Golden Hour

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 Chadwick answered 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

To find out how you can support this day of action and watch the art unfold, head to https://microgalleries.org/program

End

 

About The Artist

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.

Updates and details at taraalomachadwick.blogspot.com or www.instagram.com/wabigun.

 

About Micro Galleries

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.

www.microgalleries.org

www.facebook.com/microgalleries

www.instagram.com/microgalleries

 

Media contact details

Local:                   Tara Chadwick                 wabigun@yahoo.com

Global:                 Claudia Lee                       media@microgalleries.org

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Golden hour

Tara Chadwick

New River, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

 

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 6^th, 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

 

 

The Middle

The Bees’ tree with Golden Skirt Bridge

Me and Tree

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWFZhVbFOrS/

Moss (video)

Golden Orb Weaver

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWFZeqjvEwi/

Butterfly (video)

Concha

Canoeing

Then we returned to the New River to complete our documentation of the Golden Hour

https://www.instagram.com/p/CV_nZ5aJv7Q/

Water (video)

 

The End

Water and Golden Bridge

Restoration is a collaborative venture!

Seminole Art Takes Center Stage

Seminole Art Takes Center Stage 

repost from The Seminole Tribune

FORT LAUDERDALE – The public will get a chance to see the work of more than two dozen Seminole artists in November.

In recognition of Native American Heritage Month, History Fort Lauderdale will host “A Return to Self: The Art of Healing,” which features works by the tribe’s most prominent artists. The exhibit will open Nov. 21 and run through Jan. 9, 2022.

“This is especially relevant now as we navigate new ways to connect with and care for loved ones during the pandemic and learn from Native American artists who have been nurturing themselves and this land for hundreds of years,” said Patricia Zeiler, executive director of History Fort Lauderdale. “We are grateful to the Seminole Tribe of Florida for its continued support of History Fort Lauderdale during Native American Heritage Month and beyond.”

Opening day will feature a VIP tour and a meet-and-greet with artists.

Curated by Tara Chadwick and Tia Blais-Billie, “A Return to Self: The Art of Healing” will showcase a variety of contemporary and traditional media including oils, acrylics, fiber, glass, metals, mixed media and digital art from 25 Seminole artists spanning five generations. The artists are Durante Blais-Billie, Tia Blais-Billie, Wilson Bowers, Carla Cypress, Nicholas DiCarlo, Erica Dietz, Ruby Dietz, Donna Frank, Stephanie Hall, Eden Jumper, Elgin Jumper, Danielle Nelson, Alyssa Osceola, Jackie Osceola, Jacob Osceola, Jessica Osceola, the late Jimmy Osceola, Leroy Osceola, Madeline Osceola, Iretta Tiger, Daniel Tommie, Samuel Tommie, Gordon Oliver Wareham, Brian Zepeda and Corinne Zepeda.

Complimentary admission is available for Art Basel First Choice or Preview cardholders. Guests can participate in the exhibit’s premiere in-person or online. History Fort Lauderdale admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $7 for students (through age 22 with a valid student ID). Admission is free for members, military and children ages six and under. Tickets are available online.

Virtual visits, globetrotting geographies

Every day, we each make thousands of decisions, answer hundreds of questions, and solve a plethora of problems. And once in a very great while, we are confronted with a remarkable and unpredictable consequence of one of these daily doses of decision making.

 

Such was the case for me one calm autumn day when a gentleman with a camera asked if he could take a photo. Too often, people assume it is within their right to capture, copyright and collect $ on images of me, regardless of consent, ethics or morality. So in this case, I gave my consent because I was happy to have even been asked! What we did not have a conversation about was what exactly would happen with the image once it was taken. In this particular case, it was shared with the local print paper, and then with another paper out of state, and another, and another... and before too long, I was globetrotting across geographies, virtually visiting people in communities, and even countries I've never even set foot in!

Photo by Wilfredo Lee/ AP. 

Facepaint by Adrienne Chadwick

I've made virtual visits to distant neighborhoods before, as an advisor and narrator in the travelling exhibition "Maya Hidden Worlds Revealed," which has spent several months in ten different cities across the country since its world premiere in 2013. But that was the result of a carefully thought out and implemented plan, with a schedule and a timeline. 

 

This rapid series of unplanned virtual visits with communities I've never even heard of before was something very different. This photo, marked the day of the inaugural "First Mondays Masterclass" series I present free to the community a month or two after the start of every school year, which this year, happened to fall upon the day we reserve for celebrating the life of those who we have lost. One of the many days each calendar year that we use to acknowledge our relationship with those who came before and the unbreakable bond that ties us to the land and lifeblood of this continent. Not one of which are recognized by our school district. On this very sombre Dia de los Muertos, we were honoring all the many friends and relatives lost to us because of the pandemic. We were worrying about what would happen the following day during the federal election. And we were also charting a course for the future. 

