Amid all the tragic crises we are experiencing in our communities and around the world, our unfolding, as a conscious, compassionate, caring species is in a process of emergence. We are as yet incapable of creating the conditions necessary for completing our collective pursuit of competence as an interconnected variable within the web of life however, all the potential to achieve our goal of becoming human beings lies within us! We need to realize, observe, analyze and heal. Then inevitably, one at a time, and together, we will take flight!
During the pandemic, while the pre-COVID norms of in-person meetings, classes and presentations were unsafe to facilitate, my daily walks became a disciplined meditation allowing me to focus on what is happening in the microcosm surrounding me. The #Matriarch series is a reflection of the hope and beauty I continue to see in nature at a time when human grief seems insurmountable.
The attached exhibition review is my third in Venice this year, starting with the Venice Experimental Video and Performance Art Festival on opening day of the Biennale de Venezia last month, continuing with a digital display at the Biennale Artbox Expo at Spazio Tana just over the footbridge from Arsenale, culminating with Anima Mundi at Palazzo Albrizzi Capello. I am grateful for these opportunities to share a little bit of who I am with the rest of the world. It is my hope to inspire awareness, appreciation and action to protect and preserve the delicate balance that allows life to continue to flourish within our changing climate, communities and consciousness.
Amid the flurry of opening day at the long awaited Biennale de Venezia, Tara Chadwick, an Indigenous Belizean/ Canadian based in Broward County, Florida presented a short film honoring her lifelong artistic practice in dance and nature immersion.
Still image from "Earth • Ecology • Everglades" courtesy Adrienne Chadwick
"Earth • Ecology • Everglades" grew out of a project to provide residents and visitors with a taste of the rhythms, sights, smells and sounds found in the intersection of humans and the natural environment. Funded in part by a grant from the Florida Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Broward Cultural Division, Proyecto Papalotl has engaged communities across and beyond South Florida in interactive presentations since 2014. During the beginning of the COVID pandemic, alternate ways of connecting with community were explored including utilization of different forms of artistic expression: livestreaming, digital recording, audio, film and still images. The short film is accompanied by a National Geograhic certified intergenerational lesson plan with the same title. More about last month's Venice Experimental Performing Arts Festival can be found at https://www.itsliquid.com/review-experimental-venice-2022.html
[Image of Earth • Ecology • Everglades on view at Palazzo Bembo courtesy of Its Liquid Group]
Currently Tara Chadwick has two additional works on view in Venice, both of which expand on the theme of exploring the unfurling of our identity, purpose and responsibility as humans living in an Earth ecosystem that we are rapidly changing. #Matriarch will open at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello on Thursday, May 12 as part of "Anima Mundi CONSCIOUSNESS" and is also on view as a digital lightbox work at Spazio Tana / Tanarte, just across the canal from the Biennial's Arsenale through May 31. Limited edition prints available.
#Matriarch made her debut in Fort Myers last October, then hung as a public art billboard over 27th Avenue during Art Miami Week/ Art Basel from November through January.
Broward County residents and visitors can join Tara Chadwick for an interactive workshop in collaboration with the Miramar Community Garden on Saturday May 14th at 10 am.
Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. Funding for this project is provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council. Background mural courtesy of Valery Amor, Tara Chadwick, Mictla Chadwick, Ihiyo Chadwick, Talyn Skye Bell and Dr. Debbie Danard Wilson. Limited mobility, vision and hearing assistance available, please email wabigun@yahoo.com with detailed request one week prior to event date.
Local artist joins global day of
action against climate change.
Tired
of the inaction, global arts initiative Micro Galleries held their second
global day of creative action in response to one of the biggest threats of our
generation. Occurring on to coincide with the United Nations Climate
Change conference (COP26) in Glasgow this project will bring together artists from all over the world to
tackle climate inaction head on.
The
idea was born after Micro Galleries Artistic Director, Kat Roma Greer spent
time researching in The Arctic and at Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership
Corps in late 2018. Kat saw a need for more accessible information about how
climate disruption and inaction was impacting the world's most vulnerable people.
When Kat put the call out for artists to join her, Tara Chadwickanswered the call.
