the moment.”

But she couldn’t stop thinking about the isolation of a person dying alone and the loneliness of their loved ones: “I wanted to write about characters that captured this moment. One of them was the situation of people having to be in a hospital alone, of not being able to have a loved one hold your hand when you are suffering – from the intake process to the time people die, and the period of time where they never see their loved ones again.

“That distance of people dying alone was very jolting to me,” she adds.

Her short piece, “One Thing,” is about a high school science teacher named Ray and his wife Marie-Jeanne. The story follows them from the time that Marie-Jeanne drops her husband off at the emergency admission section at a New York hospital.

“Two people in what looked like spacesuits had wheeled him inside. He could still breathe on his own then.”

The writer paints the picture of Ray wearing a face covering, and of Marie-Jeanne back at home and wondering where her husband is in the hospital, which floor, which room.

“The night nurse wouldn’t say, perhaps so she and others don’t storm the building and rush to those floors to hold their loved ones’ hands.”

There is symbolism as husband and wife connect over the phone, still dreaming of their summer plans of visiting caves in the south of Haiti, a trip financed by family and friends through the couple’s recent wedding registry.

“Returning to Haiti for that trip was a dream that they had. For me, there is so much symbolism in that cave, and it’s a cave that I really love, where I go so often when I am in Haiti,” says Danticat, who connected that “to where we are today in the midst of COVID-19. Caves are our oldest homes, where they found the oldest writing and the oldest pictures. The notion of a cave birthing us all.”

The other Miami writer who took part in “The Decameron Project” is Karen Russell, who contributed a piece titled, “Line 19 Woodstock/Glisan.” Her short story is about a public transit bus driver, Valerie, who works the night shift and calls her riders “The Last Bus Club.”

“Covid had shifted the Last Bus Club’s demographics – now a majority of her riders were people for whom ‘state of emergency’ was a chronic condition.”

There’s mention of a Ziploc bag given to Valerie by the transit company, bearing only a single paper mask and eight Clorox wipes, and of another bus driver who had put up a Dollar Tree shower curtain to protect himself but was ordered to take it down.

“It’s fascinating to see how consistently we turn to storytelling as a way to process our experiences,” says UM’s Homer. “I think the potential for literature to have an impact is perhaps especially significant in our present circumstances.”

Thinking back to the original “Decameron,” Danticat ponders “The Decameron Project” withstanding the test of time.

“It will be interesting to look back at these works perhaps in 20 years, because I feel like the kind of fiction you write now will have to be judged in hindsight. You will have to look back and say, ‘Oh, this was just a sliver of this moment.’ Who knows where we will be? Will face masks be a daily part of our existence, for instance?” she says. “Writing fiction in the middle of that uncertainty, well, it’s like an open-ended ending.”

The New York Times is scheduled to release a hardcover edition of “The Decameron Project” on Nov. 10, 2020. Published by Simon and Schuster, the book will include all 29 stories featured in the magazine and be available for $25 online and in store booksellers.

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Little Haiti Cultural Complex: The center of artistic life in historic Miami neighborhood

The Caribbean Marketplace, also called “Mache Ayisyen,” or Haitian market,  is a landmark building modeled after Port-au-Prince’s famous Iron Market. (Photo courtesy of LHCC)

You know you’ve reached Little Haiti when you see the bright-yellow facade of the impressive, gingerbread-style Caribbean Marketplace building at the corner of Northeast Second Avenue and 59th Terrace.

The Marketplace is part of the Little Haiti Cultural Complex, the center of artistic life in this historic Miami neighborhood. Typically a vibrant and energetic space, it is a place to experience Haitian culture, art, language and cuisine – where people meet and mingle while enjoying concerts, shows and other events.

Though live activities are at a standstill due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the space continues to serve the community – as a spot where city staffers can conduct outreach such as food distributions, says Sandy Dorsainvil, manager of the complex.

It has also, like many institutions, moved some of its offerings online, available through the website: Littlehaiticulturalcenter.com.

The Little Haiti Cultural Complex boasts this mural by accomplished Haitian artist Ralph Allen. (Photo courtesy of Zyscovich Architects)

“People can have a virtual tour of our current art exhibit,” Dorsainvil says. “A virtual tour of Little Haiti is also offered, and we are looking to … host live online concerts.”

The complex was the brainchild of the late Miami Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, “who had the vision of creating a cultural haven in Little Haiti,” she says. It opened in 2006 with a theater, art gallery, courtyard and the Caribbean Marketplace.

Also called “Mache Ayisyen,” or Haitian market, the marketplace is a landmark building modeled after Port-au-Prince’s famous Iron Market. In pre-pandemic times, the marketplace was mostly busy on Saturdays, when it hosted vendors selling Caribbean food, fashions, arts and crafts, while live music played in the background.

“The community was happy to have a place dedicated to its culture and the preservation of its art forms,” Dorsainvil says.

Exhibits, theater, dance & more

The LHCC has several programs that promote Haitian culture in Miami. From art exhibits to live concerts to dance rehearsals, there has always been something happening at the complex.

The 2,150 square feet gallery – with its open space, climate control and museum-quality lighting – facilitates up to seven professionally curated art exhibits per year.

“Our more popular exhibits happen during Haitian Heritage Month [in May] and during Art Basel [in December],” says Dorsainvil, who is an expert at creating programs and events that capture the artistic contributions of the people of the African Diaspora in a way that appeals to the global community.

The LHCC opened in 2006 with this courtyard, as well as a theater. (Photo courtesy of LHCC)

The LHCC is the site of dance practice for groups such as Delou Africa, Tradisyon Lakou Lakay, and Nancy St Leger NSL Danse Ensemble; and it offers traditional drums and horns classes by well-known Haitian street music band Rara-Lakay Nurednet. There are also art and language classes (Creole and French).

