Miami Beach Botanical Garden Hosts FREE Performing Arts Events

Miami Performance and Visual Art Festival - July 26-29

The first of its kind, this free festival will offer workshops, artist's talks, performances and parties for four days. Presented by Edge-Zones, a non-profit arts organization, live performances will be presented to the public in a participatory discourse during the four-day program. This intensive contemporary arts event will take place at three different sites: Downtown Miami, the Miami Design District, and the Botanical Gardens. 

This innovative program will explore the breaking down of boundaries between visual art, music, dance and poetry. A dynamic dialogue between time-based art practice and its documentation will occur through a comprehensive exhibition of site-reactive installations. 

At 9:30 a.m. on the 26th, the festival will start with a meet-and-greet here at the garden, with artist's talks and lunch to follow until noon. Come to the garden to pick up a schedule of events, and visit the event website here.

On the 29th, performances, installations, and discussions at the garden will start at 9:20 a.m., with a free children's workshop at 10 a.m. Events continue until 8 p.m., where you can join the party with DJ Action Pat at 150 NE 40th Street, a pop-up performance space in Miami. 

Shakespeare Under the Sun - August 4 and 11, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily

The garden is hosting three outdoor plays produced by Arturo Fernandez of Ground Up & Rising. The first performance will be Julius Caesar, with two shows at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.  This is an hour-long, modern adaption of the Shakespearian classic. Ground Up & Rising is an award-winning,  non-profit theater organization with a vision "to replace the safe and already treaded with the avant-garde and risque." 

The producer, Arturo Fernandez, has been named as one of the Top 20 Artists Under 40 by the Miami New Times, and was given the 2010 Theater Visionary Award by the Miami ArtZine, amongst other accolades. Read more about Fernadez's performances and accomplishments here!

Start your weekend off right with a refreshing reminder of the performing talent Miami is known for. Some chairs will be provided, but everyone is encouraged to bring their own chairs or blankets to sit on and enjoy the zoysia grass. For more information, 305-673-7256, Ext. 201.

Performances to follow will be Macbeth on August 26 and September 2, and Danny & the Deep Blue Sea, September 16 and 30.

For more information, please visit the Miami Beach Botanical Garden website.

Egg & Dart Launches Weeknight Happy Hour with Cocktail & Appetizer Specials Monday-Friday, 5pm-8pm

From left, Chef de Cuisine Sylvestros Sotairidis and co-owner Costa Grillas.
(Photo by billwisserphoto.com)

Egg & Dart, the new chic Greek restaurant and bar in the heart of the Miami Design District, is introducing a weeknight Happy Hour celebration showcasing innovative drink creations, as well as cocktail and appetizer specials.  Happy Hour takes place Monday through Friday, 5pm-8pm.

Enjoy Happy Hour at Egg & Dart
(Photo by billwisserphoto.com)

Signature cocktails are affordably priced at $7, and include innovative libations such as:

The Greek Salad: Smooth Ambler gin, cucumbers, Kalamata olives, lime, pepperoncini, tomato water, feta stuffed olive garnish;

Egg & Dart Fizz: Ridge Gin, egg white, lemon, powdered  sugar, sweet cream, Hum botanical spirit; and

The Mojitaki: Cane & Abe Freshwater rum, mint, fresh lime, sugar, Eastside Ouzo, lime garnish


In addition, Egg & Dart offers $5 specialty champagne cocktails and $5 Greek wine by the glass.  Guests can pair cocktails with an array of mezze (Greek appetizers), all 50% off, including bacalao croquettes, crispy cheese pie, a variety of dips and more.

Open since August 2011, Egg & Dart is the Miami Design District’s newest chic Greek dining destination, named after the iconic decorative moulding found on much of Greece’s architecture. The menu honors the breadth of traditional Greek cuisine by bringing fresh, wholesome cooking from all regions of Greece and features sumptuous mezze (small plates), staples like taramosalata and hummus, and impeccably grilled meats, seafood and whole fish.

Egg & Dart is located at 4029 N. Miami Avenue in the Miami Design District. Open for dinner nightly, Sunday-Thursday, 5pm-11pm; Friday-Saturday, 5pm-midnight. For more information please call 786-431-1022 or visit the website egganddartmiami.com and Facebook page.

Cheese platter (Photo by billwisserphoto.com)

Horiatiki salad (Photo by billwisserphoto.com)

Chocolatina (Photo by billwisserphoto.com)

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Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami Exhibition Schedule 2011-2012

The Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami

The mission of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) is to make contemporary art accessible to diverse audiences, especially under-served populations, by exploring contemporary art and its relationship to a broader cultural context. 

The museum is located at 770 NE 125 St., North Miami. Please contact 305-893-6211 or visit www.mocanomi.org and Facebook for more information. 

Hours and Admission Pricing: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 11am-5pm; Wednesday, 1pm-9pm; Sunday, noon-5pm. MoCA’s galleries are also open on the last Friday of each month from 7pm-10pm in conjunction with the Jazz at MoCA performances. Admission is free for MoCA members, North Miami residents, city employees and children under 12; $5 for adults; $3 for seniors and students with ID.

