Art Basel Miami Beach 2024

It's been just over 20 long years since the art scene in South Florida bloomed from winter escapes of the roaring 20s and deco revival of the 80s to the blossoming of contemporary street art here since y2k. 

I remember writing a strongly worded letter to Mr. Horowitz about 10 years ago asking where the presence of Indigenous people appear within the flagship Art Basel Miami Beach enterprise, among well and lesser known Warhols, Baquiats and Calders. The written response was less than vauge, but the receipts over the past decade are undeniably in the bag. We had Edgar Heap of Birds leading one of the next year's Conversation programs. Followed by Jeffrey Gibson who, earlier this year, filled the USA Pavillion at La Biennale with Indigenous art, thought, perspective and music. We've seen Duane Linklater and Nicholas Galanin. Last year we got to see Jaune Quick-to-See Smith as well as Julia Buffalohead in the Meridians Sector. This year we have a return of galleries showing Rose B. Simpson, Wendy Red Star, william cordova, Paula Nicho and Nicholas Galanin.

And within this decade, we have also witnessed a few of the very first major aquisitions of Seminole/ Miccosukee contemporary art by  non-tribal institutions (Smithsonian NMAI: Erican Deitz, 2003 and Danielle Nelson, 2011; Lowe Museum: Erica Deitz, 2014; FSU: Erica Deitz, 2023; UF: Elgin Jumper, 2023; Ringling Museum: Jessica Osceola, 2024 and Brian Zepeda, 2024).

The Future is Indigenous as we all pick up the work of "retracing the steps of our ancestors to see what was left along the trail," (Edward Benton Banaise 1934-2020) and begin to put in motion our plans for a sustainable life style that does not harm the ecosystem in which we exist. 

Beyond Basel, we have the unparalled opportunity to interact with a temporary installation on 32nd and Collins between the sea shore and Faena Hotel just north of the Palms. 

SELETEGA by Nicholas Galanin is a not to be missed opportunity to experience the extraordinary viseral impact of encountering three foreign vessels approach one's home shores. 

It is a visual reflection of a personal historical account that has been retold among our families and communities for over five centuries yet feels as though it is still happening over and over again, even today. 

The impact of the scale and vibrant interactions of the mast and sails with the offshore breezes becons our genetic memories to recall the horrors of legallized genocide while beseeching us to wake up from the nightmare and take action to construct our plans and begin building a new day of peace, prosperity and respectful co-existance on our shared Mother the Earth. 

Digital works by Tara Chadwick featured in Wynwood this month during Miami Art Week

For immediate release:

After a strong year of global showings including LA, Rome, Venice, Zurich and London, artist and curator Tara Chadwick welcomes the return of "Matriarch" to its original digital format at the Artbox Expo Miami later this month. 

While navigating the social changes predicated by the COVID pandemic, Ms. Chadwick adapted her lifelong art and urban farming practice to focus on symbolic messaging, inspiring global audiences to take notice of and act on our need to repair our relationships with the earth and each other. Matriarch manifests our ability to take the time we need to observe, understand, grieve, heal, emerge, awaken and take flight toward our life purpose. In doing so we are better able to forgive, accept, make amends or reconcile discord and wounds of the past and present, and move into the future with strength, experience and dignity.

Matriarch along with "Chrysalis" and "Emergence" will be on view at 219 NW 23rd St, Miami, FL 33127, USA from November 28 through December 10th. The Art party/ reception is scheduled for 3-7 pm on Saturday, December 3rd. Tickets are required for entry and can be booked at: 

Book Art Party Tickets Here

Each print is available for custom order in a limited edition of 25. 

Contact: 

wabigun@yahoo.com or 786-671-8272

###

Eclipse Day

Sometimes our time markers, memory markers all happen to converge.  Today is one of those days. First day of school of the last year of middle school for my older son and the first day of kindergarten for the younger one.

Four and three quarters of a year past the completion of the bundle of years we know as the baktun cycle of the Mesoamerican calendar.

Our young people are getting healthy, standing up, using their voices.  Unity is on the rise. It is definitely the beginning of an era.

