South Florida Celebrates #MiamiArtWeek!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friday, December 8th 11 am Art Basel public opening

Saturday, December 9th 1 pm Art Basel Conversations

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

Saturday, January 6th Chehantamo closing day

Tuesday, January 16th Yaat Ya Oke opening

Sunday, April 14th Yaat Ya Oke closing day

Saturday, April 20th Biennale opening day

Monday, September 2nd Maya Hidden Worlds closing day

Sunday, November 24th Biennale closing day

Tara A. Chadwick

tara-chadwick.square.site

Belizean Artists Flourish During Miami Art Week

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

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

"Emergency Shawl: Golden River Repair"

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

overlooking Science Museum of Minnesota,

Saint Paul, MN

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

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

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All Her Flowers!!!

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

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

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

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

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

Love,

Bawshkeengwabigun aka Tara Chadwick

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

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

International Archaeology Day 2023

This #InternationalDayOfArchaeology, we pause - once again - to remember and honour all the bright lights who have now ascended to help illuminate the night time sky. Some are currently seated at the community ofrenda, while others remain anonymously close to our hearts.

We rest, and grieve, and reflect and heal on the road to regaining our resolve and strength. 

📷 Nedahness Greene for #PapalotlProject

Thank you to all who are treading this path toward connection, community, and collaboration. 

The road is not always easy, however there is always time for friendships to be made. 

Bawshkeengwabigwun 🪻

Place of the Beginning

This Saturday, #PapalotlProject travelled to Gawkawbeekong for the reopening of #MayaHiddenWorldsRevealed at the Science Museum of Minnesota. In stark contrast to the 2013 world premiere, there were no banners, no fanfare and no news crews. There had been a members preview the evening before, but this opening day was literally just that. After travelling to 10 cities across the country, about 2 million people have visited so far, hopefully inspired by the beauty, knowledge, traditions and dedication of our ancestral and contemporary Mesoamerican artists, scientists, statespeople and culture workers. There is so much to learn about being a good human relative both within the exhibition and beyond. Math, science, physics, poetry, chemistry, diplomacy, geography, family, relationships, time and space are all in there along with activites to try, videos to watch and touch screens to play with. We stayed for five hours, and for us, it was not enough time to go completely through everything.

Re-opening circle 10/07/23

Photo by Nedahness Greene

Science Museum of Minnesota is a forward thinking legacy science and natural history museum located on the bank of the Mississippi River in downtown Saint Paul. They have made community consultation and engagement an intregal part of the institution's strategic and operational policy. Still, as in any organization, there is always room for new ideas, testing, evaluation and improvement. Sometimes there is even more room than anyone even realizes. 

Golden River Repair: Emergency Shawl

temporary site specific interaction

by Tara A. Chadwick 10/07/23

We arrived as eager and welcome guest visitors, excited to reconnect with our younger selves and our friends we haven't seen for so long. We were also eager to reconnect with the artifacts, some of which are also like old friends to us, while others are more like that one remaining photograph of the favorite grandmother your grandmother often talked about. These humans and artifacts are part of our extended family. 

Together we all form a cohesive story of our present. Where we are, how we got here, what we remember, how we relate to one another, and our vision for the future. We learn who we are from our family and that knowledge propels us to learn about each other. Which is precisely what happened. As a result of our visit, we reconnected with friends and also made new ones. 

Opening words

Photo by Nedahness Greene

The Science Museum accompanied us as we co-created a safe and trusting space to engage with each other as well as those behind the wall of plexiglass. It was a new model for collaboration unfurling organically between the visitors, artifacts, museum space, staff and the exhibition itself. We were able to exchange both information and emotion about what this space means for us. And hopefully, open a pathway to more intentional cross-generational, co-creation between communities and their museums. 

Reconnecting

Photo by Nedahness Greene

Always grateful for the incredible support of my former coworkers and colleagues who continue to offer their friendship, feedback, collaboration and mentorship. Thanks for being there Lea & George, Lisa, Jake, Mike, John, Liza & Mark. And I am also thankful to my new friends Dave, Nedahness & Melissa.

Thanks to my fellow Cogenerate Social Innovation Fellow, Libby Stegger of Move for America (and a member of the Science Museum of Minnesota), we are so grateful that you and your crew came out to share part of our day!

Tara & Libby

And what can I say to the incredible young lady who grew up in the flash of two decades to become a leader in our industry, thank you Ilona, I am so glad to have met you again!!!

Ilona, Tara & Melissa

Rosetta, Mictla, Tara & Ron

To Rebekah, thank you for hosting us and continuing to carry out this work. 

Tara, Mictla & Rebekah

Tara Chadwick

10/09/23

World Tourism Day - Contributions to the Greater Good

Today marks the end of a two day United Nations celebration marking the 43rd anniversary of #WorldTourismDay. 

As I reflected on the theme for this year "tourism & green investments" I realized that I have now been actively contributing to the tourism sector for 5 decades. 

Here is visual selection of a few of these projects and partnerships:

Tara Chadwick celebrates #WorldTourismDay with a visual reflection on her five decades of contributions to the tourism, art, culture and heritage industry sector.

1980s

Beginning in 1983, Tara participated in the earliest iterations of the Miami/Broward Carnival. Later she began her career in museology as a spring break student trainee at the Royal Ontario Museum. During high school, Tara's out of school time volunteer position as IMP on capital campaign committee earned her a share in the Saint Catharines Historical Museum.

1990s

During the 1990s Tara earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in socio-cultural Anthropology, attended archaeological field school and served as museologist for the Government of Belize in the creation of its first ever archaeological site museums and visitor centers. She also worked with the Government of Ontario and Chippewas of Rama First Nation to start a youth radio station a few months before the advent of the internet. 

2000s

During the 2000s Tara co-founded a community based environmental justice initiative that included partnerships with a local theatre company. 

2010s

In the 2010s Tara was active in the final stages of development of the travelling exhibition #MayaHiddenWorldsRevealed and continued her environmental work.

2020s

The 2020s necessitated a pivot and much reflection on the half century of work accomplished. This resulted in a widening of the field and narrowing of the focus to inspire the world to take meaningful action on behalf of our environment, each other, and all beings.

My work started at home with myself and family, expanded to my neighborhood and community, and has now traveled all the way around the world and back again. 

I am thankful to each and every person who continues to hold open just a crack in the armour around all our hearts, to pause and really listen for the possibilities that will lead us to a prosperous, healthy and sustainable future, and especially for those who say yes. 

Tara

🌎❤️🦋🌱🎉

Tara-Chadwick.square.site 

Tara Chadwick presenting new work in Zurich

Broward County, FL artist Tara Chadwick presents new work at Swiss Art Expo in Zurich, Switzerland this week. 

Expanding on recent success touring the  #GoldenHour and #Matriarch series across Europe and the US propelling a growing global consciousness of the connections between family, community, government and environment, Chadwick's newest work, #GoldenCascade, reflects the importance of biodiversity and climate to human health and wellness. 

Swiss Art Expo takes place at Zurich Hauptbahnof Platz during the fall folk festival September 6 - 10 and welcomes over 400,000 local, regional and international visitors. 

Info, enquiries and more art at Tara Chadwick.