 

Photo by Wilfredo Lee/ AP.

#MesoamericanDanza

That day we lost Aunt Joyce, my Grandfathers last remaining sibling. And, like we all do, I needed to find a way forward, through the chaos and the grief and the uncertainty and the pain. So I did what I always do. I picked up my grandmother's shell, and my son's drum, and my mom's shaker and the chechayotes that I earned the right to learn how to make. I gathered the children, and we went out to the street, on to the road, in to the park, down by the river. We brought four items to represent the earth, the animals, the plants and the elements to remind us of our role and responsibility. And we opened up our minds and hearts to the rhythm that comes with practicing the art of interpreting the voice of the drum, the shakers and the shell. We did what we always do. What we always come back to. In that moment, on that day, we made a stand against the possibility of oblivion. We stood together, in solidarity with every being on the planet and beyond who stands for dignity, justice, fraternity and equity. We practiced discipline, compassion, determination and love. We understood that people have the right to their own views and practices. But we are also very aware that there is no reaching the promised land without all of us and our languages, songs and traditions intact. If we wish to arrive to that place where we each get to develop to our full potential, under our cultural tree of knowledge, with its particular variety, we must all make that journey together. We must repair the damage done to ourselves and each other, from long ago as well as just yesterday. In doing so, we set ourselves free from the despair, hopelessness and anger bleeding from generational cycles of oppression, abuse and trauma. 

 

In order for this opening to happen, we need to confront and eliminate once and for all the vestiges of systemic inequity that exist in every aspect of our institutionalized frameworks and infrastructures: from justice - to legislation - to all levels of policing (local, regional, national and international.) In our homes, and schools and cities and states we must all take action and accountability for moving forward together toward that ever elusive dream of equality and justice for all.

November 2020 launch of First Monday Masterclass with Tara A. Chadwick.

On the first Mondays of February, March and April, the free public

workshop will be held on the south patio of the Old Dillard Foundation

Art and Heritage Center in Sistrunk Neighborhood. 

Photo courtesy Gordon Oliver Wareham.

COVID Compels Creativity

 

COVID Compels Creativity in the “Circle of Unity” Exhibition on now at History Fort Lauderdale

by Tara Chadwick, November 29, 2020

 

Notes on the process

We come together in the very midst of this unprecedented global pandemic, compelled by the dictates of necessity to comply with the laws of nature and to reinvigorate our understanding of the role we play as humans within the habitat we share with all living beings.

As we work to integrate this renewed understanding within our daily practices, we pause and reflect on self, family and community; reassess how we prioritize daily tasks; and recalculate how we will allocate the most precious resources: time, effort and attention. After much time, honesty, care and contemplation, we come to the realization that we wish to focus on that which brings us health, wellness, fulfillment and joy - we want to do art. We need to express our thoughts and feelings. We deserve to have our artistic expressions viewed and valued on our terms. At local, national and global levels. And on equal footing with contemporary and traditional art producers anywhere on Earth.

 

Personal is professional

With much behind-the-scenes preparation, policy and procedural changes to operational guidelines, History Fort Lauderdale became one of the first art and culture institutions to re-open after the mandated covid closure this summer. The 2020 exhibition schedule remained intact and the countdown to the start of the 2021 art and culture season kick off began. In this new pandemic era, safety is the utmost concern. The number one priority is to keep people safe, while continuing to provide public access and enjoyment of history related art and educational content.

Once we knew that both the will and the ability to move forward with an exhibition existed, our next task was to check in with each artist in order to gauge their interest and ability to take part in a hybrid physical and online exhibition. It was evident that each and every artist had experienced momentous loss, uncertainty and a continual cycle of grief over the past nine months. In a community where each person is tied by familial and cultural bonds to one another, each and every loss of life has a devastating impact. And there have been so many. Kindness and flexibility had to become the major building blocks of the process. So our next task was to build the substance of an exhibition in a way that supports the wellbeing of each artist and their families during this most difficult time in our history. We designed a collective process focusing on sharing strength, and developed the thematic and contextual structure in a way that would provide the artists with an opportunity to present the message of their choosing in this public space. We had many conversations using a variety of technological innovations. Eventually the theme of cycles, circularity, solidarity and resilience emerged along with a title: Circle of Unity. This type of collaborative process is not for the feint of heart and requires much dedication, patience, faith and trust. But the product is an exhibition that each and every participating artist can be proud of because we created it together.

