Here are some highlights from Miami Art Museum for January 2009…
Visualizing the Blues: Miami Art Museum presents a lecture by Richard Powell, one of the pre-eminent figures in art scholarship of the African Diaspora, Sunday, January 18 at 3pm in the Museum Auditorium. Powell, the John Spencer Bassett Professor, Department of Art, Duke University will address “The Blues Aesthetic” and describe the inter-relationship between visual and aural expressions from the early 20th century to the present, with particular reference to the Jazz Roots series currently at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. Powell’s latest book Cutting a Figure: Fashioning Black Portraiture was published by The University of Chicago Press in 2008. Admission to the lecture is $5 for members and students with valid ID; $10 for non-members (includes museum admission).
MAM’s Founding Director to lead Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers:
Suzanne Delehanty, who led the transition from the former Center for the Fine Arts to the Miami Art Museum and spearheaded the campaign for the Museum’s new building in Museum Park, has been named director of the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Among the highlights of the museum’s holdings are the Norton and Nancy Dodge collection of “non-conformist” art from the Cold War era Soviet Union and the Rutgers Archives for Printmaking Studios, which represents the work of studios from across the United States.
From an Upcoming Exhibition, a Satisfying Book: The exhibition catalog for Miami Art Museum’s upcoming presentation of NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith ranked as one of the season’s “most satisfying art books” in The Miami Herald’s year-end wrap-up of gift books. Herald art critic Fabiola Santiago selected the listed books because they “are so well-written and beautifully illustrated that they’re a pleasure to read and to peruse repeatedly.” The member’s preview for NeoHooDoo takes place February 22, with the exhibition opening to the public on the following day. The exhibition brings together an intergenerational group of artists who address ritual in the artistic process and the wider implications of spirituality in contemporary art. To enjoy the work of NeoHooDoo before the exhibition opens, visit the MAM Store and purchase a copy of the catalog. MAM members at the Supporting ($500) and above levels will receive a coupon for the catalog that can be redeemed at the MAM Store during the members preview and through the run of the exhibition. To become a member call 305.375.1709 or visit the MAM website at www.miamiartmuseum.org.
And Another Catalog Coup: Miami Art Museum-organized Vik Muniz: Reflex served as the jumping off point for New York Times critic Roberta Smith’s Christmas day review of Muniz’s collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art, New York as part of MoMA’s continuing Artist’s Choice exhibition series. Skip to next paragraph“Reflex: A Vik Muniz Primer the book he wrote to accompany his 2006 exhibition at the Miami Art Museum, covers his life, work and artistic thinking with a fluidity, urgency and intelligence that border on enchanting,” Smith wrote. “Now comes Mr. Muniz’s excellent addition to the Artist’s Choice series at the Museum of Modern Art, which could be his greatest work of all. Artist’s Choice + Muniz = Rebus is a marvelous teaching tool … an extended essay on art: making it, experiencing it and above all thinking about it in every way possible.”
A Look at the Future of Creativity in Miami: Works by young artists representing the diversity that nourishes Miami’s expanding art scene will be on view at Miami Art Museum during the annual Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition from January 25 to February 15, 2009. Hundreds of Miami-Dade middle and high school students and their families will gather at Miami Art Museum on Sunday, January 25, 2009, for the exhibition opening in the Museum’s New Work Gallery from 1 to 4pm. Award winning students, selected from a juried exhibition of approximately 200 works on view at the Museum, will be honored by school district officials at a 3pm ceremony. Every year winners compete on the national level in New York. Students from Miami-Dade County schools consistently rank among the top winners at the national level – setting records for the number of awards won by the students of a single school district. In 2008, local students won 28 national awards.
The Poet of Art Critics on the “Post Historical Epoch:” On Tuesday, January 27, Miami Art Museum’s Reading Art group meets to discuss Arthur Danto’s Beyond the Brillo Box, a wide-ranging exploration of pluralism in post-Pop culture. Danto, the Johnsonian Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Columbia University and art critic for The Nation, has been praised for producing “Criticism that at moments turns into a kind of Poetry” and singled out as “one of the most interesting and important critics of our time.” Reading Art will take place from 6:30-8:30 pm at Books & Books in Coral Gables, located at 265 Aragon Avenue. Public parking garage is located across the street. Tickets validated at Books & Books will be charged a reduced rate. For more information, contact MAM’s Education Department at 305.375.4073.
Poetry for the Eye: Ruth and Marvin Sackner’s outstanding collection of artworks incorporating poetry and the written word will be the highlight of the year’s first ARTrek on Saturday, February 7, from 9:00am to 12:30pm. ARTreks, a membership benefit for MAM members at the Friends ($1,000) and above levels. This ARTrek will also visit the shared studio of internationally-known Miami artists Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova, Cristina Lei Rodriguez, Frances Trombly and Wendy Wischer. ARTreks begin in the MAM lobby at 9am, and the bus departs at 9:30am sharp. The event is $37.50 per person. Sign up early, as the tour is limited to 25 persons. Reservations must be made in advance and there are no refunds. Call Addy Castellanos at 305.375.1707 for reservations.
Cultivating New Visions of the Caribbean: MAM’s engaging Morning Lecture series, Out of Africa: Reflections on Modern and Contemporary Art of the Americas, continues Wednesday, February 11 with a presentation by Rosie Gordon-Wallace, Director of Miami’s Diaspora Vibe Gallery. She will present “Caribbean Art, No Easy Definition: A Peek at the English Speaking Islands.” Jamaican-born Gordon-Wallace established Diaspora Vibe Gallery and its associated Cultural Arts Incubator to “promote, nurture, and cultivate the vision and diverse talents of emerging artists from the Latin and Caribbean Diaspora through … activities that celebrate Miami-Dade County’s rich cultural and social fabric.” Coffee and breakfast pastries are served at 10am. The lecture begins at 10:30am. Docent-led tours of MAM’s exhibitions follow. Tickets to MAM Morning Lectures are $10 for MAM members and students, $15 for non-members. For more information contact MAM’s Education Department at 305.375.4073.
We hope you will enjoy the many exhibitions and events at MAM this month. If you’d like to arrange a docent-led tour of one of our exhibitions, please call our Education Department at 305.375.4073.
On view at MAM
Chantal Akerman: Moving Through Time and Space
October 16-January 25, 2009
Yinka Shonibare, MBE: A Flying Machine for Every Man, Woman and Child
October 31-January 18, 2009
Objects of Value
November 21, 2008-February 22, 2009
