Monday, December 1, 2014

Purvis Young’s art finds home in Camillus House - posted by FFAB

Funding Arts Broward Invites New Members - posted by FFAB

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Funding Arts Broward Invites New Members
to Join in a Passion for the Arts
Florida Youth Orchestra demonstrates the benefits of music with impact to the community
 
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Recently, Florida Youth Orchestra (FYO) serenaded more than 80 FAB! members and their guests at Fort Lauderdale’s Tower Club. With the city and the ocean in the backdrop from 28 floors up, this group with high energy and purpose, mixed and mingled to the classical sounds of four students demonstrating that music is good for confidence, comradery and the human spirit. FYO's Musical Director Steven Burnes shared ways and means that music affects lives, and particularly children. Five new members were welcomed into this Who's Who Monday luncheon that celebrated the arts and the accomplishments of FAB! One hundred percent of membership dues are contributed through grants to arts organizations that present at venues throughout the county and enhance our community.
 
In eleven years, Funding Arts Broward (FAB!) has distributed more than $2 million to the arts. "The one thing we in this room all agree upon, I think I can say with conviction,” says FAB! President Drazia Rubenstein, "is that the arts are important to us as individuals, as a community and indeed to society as a whole."‎ The four young musicians, Chase Cueto, Erin Gotlieb, Ethan Foreman and Abby Hart, performed a soft, classical rendition after the meal that confirmed any doubt, that the audience or Rubenstein may have had about her statement.
 
New members enjoyed their first FAB! luncheon of the season and shared how they too would like to be more involved. “We hope to continue to integrate and mix our membership demographics with more, younger members, male members and culturally diverse members,” says Rubenstein, “in order to truly represent Broward County, and the artistic talent and audience that we are working towards nurturing in the NEXT ten years.”
 
Annually, Funding Arts Broward holds special FAB! Fun events in order to share with their members the special cultural experiences. It might be a back stage tour at Broward Center for the Performing Arts or a tour of a private art collector. FAB! fun events provide unique opportunities for members and their guests to experience the arts in our community, and have a first-hand look at their membership donations at work.
Through an efficient and effective process for determining grant eligibility and funding, FAB! has created a community of like-minded, art loving individuals who have joined together as advocates of visual and performing arts.

The program is created through a sustainable funding pool supported by annual contributions by members - individuals ($1000) and corporate ($3,500), is managed through an accurate and transparent accounting system. Every cent of the membership fee is distributed to the arts through grants. Members feel that this money has a direct economic impact, as well as an impact on the quality of life, community value and arts education; and that it is an endeavor rich with reward, for the future, for the fabric of the community and for the children, through arts education. Also, FAB! is the recipient of a Knight Foundation Challenge Grant that allowed the funding of eight additional FAB! Knight New Work Projects in Broward County in the past three years.

For further information on FAB! and more details on becoming a member, visit fundingartsbroward.org or call 954-353-7673.

For art aficionados, a new Wynwood emerges to the north - posted by FFAB



Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/visual-arts/art-basel/article4200990.html#storylink=cpy


For art aficionados, a new Wynwood emerges to the north
By Anne Tschida and Jane Wooldridge

jwooldridge@MiamiHerald.com

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/visual-arts/art-basel/article4200990.html#storylink=cpy

For art aficionados bound for Art Basel Miami Beach and this week’s other fairs, the private museums and galleries of the Wynwood Art District will be high on the must-see list. By midweek, the juice bars, coffee shops and craft breweries surrounding the Wynwood Walls street-art enclave will be as busy as Lincoln Road.

What Wynwood visitors may not find are the artists who helped shape the neighborhood into a global hotspot. Many of them — and a handful of gallerists — have headed north, renting studios amid the botanicas, sugarcane vendors and discount clothiers of Little Haiti and the track-side stretch of warehouses known as the Little River Business District.

Artists including Edouard Duval-Carrie, Emmett Moore, Agustina Woodgate, Carlos Betancourt and Bhakti Baxter find the vibe there — and the prices – just right for studios and, in some cases, even living space.

When Moore returned to Miami from college a few years ago, he immediately gravitated to Little River, where he worked a decade ago as a high school artist. “It’s kind of quiet and off the grid. You could get a big space for cheap,” he said — size being critical for his large furniture pieces. Rents range around $8 to $12 per square foot.

For Moore, Wynwood was never an option. Finding any commercial space for less than $40 per square foot is now nearly impossible, said Realtor Tony Cho of Metro 1 Properties. And with many artists moving elsewhere, the energy wasn’t right for Moore.

As for Little River, “Right now, it’s a really good community, where you can collaborate with other artists and feed off each other.” 

Betancourt agrees. After working in Wynwood, Opa-locka and El Portal, Betancourt last week purchased land for a home/studio in Little River, where he will be able to create both two-dimensional artworks and sculptures. 