Our ancestors across this continent had and continue to have many different ways of honoring the particular point in the infinite dance of our universe that we recognize today as eclipses.  There are scrolls and charts, sculptures and symbols to account for the calculations of the passing of time and the various markers used to keep track of the many cycles we observe.  In some cases, we don't know what types of ceremonies or commemorations were held, while in other cases, the ancient traditions are still practiced within vibrant cultural communities.

In my own pleuri-cultural family, lunar eclipses, like the phases of the moon that greet us every day of every month of every year, remain a special and sacred time of reflection, quiet contemplation, care and love.  My grandmother would always stay up, notice, watch and sing a beautiful rendition of "big lady moon" in her low lullabye voice, while my grandfather would always join us for a moment, then retreat to his sleeping quarters.  The instructions we are to follow as human beings remain clearly written on our hearts, we have only to clear our minds enough to follow them.

In the cities of our Maya ancestors, urban planners constructed cultural landscapes with central plazas in line with the location of the rising, setting and mid-day sun on the days of the summer and winter solstice.  Some cities, known for their scientific prowess in tracking the cycles of the planets and starts, contain ancient observatories, perhaps they even functioned as building-sized pinhole cameras or camera obscura.

In 1979 when I was six years old, I attended a Miami-Dade County public school called Comstock Elementary.  I loved my reading book, "It Happened This Way," featuring a pink flamingo who had swallowed a pretzel on the front cover.  I hated the standardized testing I was introduced to that year. I loved earning cheeze it cracker treats from my teacher by sitting quietly when it was rest time.  And I remember the day all the teachers were worriedly reminding us not to look up at the sun.  It was Miami's last total solar eclipse, and my most memorable day of school, ever. Kudos to all the teachers, principals and administrators who will do their best to ensure that no kids get solar blindness on their watch today.

As for me, I'm going to take a deep breath, take a few moments to reflect, and prepare to welcome in the start of a new era... maybe, hopefully, the sun will shine on our people once more....

#Ihiyo on the mic at #themegaphonepark in @fortlauderdalefl @soupsistrunk #sistrunk

A post shared by Adrienne Chadwick (@adriennechadwick) on Aug 20, 2017 at 5:21am PDT

We make the Road....

We make the road by walking... an old proverb, cliche even, but words of wisdom which I find myself even more in need of these days than usual.

Spent the day at #MAMP2017 with an incredible cadre of artists, businesses, organizations, administrators and consumers of every type and genre of art you can imagine.

Thanks to a gracious last minute scholarship from #BrowardArts for this sold out conference, I got a whole lot of tips, tricks, advise and more importantly practice in translating what I do to an audience of potential donors, supporters, sponsors and funders. It was not an easy task by any means!

Definitely need a lot more practice to hone those communication skills to transfer my messaging to a group of investors, so different from the cozy, like minded social networks I'm used to operating within. Nope, this was my version of shark tank - and I actually get along quite well with sharks, just not humans who think like them! Far far removed from the ideals of community wellness and readiness for behavior change that are more familar terrain for me. Interesting thing is, though, the desired outcomes for influencing behavior, motivating action and evaluating impact still shine through! So maybe its just the process and jargon that seem so divergent. In any case, the day sure got me thinking, stretching, learning and appreciating the opportunity to meet some sparkling colleagues, allies and experts in this vast field we know as a fundamental right and necessity for all people of all ages... art.

#artsmeanbiz #mamp @ArshtCenter @MiamiDadeCounty @BrowardArts @MiamiCVB1 @NEAarts #art #arts #artists #HelloSunny #LoveFL pic.twitter.com/gJx7Su4gHk

— Tara Chadwick (@wabigun) January 31, 2017

Art as Activism?

Ihiyo & Lichtenstein @ #MarcSelwynFineArt

It's Basel time here in South Florida. Art Basel Miami started out nearly two decades ago as a hoite-toite contemporary art show that corresponded to the longer running #MiamiArtWeek.  This was in the days when Wynwood was still that part of town that nobody went to, unless you happen to live there, or you went looking with your family for a cheap pair of shoes factory-direct.

We #standwithstandingrock hope you will too... #nosabal #nodapl #humanrights #ayotzinapavive

A photo posted by Tara Chadwick (@bawshkeengwabigun) on Nov 27, 2016 at 8:45pm PST

Photo credit: Adrienne Chadwick

Wynwood these days is the heart of what an international influx of people-who-value-art can do in a community. Don't get me wrong, Wynwood is about Miami, and Art Basel is all about people coming to Miami to experience international contemporary art in the setting, that quintessential ambience that is South Florida.