 

Substance matters

This year the group decided to expand the Seminole specific theme we had engaged for the past three years, to include an invitation to Miccosukee artists. The 2020 exhibition, includes 100 pieces by over 20 Seminole artists. There is beadwork, sculpture in ceramic metal and wood, patchwork, baskets, digital art, photography, pen and ink, mixed media and painting. You can see works by Leroy Osceola, Tia Blais-Billie, Brian Zepeda, Jimmy Osceola, Jacqueline Osceola, Jessica Osceola, Josephine Motlow North, Erica Deitz, Ruby Deitz, Donna Frank, Jacob Osceola, Daniel Tommie, Danielle Nelson, Corinne Zepeda, “Oshaana Baby,” and many others including Iretta Tiger who will be cohosting a collaboration with Broward Library’s Big Read program along with Dante Blais-Billie on January 16th. The program will include a virtual art making workshop that weaves together elements of the “Circle of Unity” Exhibition alongside the literary sustenance provided in US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s “An American Sunrise.” Watch for a registration link in the coming days at HistoryFortLauderdale.org.

You can catch a replay of the digital opening at https://www.youtube.com/user/FTLhistory/videos. Or mask up and come visit in person. History Fort Lauderdale is open daily from 10 – 3 with tours of the three museum campus at 1, 2 and 3 for a cost of $15 per person (senior, student and child discounts available.)

We are greatly honored to work together to produce this international exhibition of contemporary indigenous art for our community and the world.

Tara Chadwick

November 29, 2020

 

 

History Fort Lauderdale, The Historic Heart of Downtown

219 SW 2^nd Avenue, Fort Lauerdale, FL 33301

Open daily from 10 to 3:30 with guided tours at 1, 2 and 3 pm

HistoryFortLauderdale.org

 

Two of the works on view at the Circle of Unity Exhibition at History Fort Lauderdale are shown in this image.

“Final Frontier” contemporary bandolier bag by Brian Zepeda, from the collection of Gordon Oliver Wareham and Untitled digital art by Ruby Deitz.

 

 

 

Works on view at the Circle of Unity Exhibition at History Fort Lauderdale include various forms of contemporary art expression by Seminole and Miccosukee artists. Pictured here we see wood work by Jacob Osceola, beaded mask and earrings by Corinne Zepeda, “Seminole Woman” ceramic by Jessica Osceola, hand forged silver coin necklaces by Leroy Osceola, sweetgrass baskets by Donna Frank and Seminole Woman dolls by Judy Baker from the collection of Donna Frank.

Accountability to Community in Creative Collaborations

Accountability to Community in Creative Collaborations: Reflections on an Americans for the Arts workshop titled “Artists at the Community Development Table.”

Home Beautiful Park, Fort Lauderdale.

Fifty of the most determined, knowledgeable and experienced artists residing in Broward County gathered for a full day workshop in the Home Beautiful Park neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale last Saturday at the Mid Town Commerce Center (now,The Circuit) at 10^th and Sistrunk.

The workshop was made possible by a collaboration between Broward Cultural Division and Americans for the Arts and was led by a specialized team of two national and two local arts leaders.

Together, the group discussed theory and practice of ensuring that the role of artists extends beyond just the realm of “art” and into the spaces where decisions are being made about how to build a safer, stronger, more resilient community.  If we are to succeed in moving through the many barriers that contribute to socio-economic, educational and prosperity gaps, the perspective and insight of diverse practicing artists must be incorporated into policy, planning and design initiatives, not as an afterthought, but as a necessary part of healthy and effective urban and rural development.

While there is much work to be done to normalize the value of artists at the table when it comes to community development, there are ample examples in ancient, recent and current history from which to draw. Our current ecosystem requires us to relearn the skills of communication, negotiation and collaboration. Participants practiced these during an interactive group session on paper tower building; working with our neighbors to plan, take action and accomplish a task. The importance of clarity, contracts and assigning equal worth to the work of an experienced artist versus an architect was discussed as were the crucial steps of designing appropriate entrance, exit and mitigation strategies for unanticipated contingencies in the work of developing a community.

Above all the real need was expressed for identifying opportunities to design infrastructure that will help build communities with equity. Much ground work, solidarity and understanding was accomplished over the nine hour day. More time and attention is needed on this subject in order to leverage the fullest possible impact that resident artists can have on community development locally nationally, internationally.

Why Wetsuweten?

#AllEyesOnWetsuweten

Image courtesy IVJ Canada
https://www.ijvcanada.org/canadian-jews-stand-with-wetsuweten-to-repair-the-world-we-must-decolonize/

On June 8, 1990, I packed up, marched out the door, and left the sunshine state, bound for the butterfly filled bluffs of my birth home on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Soon I found myself working the familiar front desk of the Royal Ontario Museum, until one day I got a call from my mom that a letter had arrived for me, back in Broward County, indicating that I'd received a full tuition scholarship to York University, where classes would be starting the following week!