“There’s an organic feeling of the way it is progressing ... there’s a very careful planning behind it, with special consideration to the artists,” Betancourt said. “This is always very fragile. The bigger developers with big ideas can come in too soon, and that can jeopardize the organic feeling. They are extremely aware of that."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/visual-arts/art-basel/article4200990.html#storylink=cpy

Find the whole Miami Herald article here 

Whether you call it Little Haiti, Little River, Lemon City, MiMo or the Historic Upper East Side this part of Miami is attracting lots of attention.  With rents lows and large spaces available this could be the perfect next hot area.  I know of two artists that have recently moved into new space and love the area.  I'll have to make a side trip during Art Basel week to see what all the fuss is about.  GL

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

New American Paintings CALL FOR ARTISTS : South Region - posted by FFAB

 




 
Entry Deadline: December 31, 2014 (Midnight EST)

CALL FOR ARTISTS : South Region

Artists residing in: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia,Washington DC, West Virginia



Juror:
Dominic Molon
Richard Brown Baker Curator of Contemporary Art,
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design
Learn More About The Juror...

Submission Deadline: December 31, 2014 (Midnight EST)

To apply online you will need to prepare four jpegs of your work (no larger than 1200 pixels at their greatest dimension) and a credit card for the entry fee of $50. All styles and media are welcome, as long as the work is singular and two-dimensional.

Click here to register and submit your entries to the Southern Competition*:

www.newamericanpaintings.com

*If you have been featured in a past issue of New American Paintings then you already have an account on our new web site. DO NOT REGISTER A NEW ACCOUNT. If you wish to enter this year’s competition, please follow the instructions on the site to gain access to your account.

Apply online now to take advantage of our special offer! Subscribe to New American Paintings for $99/1-yr and your $50 entry will be free. This option is available to you when you register to pay for your competition.

Questions? Visit our FAQ pages: General or Technical

----------------
If you have viewed our FAQs and still have questions,
please email us or call 1-888-235-2783

Friday, November 14, 2014

ARTundressed 2014… South Florida’s Sexiest Art Festival - posted by FFAB


ARTundressed 2014… South Florida’s Sexiest Art Festival
 

November 20 @ 6:00 pm - November 22 @ 10:00 pm

Celebrating art at its most creative, original — and erotic, ARTundressed has invited more than 120 artists from more than 28 countries to South Florida for a provocative showcase. Curated by knowledgeable art experts, the ARTundressed exhibition displays both the humorous and the sensual aspects of creative nude art, but features performance art, chic fashion, great live music, and cutting-edge visuals. Held November 20, 21, and 22 at The McCormick Place, this fifth annual event hopes to awaken — and heighten — Miami’s senses and spirits.

A one-of-a-kind event… The ARTundressed Festival presents a unique opportunity to truly experience the sensual aspects of the visual and performing arts through Art; Music; Fashion; and Entertainment. The principal concept of the Exhibition is to create an interactive environment which allows everyone attending to become participants and even performers themselves by engaging them in a memorable erogenous experience.

ARTundressed illustrates a variety of sensual subject matters that bring to life the essence of the exhibition itself; whether you are an art enthusiast or connoisseur; mainstream, or into alternative lifestyles, the collection of exhibited artworks is designed to literally stimulate the erogenous mind and spark intimate conversations. Our goal is to awaken and heighten all of your senses, reach out and touch the mind, body and amorous spirit through interactive participation.

ARTundressed 2014 INCLUDES:

** Art Exhibition showcasing around 250 exceptional curated art pieces
** More than 120 artists representing over 28 different countries
** An impressive collection of creative erogenous artworks rarely seen
** More than 80 participating artists are planning to attend the Exhibition
** Participation and art installations by local and international artists, performers, and Art Masters
** Live shows and performances; Live bands and deejays; Chic and Provocative Fashion
** Live Art Workshops and Interactive Community Art Wall for audience participation
** Art contests for Body Painting; Live Drawing and Photoshoot Sessions
** Catering Services offering appetizing food, beverages, and cocktails
** The Closing Party: “the GOOD, the BAD, and the NAUGHTY” (Saturday night)


Website:  http://www.artundressed.com 

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Renoir to Chagall | Tampa Museum of Art - posted by FFAB

“The Seine at Billancourt” was painted by Alfred Sisley between 1877-78. 
DIXON GALLERY AND GARDENS


Renoir to Chagall | Paris and the Allure of Color
Tampa Museum of Art
On view October 11, 2014–January 11, 2015

Impressionist and post-Impressionist works opening Saturday at the Tampa Museum of Art.


Few places continue to enthrall us like Paris and the rich legacy of the artists who made the “City of Light” their home. Together, these artists, including the well-known leaders of French impres- sionism—Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley—came to define 19th-century Parisian moder- nity, bringing to life the cafés, city streets, and brightly lit seaside resorts of the French capital and its environs.  

Renoir to Chagall: Paris and the Allure of Color showcases 55 masterpieces from the renowned collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens.

Museum Show info here

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Jamie Wyeth's Portraits of Rudolf Nureyev - posted by FFAB


Jamie Wyeth's Portraits of Rudolf Nureyev at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida
October 11, 2014 through January 18, 2015 

Images of the Dancer from the Brandywine River Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.



This exhibition focuses on the art of Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946) and is drawn from the substantial holdings of the Wyeth Family in the Brandywine River Museum of Art’s collection. It explores the unique collaboration between Wyeth, one of this country’s greatest living painters, and the famous ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev (1938‒1993). These exuberant works were made in many media and date between 1977 and 2001, including posthumous portraits Wyeth created. The Museum is supplementing the nineteen portraits—three of which are large in scale—with five costumes in the Brandywine’s collection that Nureyev wore in some of his most memorable performances.

