South Florida Celebrates #MiamiArtWeek!

As we slide gently into the most anticipated cultural adventure of the year, South Florida turns its attention to the sights, sounds and delights of Miami Art Week.

This year, artists with ancestral ties to this particular island on Mother Earth are getting a long awaited spotlight. For the past ten years, the cultural and arts sector has demonstrated a slowly growing awareness of the importance of including and highlighting Indigenous artists within their exhibition and programming initiatives. The first to appear in Art Basel Conversations at Miami Beach was Edgar Heap of Birds, followed by the late Jim Denomie at NADA. Recently, a number of gallerists are representing artists Indigenous to this continent, including Duane Linklater, Nicholas Galanin and Jeffrey Gibson who is set to represent the USA at next year's 60th Biennale di Arte Venezia. This year in Art Basel's pre-show press release, Saint Paul, Minnesota-based Ponca artist Julie Buffalohead was featured as a notable addition to the 2023 fair which opens next week. 

Additional opportunities to experience art by Indigenous Peoples of the Americas include numerous local and regional exhibitions on during Art Basel/ Miami Art Week. Here are a few options to consider:

Friday, December 1st 7 pm opening for Art In Motion Biennial featuring works by South Florida-based Indigenous artists in a print catalog and digital exhibition at IPC Space (this day also marks the 35th World AIDS Day)

Saturday, December 2nd 10 am to 4 pm opening for Ee Litch Ko at Okalee Village

Sunday, December 3rd 6 pm VIP preview of Afrikin Art Fair which includes work by Belizean-American photographer Norman Reneau

Tuesday December 5th 6:30 pm VIP preview Art Miami 

Wednesday December 6th 5 pm VIP/ Press preview Spectrum at booth 802

Thursday, December 7th 4 pm Art basel Vernissage VIP preview

Friday, December 8th 11 am Art Basel public opening

Saturday, December 9th 1 pm Art Basel Conversations

Sunday, December 10th 12 pm Human Rights Day/ Miami Art Week closing day

Saturday, January 6th Chehantamo closing day

Tuesday, January 16th Yaat Ya Oke opening

Sunday, April 14th Yaat Ya Oke closing day

Saturday, April 20th Biennale opening day

Monday, September 2nd Maya Hidden Worlds closing day

Sunday, November 24th Biennale closing day

Tara A. Chadwick

tara-chadwick.square.site

Belizean Artists Flourish During Miami Art Week

Following a path set by her mother and sister, Belizean-Canadian artist curator Tara Chadwick joins Belizean-American Norman Reneau in representing the magic of "The Jewel," as they affectionately dub their Mesoamerican homeland, in one of the most exciting exciting events of the year: Miami Art Week. 

Reneau gives audiences an intimate glimpse into the cultural heritage of the Garinagu or Garifuna People in Afrikin Art Fair opening Sunday, December 3 at Maison Afrikin Art Fair, Scott Galvin Community Center, 1600 NE 126th Street, North Miami, FL 33181. Simultaneously, Reneau will be exhibiting "Garifuna Spirituality" at William Grant Still Arts Center, 2520 South Westview Street, Los Angeles, CA 90016.

"Emergency Shawl: Golden River Repair"

...a site specific interaction by TChadwick 10.7.23 on the West Bank of the Mississippi River Gorge 

overlooking Science Museum of Minnesota,

Saint Paul, MN

Meanwhile, back here in the Sunshine state, Chadwick will present an exciting new digital work "FlaminGoes" in her debut participation in Spectrum Art Fair, booth 802 with Artbox.Project opening December 6th at Mana Wynwood Convention Center. Chadwick will also be premiering a new place-based piece titled "Emergency Shawl," extending her Golden Hour Series for #GlobalDayofClimateAction in this year's Art In Motion Biennial online at http://aimbiennial.org/tara-a-chadwick and available in print at thirteen local galleries and museums across South Florida. Details at Art In Motion Biennial.

You can see more work samples by #TaraAChadwick at tara-chadwick.square.site/gallery.

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All Her Flowers!!!

Last night I met an icon, a shero, a legend. Last night Miami-Dade College, Green Family Foundation and Books & Books brought the incredible Joan Baez to the Wolfsonian Campus for opening day of the 40th #MiamiBookFair. 

It was magic grounded in nature and wisdom earned through an entire lifetime of action-taking. 

Like Dolores Huerta this summer, Joan Baez came to Florida reminding us that democracy depends on us to keep motivated, keep moving and do whatever we can to be disciplined in staying hopeful and organizing together. 

I had witnessed the simple power of human cooperation at her Zocalo concert with Mercedes Sosa in the late 90s. The concert was free and open to the public and thousands were in attendance. I had grown up going to see Jazz greats with my grandfather at the Ontario Place Forum, and, like the ampitheatre section of The Forum, Zocalo had no chairs. I instantly fell in love with each of their unique voices, presence and stories. As a mid-sized Maya standing among a sea of giant Mexicas, my view of the stage was limited. But the power of collective action was demonstrated in real time that memorable evening - some among the crowd beseeched everyone take a seat on the immaculate, warm concrete that covers most of the ancient Tenochtitan captal. There were those who resisted, but eventually everyone participated in this incredibly simple and profoundly poweful exercise activating democracy. Once we are all comfortably on the ground, we all had a perfect view of the stage. 

Thank you Joan. For your years of struggle and determination to keep finding your path to who you are, and for inspiring us to keep searching for ways we each can each become the best of who we are - together. 

Love,

Bawshkeengwabigun aka Tara Chadwick

Joan Baez at Miami Book Fair - intro by Kimberly Joy Green + audience Q&A

Interview with Mitchell Kaplan in The Miami Times reflecting on the formation of the very first Miami Book Fair in 1984. click for article