It was a full four and something years of travel, reading and writing. A LOT of travel and reading and writing. But York University is or was then, thirty years ago (my gosh) a peculiarly innovative institution, and my incredible cadre of professors provided us with ample opportunity, fueled with inspiration to take on learning approaches beyond just the text book and typewriter. (yes I actually used a typewriter and was very proud when I got an electric one with the automatic corrector tape function!) I did a summer field school at the Seed Barker site with Dr. Mima Capches investigating an early Iroquois village right across the street from Canada's largest theme park. I designed and implemented a project engaging local youth in research on identity, multiculturalism and the experience of being an immigrant. My favorite homework assignment was the time Dr. Elizabeth Graham sent us to Upper Canada brewing company for a five dimensional learning experience now known as a tasting tour. Our objective was to gain insights into the history of brewed beverages as part of our early civilizations course. My most impactful course was with Sadie Buck and Amos Key learning about the history of the land on which my university stands, through theory and practice of Haudenosaunee art and culture. We learned about Handsome Lake, the Mush House, and the incredible beauty of filling a room with our voices blending as one. We also learned what happened to the hereditary form of governance (on which the United States model of democracy is based) when the executive branch of the federal government seized all articles, put all the leaders in jail, and replaced them with leaders chosen not by the people but by the federal government. This happened in 1924. But the project that I really enjoyed the most of any of my many assignments was my paper on the legal history of the Wetsuweten Delgamuuk case, which at that time, was on its way to be heard by the Supreme Court. These were the days when computers were new and the internet was not yet available for public use. The only place I could find information regarding the case history on the Delgamuuk case was inside the beautiful glass enclosure of the Osgoode Hall Law Library. It was open to anyone. As long as you did all your research on site. I spent hours, days even, pouring over notes and transcripts, quotes, stories all entered into the record of a case that, in its beginnings, was establishing the precedent that oral history, indigenous knowledge, could be entered as evidence in a case that in the end established that aboriginal title, ownership and rights to the land have existed in perpetuity and can not be extinguished by England, Canada or any other corporate interest that has subsequently asserted ownership.

I am by far no lawyer, and my intent both then and now is to delve into the treasures of the legal history to bring to light tangible evidence of the basic truth that elders and traditional knowledge learners already know all over the continent: that our oral history, our community knowledge and the practices that ensure that knowledge is transmitted from one generation to the next, our traditional forms of governance, education, medicine and policing are important. They contain truths that are essential for a full understanding of our place in the world and our responsibility as scientists and protectors of our land, water, resources and relationships. I hope one day I will re-find that paper, I know I have it somewhere, in those 1990 files filled with the sweat, tears and dreams of a teenage cultural anthropologist, maybe it's there, right alongside that Roger Keesing textbook...  My point, then and now, is to say, wake up. Look at the facts. We are all here together. And we need to follow the law but we also need to open up our minds and hearts to the natural law that is swirling around us, reminding us every moment of every day who we are, and what we must do to fulfill our role in our families, communities and indeed, the universe.

Let's all #StandUP. Stand together. #AllEyesOnWetsuweten!! Protect each other. And on this 52nd year since the death of the revered Martin Luther King Jr, in the spirit of his quote "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," let's build a path to a future where we leave the things that don't serve us ALL behind.

Tiahui!!
Tara.

Beautiful Beach Basel

Art Basel Miami Beach 2019 is now open for your viewing pleasure. Along with a myriad of events, parties, art talks, shows, performances and did I mention parties...? There are a more than a few not to miss items if you're even considering braving the traffic to check out our two decades old international art tourism destination.

On Miami Beach, 8 mins walking from the actual Art Basel show at the Miami Beach Convention Center, there is an epic installation piece by Leandro Erlich commissioned by the Miami Beach Cultural Commission titled Order of Importance. Check out my Basel Blog from last January to catch a glimpse of the same piece on a completely miniature scale. This was brilliant multi year messaging and an experiential immersion in issue based art.

Order of Importance
by Leandro Erlich

Back within the hallowed walls of the actual Art Basel show, there is a new sector called Meridians that is a space designed specifically to hold large scale art works. I went there because I heard David Castillo talking about a new piece he would display there by Pepe Mar. I am so glad I did. My favorite was a piece created as both visual and performance by Tina Girouard at booth M27, performances daily at 3 pm.

Finally, in the Galleries sector, my personal favorite of the day by Jeffrey Gibson at booth A16.

And a friendly word of advice. Don't forget to drink water because after a 17k step, 20 hour day in the most comfortable shoes I own, my heart and mind were full of inspiration while my feet began a full fledged rebellion!

Have fun, rideshare if you can, and let's organize!!!

Art Basel

Design Miami

#betyesaar

Jeffrey Gibson

Ai Wei Wei

(They are Legos!!!!!)

(And the tree is iron!!!)

Linklater

Jungen

Ed Clark

Henry Moore

Candice Lin

Candice Lin

Inside MOCA NOMI, two incredible solo exhibitions: Alice Rahon and Cecilia Vicuñia