This month and next, the effect of
seasonal "king tides" is creating a climate disaster in the form of
visible flooding and invisible salt water intrusion into our soil and water
table along the banks of this river which have been used for thousands of years
by humans seeking to live a good, healthy life. This river has been deemed
unusable for human contact several times over the past three to five years due
to chronic overdevelopment and problematic decision making on the part of those
responsible for ensuring safe and effective infrastructure. We must, as
citizens of Mother earth, intervene now to ensure that the trajectory of our
species is altered to realign with the geometry of nature. – Tara Chadwick.
Tara
Chadwick and Micro Galleries see the need for more accessible information about
how climate disruption and inaction is impacting all of us, and art is a great
way to do this. An opinion supported by Bill McKibben, best known as the
leading American environmentalist’s and ‘world’s best green journalist’. When
Bill heard about this global day of art action in 2019, he threw his support
behind it stating, ‘environmentalists are
good at bar graphs and statistical tables.. but that’s only half of the human
brain. We also need art and music to reach our more visceral core. That’s why
this initiative from Micro Galleries is so vital.’
Tara Chadwick’s works streamed live over 24
hours, and will be included in an online exhibition and catalogue at
www.microgalleries.org
Tara
is an Indigenous woman, a member of the African Diaspora, a grandchild of the
Maya and Mesoamerican People of Belize, Mexico and Central America and of the
original people of the land we now know as Western Europe. It is her vision
that we can all return to a life of harmony with the cycles of nature.
You can see Tara’s latest work at The
Missing Paart in Wynwood during Art Miami Week and in “Neo.Rev,” a city wide
public art exhibition by Save Art Space from Nov. 22 to Dec. 18. Later this
winter, Tara will be launching “Proyecto Papalotl,” engaging Golden Age Adults
in the art of Mesoamerican Danza, made possible with support from the Broward
County Cultural Division and sponsored in part by the State of Florida,
Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on
Arts and Culture.
Micro Galleries is a free, independent
global arts initiative that uses art as a vehicle to create positive change. We
do this through creative interventions in public spaces, workshops, art tours,
symposiums, think tanks, and residencies.
This month and next, the effect of seasonal "king
tides" is creating a climate disaster in the form of visible flooding and
invisible salt water intrusion into our soil and water table along the banks of
this river which have been used for thousands of years by humans seeking to
live a good, healthy life. And this river has been deemed unusable for human
contact several times over the past three to five years due to chronic
overdevelopment and problematic decision making on the part of those
responsible for ensuring safe and effective infrastructure. We must, as
citizens of Mother earth, intervene now to ensure that the trajectory of our
species is altered to realign with the geometry of nature.
“Golden Hour” seeks to support, stimulate and encourage
action oriented solutions to the current climactic conditions including public
awareness, personal responsibility and biological accountability. We put
ourselves in to this mess. By examining what we do, individually, collectively
and globally, we can get ourselves back on track with the original instructions
all human beings received at the beginning of their time on earth. This message
will be shared with the community on the historic banks of the New River in a
public participative, interactive installation incorporating the
interconnectedness of sound, movement, land, water, people and the concept of
the golden repair on a local and global climate scale.
Multiple forms of art including sound, movement and visuals
are used in collaboration with citizen science based sea level rise research,
action and solutions.
We have a vast capacity to effect change especially due to
our large proportion of global tourism. By creating this model of interactive
public art, visitors and residents will be inspired to engage in work that
questions the status quo and access new avenues of creative problems solving in
areas of climate resilience, climate policy and climate change mitigation.
As I reflect on the various actions taking place today, and
those we engaged in ourselves, it dawns on me that humans have a great capacity
to make giant leaps in conscience and practice. At one time in our history, we
learned how to harvest the power of the sun in an element we now call fire. At
another time in our history, we learned how to coax a grass into a seed that
now feeds the world! At this time, our challenge is much simpler and doable:
restore our technology and daily living to practices that do not harm the
earth.