“Little Haiti Cultural Complex is a second home to me. It’s a meeting place for the Haitian community,” says dance instructor Nancy St. Leger, who since the pandemic teaches her classes online.

The complex’s Proscenium Theatre has 300 auditorium-style seats with six wheelchair-accessible spaces, two balconies with an additional 40 seats, a 1,370-square-foot stage, and a state-of-the-art control booth. Recent events held in the theater include February’s Haitian American Community Agenda Conference 2020, which united community members, organizations and leaders to create strategies for the advancement of South Florida’s Haitian-American community.

“Several local and national organizations hold annual events there,” Dorsainvil says. “Several Haitian presidents met the Haitian-American community in the Proscenium.”

Little Haiti on the map

In fact, the complex long has attracted Haitian dignitaries and other high-profile figures in the political and entertainment industries. Then-Vice President (and current presidential candidate) Joe Biden visited to discuss the situation in Haiti following the earthquake that hit the island nation in January 2010. President Donald Trump also visited Little Haiti in September 2016 and stopped by the Marketplace as part of his campaign run.

Inside the Caribbean Marketplace. (Photo courtesy of LHCC)

Actress Gabrielle Union had a photoshoot here in June for her New York & Co. clothing line; and famed artists such as Rihanna and DJ Khaled have shot music videos amid the complex’s exuberant murals. Grammy Award-winning musician Wyclef Jean, considered a pride of Haiti, has performed at the complex multiple times.

Annually, the complex sees more than 100,000 visitors, according to the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau website, Miamiandbeaches.com.

“We can definitely say that this center put Little Haiti on the map,” Dorsainvil says. “This facility gives tourists a reason to come in the community.”

Adds St. Leger: “Some people drive all the way from West Palm Beach to come to the cultural center … The complex changed the face of the historic Haitian neighborhood. It removed some misconceptions about the area. Now people know it’s a safe place to enjoy art, music and Haitian culture.”

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In Miami Corona Project, artist Xavier Cortada creates daily journal of city’s plague year

Xavier Cortada’s daily journal entries are titled, “Miami Pronouncement,” and they record the number of deaths that day – grim snapshots of an unfolding history. This one is “Miami Pronouncement (July 31, 2020): 96 Dead.” (Photo courtesy of Xavier Cortada)

In a video posted on his Miami Corona Project, artist and University of Miami professor Xavier Cortada draws one corpse after another on lined paper. They are lumpy stick figures, achingly childlike and blunt. Their heads and feet are doodled knobs.

As he draws, you hear the whispery sounds of his pencil brushing back and forth on the paper. The sounds could be fading gasps for air. Cortada is making a journal entry for July 30, 2020. There were 60 Coronavirus-related deaths reported in Miami-Dade County that day.

Although the short video may be hard if not tedious to watch, it is an insistent, even meditative, testament to the devastating crisis we are experiencing.

“We have yet to see 100 people die in a day, but that is coming,” Cortada said in a recent interview. “When I created this project, I wanted to mark this moment in history. I wanted to document what was happening in Miami and create a place, just like I did with my other social practice projects, where the community could come together to mourn, to learn, and to express themselves.”

For years, Cortada has created socially engaged, collaborative art. Miami Corona Project is very much consistent with his activist, community-based practice.

Cortada attended International AIDS conferences in Switzerland and South Africa in 1998 and 2000, respectively, to create collaborative murals with conference participants. More recently, Cortada has created numerous community art projects to promote awareness of Miami’s vulnerability to rising seas and climate change.

“I understand how people can be in denial about sea-level rise,” he said. “They can also be in denial about this particular virus and the pandemic in general.”

Cortada aims to show connections between climate change and the pandemic. “Our climate emergency exacerbates the pandemic,” he said.

“Miami Pronouncement (July 14, 2020): 32 Dead,” by Xavier Cortada, 2020. (Photo courtesy of Xavier Cortada)

Rising temperatures make it more likely that other diseases can come to Miami, he added, “whether it’s through mosquitoes or animal transmissions.”

For the Miami Corona Project, available at Cortadaprojects.org/projects/corona, Cortada has been creating a daily journal of Miami’s plague year in 2020. The project may well extend into 2021.

“I’m committed to doing this every single day until there’s a vaccine,” he said, “or until there’s some natural organic way that tells me it’s OK to stop.”

Since beginning the project on March 13, he has invited the community to join with him by searching the site for information and solace. It is presented in conjunction with the University of Miami’s COVID-19 Rapid Response effort.

Cortada’s online platform is composed of three main sections.

His daily journal entries in the section titled, “Miami Pronouncement,” record the number of deaths that day – grim snapshots of an unfolding history. These entries began on March 27, when the first death in Miami-Dade County was reported. Israel Carrera, 40, died of COVID-19 on March 26.

“I did not want us to forget them,” he said of those who have died. “I did not want their loss to be in vain.”

A “Conversations” section presents his talks with local leaders about the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and asks for messages of hope. They discuss how some are dealing or not dealing with the global catastrophe as it hits home.

The interactive section titled “Share Your Voice” is exactly what it says, a place where community members can write about their experiences in dealing with loneliness, grief, anger, frustration and unemployment brought on by the virus. One comment simply pummels the site with words including “isolation, alone, stressed, rage, reset.”

Other snippets, or voices, from the section:

“Coronavirus has impacted my daily … life and has made me fear for my life every time I walk out the door.”

“It’s helped me focus on what matters most. Family, friends, food, nature. I don’t plan to go back to the old normal. I realize I am blessed to have everything I need. My heart breaks for the many who do not.”