Show info here

My teenage niece has a recently discovered love for Andrew and Jamie Wyeth.  She even has a Jamie Wyeth gallery opening postcard taped to her high school binder.  I'm a big fan of originality and I'll bet my niece is the only highschooler in America to be proudly flying a Wyeth work.  Her friends may think it's strange but I think that shows she's already way ahead of the crowd! GL

Monday, October 20, 2014

Ann Norton sculpture delayed as public art program prepares for funding boom - postedby FFAB

An artists’ computer-generated rendering of an untitled gateway by Ann Norton, commissioned by the City of West Palm Beach for the Okeechobee Boulevard median near Sapodilla Avenue

Ann Norton sculpture delayed as public art program prepares for funding boom
Palm Beach Daily News
By Jan Sjostrom

Two years after the City of West Palm Beach approved commissioning a 35-foot Ann Norton sculpture for the Okeechobee Boulevard median next door to the Kravis Center not a single brick has been laid.

The delay is connected to changes in the city’s public art ordinance that are likely to uncork a gusher of new money for public art. The revision, approved in March, adds private construction to certain city-financed building projects as a source of financing for public art.

Under the new ordinance, municipal, commercial and multi-family residential projects with above-ground costs exceeding $500,000 will be assessed 1 percent for the public art fund. As an alternative, developers can provide artwork or historical or cultural elements of equivalent value, with the approval of the city’s art in public places advisory board and the city commission.

“We anticipate collecting up to $3 million over the next 12 months if building permits are issued the way we expect them to be,” said Christine Thrower, director of the parks and recreation department, which oversees public art.

That’s a huge leap from the $535,000 the city collected from 2000 to 2012, when the city spent a little more than $69,000 on public art projects.

With so much money on the way, the city has determined it needs a public art master plan. The city has selected IBI Group, a global architecture, planning, engineering and technology firm with offices in Pompano Beach, to create the plan. The plan must be completed by May. The city also intends to hire a public art coordinator, its first staff person wholly dedicated to public art.

The Ann Norton sculpture, which was to be executed in consultation with the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, will be re-examined in the context of the new master plan, city leaders said.


See more at: http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/news/ann-norton-sculpture-delayed-as-program-prepares-f/nhcwj/#sthash.Cke9due6.dpuf


Municipalities all across Florida are creating and implementing Public Art Master Plans.   This year dozens have applied to the Florida's Division of Cultural Affairs grant programs.  Most will be recommended for full funding.  These grants were applied for as part of master plans to revitalize downtowns, create new city spaces by reclaiming abandon lots or enhance already important city parks. 


Cities gain value through public art - cultural, social, and economic value.  Public art is a distinguishing part of our public history and our evolving culture.  It reflects and reveals our society, adds meaning to our cities and uniqueness to our communities.  public art humanizes the built environment and invigorates public spaces.  It provides an intersection between past, present and future. GL

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Wynwood | Art Basel Tours by The Art Experience- posted by FFAB

Art | Experience

ARTISTIC & CULINARY ART BASEL 2014 TOUR PACKAGES 


Our tour packages offers a unique opportunity for everyone to dine and explore the three art-centric neighborhoods of Miami Art Districts with (celebrity eateries and bars), Art Galleries, Design Houses and Studios, and the Wynwood Walls. We offer the tour to our locals every week, also we offer customized tour pacakages for (Art Basel) an artistic experience and (SOBE Food and Wine Festival) a culinary experience, this opportunity has never before been offered outside of these two major international events occurring only once a year with over 1,000,000 in attendance.

We provide a 3-Course Dining Experience prepared by Celebrity Chefs at a selection of fine restaurants Oak Tavern, Riviera Focacceria, Shokudo and more, with décor and service at its finest. Our Exclusive Design District, Midtown and Wynwood (Art Districts) Passport which is actual passport sized, containing detailed maps of the districts, venues and vendor locations and ads, gallery information and points of interest. The best part of the passport is the incentives section made just for us, including discounts, 2 for 1’s and savings valued at over $300.00! The passport is good for one year so it may be used repeatedly, the purpose being to bring the customer back to enjoy our three art districts over and over again. Also inclusive Your Personal Exclusive Tourator ( a tour guide highly knowledgeable of the arts) available for (groups of 6+) – The best part of the tour, before or after you dine, you will be able to view some of the best art collections in the world. Entrance into the district’s exclusive galleries is $10 per person normally, and inclusive in the tour is not only one gallery, but up to three galleries. View the Walls of Wynwood, the Margulies Collection, Rubell Collection, and have a once in a lifetime experience! 

Website with tour info and pricing found at http://www.artbaseltours.com/

I'm excited hearing about this group and I'm sure they will do well.  To get the most out of your time in Wynwood, with the artwork so spread out, its wise to go you're first time with someone who knows the area.  I have been giving tours of Wynwood and Art Basel for years now and have been posting my "Glenn's Guide to Art Basel" as a way to demystify the art scene for first timers.  A permanent tour company that specializes in the area is a welcomed idea and one I will utilize.  GL

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Tribute to American Painter Robert Butler - posted by FFAB


Tribute to American Painter Robert Butler-Florida Wildlife & Landscape Artist

At South Florida State College

November 4, 2014 all day
SHOWING: September 2014-December 2014

Robert Butler, is an American painter best known for his paintings of the wildlife and woods around Florida’s Everglades area. He was a member of the well-known African-American artist’s group, The Highwaymen. He was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, along with the other original Highwaymen.