November 6th, 2021
9:00 AM to 7:00 PM
The Beginning
FIU Sea Level Rise
Solutions Day – Engaged in Citizen Science with the Institute of Environment at
a location determined by the FIU research team to monitor urban flooding at
King Tides
Upon arrival at 9:30
am on Saturday, November 6, 2021
The level of street
flooding above storm drain at 10 am on Saturday, November 6, 2021
Refractometer reading
indicates salinity is 10% in sample 1 from 10 am
Second samples were taken at the appointed time of 10:30 am on Saturday, November 6, 2021
Street flooding rose
¾ inch in 30 minutes.
One golden marine
life was observed struggling to survive but still alive sending ripples of
urgency
Salinity
of the standing water above the storm drain increased by 2% in 30 minutes.
The
photo on the right was taken by group member Ihiyo Chadwick (age 10).
By the time we left
at 11 am the street flooding was up to four inches and still rising with an
observed increase in oil mixed into the flood water.
The elevation of the
surface of the sea water is well above the level of the roadway.
A little after 11 am,
we packed up and drove the water samples to the FIU Campus at Oleta River and
Biscayne Bay where they were refrigerated to preserve the viability for testing
protocols. We are awaiting the lab results. On the way back, we stopped to
observe a few other local residents engaged in their own creative contributions
to the global day for climate repair
As the rainy season cloaks us in the cavern of rhythmic cycles of downpours and sunshowers... we wait cautiously to see what the east winds bring our way and do our best to prepare ourselves for the disciplined routines that must come with the close of the summer break and the opening of the new school year.
As usual the summer flew by in the blink of an eye, filled with memories of joy and sorrow, fear and bravery, optimism and despair... it was like a microcosm of many lives lived in fullness, watching the sun rise and fall across lands familiar and yet unrecognizable.
We listened to each other and to the sounds of the earth conversing with us through her various chorus of voices, of which we are but a fleeting melody. Remembering our past, we set a course of goals for our future, together. As individuals seeking the pursuit of our greatest possible development while simultaneously working to find a way to ensure that all beings are afforded equitable access to this opportunity. Life is not easy but it is in the struggle for balance that we find equilibrium.
Here are a few highlights of summer activities:
Mesoamerican Danza performance and workshop at Broward Schools Equity Conference
Education panel with Seminole Art from the Frontlines Artists at Florida Alliance of Art Educators
Mesoamerican Danza performance workshop at Miramar Cultural Center photography by Adrienne Chadwick and Reina Christian.
Pat Bellanger Memorial at Rural Coalition Retreat in Onigum, Minnesota
Reconnecting with family (Reina and Evy, EBB and WM, Julia, Louis, Amy and Katy, prairie, wetlands, woodlands, sage, sweetgrass and that word for bergamot that I can't remember)
In the weeks and months to come, our lives will become overflowing with tasks and obligations, timelines and due dates, homework and classwork and assignments of all kinds... but for now, we are thankful for a few moments of calm, still reflection on the life we've lived and the path we are trodding... we will do our best to keep moving toward that goal of healing while being healed, of figuring it out while helping others figure it out, of learning while doing... we are because we are.
This week as I blissfully go about my daily business, it is with a little more deliberate effort at intentionally blocking out the sights and sounds associated with yet another school shooting massacre here on our own soil.
It should not be so surprising, and yet the horror of it, children being massacred in their own classrooms, by their peers, is the stuff that can stomp hope out of the most optimistic of hearts.
My teenager has almost no recollection of a time when school did not involve violence. There is of course, the daily meanness and bullying that seems to have happened in public schools since they were instituted in this country as a mechanism for socialization into the melting pot. But then there is also the unimaginable lockdown drills practiced on a regular basis that my son tells me he cannot talk to me about because it will be too upsetting to me. And then there are the drills that only the teachers prepare for... Teacher prep time used to be for grading, lesson planning, and designing the best hallway bulletin board in the school. Now it's for laminating dark poster paper to darken windows in the hopes that it will reduce the chances of an active shooter taking aim at a classroom window.