And local folks are catching the Basel bug big time. Over the past ten years, more and more you hear Basel becoming part of the year round conversations on art, exhibitions and museum planning. It's an informal kick off, so to speak, of what we call "the season."  No, not the holidays - the season extends way beyond them. It's that time of year when the leaves start changing and the bulk of our states 100+ million visitors start making their way through our ports and into our streets, shops and parking spaces.  So when you're visiting Basel, your transportation experience will likely mirror the patience with which we Floridians take every October through April...

So much beautiful #art #concept #color #texture here @ #artweekmiami's @ArtBasel pic.twitter.com/wJJfjjaWKd

— Tara Chadwick (@wabigun) December 3, 2016

But overall we have come to love Basel - with all it's internationalism, luxury and let's face it, buying power. This art show is about featuring art with the hopes that it will be snapped up by one of the many big name art collectors, who is in turn, hoping that their chosen pieces will beat the markets in their return on investment.

Turns out, art is as good an investment as any - and there's no shortage of amazing artists here in South Florida - we're just in need of a bit more encouragement into the realm of fearless innovation to spark our creativity outside the boxes that we all grow so comfortable with here, maybe it's the marine soil. So, in a way Art Basel's focus on international art is good for us, stretches our conceptions of what makes good art.

I'm looking forward to what Basel has in store for us this year... hoping to find some inspiration for the future of our species and the planet we inhabit... maybe some reflections of my wildest good dreams... and who knows, maybe I'll even find that one piece that will last a lifetime - one that includes some perspective on the world we're fighting to create... one based on investments in #truth #dignity #liberty #jutice

Have a favorite moment, gallery or artwork from the show? Share it w/ us using our official hashtag: #artbasel pic.twitter.com/vkPATNy8QJ

— Art Basel (@ArtBasel) December 2, 2016

#ArtBasel

#ArtBaselMiami

Here's a shot of my sis #AdrienneChadwick scouting out the best of show yesterday

The Perez Museum's Adrienne Chadwick is definitely today's #bestdressed at the fair! #CarrieMaeWeems @adriennechadwick @perezmuseum @artbasel #jackshainmangallery #day2

A photo posted by Jack Shainman Gallery (@jackshainman) on Dec 1, 2016 at 8:35am PST

Huracan means Heart of Earth Heart of Sky

... I had just returned from my second summer of working with Institute of Archaeology (NICH) Belize to squeeze in what would be my last family vacation (to date at least). We had driven over to Sanibel Island, FL and explored the beautiful west coast of our home state. Upon the weather reports, we rushed back across Alligator Alley, Everglades, Fl to encounter a whole line of cars heading in the opposite direction.

Our hurricane prep had to be kicked into high gear, with only a few short hours until the predicted landfall. It was by far the scariest night of my life. Uncertainty. Humility. Unknowing. When in the midst of a natural disaster we are wholly and completely in the hands of mother nature. Eventually the sun rose again, and by noon the waters in our neighborhood had receeded. Having survived with our home more or less intact, we gingerly ventured out to survey the effects.

Of course there was no electricity. Or running water at first. But these services were restored within several hours to several days in our area. The olive trees were all down, uprooted, laying sideways on the ground. Electrical wires dangled dangerously throughout the neighborhood like strewn jump ropes. The park was a complete mess. But the most difficult part of all was the complete absence of communication with our family in the Homestead area. No phone. Internet did not yet exist for us, nor did cell phones. Land lines were inoperable. And we had no access to television because our electricity had not yet been restored... Those were the most difficult days, hours that seemed like months.