“Coronavirus, moreso than anything, has been mentally exhausting. I feel as though it’s illuminated parts of our culture that have been toxic but somehow hidden – up until this pandemic, they’ve slipped between the cracks as people haven’t wanted to acknowledge them. However, now it’s as though we’ve put a magnifying glass to them and we are forced to stare at the ugliness that we as humans put other humans through.”

On the main page of the project website is an unflinching image, a piece of digital art identified as: “Miami Pronouncements (March 26-June 15, 2020): 826 Deaths in Miami-Dade,” by Xavier Cortada, 2020. Against a background representing pages of journal entries documenting multiple days of death, there’s an athletic, muscular man taking a knee. In these days of Black Lives Matter protests, that’s a pose redolent of defiance and sacrifice.

What could be seen as suffocating swirls of arms belonging to an octopus coiled on the man’s back are actually embellished wings, Cortada explained. They imply that the man is a cautionary figure, an angel of death. The man wears a mask recalling those worn in Venice during the plague. As if bearing a gift, this eerie “angel” holds out with one hand a dazzling hot pink sphere, the artist’s stylized symbol for the virus itself.

We know from countless images in the media that this sphere signifies the novel coronavirus. But if we weren’t so awash in that grim collective awareness, Cortada’s symbol would not necessarily reek of fatal peril. It could look almost frilly and cute.

In this context, call it forbidden fruit. That pink sphere is oddly seductive but ominous, offered by a compromised, masked figure. In one fell swoop, in this image, Cortada evokes the very human, natural temptation to gather and touch, a universal longing in our desperate time – but one strictly forbidden by public health experts.

“I’m painting an angel of death telling you that I’ve got this in my hand and it could come to you, too,” he said. He wants more people to understand that the pandemic is “not just about [somebody else’s] suffering, it’s about a communal suffering.”

For more information about Miami Corona Project, go to Cortadaprojects.org/projects/corona.

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‘Fabric of America: Artists in Protest’ exhibition addresses troubled times

“The Fabric of America: Artists in Protest” features denim jackets bedecked in messages and symbols that take a stand and speak loudly of these troubled times. (Photo courtesy of Museum of Graffiti)

A crisis is the best time for artistic creation. So, creating is exactly what artists are doing today.

Some are creating murals, others wearables.

More than 30 South Florida graffiti artists and illustrators were invited to create protest-themed art on denim jackets for “The Fabric of America: Artists in Protest,” an exhibition launched July 18 by the Museum of Graffiti in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Artists typically inspire people,” said Alan Ket, museum cofounder and curator. “Artists have a way of presenting topics [and] ideas in a way that really reaches to the core of our beings and to our hearts.”

The exhibition, on view in person until Aug. 31, features denim jackets bedecked in messages and symbols that take a stand and speak loudly of these troubled times. With the momentum right now around the themes of racial inequality and police brutality – sparked by the death of George Floyd on May 25 – the museum provided this platform so artists could contribute to the national discussion, Ket said.

Alan Ket, museum cofounder and curator, said the exhibition includes diversity of topics and of media. (Photo courtesy of Museum of Graffiti)

“In order to bring change in society, that momentum has to grow and continue to push forward – and we wanted to be part of the change that this world needs,” he said.

For organizers and artists, the mission of the exhibition is multifaceted: “The idea of wearable art is not only to provide the artist with a platform to communicate and to share their ideas but also to be able to sell that work,” Ket added. “So that particular exhibition … allows people to own a piece of protest art to wear in public and to sort of show their position in the world as far as protesting.”

Added museum cofounder Allison Freidin: “In this particular time, it’s very clear that all of the artists that are in the show have a very similar message that they want to convey, which is their dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs and the need for equality and to eliminate the racism in our country.”

The main theme of the exhibit is protest. Some jackets make political statements (one portrays President Trump as the DC Comics character “The Joker”); others show the Black Lives Matter clenched fist symbol. One of the artists, known professionally as Cyst, painted an image of Malcolm X pulling back curtains to peer out of a window while holding a rifle.

All the participating artists are either from South Florida or currently work in South Florida, Freidin said. They include Chillski, Crome, Tackz, Disem, Ahol Sniffs Glue, Cash4, RasTerms, Klass, Cyst, Grab, Tragek, Delvs, Quake, Ticoe, View2, Chnk, Jel Martinez, Etone, Rage, Daniel Fila, June, Keds, Junk, Meta4, Drums Brown, Santiago Rubino, Cale K2S, Ruth, Faves, Blackbrain, Echo, and Tierra Armstrong.

The artists tackled a variety of hot-button issues.

“The main topic is police brutality and racial injustice, but other topics come into play in the exhibition such as equal rights, feminism, gender issues, politics and the presidency, immigration, human rights, migrant workers, capitalism, corruption, the history of resistance, even COVID,” Ket said. “It was an open platform. That’s why we have such a diversity of themes.”

The exhibition features a poster by internationally recognized artist Futura 2000. (Photo courtesy of Museum of Graffiti)

The exhibit also embraces diverse forms of expression. There are posters by internationally recognized artists Futura 2000, Tristan Eaton and Cey Adams, as well as an audio/visual installation by Ket and fellow artist Chintz that counts down the reported time a Minneapolis police officer had his knee on George Floyd’s neck.

Rounding out the exhibition are photographs by Pablo Allison, a human rights worker and documentarian. According to the museum, Allison has been following the migrant trail from Central America to the United States since 2017, and his images captured powerful instances of protest graffiti.

A portion of the proceeds from the exhibition will be donated to Empowered Youth, an organization that aims to improve the lives of inner-city young men in the Miami area, Freidin said.

The Museum of Graffiti, situated in the Wynwood District, is enforcing safety procedures including an admission system that allows six people to enter the premises every 15 minutes.