Yes, I have been putting a lot of effort into not thinking about it this week. Since I heard of the Santa Fe shooting last Friday, my approach has been, just don't think about it... I wonder how many of our business leaders, legislators and lawmakers follow suit with my attempt at self-imposed apathy? How many of our children have to do their best this week to "just not think about it..."? Is that the solution to problem solving that we are role modeling now? "Just don't think about it." If we do just pretend that the problem does not exist... will it actually cease to exist? If we wish to take the approach of the legendary ostrich in the sand... that is our choice, however, as we have learned from Columbine and Sandy Hook and Red Lake, and Pulse and Parkland and Santa Fe, we can forget and pretend and ignore and deny, but sooner or later, the reality is going to hit us too. If we continue to do nothing to support the action required to successfully ensure that gun violence never again plucks the hearts out of parents and siblings and peers who will never again touch the hands or kiss the cheeks of their loved ones, then inevitably this preventable public health epidemic of disasterous proportions will eventually touch each of us. Like one of the parents of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School said, "We didn't think it could be us."
We have choices to make. Sit and do nothing, or stand and deliver change into the waiting arms of our young people. Their ability to live is determined by our perseverence in maintaining our level of civic engagement in the process of democracy which by its very nature requires us to participate, share our views and work together to provide solutions. Together we can solve this crisis. Today if we all wanted to. Re-authorize the collection, compilation and analysis of gun violence data as the public health crisis that it is. Apply standard epidemiological, intervention and prevention procedures and practices. Fund local grassroots, community organizations to provide outreach, case management and harm reduction services. Do what has been proven to work through science. Replicate successful programming, not just in the property-tax-rich schools but in all neighborhoods, schools and organizations.
My 6 year old is counting the number of days left until the end of the school year. Today marks the 97th day since the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School at the northern edge of our public school district. How many more days will go by until we can all assure our Kindergarten children that it is safe for them to go to school....? What are we doing to ensure that day comes?
This Friday at Miramar Cultural Center, I will join with students from Parkland and throughout our Broward County School District and Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam to stand with them, listen, and help form a plan for action. What will you do...?
Poem dedicated to students of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School
Healing crisis is a constant necessity in today's complex, stratified, divisive society. The events that unfolded 9 days ago in #Parkland, near Coral Springs, Florida have pushed many of us to the tipping point. And yet, in communities throughout Florida and the US and around the world, crisis, especially children in crisis is an ongoing issue that has required attention for a very long time... generations in fact.
This week, while our attention south of the border has been on dealing with grief, funerals and the immediacy of school safety issues within the nation's sixth largest public school district, our neighbors to the north were dealt two completely independent court decisions in which the killing of two Indigenous youth by two different people, in two different provinces, in two very distinct circumstances, both resulted in European males receiving not guilty verdicts, while the children victims are no longer alive to tell their side of the story.
It is imperative that we all employ our intrinsic critical thinking skills in everyday decision making. Especially so in this day and age. It is equally important that we also take time to allow the growth, repair and healing of our emotional skills as well.
We need both, together, integrated and healthy. After a week like this, wholeness and restoration of wellbeing is going to take some time and effort. The students, teachers, healers, counsellors, administrators and decision makers must all be included in efforts to intentionally regain wellness, within our selves, families and communities.
Here are a couple of resources courtesy of thunderbirdpf.org that have helped other communities move forward after experiencing traumatic crises. Check em out. See what you think. Call,text, msg. Reach out. Let's chat. Let's build together!!
Strolling along what seemed like an endless sidewalk down Dade Avenue on this 200th anniversary of the start of the Seminole Wars... I happened to spark up a conversation with one of my co-walkers. Till that moment, I truly had no idea so many of the fair goers were out-of-towners travelling to South Florida just specifically to take in #art. Art Basel 2017 is officially a wrap having shown approximately $3.5 billion work of art, and seeing over 82,000 participants [see press release and end of show report] .
...reminds me of #CometotheWell
(photo: T. Chadwick)
According to artsy.net, the Pace Gallery had a successful run, placing one work worth $12 million. The show’s new layout was so much easier to
follow and navigate, with beautiful hanging garden center lounge areas. I did miss
the delicious, stadium priced lunch offerings, although the BC taco truck
outside did a wonderful job of filling the afternoon void with delicious shrimp
tacos and “avocado salsa.”
Pace Gallery (photo: T. Chadwick)
Inside the walls of Art Basel, I found a whimsical and
wondrous survey that pushes my boundaries of contemporary art. From plastic
bags to classic painting and sculpture to, my favorites:
performance, kinetic and live painting, this show truly had something for
everyone to enjoy.