Butler developed his own style, which was exemplified by fine detail and a dramatic, romantic lighting. He painted every Florida ecosystem with an abiding love for the swamps, palmetto flats, hardwood forests, rivers, lakes, pine flats, and wildlife of wild Florida.

For many years, I’ve lived close to nature and witnessed the beauty my privileged eye has been allowed to see. As an artist, it is important to me to share my experiences, and whenever I work, it is the larger view that I strive to maintain. I invite you to look at your experience in the same way. The textured tapestry we call reality is constantly changing. An artist is one of the few who will be privileged to add his or her special splash of color. My love for the land is the strength behind my paintings, and I know there are many others who share my feelings.
– Robert Butler

Show info here 

Robert was a great artist and a great man.  His work will live on to tell the story of Florida before the mass development.  The wildlife in his paintings is what distinguished him from the other Highwaymen.  Every Florida hunter I know has one of Robert's paintings in their collection.  GL

Friday, October 17, 2014

How Should Our Buildings Adapt to Florida’s Rising Sea Levels? - posted by FFAB


How Should Our Buildings Adapt to Florida’s Rising Sea Levels?

 
As sea levels rise and Florida sinks, how should our buildings adapt? The new Perez Art Museum Miami points the way.


Sarasota Magazine
By: Alastair Gordon


From the Article; 
... A map recently published by National Geographic shows what North America might look like after the polar ice caps have melted. Coastal areas along the east coast will be entirely underwater and Florida—the entire peninsula, including Sugarloaf—is not even on the map.

“Miami, as we know it today, is doomed,” says Harold Wanless, chairman of the department of geological sciences at University of Miami. “It’s not a question of if. It’s a question of when.” Wanless and other scientists predict that by 2030, the sea may have risen more than two feet and as much as six feet by 2100.
“This is ground zero for sea-level rise,” warned U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who hosted a hearing in Miami Beach on Earth Day last April. More than $1.5 billion has already been allocated for projects designed to hold back the rising tides. Dutch flood experts have been flown in to consult on the matter, and Broward County enacted a climate change master plan, but all of this may be in vain, a case of too little, too late.

Despite the dire predictions, investors and developers in Miami and other coastal cities seem to have missed the memo. With speedy profits in mind, they’ve been lulled into mass denial and continue to build higher and more elaborate structures in a place that may, one day, be a sunken city. Instead of sober resolve, there’s an intoxicated, end-of-the-world giddiness to new development that, regrettably, matches the area’s stereotypical image of sybaritic excess. Party hard and live for today! Forget about the drowning future. Miami Goes Wild, reads the wet T-shirt of today. Of course, it doesn’t help that many of the state’s political leaders—including Gov. Rick Scott, Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush—continue to insist that climate change is a myth conjured up by a liberal conspiracy.

 Illustration by Rob Jones

Money speaks louder than scientific fact. Real estate is booming. Wildcat investments are pouring in from South America, Europe, Russia and the Far East. Virtually every block along Miami Beach has a new project under construction, and the skyline of downtown Miami bristles with glassy new high-rise buildings that appear to have been dropped into place like so many alien entities. Architecture with a capital “A” is exploited as a mighty marketing tool, with riotous forms and oversized balconies that expand giddily into fleckless blue skies.

As Miami rises higher, the city continues to sink at alarming rates. On any given day, you can find areas that are already under water, depending on the tide and lunar cycle. Sub-level garages and residential basements are regularly flooded. Fresh water is being contaminated as sewage gets displaced by seawater. Storm drains are overflowing and can’t handle the saltwater that bubbles up through the porous limestone aquifer. During the full moon, small rain puddles expand into lagoons that stretch along the lower sections of Alton Road while the undercarriages of Bentleys and Maseratis corrode in the brackish soup.

Full Article found here 


Interesting article.  It's sad to think my grandchildren may not be able to grow up on the same land as the last four generations of my family because it will be underwater.  What do we do at this point to mitigate the damage?  And why are the developers not worried? As the article states; "Money speaks louder than scientific fact." Until the rising ocean cuts into their bottom line the buildings will continue to go up right to the waters edge. GL

Thursday, October 9, 2014

PMorgan Chase & Co. announce a major gift of art to PAMM’s permanent collection - posted by FFAB

Pérez Art Museum Miami Receives Significant New Works for the Museum’s Permanent Collection from JPMorgan Chase
By Alexa Ferra

Banking Firm Gifts American Women Artists Pieces from World-Renowned Corporate Collection During Annual Corporate Luncheon


MIAMI –  At today’s Seventh Annual Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) Corporate Luncheon, JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced a major gift of art to the museum’s permanent collection. This gift includes six works by American women: Pat Stier, Marilyn Minter, Jenny Holzer and Maya Lin, across a range of different media. The announcement was made by Lisa Erf, director of the JPMorgan Chase Art Program, at the luncheon following a discussion with PAMM Director Thom Collins on corporate art collecting for a community.