What: “The Fabric of America: Artists in Protest”

When: On view in person until Aug. 31 and online indefinitely

 Where: Museum of Graffiti, 299 NW 25th St., Miami; or useumofgraffiti.com/exhibitions-the-fabric-of-america-artists-in-protest

 Cost: $16 for general admission and free for children age 13 and younger; tickets must be purchased online to avoid on-site transactions

 More information: museumofgraffiti.com

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‘FloodZone’ on view at Little River’s Dot Fiftyone gallery

“Staircase at King Tide (2019);” archival pigment print; 40 x 32 inches. (Photo courtesy of artist)

Anastasia Samoylova phones into this interview from her balcony in Miami Beach, a frequent perch since it’s the only vantage point from which she can spot a glistening sliver of ocean.

“I’m almost always sitting in this spot, because it’s what I’ve always dreamed about and was never accessible to me,” she says.

Born in Moscow, Samoylova settled in Miami four years ago, after moving to the United States in 2008 to pursue her Master of Fine Arts degree. She had been working as an academic and freelance photographer in the Midwest, but Miami’s vibrancy resonated with her after a stint in the Fountainhead Residency.

The wide, blue horizons of her newly adopted home contrasted sharply with her formerly landlocked surroundings, and Samoylova was acutely drawn to the fact that the urban and organic intertwined cacophonously in Miami: She observed how wild, moldy overgrowth sprouted from swollen concrete; how water seeped out from sewer drains on a sunny day, eventually soaking it up like a sponge; how billboards and magazine ads displayed a sublime pastel luxury and failed to register the murky toll of overdevelopment. These images jarred Samoylova, but she noted that no one around her seemed to pay it much mind.

“Flooded Garage (2017);” dye-sublimation print on aluminum; 40 x 50 inches. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

“Realizing that climate change was a major threat to Florida was very experiential for me,” she says. “It seems like for Floridians that grew up here, it wasn’t such an obvious thing – or at least, there were things that were happening that were too subtle for them to notice.”

As such, her arrival to Miami represented a radical shift in her practice, as she turned away from studio-based work and toward something that was purely observational. Amassing images collected from sojourns into local neighborhoods over the course of a year and a half, Samoylova created “FloodZone,” a photo book that has since morphed into a solo exhibition at the University of South Florida in Tampa. A capsule exhibition, also entitled “FloodZone,” is currently on view at Little River’s Dot Fiftyone gallery, which predominantly showcases contemporary artists working across Latin America.

The exhibition, which opened on June 18, can be viewed through Sept. 14 both in person and online on the gallery’s website at Dotfiftyone.com. Because the gallery is employing social distancing measures – such as limiting the number of people in the space – organizers recommend making an appointment. Visitors are required to wear masks, and hand sanitizer is provided at the front desk.

In “FloodZone,” Samoylova’s documentary images capture a slice of Floridian allegory both physical and metaphorical, alluding as much to the marked dissonance of its environment as they do to the psyche of the people who inhabit its terrain. Her photos construct a mirage in which the future is imminent and yet doesn’t represent an immediate threat, where humans keep moving, building and boating without ever reckoning with their paradise’s impending demise. They display a tug of war between man-made construction and the natural world – the former’s persistent intervention and the latter’s re-emergence in the most unlikely places.

Atypical of her practice, Samoylova’s observational approach was predicated on preliminary research about Miami’s most at-risk communities, examining both the threat of climate change and climate gentrification as critical issues affecting the region’s societal framework. From there, she shot what stood out.

“I only shoot what draws my attention,” she says. “I like to keep things really open and layered to where this quality of surface and content is translated into the work.”

“Dome House (2018)” is part of Anastasia Samoylova’s “FloodZone,” which is on view through Sept. 14 both in person and online. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Images like “Roots (2018)” – exposing a tree’s underground maze after it was ripped out by gale-force winds – demonstrate the push-and-pull fragility of our ecosystem. “Concrete Erosion (2019)” and “Painted Roots (2017)” similarly allude to the power struggle that exists between man and nature, with plant matter emerging out of concrete. Others, like “Flooded Garage (2017)” and “Staircase at King Tide (2019)” depict inundations alarming to most, yet commonplace for the average Floridian.

In “FloodZone,” Samoylova draws a parallel between the capitalist nature of photography and that of the landscape in which she works: “Photography has very much to do with the conquest of environment. You’re always creating an imagined reality, and that’s how Florida was developed,” she says.

Her perspective presents the complexity of the issues at play – the communities that stand to be displaced; the nature that constantly faces destruction and abuse; and a way of life that is slowly being lost.

What: Anastasia Samoylova’s “FloodZone”

When/where: On view through Sept. 14 at Dot Fiftyone, 7275 NE Fourth Ave., #101, Miami; or dotfiftyone.com. Due to social distancing measures, making an appointment is recommended. 

Cost: Free

More information: Call the gallery at 305-573-9994 or email dot@dotfiftyone.com

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Coconut Grove banners are pieces of art

The poems placed throughout Coconut Grove are written in a format referred to as a “Zip Ode,” a five-line work where the numbers of the Zip code determine the number of words on each line. (Photo courtesy of O, Miami)

Poetry is blooming in Coconut Grove.

Miami’s original arts district is exhibiting 100 Zip code-inspired poems, printed on banners placed on streetlight posts throughout the neighborhood.

The Coconut Grove Business Improvement District (BID) partnered with the literary arts organization O, Miami for the exhibit, which was designed to welcome residents back outdoors while inviting nonresidents to discover the area through poetry.

At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has shuttered galleries, museums and performance venues, these poems are providing passers-by with a safe way to enjoy public art in a scenic, outdoor setting, according to the exhibition’s organizers. Visitors can wander through the area wearing a mask, social distancing and observing art – finding a new poem every couple hundred feet as if participating in a treasure hunt.