Once the electricity finally came back on and we were able to view the #TV #Broadcast coverage of the storm damage... we could not believe what we saw. Complete and utter destruction. Telephone poles snapped like toothpicks. Trees completely denuded of branches and foliage. Houses, apartments and businesses in ruin, reduced to a messy pile of concrete and wood from which they were constructed. That had been my first experience in a serious hurricane, there were many close calls before, but this... this was a direct hit and a hard one. Many families lost everything in that storm. We began to see the incredible destruction that the southern parts of #Miami had sustained, and unable to contact any of our family members, my dad and I loaded up water, blankets, food and first aid supplies and headed out. We were going on a search and rescue mission, not knowing what to expect or what we would find. It started out okay, more trees down, electrical wires hanging... but as we drove further south, the landscape began to change. This familiar route became more and more foreign to me. Housing complexes crashed in from the top. Areas once covered with tree canopy looking like open savannah. The #MiamiZoo campus, with its new aviary, completely unidentifiable.

Once we got off the highway, which had been somewhat cleared of the debris, crumpled metal signs and their poles had been moved out of the center lane onto the shoulder. It was even hard to know where to get off, the landmarks were all missing. The short journey from the highway to the neighborhood where my mothers grandmother lived was the most difficult part of all. There were command centers set up, long lines of people looking disheveled. Soldiers handing out water. As we got closer it seemed to get more difficult to figure out where we were. At this point, there were no trees in sight. Not a single leaf anywhere. Many homes we passed were in various states of collapse, yards were littered with random debris, aluminum siding, patio furniture, buckets. We finally managed to locate the house. It too was bare of trees, foliage, just the trunk of the giant avocado stood behind as a sentinel of sorts... but the house was still standing! We found a clear spot to park. Got out. And the door opened! I was so happy and relieved to find my three grandmothers all alive and relatively well. There were parts of the house that were in shambles, roof busted, but they were okay. We brought in the food, water, and supplies that we'd brought. Dad got to work with the chainsaw, clearing fallen trees from the driveway. And honestly, I don't even remember the ride home! All I know is that I was really happy that our search and rescue mission was successful. The rest is #history....

If you have stories of #HurricaneAndrew, check out History Miami or contact them at archives@historymiami.org or 305-375-1623.

Carnival!

Carnival Season is here.

Yes, I'm a somewhat slow learner... not growing up a religious person per se, I'm just beginning to see the links between the Winter Carnival that I heard so much about in Quebec, the Saint Paul Winter Carnival we love so much, the Mardi Gras of New Orleans and Carnival of Rio and Trinidad that is now celebrated so vehemently in Belize, Miami-Broward, Toronto and throughout the Caribbean.

It's incredible to see the emergence of such amazingly vibrant colors and textures on incredible engineering designs expressing sailors, flowers, fire, birds, butterflies and bugs! Trinidad Carnival Queen Competition For the first time, I'm learning the history of carnival and connections to cultural, ecological traditions marking the scientific cycles of seasons change. Even the correlation between Valentine's Day and carnival traditions are surprisingly relevant to our increasing desire to play mas.

Agriculture. That basic necessity for food and water is at the root of what still drives our motivation to participate in community even today. 

So in an effort to ensure that our access to safe and healthful food and water will improve rather than deteriorate, we take notice and action on current events and steps to the future. Clean water is one of those primary building blocks of life. Right now, it's our responsibility to clean up our mistakes, and train ourselves for a future that protects water as a basic right of humans and the natural world. 

Obviously, besides air, food is the next basic element that we need. And to protect our food requires us to fully comprehend and defend the complex and interconnected systems that contribute to our ability to access safe, healthy food.  Pollinators. Climate. Biodiversity. Hydrology. Harvest. Distribution. Seeds.

These are milkweed seeds. We brought them to last week's Martin Luther King Day Parade and celebration. Because these seeds represent a human decision to take action. In this case, action on behalf of one family to encourage others to replant this single source of monarch caterpillar food. That butterfly that is now endangered due to habitat loss and pesticide pollution. That plant ecosystem that once sustained aphids, ladybugs, ants and butterflies... that no longer exists as expanses of fields holding fuel for the seventh generation of monarch before their great annual journey south and north across this great continent... I remember those many, many monarchs... gathering like orange maple leaves changing over a frosty late summer evening on the north shore of Lake Ontario... And I intend to see the day when my children get to witness those monarchs en masse, following the cycles on a path to safe, clean food and water across the lap of our beautiful earth mother once again.