“JPMorgan Chase has a long history of supporting the arts in South Florida, and we are incredibly grateful for yet another gesture of the company’s commitment to culture and this community,” said Thom Collins, PAMM director. “This gift is the perfect example of how corporate collecting contributes to making art more accessible to our community.”

"This is a collection of art that belongs in a museum and for this generation to appreciate,” said Erf. “We are thrilled that these pieces have found a great home at PAMM."

More than 300 of South Florida’s most influential business leaders attended the highly-anticipated luncheon, which honors the corporate community for its vital support of the arts in South Florida. For the first time, the luncheon was held at the museum’s new, and now iconic waterfront facility. Attendees enjoyed the lunch reception and viewed the museum’s new exhibition, Beatriz Milhazes: Jardim Botânico, which opened just last week, and has received rave reviews by the national and international art community.

PAMM Chairman of the Board of Trustees Aaron Podhurst presented the Seventh Annual PAMM Corporate Honors to J.P. Morgan—the firm’s investment bank--, in recognition of the company’s vital impact on the arts in South Florida.  In addition to having one of the most established corporate art collections, JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a long legacy of supporting cultural programs, and promoting education and access for the entire community. In South Florida, the firm has supported the Museum of Science, Fort Lauderdale Museum of Discovery of Science, and Miami Art Museum and Pérez Art Museum Miami’s educational and community programs since 1999.

The PAMM Corporate Luncheon raises funds for the museum’s education programs. PAMM is the largest provider of art education outside of Miami-Dade County Schools, reaching more than 50,000 children since opening in December 2013. Corporate support has made many of these free programs possible, which include: free family activities every second Saturday; Brick by Brick, a program for at-risk teens which takes place at community centers in underserved areas throughout Miami-Dade, and focuses on architecture, design and community planning; PAMM in the Neighborhood, a summer camp program for underserved youth; and more.

For the fourth consecutive year, presenting sponsor of the PAMM Corporate Luncheon was South Motors Automotive Group. Additional Pérez Art Museum Miami Corporate Luncheon supporters included: gold sponsors Cernuda Arte; Citi; City National Bank; Douglas Elliman Real Estate; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Novela & Associates; Podhurst Orseck, P.A.; and UBS Wealth Management; and silver sponsors: Bank of America; BBVA Compass; Beaux Auctions; Carol C. Lumpkin and R. Hugh Lumpkin; Classical South Florida 89.7 FM; Itaú; Jose Milton & Associates; MSC Cruises; Perry Ellis International; RBC Wealth Management; The Americas Collection; U.S. Trust; and Weiss Serota Helfman Pastoriza Cole & Boniske, P.L.

63rd Annual All Florida Juried Competition and Exhibition at Boca- posted by FFAB

Tony Vazquez-F (Miami), Mene Grande, 2014, bitumen


63rd Annual All Florida Juried Competition and Exhibition
Boca Raton Museum of Art
Till October 18th

As the state’s oldest annual juried competition, the All Florida has introduced the work of thousands of Florida artists working in all media: emerging, mid-career, and established artists. It reinforces the Museum’s commitment to Florida artists, provides professional exhibition opportunities for emerging artists, and reveals a provocative glimpse – through Florida artists’ eyes – of the state-of-the-art today through approximately 100 paintings, sculpture, photographs, video and installations.

Best in Show
Tony Vazquez-F 

Merit Awards
Brookhart Jonquil
Vincent Miranda

José Pacheco Silva
Wayne Thornbrough
Clara Varas


Show info

Two weeks left to see this great show!  GL

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

BIG at Art Serve - posted by FFAB


BIG
Art Serve
Till Oct 31

ArtServe is going BIG! Stunning large-scale pieces in a range of media fill the gallery this fall. The area’s artists present colossal new works from their collections which will be judged by a panel of experts. Be it a giant painting, a massive sculpture, a towering textile, photo or glass work, the epic art found at BIG will make an over-sized impression.

BIG Jurors
Jill C. Weisberg, M.F.A., Downtown Hollywood Mural Project
Hamilton Aguiar, Wynwood Art Group


Reception & Award Presentation
Oct 9 6-8pmA cash prize and “People’s Choice Award” will be presented


Show info

Bill Cosby Loan Private Art Collection to the Smithsonian - posted by FFAB




Bill and Camille Cosby Loan Private Collection to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art

Selected Works Never Before Seen Publicly. One of the world’s preeminent private collections of African American art will have its first public viewing later this year at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art. “Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue” brings together artworks from two world-class collections: the National Museum of African Art and the William H. and Camille O. Cosby Collection. The exhibition, which opens at the museum Nov. 9 and remains on view through early 2016, is a major part of the museum’s 50th anniversary, celebrating its unique history and contributions toward furthering meaningful dialogue between Africa and the African diaspora.


Conversations” presents selected pieces from the Cosby collection, including works by Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Beauford Delaney, Loïs Mailou Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Keith Morrison, Faith Ringgold, Augusta Savage, Henry Ossawa Tanner and Alma Thomas. With the exception of one work of art, the Cosby collection has never been loaned or seen publicly and only rarely and selectively published. These and other works of African American art are placed in thematic dialogue with African traditional works of art, including a Kongo female figure with child from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a lidded bowl from Nigeria by the Yoruba master artist Olowe of Ise and a Nuna butterfly mask from Burkina Faso, and with modern and contemporary works of art by artists, including Fodé Camara from Senegal, Godfried Donkor from Ghana and William Kentridge from South Africa. The exhibition and its accompanying publication are organized to explore intersecting ideas about history, creativity, power, identity and artistry in ways that resonate with people the world over.

