Beaux Arts Festival of Art Celebrates 60th Anniversary Jan. 8-9, 2011

Miami's Oldest Juried Fine Arts Show Offers Art for A Variety of Budgets, Children's Art Experiences, Food and Entertainment for the Entire Family

The 60th annual Beaux Arts Festival of Art will bring 240 fine artists to the grounds of the Lowe Art Museum on the University of Miami campus Jan. 8-9, 2011.

A signature event on the South Florida cultural circuit, the Beaux Arts Festival of Art offers visitors the opportunity to meet exhibiting artists, sample fine cuisine and enjoy live entertainment. Kids too can enjoy the family zone, with special entertainment and a "Children's Art Activity Area" where kids 4-12 can make arts and crafts for free. In honor of the 60th anniversary, the festival will launch a children's coloring book featuring important works from the Lowe's world collections. For example, gracing the cover of "Color the Lowe Art Museum" is a work by renowned glass artist William Carlson. Children who attend the festival will receive a copy of the book to color, as will the 500 kids who visit the Lowe each year thanks to festival organizer and volunteer group Beaux Arts. "Like the festival, the coloring book is one more way to draw attention to the Lowe’s cultural importance to this community," said Morgan Smith, Beaux Arts president.

Recognized as one of the top-rated outdoor exhibits of museum-quality fine art, the festival attracts thousands of people annually, offers works in 10 mediums for a variety of budgets. This year, artists hail from 30 states plus Canada and Israel. Admission and parking are free. Proceeds benefit the Lowe Art Museum, which will be open to the public all weekend.

The festival was originally called the "Clothesline Sale," as Beaux Arts volunteers used clotheslines to display the works of local artists in front of the Lowe. Nearly six decades later, the festival has evolved and is considered one of the top outdoor fine art shows in the country.

The festival also presents the annual Student Artist Showcase, featuring more than 100 pieces from Miami-Dade middle and high school students on display inside the Lowe. A portrait by Best in Show Winner Fernando Ramos, an 11th grader from the Academy of Arts and Minds Charter School graces the festival's poster. A celebration honoring the student art will take place at 6pm, Thursday, January 6, at the Lowe.

About Beaux Arts
Founded in 1952, Beaux Arts is a volunteer group comprised of 100 women dedicated to promoting and funding the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami. All funds raised help the Lowe expand its collection and provide programming - including bringing 500 Miami-Dade students to the museum on field trips each year. For more, visit the website or follow on Facebook.

Beaux Arts Festival of Art
Grounds of the Lowe Art Museum
1301 Stanford Dr.
Coral Gables, FL 33146
Ph: 305.898.3595
www.beauxartsmiami.org

Miami's Art Scene Is HOT!

With several major international festivals a year, entire neighborhoods revitalizing, thanks to art communities, and galleries featuring ever-changing exhibitions of the best in contemporary art, Miami has become a serious player in the global art world.

Although Art Basel Miami Beach, an offshoot of the Art Basel festival in Switzerland, gave Miami art a much needed PR boost with its arrival in 2002, artists have been quietly reinventing Miami for decades.

The now-famous Wynwood Art District started as long ago as 1986 with the Bakehouse Art Complex project, which provided for artists' space inside an old bakery building. As artists started moving into other buildings, the District decided formally to unite in 2003, and today has more than 70 galleries. Every second Saturday of the month, a community-wide Art Walk affords visitors a chance to peek into a variety of galleries in one evening.

Another long-time pillar of the art community in Miami is Brazilian native Romero Britto. Britto, whose paintings and sculptures are featured on five continents, in more than 100 galleries, has been a fixture in Miami for 18 years. Besides his Lincoln Road gallery, Britto has a studio in the Design District and many works visible all over town, including on the sides of buildings.


Besides the wonderful Art Basel Miami Beach festival held each December, with more than 220 leading art galleries showing works from more than 2,000 artists, Miami abounds with other festivals during the season. The same weekend as Art Basel, Art Miami showcases still more art in the mid-town Miami area, home to MiMo (Miami Modern) architecture in the 1950s and 60s, including the historic Bacardi headquarters, seen here. In Coral Gables, the Beaux Arts Festival, on the campus of the University of Miami, is in its 59th year. The world-renowned Coconut Grove Arts Festival has been beautifying "The Grove" for 45 years! 

Miami has several great art museums as well: the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum and the Wolfsonian, both at Florida International University; the Bass Museum on Miami Beach; the Lowe at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, the Miami Art Museum downtown (soon to relocate to a new state of the art building)and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in North Miami. MOCA was recently written up in the UK Telegraph as "one of the most exciting art museums in America."

Thanks to fantastic art museums, galleries and events, the rest of the world is finally discovering that there's more to look at in Miami than the beautiful beaches!