Milkweed seeds by Adrienne Chadwick

Exploring Roots of Entrepreneurship... (part 1)

Chatting with a group of friends about land, time & economy

In my mother's town every November 19, there is a sunrise ceremony on the banks of the Stann Creek River.  It is a ceremony that commemorates the arrival of the Garifuna People to the safe shores of what is now Belize.  Central to the commemoration are:  song, oratory, canoes and the plants.  Specifically, the food plants that are brought from the distant homelands, to be re-planted, making this new shore "home".

Working our borrowed Minnesota Milpa

Meso-American People have a tradition of economic development that is highly integrated into the concept of community.  Among many Maya communities in Southern Belize, for example, when a new couple formalizes their commitment to move through life as a nuclear family unit, the entire community mobilizes to gather the materials necessary to build their new home together.  A home that is comprised of the natural elements obtainable from their surrounding environment.  A home that is measured using units that are comprised of the male partner's own unique hand and height measurements.  A model that truly demonstrates the harmony that can be achieved between humans, nature and our environment.

Milpa in the foothills of the Maya Mountains, Belize

These types of highly integrated practices - which have sustained thriving, vibrant communities through the rise and fall of more than one empire - are of great importance and relevance to our current human task of regaining balance and equilibrium between each other and our first, natural environment - Mother Nature.

----

Clip from a soon to be released documentary on the Indigenous Youth Freedom Project

Back to the Basics

As a mom of two young boys, I invest a lot in their future.  Today, at the dawn of this 21^st century, I often wonder: what will they truly need in order to live a healthy, happy, fulfilled life to its fullest? (As visions of ad logos dance in my head.) More space, money, cars…? Does more lead to fulfillment? Happiness?

Of course, as a mom, I want my children to always have what they need to live a full and productive life.  And now, more than ever, I think and worry about how our basic building blocks of life – air, water, earth – seem increasingly in peril.  And so, part of the investment I make in my children’s future is feeding them with food that is as safe and nutritious as possible.  But I also think about how far that food has traveled and how much water and energy was used to produce it.

We are hearing much about drought and water shortage these days, I know that we are going to feel that too, before the arrival of rainy season here in South Florida.  Did you know that throughout the US, a good 50% of our national water supply goes into the food we eat? It can take 200 gallons of water to produce a pound of beans.  A pound of beef can take over 2,000 gallons of water to produce.

Another thing that we feel here in South Florida is the real need for clean air that is cooled down to a liveable temperature. In the US almost 50% of our energy use is in heating and cooling homes and buildings.

But we have structures available to us to build our homes, businesses and public buildings in ways that use less than ¼ of that heating/ cooling energy.  And there are farming systems that grow food with minimal inputs of energy, water and chemicals. We just need to utilize them!

Climate change is happening, no matter how many $$$ you put into denying it.  Our temperatures overall are rising, ice sheets are retreating, and we have only one choice: ADAPT.

So that is what I teach my children – creativity, adaptation, and the importance of observing and considering the cycles and patterns of nature in all our actions and decisions.  It is what our ancestors have done, and it is the only way we will successfully navigate the changing times ahead.

We – our whole planet – are an ecosystem.  And yes, we are diverse, competitive, and at times, ruthless.  But we are all interconnected, bound together by our commonality and our dependence on the air, soil and life blood of our first mother – Earth.

Tara Chadwick works as a community outreach consultant for Earth Learning and would like to invite you to the 2014 Local Food Enterprise Summit in Miami May 31-June 2. Registration information is available at www.financialpermaculture.com, spaces are filling quickly.

   

Spring 2014 - The season of regeneration has arrived!

I spent the day of the equinox sorting corn soup corn seeds thanks to George & Syd Martin's kind sharing of their precious seeds, instructions and memories at winter ceremonies 2012

It’s a beautifully cool and grey morning here in South Florida, the spring season has arrived and with it the excited sounds of the birds whose beautiful songs seem to reach new heights of pitch and melody…

I can’t say that I miss the raw wind, snow and cold that so easily penetrate one’s final layers of resistance to the winters of the northern latitudes, especially this year where the average daily temperatures reached far below any recent human memory.