Mexico City Mural in Miami Beach
(Thursday photo: T. Chadwick)
Mexico City Mural in Miami Beach
(Friday photo: T. Chadwick)
Of these, I really enjoyed watching the mural in process
presented as part of Mexico City's #RestorationofaMural. To my North American eye, the overlays of
vellum on painted campaign slogans was unexpected, a little jarring, and,
similar to my own recent political experiences, I couldn’t figure out if the
art was for or against the will of the majority of the people. The tools,
brushes, and process of creating circles and lines took me back to the 9th
grade computer class called “data,” where everything we ever wanted to program had
to be rendered as a circle or a line. Watching the muralist and assistant add
elements of the mural was almost like watching an archaeological excavation in
reverse. Careful measurements, ancient techniques, tools for the future.
#Reparations David Castillo Gallery
(photo: T. Chadwick)
‘This year’s show definitely had a great energy with its new look, and our booth was extremely well-received. Within the first two hours of the fair, some of our gallery’s most important clients came to the booth. With the sale of a major Lyle Ashton Harris piece and an important group of clients visiting us early on in the fair, it is clear that this year’s fair was punctuated by significant collectors in attendance and as always, there was interest from buyers early on in the show.’ David Castillo, Owner, David Castillo Gallery, Miami Beach (In quotes from Art Basel post show press release.)
...miscellaneous unnamed photos, except for Maggie by #ChuckClose...
(photos: T. Chadwick)
Basel blog – Art Basel Conversations
#EdgarHeapofBirds discussing #Indigenous #Art
(photo: T. Chadwick)
One of the problems I’ve had with Art Basel and contemporary
art in general, is that distinction between what one of the art experts this
week describes as “pastoral” art versus the elevated stature and value of
“fine” art. For example, there were many examples of fabric art during this
year’s Art Basel show, one of these was a giant, larger-than-life
pseudo-dreamcatcher created by an artist in the UK. When I first set eyes upon
the purple and black mass I was surprised, since generally in fine art shows
such as Art Basel, this type of work is relegated to the low rank of “craft” or
“tribal art.” Immediately I looked closer to see if I could see the origin
story of the dreamcatcher woven within the fabric. As I surveyed the types of
twists and turns used in the weaving, sadly, I saw nothing representing the
cultural teachings or history that traditional dreamcatchers convey, in fact to
me this weaving was empty. An empty shell, a hollow reproduction of a
traditional art form containing nothing of the beauty and love that it is meant
to hold. I still wonder about the artist and their intent in making this piece,
but more, I wonder about the gallery that decided to choose this as their main
showcase. What were they thinking? That Indigenous art forms co-opted by white
European artists are flattering? Honoring? Even when indigenous people
themselves are not welcomed to participate as artists, curators or even spokes
people?
#RichardHughes Birmingham, UK
(photo: T. Chadwick)
Seeing the Art Basel Conversation titled “What of Indigenous
Art Now” was a boon to me. I was so excited that someone decided to bring this
topic to the conversation. For too many years, I’ve seen incredible Indigenous
artists, with traditional, folk and contemporary styles, struggle to make ends
meet… invisible in the art magazines… absent from the juried shows… neglected
by collectors and curators. This is changing. But way too slowly. And still,
European artists using Indigenous themes get much more recognition and
appraisal value than Indigenous artists using any theme.
#Oaxaca
(photo: T. Chadwick)
I was so glad to be
able to take part in this conversation. In fact, it was, in part, a
retrospective on Indigenous Art over the past #525yearsofresistanceandsurvival,
it’s been 25 years since 1992. Many of the prominent Native owned and operated
galleries have since closed their doors. But there are a few still in
operation, and a few that have opened since the Sesquicentennial resurgence of
Indigenous art. In my view, the more we have conversations that lead to strategies
for how the arts and business community can best support artists and especially,
Indigenous artists, the stronger our community will grow together.