Henry Ossawa Tanner 1859–1937, United States
The Thankful Poor 1894
The Collection of Camille O. and William H. Cosby Jr.
Photograph by Frank Stewart

Bill and Camille Cosby began acquiring the more than 300 African American paintings, prints, sculptures and drawings more than four decades ago, based on their personal tastes rather than on investment value. They strongly believe that African American families should seek to learn from and preserve their cultural history, which is told, in part, through works of art. 

The unique experience of viewing exceptional African and African American art reinforces the Cosbys’ energizing message: We should all welcome the world of art into our lives—it belongs to us all if we only go out there and make it our own. Bill Cosby also introduced African American art to millions worldwide as a prominent feature of his landmark television series three decades ago.
“At the National Museum of African Art we are excited to show the world these treasured African American artworks for the first time ever,” said Johnnetta Betsch Cole, director of the museum. “The exhibition will encourage all of us to draw from the creativity that is Africa, to recognize the shared history that inextricably links Africa and the African diaspora and to seek the common threads that weave our stories together and over time as part of the human family.”

“It’s so important to show art by African American artists in this exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art,” said Bill Cosby. “To me, it’s a way for people to see what exists and to give voice to many of these artists who were silenced for so long, some of whom will speak no more.”

“Our mission can be summarized by Elizabeth Catlett, ‘Art must answer a question, or wake somebody up, or give a shove in the right direction,’” said Camille Cosby.

Exhibition Highlights

  • Rare late 18th- and early 19th-century portraits by the Baltimore-based African American artist Joshua Johnston
  • Explorations of black spirituality in the 1894 masterwork “The Thankful Poor” by Henry Ossawa Tanner and in the 1943 painting “Boy and the Candle” by South African artist Gerard Sekoto
  • The struggle for freedom and equality explored through the 1989 sculpture “Toussaint Louverture et la vieille esclave” by the Senegalese artist Ousmane Sow and the 1982 painting “Still Life: Souvenir No. IV” by the African American artist Eldzier Cortor
  • History, knowledge and memories explored through Cosby family quilts and African textile
  • A section on music and urban life that includes African musical instruments and African and African American modern and contemporary works
A gala celebration commemorating the museum’s 50th anniversary and the unveiling of the exhibition will take place Friday, Nov. 7, at the museum. For more information call (202) 633-4648.

Show info

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

MAKING SENSE: Rochelle Feinstein, Deborah Grant, Iva Gueorguieva, Dona Nelson at USF Contemporary - posted by FFAB




MAKING SENSE: Rochelle Feinstein, Deborah Grant, Iva Gueorguieva, Dona Nelson

September 27 – December 12, 2014
USF Contemporary Art Museum
 
Making Sense brings together four artists who make distinctive contributions to contemporary painting. Through a range of approaches, they explore painting as a medium, a set of techniques, an historical institution and a framework for making sense. 

Inspired by WWII-era Enigma decoding machines, Rochelle Feinstein takes on puzzling figures of speech, inscrutable ideas and encrypted social codes as challenges for painterly representation. 

Using a method she calls “Random Select,” Deborah Grant creates imagined, non-linear narrative encounters between historical artists, interwoven with her own varied humanistic interests from literature to religion.  

Iva Gueorguieva adapts the visual language of modern abstraction to create tumultuous, energetic spaces on canvas; her process of building up paintings by layering torn cloth with pigment and color washes produces spontaneous, dynamic compositions rooted in personal stories.  

Dona Nelson’s two-sided paintings, stained and layered with strands of cheesecloth, invite viewers to encounter them as freestanding forms.  

Making Sense includes new works produced by Feinstein and Gueorguieva at Graphicstudio, the 45-year-old collaborative printmaking and sculpture atelier of the USF Institute for Research In Art.  

Curated by Margaret Miller, Director, USF Institute for Research in Art, and Megan Voeller, Associate Curator of Education, USF Contemporary Art Museum; organized by USF Contemporary Art Museum

Show info

Alone in the Virtual Museum - New Yorker - postedby FFAB


Alone in the Virtual Museum
The New Yorker
By Alexandra Schwartz

 One afternoon last June, while traveling in Naples, I went out wandering and found myself standing in the kind of vast cobblestone square that seems designed for a Fascist rally or the celebration of a royal birth. To my right stood a building that looked like a steroidal homage to the Pantheon; to my left, a long, squat loaf of a mansion that turned out to be the Palazzo Reale, the urban seat of the Bourbon monarchs during their rule, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I bought a ticket, and found myself in an entrance hall of white, pink, and black marble, dominated by two cascading staircases leading away from one another and toward the vaulted, absinthe-colored ceiling far above. Each could have easily fit four horsemen riding side by side; you could almost hear the hiss made by silk dresses sweeping down the steps and the laughter of the women wearing them. Apart from a half dozen guards playing cards at a small folding table, I was alone. “Go up either one,” a guard wearing an eye patch made entirely of masking tape told me, and I proceeded up the left staircase and through a series of ornate rooms decorated with silk wallpaper and gilded mirrors and portraits of the thick-faced, ogreish Bourbons. Though I occasionally crossed paths with three or four other dazed visitors, I was otherwise left entirely to myself.