Connect with the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, on Facebook and Twitter.

RYAN TRECARTIN: ANY EVER

June 24 - September 4, 2011

Ryan Trecartin, Ready (Re'Search Wait'S),

2009-2010, HD Video (26:49),

Chaney Family Collection, Houston

Ryan Trecartin’s Any Ever (2009-2010) is a seven-movie epic video produced in Miami with collaborator Lizzie Fitch and other contributors ranging from friends and artists to professional child actors.  The presentation of Any Ever at MoCA will be the first time that the work will be shown in its entirety in Miami, the city that was not only the setting for the movies and inspiration for some of their content, but also a character within the works. For the exhibition, MoCA’s galleries will transform into spaces that are quasi-recognizable as particular public and private settings, anchored by key seating elements. These environments will poetically relate the sets and themes of the movies. Another iteration of Any Ever will simultaneously be on view at MoMA PS1 in New York from June 19 through September 3, 2011. The presentation of Any Ever at MoCA is coordinated by MoCA Associate Curator Ruba Katrib.

MODIFY, AS NEEDED

Knight Exhibition Series

September 23 - November 13, 2011

The artists in this exhibition use playful tactics to confront, alter and inhabit existing societal structures.  By shifting their artistic practices, the artists operate as active agents, employing curatorial, administrative, and educational strategies and aesthetics to insert new meanings into existing realms. Most of the artists will be creating new works specifically for this exhibition. Works by Darren Bader, Nina Beier, Adriana Lara, Natalia Ibanez Lario, Jose Carlos Martinat, Amilcar Packer, Anders Smebye, and Nicolas Paris Velez will be featured. Modify, As Needed is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami and is curated by MoCA Associate Curator Ruba Katrib.

MARK HANDFORTH: ROLLING STOP

Knight Exhibition Series

November 30, 2011 - February 19, 2012

MoCA is currently celebrating its 15th anniversary in its Joan Lehman Building. An important part of the museum’s history is its strong support of Miami-based artists. Mark Handforth was the first Miami artist to receive a solo show at MoCA, North Miami in March 1996. He has since achieved major international recognition and has become an important role model for Miami artists.  This exhibition makes a strong statement about MoCA’s role in shaping Miami as an international center for contemporary art.

Handforth’s large-scale sculptures take their inspiration from everyday objects. Items such as an illuminated lamppost resting on the ground, a crying neon moon, a monumental coat hanger and a giant traffic stop sign are poetic, lyrical, and comical objects that wryly comment on daily life and human interaction. By blowing up their scale and distorting their form, Handforth imbues each object with a distinctive personality. Although each sculpture is a self-contained work, Handforth intended for groups of works to be shown together and has conceived the installation at MoCA as a landscape through which viewers can wander. The exhibition brings together over 30 works, including a major new light installation occupying over 80 feet of the museum’s wall that will highlight the unique space of MoCA’s current galleries designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates and will lead to the groundbreaking for its new expansion. The exhibition will spread out to locations throughout South Florida, including an installation of Electric Tree, located in Griffing Park, North Miami that consists of a giant banyan tree illuminated by more than 60 fluorescent light fixtures. Mark Handforth: Rolling Stop is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami and is curated by MoCA Executive Director and Chief Curator Bonnie Clearwater.

RITA ACKERMANN

March 15 - May 6, 2012

Rita Ackermann, Firecrotch, 2008,

Plexiglas, yarn, printed paper, cardboard,

tape, charcoal, spray paint, tempera

93 1/4" X 45" X 2 3/4",

Collection of the Museum of

Contemporary Art, North Miami

After moving to New York from her native Hungary in the early 1990s, Rita Ackermann first attracted attention for her drawings depicting young female figures representing the total freedom of living outside the rules and constraints of society. This survey exhibition examines the artist’s paintings throughout her career and the changes in her work that occurred through her immersion into Western culture. One of the few contemporary artists to discuss her work in terms of “style” rather than practice, Ackermann has forged a new visual language in painting, drawing and collages, which ranges from psychologically intense expressionism to colorfield abstraction. The exhibition is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami and is curated by MoCA Executive Director and Chief Curator Bonnie Clearwater. A major monograph published by Rizzoli with essays by Clearwater, Harmony Korine, John Kelsey, Felix Ensslin and Josh Smith will accompany the exhibition.

RAGNAR KJARTANSSON: SONG

Knight Exhibition Series

Summer 2012

Ragnar Kjartansson, God, 2007,

DVD Installation, 30 Minutes,

Collection of Museum of

Contemporary Art, North Miami

Ragnar Kjartansson: Song is the first solo US museum exhibition of the work of Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson. A musician as well as artist, Kjartansson (b. 1976) has been drawn to the theater and performance since he formed a band in his teenage years. The exhibition includes a selection of video works from the last decade. Kjartansson’s videos reflect an interest in music and theater and the personae of its performers, often coupled with extreme environments. The End (2008) features two musicians in a mountainous snowy landscape, while Satan is Real (2005) finds the naked artist buried to his chest in the lawn of a public park, playing a guitar.