[Links to the program are available here: ... Indigenous Art Now... and below you can watch the official recording of the "What of Indigenous Art Now?" #ARTBASEL conversation - my remarks can be heard at minute 42]
Basel Blog – #ArtMiami
#ArtMiami / #Context
(photo: T. Chadwick)
This year, once again, I didn’t get to Pinta, Superfine, Red
Dot, Context, Untitled or Scope. I really do wish I’d had time to make it over
to Scope, as I enjoyed the Conversation with Edgar Heap of Birds about
the interconnection between art and history. I particularly wanted to see the “sign
post” he did marking this land as Tequesta territory, a site specific artwork
in relation to the Miami Circle just a few miles away.If anyone happened to snap a pic of it, I’d
surely appreciate having a glimpse!
#AndyWarhol at super stuffy Archeous/ Post Modern
(photo: T. Chadwick)
I also wanted to get to Context because I’m interested in
comparing the overall content between each show. Surprisingly, I found Art Miami
to have a more standoffish feel than Art Basel, something I was definitely not
expecting! My favorite aspects of this show, like Basel, were in the margins… “Unleashed”
had an inspiring piece in the entry way featuring a world map in thread, surrounded
by fabric strips of messages by fair goers, flanked by multiple display screens
flashing still and video images of colourful fashions and wearable art from
India and Asia.
#Unleashed #ConnectingThreads @ Art Miami
(photo: T. Chadwick)
My other favorite piece from Art Miami was “DeepSee,” an incredible
collaborative experience integrating natural vegetation, visual art and visual
reality, all with an action based intended outcome of raising awareness,
interest and motivating everyone to set a goal to take at least one action to support
the earth’s ability to heal herself from the daily stress we inflict upon
her.I loved being able to literally
step inside of the beautifully painted canoe and although I generally dislike
the popular innovation of virtual reality imaging, this VR canoe journey was so
very beautiful with its overlapping integration of earth, space and water
travel, it was impossible not to love.Congrats to Dita, Jared, Houston and the FIU advisory council for
creating this inspiring experience.
Although I’m fairly new to the Art Basel scene (this was
only my 3rd year attending events at Miami’s signature week of high profile,
contemporary art fairs which include but are certainly not limited to the
world-renowned #ArtBasel,) I loved my inaugural experience
with the Basel House Mural Festival.
#SFLBloggers
(photo: T. Chadwick)
Even before attending my first Miami Art Week events three
years ago, I’d heard the perspective of local South Florida artists who too
often struggle for recognition, attention of gallery and representatives, and interest in their work
from the local and global community. Basel House set out to address this
problem by showcasing a few of the artists that have infamized the walls of
Miami’s Wynwood Arts District.
#Wynwood #Wall Tag
(photo: T. Chadwick)
As a kid, this was the factory outlet side of town – large, vacant industrial lots, warehouses, some still used for direct and commercial sales of shoes, washing machines, and bric-a-brack, now almost unrecognizable due to the incredible splashes of colour disguising every wall, coffee shops and cute little trendy places to eat, drink and be merry.
...before...
(Friday photo: T. Chadwick)
Basel House Mural Festival took place between the old RC Cola Plant and Wynwood Brewing Co. It was an homage to the street artists who work every day to bring color and consciousness to our concrete jungle. Featured artist Ruben Uribe is a masterful installation and graphic artist who describes his style as “post graffism popular urban art.”
The opening was unlike any other I’d ever experienced
complete with Rolling Stones sponsored ice cream, a delicious dinner bar
of salad, quinoa and paella, and as much kombucha as you dared to consume… One
of the marketing pieces I enjoyed was the live screen printing of Basel House cloth
tote bags to hold all your swag for the night.It was a great evening to connect with the beauty of what local mural
art brings to Miami during Art Basel and all year through.
I love art, but I’m not one to party much… don’t get me
wrong, I love dressing up as much as the next kid, but I’d rather go see a live
orchestra, ballet or jazz performance than try to strike up meaningless
conversations with a thousand people I don’t know and still won’t know
tomorrow.That said, I did enjoy the hubbub
of going to the “Basel Brunch” at the Sagamore this weekend. Rain pouring. Wind
whirling through what’s left of the art deco buildings my grandmother skipped past
as an 8-year-old in 1931, on her way to spend her day on the beach while her
mother tended her ailing father under a prescribed winter in Florida, the antidote
to his WWI inflicted health issues. The rivers of rainwater filled the streets
as we searched for a semi-safe spot to cross the deluge.