I felt a similar solitude the other day, while walking through a ghostly Metropolitan Museum, starting by the Tiffany windows in the American wing and working my way back through medieval art and European sculptures to the front atrium, without encountering a soul. Or maybe “walking” is too anthropomorphic a way to put it; the motion was closer to a glide, or to the bobbing of a stunned moth. My visit was courtesy of Google Art Project, which, in the case of the Met, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and a number of other institutions, offers partial glimpses, via Google Street View, into great art and archeology sites around the world, under the aegis of the company’s Cultural Institute. Among other things, the Cultural Institute seeks to change the way that art is looked at on the Internet by displaying high-resolution images of a growing range of art works—street art was added this summer—and by ushering people through virtual tours of the places where those art works can be seen.

Some critics complain that Google’s initiative to take us on virtual trips through museums and to show us great pieces of art on demand, as we sit gazing at our laptops, will discourage people from actually going to these institutions. This is flatly untrue. Museum attendance is on the rise, dramatically so. The Louvre, the most visited museum in the world, currently hosts 9.3 million visitors annually, and, as the Art Newspaper reported in July, it expects a thirty-per-cent increase, to twelve million a year, by 2025. In second and third place are the British Museum, with 6.7 million visitors a year, and the Met, with 6.2, and the rest of the globe is catching up fast. In 2013, the most visited paying show anywhere was an exhibition of artifacts from the Western Zhou Dynasty, held at the National Palace Museum in Taipei (ten thousand nine hundred and forty six people a day), and the most visited show free of charge was an exhibition of Impressionist works at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, in Rio (more than eight thousand). People want to walk through the halls and look at the stuff on the walls, and, increasingly, they’re doing just that. It’s worth mentioning that a number of museums are jumping on the digital bandwagon, putting pieces from their collections on Pinterest, as the Getty is doing, or, like the Rijksmuseum, making entire collections available on their Web sites and encouraging Web visitors to download favorite images; these are not the actions of institutions that fear for their lives.


Full New Yorker Article here

I posted last year about the Google project here

Monday, October 6, 2014

Women rule the South Florida arts world - postedby FFAB

For all the progress women have made in shattering glass ceilings, barriers to top leadership jobs, career progress and equal pay still exist in plenty of fields.

But in South Florida’s arts-and-culture community, it’s a different story. For women with vision and the drive to lead, that story is one of opportunity, challenges and creative fulfillment.
On the eve of the 2014-2015 season, a look at the range of visual arts organizations, dance companies, theaters, performance presenters, music groups and opera companies turns up what may be to some a surprising fact: Here, women rule.

Look at a sampling of 148 of the more than 350 arts and culture groups funded through Miami-Dade County’s Department of Cultural Affairs, and you’ll find 91 are led by women. In Broward, of 50 groups receiving grants from the county’s Cultural Division, 28 are headed by women. In Palm Beach, of 73 arts and culture organizations belonging to the county’s Cultural Council, 50 are run by women.

The groups range from startups with modest means to huge organizations with budgets in the millions. Miami City Ballet, the Florida Grand Opera, the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts and several major museums — the Bass, the NSU Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, the Frost, the Norton — are all woman-led.
Many women are running organizations they created. Some of the region’s power players ascended into their jobs; as Judith Mitchell, chief executive officer of the Kravis Center, observes, “I’m a product of promotion from within. I believe in it.” Still others were hired away from cultural groups in different cities.

Ask some of them why women dominate the arts scene here, and they share a variety of theories. Joann María Yarrow, artistic director of the Spanish-language Teatro Prometeo and conservatory at Miami Dade College’s Wolfson campus, has an evocative one.

“It goes back to the idea that Miami is a young city. Older cities have [entrenched] male leadership, and it’s about women breaking through that,” Yarrow says. “In Miami, women are in the forefront. And if you were going to give Miami a gender, you’d have it say it’s a woman.”

Full Article here

Read more here: http://eprod.miamiherald.com/entertainment/season-of-the-arts/article2169870.html#storylink=c

Read more here: http://eprod.miamiherald.com/entertainment/season-of-the-arts/article2169870.html#storylink=c
 

3 Shows on Japanese Design at Morikami - posted by FFAB

Japanese Design for the Senses: Beauty, Form and Function

The MorikamiSeptember 30, 2014 – January 18, 2015

This exhibition features three distinct portions related to the theme of Japanese design aesthetics. Each exhibit features objects that touch the human senses visually and spatially, with each work designed and crafted to be both beautiful and useful. Examples range from folding screens with exquisite paintings that divide a room and provide privacy, to brilliant lacquer storage boxes engraved with gold and silver powdered designs, to remarkable furniture pieces that are as magnificent in their form as they are in their functionality.

