Here’s the latest news from Miami Art Museum…
Miami Art Museum E-Portrait – August 2008
Miami Art Museum is dedicated to engaging the public with art from the twentieth century through the present, as well as establishing dialogues among international artists and the participants in Miami’s vibrant cultural community. We invite you to be part of it – and to become a member of MAM if you aren’t already. Here are a few highlights to encourage you to visit MAM this month.
Mayor Diaz Blogs MAM: In his online blog, City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz recorded the actions of the July 24 City Council meeting that provided funding for MAM’s future facility at Musuem Park. “The greatest cities in the world are created because of vision and proper planning to make dreams a reality,” Mayor Diaz wrote. “Our Commission has shown true leadership and belief in the future of Miami.” The mayor’s blog appears online at http://mayormannydiaz.blogspot.com. MAM would like to thank Commissioners Sarnoff, Sanchez and Gonzalez for their support. Mayor Diaz, City Manager Pete Hernandez, Roger Hernstadt and Olga Ramirez-Seijas, along with many other City staffers, worked with us tirelessly to make sure that the museum’s requests reflected the legal requirements of the City. MAM’s Trustees and staff, our colleagues at the Miami Science Museum, and Nancy Lash of Greenberg Trauring, Peyton Lumpkin of White & Case and Mike Abrams of Akermann/ Senterfit also provided valuable guidance as we worked toward a shared goal: seeing a great museum on Biscayne Bay for the enjoyment of all the people of the City of Miami.
“Dazzling:” That’s how New York Times Architecture Critic Nicolai Ouroussoff summarized Herzog & de Meuron’s new Olympic Stadium in the paper’s August 5 edition. “Expect to be overwhelmed, Ouroussoff continued, “…the stadium lives up to its aspiration as a global landmark. Its elliptical latticework shell, which has earned it the nickname the Bird’s Nest, has an intoxicating beauty that lingers in the imagination. Its allure is only likely to deepen once the enormous crowds disperse and the Olympic Games fade into memory.” Sure to be seen by billions of people worldwide during Olympic telecasts, the Bird’s Nest should ensure that nearly everyone recognizes the work of the architects designing the new MAM in Museum Park.
The Art of Shade: August is becoming fashion month for JAM at MAM, the happy hour with an artful twist. This Thursday’s JAM features a fashion show by Kayce Armstrong / Art of Shade, one of Miami’s hottest young designers. JAM at MAM, a lively, after-work alternative, is held the third Thursday of every month from 5 – 8:30pm. MAM members free; Non-members $10.
New Florida Painters: MAM’s Assistant Director for Programs/Senior Curator Peter Boswell was guest juror for the June/July issue of New American Paintings. The issue is devoted to artists from 10 states in the South, including Florida. Among the 40 artists featured are 17 from Miami and 8 from other parts of Florida. The magazine is available at many area bookstores.
Building Recognition: MAM Gallery Teacher Asser Saint-Val and five-year-old Ronnie Coffie, a participant in the Coconut Grove Cares summer program, appeared on the cover of The Miami Herald’s Neighbors section on August 3. The accompanying Herald report followed two of MAM’s gallery teachers as they took hands-on art projects and art supplies to community centers as part of this year’s Target-sponsored MAM in the Neighborhood. With support from the Heckscher Foundation for Children, MAM’s Brick by Brick program engaged young people in lesser served neighborhoods throughout the city in the design process of the new museum. That program is also receiving attention. The July issues of both Miami Home and Aventura magazines praised Brick by Brick for what Miami Home called “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get involved in the improvement of their communities.”
Favorites Old and New: The latest installation of selections from MAM’s growing permanent collection is now on view in the Plaza-level gallery through November 2, 2008. Included among the works on view for the first time at MAM are Nancy Graves’ Evergrowing Mobility, Fernand Léger’s Femme au Fauteuil (Woman and Armchair), Nela Ochoa’s Donde Midas se Lava las Manos (Where Midas Washes His Hands) and Tom Wesselmann’s Brown Eyes Under Glass. Also included are several works by Miami-area artists, including Daniel Arsham’s Miami Does Paris and Pepe Mar’s Blue (Da-Ba-Dee). These recent acquisitions share gallery space with several of the “old favorites” from MAM’s collection, including works by such influential 20th-century artists as Helen Frankenthaler, Adolph Gottlieb, Morris Louis, Louise Nevelson, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Sean Scully and Frank Stella.
More Good Mornings Coming Up: Watch your mail for subscription details for the upcoming season of MAM Morning Lectures Out of Africa: Reflections on Modern and Contemporary Art of the Americas. Following on MAM’s Wifredo Lam in North America exhibition last season and looking towards two new exhibitions, Yinka Shonibare and NeoHooDoo, the series of six Wednesday-morning lectures by local experts will take a look at the complex subject of the art of the African Diaspora from our particular geographical position on the shores of the Caribbean. The series compliments the musical themes of the Arsht Center’s Jazz Roots concert program.
MAM Welcomes New Associate Director for Communications: Heather Steliga joined the MAM staff in July. She will be responsible for all public communications efforts, including marketing, advertising and press relations. Steliga’s professional experience includes spearheading the communications efforts for the opening of Bartholomew Voorsanger’s renovated headquarters building for the Asia Society in New York City. Steliga founded the consulting firm foggydaycommunications and held leadership positions with the School of Visual Arts and Bratone Associates in New York, New York; the Portland School of Art, Portland, Maine; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Hebei Teachers College, Shijiazhuang, China and Brown University’s Bell Gallery. Ms. Steliga holds an MA in English/Creative Writing from Brown University and a BA in English from the University of New Hampshire. She also conducted graduate studies in East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard. Her first book, Water Runs to What is Wet, received a Pushcart Prize nomination and was awarded First Prize by the Academy of American Poets.
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.
Now on view at MAM…
Selections from the Permanent Collection
August 8-September 21, 2008
Disappearances, Shadows and Illusions
June 6-September 21, 2008
Sean Duffy: Hilites
July 18-October 12