“This is a unique and special and local art and literature experience that people can experience in a very safe manner,” says Abigael Mahony, executive director of the Coconut Grove BID. “It’s specific to the fact that we are in a new normal and we are adjusting to that as well.”

Written by residents of the neighborhood, the banners pay homage to the area’s rich history and eclectic culture. Coconut Grove touts itself as Miami’s original art district.

“This neighborhood has always had a bit of an irreverent vibe compared to other neighborhoods in Miami,” says Miami City Commissioner Ken Russell, who is also chairman of the Coconut Grove BID. “It never really conformed to authority, and that comes from its roots in the art culture.

More than 1,000 works were submitted, and 100 were chosen for the banners. (Photo courtesy of O, Miami)

“In the ’60s and ’70s, a lot of artists and musicians settled in Coconut Grove and that became part of the personality of the neighborhood. People would have studios in their homes and apartments where they’d produce art, sculpture, music,” he adds. “Coconut Grove also started one of the country’s best art festivals, the annual Coconut Grove Arts Festival, where people from all over the country come to enjoy and buy art.”

The poetic initiative stemmed from a contest organized by O, Miami and local radio station WLRN, which invited people on the air to submit poems about their Zip code. For the contest, the two created an original, poetic format referred to as a “Zip Ode,” a five-line poem where the numbers of the Zip code determine the number of words on each line.

So, for example:

Mangos are blooming (3)

Peacocks are calling (3)

Spring (1)

Weather is warming (3)

Long summer promised (3)

“Every poem is much like a Japanese haiku in a 33133 format. This is our first exercise in written art, and it’s very unique,” says Russell. “It generated so much participation from the public that we thought [the exhibit] would be a great way for people to finally see their poems.”

More than 1,000 works were submitted, and 100 were chosen for the banners, which have been up since June 9. The exhibit features poems from residents of all ages, including third- and fourth-graders from Coconut Grove Elementary School.

“Those poems really highlighted the unique and diverse aspect of the Grove,” Mahony says. “Coconut Grove is naturally poetic. We have a hub of artists and musicians. We are in an area filled with innovative and creative people.

“Moreover, as a place, Coconut Grove has the water, the bay, the lush green trees, the amazing peacocks, and wildlife. It is a beautiful, fascinating and ever-changing place that lends itself to a description of poetry.”

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Liberty Gardens Park: Where virtual meets reality

The new Liberty Gardens Park mural, by Miami-based artist Ernesto Maranje, touches on themes of restoring the native tree and plant habitats that nurture and allow birds, butterflies, bees, bats and other wildlife to thrive. (Photo courtesy of North Miami Community Redevelopment Agency)

North Miami is rapidly changing. One of the visible signs of these changes is the renovation and beautification project at Liberty Gardens Park, nestled in the heart of the city.

This novel pocket park is easy to spot, noticeable from a distance thanks to a huge, new, augmented-reality mural overlooking 125th Street, North Miami’s main thoroughfare.

For months, a segment of the 125th Street sidewalk was blocked and hidden to the public, piquing the curiosity of passersby. Once completed in March, North Miamians discovered a 2,700-square-foot public green space with the stunning mural, plus an expansive green wall, Florida-inspired landscape and decorative trellis with seating. The project was financed through Miami-Dade County’s Art in Public Places program and a beautification grant from the North Miami Community Redevelopment Agency (NMCRA).

“Liberty Gardens Park is a direct result of North Miami’s larger efforts to enhance the redevelopment of our ever-growing downtown corridor,” said North Miami Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime. “As part of the city’s cultural enhancement initiatives, Liberty Gardens Park will hopefully be a place where people can peacefully stroll through the garden or enjoy the vibrant music, art, food and entertainment showcased throughout our diverse neighborhood.”

The mural, a collaboration between the NMCRA and the nonprofit arts group, Before It’s Too Late, measures 95 feet wide x 45 feet high. (Photo courtesy of North Miami Community Redevelopment Agency)

Located at 715 NE 125th St., at the site of a former shotgun-style building, Liberty Gardens Park neighbors North Miami landmarks such as City Hall and the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami. The novelty of this public square is the possibility for the visitor to navigate between virtual and reality.

First, there’s the mural canvas on the east wall, measuring 95 feet wide x 45 feet high. A collaboration between the NMCRA and the nonprofit arts group, Before It’s Too Late, the mural touches on themes of restoring the native tree and plant habitats that nurture and allow birds, butterflies, bees, bats and other wildlife to thrive.

Miami-based artist Ernesto Maranje, known for his environmental paintings, designed a site-specific mural that incorporates an augmented reality (AR) experience accessible to the public via mobile app.

After exploring the physical space, gazing at the mural and the green walls, visitors can enhance their experience with the free “Liberty Gardens AR” app (available for Android and iPhone), which literally brings the place and the mural to life. They will also be able to learn more about the artwork and discover a whole new world beyond the park itself.

The park is now “a space where technology meets art,” said Rasha Cameau, the NMCRA’s executive director. “As part of its ongoing neighborhood improvement efforts, the NMCRA converted the previously underutilized breezeway into a passive, outdoor garden space the entire community can enjoy. This also plays into a larger plan by the city of North Miami and NMCRA to beautify the entire downtown corridor and eliminate urban blight to improve quality of life.”

In addition to the stunning mural, the 2,700-square-foot public green space features expansive green wall, Florida-inspired landscape and decorative trellis with seating. (Photo courtesy of Jonel Juste)

Added North Miami Councilwoman Carol Keys: “It was an absolute honor to work on the Liberty Gardens Park project and bring a gorgeous green retreat to North Miami’s urban core … we are always exploring ways to improve the sustainability of our city. This type of mindful development remains a key priority for us in the years ahead.”

With the city’s emergency declaration now lifted, and more people seeking activities in the great outdoors after months of quarantine, now might be a good time to explore Liberty Gardens Park.