Touch of Gold: Lacquerware Boxes and the Paintings of Elaine Ehrenkranz Over 40 years Elaine Ehrenkranz, a talented painter, formed a comprehensive collection of magnificent Japanese lacquerware boxes ranging in date from the 15th- to the mid-19th centuries. A large portion of her collection was donated to the Harvard University Art Museums in 1997, with the remaining masterpieces, including several of Elaine’s paintings inspired by these Japanese lacquerware boxes, bequeathed to Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in 2013. Touch of Gold features her remarkable gift to Morikami.
Ma: Defining Space, Studio Furniture of Yoko Zeltserman-Miyaji A built-in storage system comprised of staggered shelves, chigai-dana, first appeared inside shoin-style homes in the Kamakura era (1192 – 1333), replacing the freestanding, portable bookcases that were used to store and display scrolls, books, tea utensils and other decorative objects. A companion to the tokonoma, an alcove in which hanging scrolls and other objects of art are decoratively displayed, chigai-dana is an integral part of Japanese domestic architecture. In its design, this timelessly elegant shelving and storage system accentuates the simple yet refined beauty of form and function that is the core of Japanese furniture design. This exhibition was organized by Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 
Katachi: The Essence of Aesthetic Form and Function in Japanese Furniture Katachi embodies the hallmark of Japanese aesthetics: the harmonious balance of the beauty of form and the fineness of workmanship and functionality. This exhibition draws upon Morikami’s own collection of Japanese furniture, including 19th-century decorative folding screens, large, multi-door storage chests, and benches and tables made by George Nakashima (1905 – 1990), a leading innovator of 20th-century furniture design, and one of the founders of the American Craft Movement.

Show info

Art Production Fund & Hyde Park Village Present a Public Installation by Jessica Craig-Martin - posted by FFAB

 
Jessica Craig-Martin's photographs appear on banners at Hyde Park Village in Tampa, Fla. 
Credit Photos by Steve Poisall, courtesy of Art Production Fund

Art Production Fund and Hyde Park Village Present a Public Installation by Jessica Craig-Martin


Hyde Park Village and Art Production Fund are pleased to present a public installation by Jessica Craig-Martin, consisting of 46 banners on display at the Tampa luxury retail locale and neighborhood hangout. These public art works will be the first in a series of outdoor exhibitions, and will be on view at Hyde Park Village beginning September 19, 2014.

The banners feature imagery exemplary of Craig-Martin’s distinctive approach to photography, and will be installed throughout the retail district’s public areas. These works depict objects of luxury in high-contrast, cropped and fantastical compositions–a woman’s heeled foot alongside a dog’s paw, the jewel-like splendor of a chandelier, and the center rift of a of a blonde woman’s French twist – for example. At once bizarre and ambiguous, Craig-Martin’s images at Hyde Park Village are exemplary of her ongoing interest in abstract forms of fashion portraiture.

“Craig-Martin’s works bring an exciting example of contemporary art to an unexpected and uniquely appropriate public venue,” said Art Production Fund Co-Founders Doreen Remen and Yvonne Force Villareal. “We were inspired by the prospect of working in uncharted territory and within an unexpected forum, and hope this work engages the local community.”

"We are very excited to bring public art to Hyde Park and specifically to showcase Jessica’s amazing work. The beautiful and intriguing images provide a wonderful excuse for family and friends to come together for a fun and convenient cultural excursion. We hope that the show will not only make people smile but also provoke lively conversation amongst its viewers,” said Samantha David, Head of upMarkets, a division of WS Development.

Jessica Craig-Martin (b. 1963, lives and works in New York) employs photography to subvert the usually prim and glamorous representations of higher society. Craig-Martin’s photography has appeared in publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times Magazine. Her work is included in such collections as the New Museum, New York, the Guggenheim Museum, New York, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Her work has been displayed in solo shows at PS1/MoMA, New York; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; and Greenberg van Doren Gallery, New York.

About Hyde Park Village
Hyde Park Village is comprised of six city blocks in the heart of Tampa Bay’s Hyde Park Historic District. With its first building originally constructed in 1905, the village has long been a landmark retail destination and cherished neighborhood hub. Home to a unique mixture of local, regional, and national boutiques and restaurants, The Village offers an edited array of fashion, dining, and entertainment essentials to the Tampa Bay community. With a beautiful park, majestic oak trees, and brick walkways, it also provides an exceptional venue for monthly Fresh Markets, holiday celebrations, and seasonal art festivals. http://www.hydeparkvillage.com

About Art Production Fund
Art Production Fund (APF) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to commissioning and producing ambitious public art projects, reaching new audiences and expanding awareness through contemporary art. Recent projects include: After Hours: Murals on The Bowery, NYC, 2011; David Brooks, Desert Rooftops, NYC, 2011; Josephine Meckseper, Manhattan Oil Project, NYC, 2012; Kiki Smith, Chorus, NYC, 2012; Yoko Ono, Imagine Peace Times Square, NYC, 2012; Yvette Mattern, Global Rainbow After The Storm, NYC, 2012; Ryan McGinley, Taxi TV, NYC, 2013; Tony Smith, One-Two-Three, NYC, 2013; Tracey Emin, Roman Standard, NYC 2013; Marco Brambilla, Anthropocene, NYC 2013; Vanessa Beecroft, VB73, NYC, 2014. Co-Founders: Yvonne Force Villareal & Doreen Remen; Director: Casey Fremont. www.artproductionfund.org

Join the conversation: @ArtProductionNY @HydeParkVillage #hydeparkvillageart

For more information please visit: www.artproductionfund.org



New York Times Blog article about the project