But I do miss the beauty of the snow, the intricate interplay of geometry and light we see reflected on a single snowflake, I miss the warm coffee stops on cold days, and I especially miss feeling the comraderie of people working together to keep their families and communities intact even in the face of such bone chilling environmental realities… the fridgidity of the weather I think helps to cultivate the warmth of people’s hearts…

In many ways, I have found Minnesota and Florida polar opposites, in terms of much more than the obvious weather patterns. There are so many people here, four times as many at least.  And the social disparities while they are obvious in Minnesota, are as amplified in South Florida as the temperature difference on an average early spring day.

The bio diversity of plant, insects and humans is incredibly rich and beautiful, but the relationships that exist between us all seem as fragile as the scanty layer of subtropical topsoil which, fertile though it is, takes 1000 years to produce just one inch of fine, silty soil over the porous limestone that is our area’s bedrock (hence the litany of sinkholes that seem to be opening at an increasingly rapid rate).

Getting to know and understand a new geography is a daunting, seemingly lifelong task.  But the exercise in trying leads to the realization that our parents and grandparents, wherever they are from, were grounded in the knowledge of how to best utilize the gifts of the land and its processes, in a way that also preserved and ensured their continuity in perpetuity.  This regenerative use philosophy, I am now coming to see, is encoded in our cultural, family and community values, traditions and the teachings we pass on to our children and loved ones.  Many of the things we don’t do anymore because we don’t have to, are the very things that contribute to our success in sustaining the ecosystem that we depend on. (Think of the things our grandparents make fun of us for not knowing or doing anymore… walk to school, haul water, chop wood, empty the chamber pot, keep a compost…)

For the few who remember and find ways to replicate and share these treasures of knowledge that others have cast off as “old,” with the connotation of no longer useful or valuable, our future generations of human beings will be eternally grateful to you.  For those who can, LISTEN, LEARN & PRACTICE!  Our grandparents do not stay with us forever, so spend time with them when you can, ask questions, and above all, remember what stories of nature they tell you… OUR grandchildren will have many questions about the world and our place in it and they will need to hear us tell them the stories from the land of our grandparents.

Happy Spring!  Wherever we are right now, let's plant seeds that will feed our minds and bodies with nutrient dense soul food… and milkweed… please plant extra milkweed for our friendly neighborhood pollinators.

Corn boy exploring the permaculture plantings

Links:

Free milkweed plants, seeds and monarch larvae

Microbiology of subtropical karst soils 

Amazing how many of our grandparents used these foods! 

A Plug for Earth Learning and the Financial Permaculture Institute

EL 3.0.2

A blog by T.A.Chadwick

2.25.13

We are now at the midpoint of the winter season, and regardless of one’s relative geographic location, nature is relentlessly reminding us: you know what to do… you know you can do better… you must take another step… the wind whispers our instructions, blue jays never let us forget, butterflies, bees and hummingbirds gently enforce Earth’s patterns and cycles.

Our growing collective human realization that we must do our part to regenerate Earth’s biosystems is an awareness that’s fostering a renewed focus on sustainability and a closer examination of the intersection of economy, finance, business development and an ancient concept with a pointedly contemporary potential for innovation:  permaculture.

Permaculture, in a nutshell, is designing human systems that replicate and regenerate Earth’s natural processes.  Financial permaculture is “working with local communities to create holistic and regenerative economic solutions for local and international sustainability.”

On May 31 – June 4, Earth Learning and the Financial Permaculture Institute are hosting the 2014 Local Food Enterprise (LiFE) Summit in Miami to continue building local food infrastructure here in the Greater Everglades bioregion. This is an open call to participate as a trainee, investor or food lover!  Our objective is to engage entrepreneurs and consumers in growing the local ecology of “a life sustaining culture” to expand access to delicious food grown safely and sustainably right here in the Greater Everglades.

Four local food enterprises will serve as this year’s design clients.  Everyone who registers as a LiFE Summit participant will have the opportunity to join one of four design teams who will work together to develop real-time, case-specific permaculture business/ farm/ enterprise models for each design client to implement.

Registration is open now for the week-long Summit or the keynote lectures only, including the final evening’s unveiling and launch of the newly designed Local Food Enterprises!

Sign up today and refer a friend to get rooted in “growing a life-sustaining culture here in the Greater Everglades bioregion.”

--- END----

www.earth-learning.org

www.financialpermaculture.com

www.financialpermaculture.org

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Earth-Learning/90916298638

https://www.facebook.com/events/629828743747455/