“We want residents and visitors alike to come together, enjoy the park’s lush landscaping, and experience a connection to art, nature and to one another,” Cameau said.

For more information, go to northmiamicra.org.

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The arts are in the DNA of The Betsy-South Beach

The team behind The Betsy-South Beach see the hotel as a beacon for art partnerships and a space that gives groups a home in the greater Miami area. (Photo courtesy of The Betsy-South Beach)

The Betsy-South Beach has been closed ever since the coronavirus shut down tourism in South Florida. A gradual reopening is expected on July 1, but live jazz music in the lobby and the ever-present buzz of arts and cultural programming won’t be back in full swing.

That doesn’t mean that The Betsy’s “PACE model” of philanthropy, arts, culture and education is on hold. Rather than hosting salons in the hotel, The Betsy moved them to a virtual space – creating online salons where artists and authors present live from their homes to yours.

At the end of March, just weeks after everything came to a halt, The Betsy began its virtual artists’ series titled, “Zen and the Art of Architecture, Music, Poetry, and Photography,” each Monday at 7 p.m. via Zoom. The weekly “community gatherings” kicked off with architect Chad Oppenheim broadcasting live on March 30.

“We’re now living in a world where on the other side of the screen or the telephone are people yearning for cultural and artistic interaction,” says Jonathan Plutzik, chairman and principal owner of The Betsy. “This virtual connection is profoundly important.”

The next incarnation of the “Zen” series started June 1 with a focus on contemporary writers creating in a multicultural world. “Zen and the Art of Writing in America” will continue each Monday through July 13. Then comes “Zen and the Art of Writing and Making,” which will close out the series on July 20, July 27 and Aug. 3.

Plutzik, who co-owns the hotel with wife Lesley Goldwasser, says it is vital for The Betsy to be a space for comfort and healing through the arts. It’s a message he remembers a restaurateur friend telling him back in 2001, about places like restaurants and hotels playing an important role after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Husband-and-wife owners Jonathan Plutzik and Lesley Goldwasser. (Photo courtesy of The Betsy-South Beach)

“They became places of healing in a communal space, he told me. I carry that with me today,” Plutzik says.

The arts are a family affair for Plutzik. His sister, Deborah Plutzik-Briggs, is a professional opera singer-turned-doctorate-in-arts-education-turned-arts-development-expert. She serves as the hotel’s vice president of arts and as director of The Betsy Community Fund, which programs its arts and culture.

Their father is the late poet and three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Hyam Plutzik.

The Betsy has a Writer’s Room that is a legacy to him – and that features his desk as well as inspirational wall hangings in the form of Hyam Plutzik’s work, “The Importance of Poetry.” Writers selected for the hotel’s weeklong residencies in the creative studio space are meant to get inspiration from the surroundings.

“Many Miami pre-war hotels had ‘writing rooms’ for travelers and guests,” Plutzik-Briggs says.

The room opened in 2012, and the pandemic marks the first time the room closed and the residency was put on hold.

While the Ocean Drive hotel hosts everything from music to its own curated exhibition spaces, writing is the “most natural commitment to The Betsy,” Plutzik says. “We know about the immortality of creating things and of words and of poetry in particular.”

In May, The Betsy offered “Zen and the Art of Poetry By Women.” This month, “Zen and the Art of Writing in America” launched with Pablo Cartaya, who is the co-founder and former director of the Escribe Aqui/Write Here program at The Betsy. He also established its bilingual, LGBTQ and Young Adult Writers initiatives.

“When Pablo started as the first author on June 1, it confirmed to me that what we are doing is something important, giving artists the chance to talk about their work in the context of what is happening now in the world, and how, in spite of it all, they still find their Zen,” Plutzik-Briggs says.

She remembers getting Cartaya initially involved at The Betsy thanks to a Knight Foundation challenge grant designed to help further the writers program.

“I wanted to hire a writer from the community to work with me,” she says. “With that grant, I hired Pablo Cartaya. Having a partner like him made all the difference in the world. We created together Escribe Aqui/Write Here, and then we developed the residency program with Escribe Aqui for regional writers.”

Like everything The Betsy does with its programming, it was one of their community-built partnerships that became the link for the Zen series to get off the ground so quickly in March. Plutzik-Briggs called up John Stuart, executive director at FIU Miami Beach Urban Studios, to help The Betsy create the series.

“Jonathan was on board with the idea from the beginning,” she says.

Both brother and sister express great pride in The Betsy’s role as a beacon for art partnerships and a space that gives groups a home in the greater Miami area.

The Writer’s Room at The Betsy hotel on Ocean Drive. (Photo courtesy of The Betsy-South Beach)

This commitment to the arts is visible down to the details. Everything in each room is curated, from the art on the walls to the book selection. Goldwasser has put together a formidable art collection with museum-quality exhibition space throughout the property.

“We don’t want to have decorator books in our rooms, and we don’t want to have decorator art on our walls,” Plutzik says. “We focus only on great photography, and we think of ourselves as having nine galleries, six of which are in rotation and three of which are permanent.”

Goldwasser curates many of the exhibits, often inviting guest curators to mount shows. Because of their dedication to the fine art of photography, they have partnerships with some of the greatest galleries in the world.

Just before COVID-19 temporarily closed the hotel’s doors, the hotel was exhibiting “The Art of Andy Sweet.” Sweet was the young photographer who chronicled 1970s Miami Beach and was murdered in 1982.

“The exhibit moved people,” Plutzik says.

The Betsy also acquired an exclusive collection of Muhammad Ali photographs for an exhibit overseen by Goldwasser and curated by Andrew Kaufman. The exhibit offers a rare glimpse into the champ’s time spent in Miami Beach.