Our first stop was the Muse Art Exhibit, a miniature version
of the much-anticipated Muse Art Fair, scheduled for launch during Art Miami
Wee 2018. Housed in the front lobby of the Hampton Inn, curator and lead
organizer Q stopped to chat about the exhibit and plans for the 2018 art fair.
Then we dashed off in the rain across the street to the
Sagamore. It was my first time to the iconic beach front property... filled
with a warm mass of dripping wet bodies, this brunch was jam packed with
several hundred of the most hard and happy art lovers on the beach. Despite the
torrential downpour outside, Basel Brunch goers were chipper, friendly and happy
to be inside. Pastries and mimosas abounded and freshly made crepes were the
finishing touch to a very well attended event, especially considering the extremely
wet weather. On our way out the door, turkey and cheese crepes in hand, we
noticed that the late arrivers were all lined up outside, being kept at bay by
the doormen relating that the space was at capacity and could hold no more. Grateful, we stepped back out into the torrent.
I did’t get to Prizm Art fair last weekend, but it’s not too
late! Prizm, like Art Africa Miami, which I was able to attend during Miami Art
Week, are both still open to the public. I am so glad
about this because last year I found more art I loved at Prizm than at Basel. Prizm is open through this Sunday, December 17th so don't miss it.
Similarly,
Art Africa Miami was filled with large scale treats for the senses. Fabric paintings,
sculptures, etched light box prints… two galleries full of fantastic fun and
fearless art.These bold works spoke
volumes about our place, as people of color, living in the United States, Miami
in particular, reflecting our current circumstance and bringing with us an unbreakablebond to our ancestors and the ancestral
homelands that continue to nurture and sustain us over the course of
generations….
This month, Fort Lauderdale Historical Society has the
distinct honor of featuring the photographic work of JohnBob Carlos in the
world premiere of his first solo show: Healing Waters. JohnBob’s work focuses on the intrinsic and often unseen
beauty of the imperiled Florida everglades. During the opening held last week,
JohnBob shared stories of the multi day journeys he took to capture each intriguing
image, often encountering pieces of our history long forgotten.
At a special encore of the opening preview, in celebration of International Human Rights Day, Miccosukee Grandmother Betty Osceola shared her thoughts about the exhibition and the images that reflect the home, lifeways and future of her people. “We are a reflection of the earth,
we are the earth. If we heal ourselves, then we will also heal the earth.”For Betty, the images remind her of being in
those places, and of the life that surrounds us.“These everglades, they belong to all of us.
The are all our responsibility…The
everglades are the kidneys of the world, just like the Amazon are the lungs of
the world. What will we do if these kidneys stop working? Put them on a
machine? Well, eventually we know, machines will break down. So, what then…?”
Take a moment to come experience these inspired images and
take home a print of your favorite one to remember: if we heal ourselves, we
will heal the earth.
Healing Waters: The
Photography of JohnBob Carlos
On view at
HistoryFortLauderdale.org
Through January 28th
Basel blog – action!
The role of art in our societies no matter where on the
earth or at what point in history, has always been to inspire, to reflect, to
communicate, and to express…Life is
art. Art is life. Let us rise up together and take hold of both. Put aside all
the myriad daily tasks that must still get done. And take the time, just for a
moment or two, to enjoy the art that exists all around us and the effect it has
on our bodies, minds and spirits. Let’s take a second or two to be thankful for
that “food” that art brings to our lives. And then pick up the phone or open up
a blank email and communicate to our own state legislators that we value art
and the artists who make art, and we want to support art, artists and arts
organizations to continue flowing, through tax programs, charitable donations
that are tax deductible, grant programs, investment and incentives that
encourage and support art.
Yours truly #ByeBasel #selfie
Beyond Basel Saturday, December 16th, Tara Chadwick
will be sharing some of her particular style of "performance" art with the community in the Sistrunk
Neighborhood, everyone is welcome to attend. And on Tuesday, December 19th, a community tour of the #NativeArtattheCannonball exhibit is being offered to #Sistrunk residents and the public at 2 pm.