In addition to his video work, Kjartansson has become known for inhabiting galleries and more unexpected locations where he performs live, often for extended periods. For the 2009 Venice Biennale, he painted portraits of his friend, every day for six months, in a crumbling palazzo on Venice’s Grand Canal. Kjartansson’s approach wavers between besotted optimism and deadpan, sometimes unnerving, directness. Ritual, repetition, and an almost hallucinogenic reverie share the stage with humor, levity, and a charismatic impulse to entertain. The exhibition is organized by Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and is curated by Associate Curator Dan Byers.

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The Design District, Midtown & Wynwood Experience's "Park and Ride Gallery Shuttle" Runs During Second Saturday Art Gallery Event

The Design District, Midtown & Wynwood Experience recently announced the launch of the Park and Ride Gallery Shuttle, which will run during the popular Second Saturdays Gallery Walk event throughout the three Miami Art Districts–the Design District, Midtown and Wynwood–after which DMW is named.


The DMW Park and Ride Gallery Shuttle offers seven stops, three in Wynwood, three in the Design District and one in Midtown. During Second Saturday Art Walk, the DMW Gallery Shuttle will accommodate the thousands who visit the area, putting all three Art Districts at their convenience, with seven shuttle stops running on rotation and “Unlimited Hop-On, Hop-Off” tickets, allowing an affordable, fun and long-awaited way for everyone to expand and enjoy their Second Saturday experience. 

One of the Wynwood Walls, created by artist Shepard Fairey, famous for creating Obey Giant

Riders can pick up the exclusive DMW Gallery Walk Passport and Official Event Guide that is full of incentives (2-4-1 Happy Hours, discounts at stores and galleries, and more than $350 in savings) and can be carried in-hand, listing the events of all participating businesses throughout the districts every Second Saturday.

A group on the DMW Gallery and Shuttle Tour

Don't miss this bus! In true DMW style, grab your ticket from uniformed Ambassadors spreading the word in the districts, jump on the bus with DMW’s lovely Tour Guides who lend expertise and charm to the experience.

Offered to tourists and locals, art, fashion, design and culinary enthusiasts, from students to first-time art buyers, explorers and global collectors alike, the DMW brings the long-awaited convenience and access for everyone to enjoy the celebrity eateries and bars, galleries, design houses and even the Walls of Wynwood in Miami’s three art-centric neighborhoods.

The Design District sign greeting visitors

The bus departs from the Miami Design Preservation League's Art Deco Welcome Center on 10th Street and Ocean Drive in South Beach, then its off to Wynwood, where the first stop will be at 210 NW 22nd Court (behind the Food Truck Lot Please see the parking attendants in bright orange shirts with the Park and Ride logo).


For reservations and additional Information, please contact Susana Baker at 786-237-7567 or DesignMidExp@gmail.com, or visit www.designdistrictexperience.com.

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Miami to Join Prestigious List of International Cities Portrayed by French Painter and Sculptor Alain Godon - Markowicz Fine Art to Debut Complete Collection of Artwork Inspired by Architectural Landmarks of Miami

Paris, New York, Amsterdam, and now Miami will join the prestigious list of international cities portrayed by French Painter and Sculptor Alain Godon. A visual narrator and master of color, Godon’s paintings capture the essence of a city – its people, culture, monuments, and architecture – and his playful imagination infuses his work with expressive lines and rich vivid colors.  Introducing the collection as Miami’s premier architectural landmark painting is The New World Symphony’s New World Center campus, which was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry.

Alain Godon's depiction of
The Hotel Marseilles

Bernard Markowicz, U.S. Agent for Godon, will debut the complete original oil-on-canvas collection of artwork depicting the sites and spirit of the magic city during a feature exhibition on view starting April 21-May 15 at Markowicz Fine Art gallery located in the Miami Design District.


While touring Greater Miami with Markowicz in 2009, Godon fell in love with the area and characterizing architecture found in its esteemed performing arts theatres, remarkable historic landmarks, and modern art deco structures. Last April Godon released two oil-on-canvas paintings of South Beach art deco architecture of the 1930s with pieces that include The Leslie Hotel and The Hotel Marseilles, named “Matchsticks” and “Vacances a Marseilles,” respectively. This year, Godon will add between eight to twelve new original oil-on-canvas pieces to the collection.

“The moment I arrived in Miami, I was immediately drawn to the colorful energy of the city and distinct beauty apparent in the architectural landscape and culture of its people. During my stay, I spent my time immersing myself into the lifestyle while visiting many of the area’s most spectacular sites, of which I took hundreds of photos,” said Godon. “My inspiration for the Miami collection was love at first sight and I am overwhelmed with excitement to continue to tell my story visually by bringing to life the magic of the city, portrayed on canvas,” he added.   

Markowicz Fine Art is located in the Miami Design District, 1 NE 40 Street, #5, Miami. Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 11a.m.-6p.m. and Saturday, noon-5p.m. For more information, contact 786-362-5546 or visit www.markowiczfineart.com.


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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!