“There are some very famous shots in that exhibit and a set of 20 smaller ones all taken in Miami Beach,” Plutzik says.

Sitting out and looking at an empty Ocean Drive make Plutzik appreciate his connection to Miami even more, he says. He recalls when he and Goldwasser first laid eyes on the hotel. When they purchased The Betsy in a bankruptcy auction in 2005, “it was closed, the door was locked, and it had a skeleton staff of three,” says Plutzik. “But it wasn’t in bad shape.”

The couple did some renovations and opened it in 2006 as a luxury boutique hotel.

Deborah Plutzik-Briggs holding a copy of “The Betsy” by Harold Robbins. (Photo courtesy of Shams Ahmed)

“I can’t say that the moment we purchased it that we knew exactly what direction we would take, but we knew it would be to create a hotel that we thought South Beach needed,” he says. “We ran it for a while, then we shut it and renovated it completely. It took us a while to figure out what we wanted to do.”

The Betsy Hotel closed in 2007 and reopened in 2009 after a multimillion-dollar restoration.

“Perhaps except for now, spring of 2009 was probably the worst time in economic history to open a luxury hotel,” he says.

All these years later, The Betsy has developed more than 200 partnerships with its PACE model and the philanthropy of The Plutzik Goldwasser Family Foundation, which was created by Plutzik and Goldwasser. Plutzik-Briggs serves as the foundation’s executive director.

Not only has the Zen series helped The Betsy stay connected with the community, but it has served as a way to help keep arts brands alive, too.

“This is a very important time for us and all presenting organizations to have a chance to reassess what we do, to think about what you do well even better, or maybe to say, ‘You know that one thing we do? We’re going to leave that to someone else,’” Plutzik-Briggs says. “I am hoping to take with me these quiet moments and try to figure out how to do what I do and what we do better for the next phase.”

“Zen and the Art of Writing In America” continues each Monday. The July 13 closing of that series will feature the screening of the documentary, “Hyam Plutzik: American Poet,” in partnership with the Miami Jewish Film Festival. “Zen and the Art of Writing and Making” will begin July 20 with entrepreneur Gidi Grinstein and continue through Aug. 3. To RSVP for the free salons or to see the list of authors and guests, go to thebetsyhotel.com/calendar.

Jonathan Plutzik: With the help of family and friends, Plutzik has created a cultural Mecca in the heart of South Beach – offering chamber music, opera, jazz, poetry in many forms, writers’ breakfast salons, a writer-in-residency program, art exhibitions, a cappella festivals, and much more – all free of charge to the public. Find more video interviews of Plutzik at Inspicio.fiu.edu. (Video courtesy of Inspicio)

Video Credits: Drone video:  Zachary Plutzik.  Music:  The (New) Beethoven Quartets. The 32 Piano Sonatas Reimagined. By Jeffery Briggs.  Piano Sonata in C-minor, op. 13.  Performed by the Amernet String Quartet.  Photo & Design:  Raymond Elman.

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‘I Remember Miami’ to use residents’ voices, photos for installation of memories

Dora Garcia’s “I Remember Miami” is a participatory work that will create a collective time capsule, documenting a unique time in Miami’s history before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.  (Photo courtesy of Massimiliano Minocri)

“Think about a single place in Miami, where you have been in the past.”

With these instructions, artist Dora Garcia aims to unite Miamians and create a time capsule that will cement in time the recollections and the sense of place of a pre-pandemic city.

That is the idea behind Garcia’s “I Remember Miami,” a participatory and collective art-and-audio installation commissioned by Miami Dade College’s Museum of Art and Design (MOAD) as part of its “A City of the People” series.

“Overnight, restaurants, bars, concerts, theater, so many things quickly became outdated,” says Garcia, referring to when Miami and the rest of the country came to a standstill in March. “Even though it has only been a few months, it all feels like it happened a long time ago.”

Garcia believes and hopes that, in time, the collective voices of “I Remember Miami” will define a moment in culture and society.

“Through her art, Garcia creates the conditions to keep us connected and collectively involved in visualizing Miami’s past, present and future,” says Rina Carvajal, MOAD’s executive director and chief curator. “‘I Remember Miami’ is a beautifully fitting culmination to ‘A City of the People,’ which encourages Miamians to become active participants in the life of the place that we love.”

So, how do you become part of this collaborative time capsule?

First, pick a Miami spot that has personal significance, like a bustling Wynwood coffeeshop, a special museum, a symphony concert at New World, a crowded cocktail lounge in Miami Beach.

“Something that made a special impression,” Garcia says.

If several people select the same place to describe, which is bound to happen, Garcia would consider it one of the unexpected journeys of the project. “Then we understand what subjectivity does to a place, in the way each person remembers it,” she says.

Garcia says recording on an iPhone or other mobile device is fine: “The Voice Memo app on iPhone is great for this.”

Garcia wants you to be as specific as possible about the place.

“It is important for those who hear the recording to get an idea of the place you remember,” she says. “You can speak to how it felt for you, but it is very important to describe what kind of place it is.”

Be sure to stand next to a window or on a balcony in what have been your quarantine quarters and first observe what is outside. Start the recording, then close your eyes, she instructs.

“In your mind, start walking around in it. Describe the place as it was the day or days you were there,” she says. “It is important to the piece to order your memories according to your path through the space. You walk into the space, you look to your right, to your left.”

“Think about a single place in Miami, where you have been in the past,” says Dora Garcia to collaborators who want to become part of her collective audio installation, “I Remember Miami.” (Photo courtesy of Angela Valella)

The length of the recording can be from a few minutes up to 15 minutes, but make it enough that the listener can reconstruct your impressions of the space.

Pictures are another crucial element of the installation.

