Women • Water • Earth • Herstory

In honor of the start of sea turtle nesting season, world water & women's history month, here are a few recent clips on such subjects....

#WorldSeaGrassDay

Our Stories

What Women's History Means to Us

Finding Our Place

Lights off for Nesting Sea Turtles

Be sure to meet me for #InternationalWomensDay next Saturday, March 9th at The Hatch 1121 Lucerne, Lake Worth Beach to see two new works: "Chrysalis" & "Golden Cascade" in "Movers and Shakers: The Art of Cultural Workers."

Art Everywhere Forever

It's always a happy blur recalling the fast passing time we affectionately call "the holidays," Thanksgiving, Art Basel, Hannukah,  Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Years, Three Kings, and finally Martin Luther King Day. 

This year, more memorable than most as we continue to navigate a rapidly changing social and physical environment. What is the work we all choose to contribute to our global wellbeing at this time? Healing, in all forms is so imporant. And truth. 

This year, for the first time since before the pandemic, I made it to three of South Florida's iconic #MiamiArtWeek fairs and at each I was surprised with the messages of remembrance and determination. At Art Basel, the piece I went looking for by Julie Buffalohead was even more brilliantly impactful than I had imagined with its bright blue background and creative cast of characters illustrating the ongoing creation of the universe. 

At Spectrum I was overjoyed to present my own debut alongside an incredible body of work on canvas created in a collaboration with rescued chimpanzees and the 1990s  teenage sensation B-52s.

At Art Miami my favorite piece was the life sized printing screens installed like giant dominoes in a sculpture garden. 

I also visited the Night Garden at Fairchild Tropical Garden for the first time, bringing a new understanding of nature immersion with lights cascading across dappled screens of trees, shrubs and flowers. 

Today, two new opportunities to engage with  Indigenous art and artists opens up. In Hollywood this week, the Tibetan Sacred Arts Tour makes a visit to Seminole Okalee Village across from Seminole Classic Casino to build a sand mandala for world peace while also sharing art and teachings from their monastic tradition. Sacred Arts Tour

Today in Winter Park, "Yaat Ya Oke: Welcome Travellers," a new exhibition featuring 27 Seminole artists opens at the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens. On through April 14, the exhibition includes contemporary works in acrylic, watercolor, digital art, glass beads, mixed media, natural fibers, found cardboard, photography and sculpture. Details, hours and directions

Next up: Water for Peace Day... 

Stay tuned!

Tara

An adventure in ameliorating agriculture!

A few years ago, I came across a call to serve on a federal advisory committee, the first ever created specifically to look at ways to improve the effectiveness of urban agriculture and innovative production. "The 2018 Farm Bill directed USDA to create this committee to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on the development of policies and outreach relating to urban, indoor, and other emerging agricultural production practices as well as identify any barriers to urban agriculture." (https://www.usda.gov/partnerships/federal-advisory-committee-urban-ag) 

Over six hundred people from across the country responded to that call, assembling their resumés, letters of support from their networks, personal statements about why they wanted to volunteer a year or more to serve on a start up committee. I decided to send in my own literary assemblage of work experience illustrations because it was the end of the second year of the pandemic and food access was still at the top of mind for me, my family and my community. I never thought there would ever be a chance that I would be chosen as one of the twelve inaugural members of the federal advisory committee on urban agriculture and innovative production. But to my great surprise, and no doubt due to the lovely letters of support that were so kindly prepared by colleagues and former colleagues at Rural Coalition and Indigenous Peoples Task Force, Secretary Vilsak chose me! https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/newsroom/dem/press/release/usda-announces-inaugural-federal-advisory-committee-on-urban-agriculture 

These past twenty four months have provided space and time to hold an incredibly enriching journey in capacity building, policy analysis, and creative collaboration. Through addressing and meeting our statutory mandate to attend 3-4 public meetings per year, my colleagues and I reviewed over 1000 written public comments, heard over 100 oral comments, and synthesized these into over 20 draft and 20 passed recommendations for the improvement of urban agriculture and innovative production in the United States. 

Our committee's first ever report to the US Secretary of Agriculture was sent in on September 30th. A second will be forthcoming this autumn. 

I am extremely proud to have been able to play a key role in the start up and initial implementation of the Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Federal Advisory Committee, and look forward to seeing the work we began continue to impact the field of agriculture in years to come. 

Sincerely,

Tara A. Chadwick,

Elected Co-Chair 2023,

Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production

Federal Advisory Committee 2022-2024

PS here is a sample of our meeting minutes - which are now also available in Spanish - if you need them in a different language or format - just email and ask! Comité Asesor de Agricultura Urbana y Producción Innovadora del ... - USDA https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/uaipac-public-meeting-minutes-08012023-en-espanol.pdf 

A 2023 Thank You on NYE 123123

Numbers matter. This year, with the support and collaboration of public and private agencies and organizations across the country and around the world, #PapalotlProject engaged well over 9000 online, 6000 in person and 800 intergenerational participants. Through more than 50 unique, site specific, presentations, workshops and performances, Papalotl Project enhanced access, awareness and appreciation of art and culture, while building sustainable knowledge sharing networks. Papalotl Project is a social impact venture with a decade of proven results. Over 80% of participants report say they aquire new knowledge and would like to experience another #PapalotlProject presentation, workshop or performance.

Thank you for your support and collaboration over the past year, looking forward to co-creating even more meaningful experiences in the year to come.  

Our year at a glance:

Please follow us at @papalotlproject for updates, presentation dates and upcoming opportunities to engage and connect. 

Learn more about #PapalotlProject

The Beginning of Winter Solstice Week

Winter Solstice Week

Family Slide Project - Day 1

Pics by TChadwick

12.17.23

South Florida Celebrates #MiamiArtWeek!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friday, December 8th 11 am Art Basel public opening

Saturday, December 9th 1 pm Art Basel Conversations

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

Saturday, January 6th Chehantamo closing day

Tuesday, January 16th Yaat Ya Oke opening

Sunday, April 14th Yaat Ya Oke closing day

Saturday, April 20th Biennale opening day

Monday, September 2nd Maya Hidden Worlds closing day

Sunday, November 24th Biennale closing day

Tara A. Chadwick

tara-chadwick.square.site

Belizean Artists Flourish During Miami Art Week

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

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

"Emergency Shawl: Golden River Repair"

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

overlooking Science Museum of Minnesota,

Saint Paul, MN

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

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

###