Garcia suggests photographing the space around you right after you’ve finished the recording. Then add a photo of the place you described – an image of the site, a selfie taken with friends there, or a picture of an object that connects you to that place.

You can submit only one recording but send up to three photographs to accompany the narrative.

“I Remember Miami” is a companion piece to Garcia’s current collaborative with MOAD, “Rezos/Prayers,” which she first enacted in her native Spain in 2007. The artist splits her time between Norway and Spain.

For the Miami project in 2019, 11 people recorded narrations of their observations in various locations or on public transport, noting everyday (and sometimes) unexpected details.

“‘Prayers’ was about perception, ‘Remember Miami’ is about memory,” Garcia says. “The process of memory is made at the moment. It’s not something that pre-exists.”

Listeners also become part of the collective installation.

“The moment you describe [a memory] to someone, it is also forming an image for the person who is listening. This is what is exciting about this process,” she says.

After all, we don’t really know how life will look once we’re completely past the pandemic.

“As long as you remember a place, you are keeping it alive,” she says. “In this case, you are remembering Miami” – for yourself and for others.

Submissions will be accepted until June 30 for inclusion into a growing online archive. Once completed, the archive will be accessible on the websites for the artist, the museum and the Miami Book Fair. Submit photographs and audio recordings, in any language, as digital files at mdcmoad.org/iremember.

The Museum of Art and Design at MDC is inside Miami’s historic Freedom Tower, 600 Biscayne Blvd. For more information, visit mdcmoad.org or 305-237-7700. The museum is temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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‘By & For’ online art auction to benefit Miami artists

Among the pieces for auction in “By & For Ed. 2 | MIAMI” will be Philip Lique’s “Segment study based on cathedral ceiling,” 2020. (Photo courtesy of Philip Lique)

When curators and friends Luna Goldberg and Laura Novoa saw the havoc that the COVID-19-related shutdown was causing within the arts community, they had to take action.

Inspired by the efforts of fellow curator Pia Singh in Chicago, who created the “By & For” online art auction to benefit artists, the two teamed up to co-curate their very own Miami edition.

Known as “By & For Ed. 2 | MIAMI,” the local auction will take place on the Instagram social media platform, running from 5 p.m. May 29 through 5 p.m. May 31.

“It was conceived of as an artist relief fundraiser to help support artists who have lost opportunities because of the pandemic,” says Goldberg, who also works as education manager at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. “The concept behind it is that in bringing different artists together, coming from different backgrounds, both emerging and recognized, resources can be pooled to really support the entire arts community.”

“Both of us are really trying to support the community that we work with and deal with every day,” adds Novoa, who is the curatorial and public programs associate at Miami’s Bakehouse Art Complex. “Some of us can feel a little bit like we’re not doing enough during this time, so this was a great opportunity for us to work together and do our part in supporting artists.”

Mateo Nava’s “Hasta que nos alcance,” 2019. (Photo courtesy of Mateo Nava)

Here’s how it will work: Bids must be placed in increments of $50, and be made either through the comment section of each post or via direct message on the social media platform. Funds raised will be split equally between participating artists.

With opening bids as low as $150, it’s an opportunity for art-lovers to build their collections while also supporting a community of artists.

“Instagram is a very democratic platform,” Novoa says. “Anyone can bid on an artwork and participate in this event, and in a process that’s usually unreachable and unattainable if you’re not of a certain social economic standing. I think that’s an exciting part of it – making this more democratic, and making this a collective shared experience that is meant to be a fun way of supporting local artists.”

The auction will feature the works of 16 Miami-based artists, including Jen Lynn Clay, Lucia Del Sanchez, Philip Lique and Mateo Nava.

To create the “By & For Ed.2 | MIAMI” auction, the two curators reached out to their networks, looking for a diverse group of artists who worked across mediums.

“We’ve gotten such positive responses from the artists themselves,” Goldberg says. “You can really see this camaraderie around the community and this excitement around supporting one another, and that’s been really lovely.

“Many of the participating artists have works and practices that are in conversation with one another,” she adds. “They contribute to the city’s local arts scene and practice alongside one another in institutions like the Bakehouse Art Complex, Oolite Arts, the Deering Estate, among others.”

Jen Lynn Clay’s “Fruiting Bodies,” 2020. (Photo courtesy of Jen Lynn Clay)

The Miami edition of “By & For” will include works in a variety of mediums such as painting, printmaking, ceramic and soft sculpture textile works, Goldberg says.

“We are hopeful that by providing such a diverse grouping of artworks, individuals with different aesthetic tastes will be able to connect to one or multiple works,” she says. “We hope that it’ll be something that people respond to, and that we will have multiple people over the weekend interested in pieces, placing bids.”

As curators and educators, Goldberg and Novoa see the auction as an opportunity to amplify the community of artists in South Florida and to recognize the role art plays in our daily lives, particularly during the pandemic.

“Artists usually bring with them more than just their artwork or their creativity,” Novoa says. “They really do think in very creative ways about the ‘we.’ The socially engaged nature of artists and artwork is so important, and not only in times like this, but all the time.

“Having the ability to think creatively is what’s going to get us through many crises, not just COVID-19, but also the climate change crisis and beyond. Artists and creative, in general, are the ones that really bring change to our world, so for us it’s important to give them this platform.”

What: “By & For Ed. 2 | MIAMI,” an Instagram-mediated artist relief auction featuring work by John William Bailly, Thomas Bils, Liene Bosquê, Jen Lynn Clay, Lucia Del Sanchez, Diego Gutierrez, Rhea Leonard, Philip Lique, Nick Mahshie, Laura Marsh, Mateo Nava, Alex Nuñez, William Osorio, Jennifer Printz, Nicole Salcedo, and Lauren Shapiro.

When: 5 p.m. May 29 through 5 p.m. May 31

Where: Instagram.com/by.and.for

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