Who Said the Magic City Was Dead in August?
Sculptures by Federico Uribe made of nails, screws and metal tabs. Photo: Marguerite Gil
By Marguerite Gil
Columnist
For the last few years, the Bass Museum in Miami Beach has been undergoing expansion and improvements. But museum director Diane Camber and her staff
have had to face a number of problems including Bass family restrictions, glitches with the humidification system, leaking roof problems and an interesting variety of other snags that have
consistently plagued the newly expanded building. The most pressing problem is one of humidity within the structure. The upgrading of the museum’s humidification system will ensure proper
humidity levels throughout the museum and protect the significant holdings of the permanent collection as well as exhibitions on temporary display… if the Bass can get it working correctly
soon. Hopefully it will be operational before the big Art Basel party in December.
But all of the above and much more, including severe budget cuts, have not kept the Bass Museum from organizing a slew of original events that have succeeded in
reminding its members that the Bass is alive and well and thriving in the Magic City.
Last week Bass patrons had the opportunity to visit several artists studios in the heart of Little Haiti. Luxury cars lined the unevenly paved, dead-end roadway in
front of 250 N.E. 60th Street, where the huge warehouse studios of Carolina Sardi and Fedrico Uribe are located. This is the same area in which roosters run free
and sugar cane is sold off the back of rusty trucks. Sardi and Uribe have chosen to produce their innovative creations amidst dilapidated housing and a rundown trailer park because their
art spaces are ample, accessible and, most importantly, still relatively affordable. This event was all part of the Bass Museum’s Off the Beaten Path Discovery Series.
These two “local” (Federico is originally from Bogotá, Colombia and Carolina was born in Argentina) artists invited art lovers to visit and tour their gallery-like
studio warehouses and witness the transformation that is rapidly taking place in the Upper East Side-Little Haiti neighborhood. The three-story gutted warehouses that were built on either
side of the railroad tracks in the 20’s and 30’s have become the promised land for many artists who cannot and will not pay the exorbitant prices for South Beach studios and, more
recently, Design District showroom spaces.
Besides Sardi and Uribe, artists like Ester Gyory, who sold her garden-gallery-studio space on N.E. 40th Street to make way, reluctantly, for the
newest restaurant-club in the DD called GRASS, and Haitian sculptor-painter Edouard Duval-Carrie, who also works out of Little Haiti, know that other “real estate savvy”
artists are hoping to snag abandoned or “for sale or lease” buildings in the area and transform them into an affordable working arts community.
After weaving through Uribe’s twenty-seven sculptures, in which he utilizes mass-produced materials including thousands of screws, hundreds of nails and rakes and
dozens of shovels and Sardi’s geometric metallic welded steel panels, the Off the Beaten Path crowd gathered at a nearby exotic restaurant at 190 N.E. 46th Street for an
exclusive, prix-fixe dinner and discussion.
Future projects for the “Crowd” include receptions in eclectic places, a scavenger hunt and plenty of surprise functions, plus the yearly fundraising Gala and Art
Basal Party.
For Off the Beaten Path info, call 305-673-7530.
Food as Art, Food for Thought
Expect dynamic exhibitions at the Miami Art Museum (MAM) all year round. But when the Main Library in Downtown Miami, the Historical Museum of
Southern Florida and the Miami Art Museum have receptions simultaneously – my advice is to save the date. Even in sweltering August weather, the three landmark
destinations at 101 West Flagler Street were well attended for a Thursday evening opening.
Starting last June 1st and running through September 30, 2003, the Main Library has organized a series of exhibitions that are food related. Internationally
celebrated Chef Norman Van Aken was on hand in late July, to sign copies of his new book New World Kitchen: Latin American and Caribbean Cuisine and to share a tasting
from his yummy creations with attending food connoisseurs.
Mid-July brought in artist David Rohn, who is known for his off the wall antics, as well as his paintings, sculpture and performance work. He served up an
evening of entertainment that was hailed as an unforgettable array of historical, political and social recipes that were definitely Food for Thought.
Last Thursday evening the library presented BUBBLE, BUBBLE, BOIL… a Miami Visual Stew, a closing night exhibition where local artists, chefs, journalists
and curators, slaved in their respective kitchens and contributed their personal homemade delectable goodies for a potluck reception. I left the main auditorium, where the festivities were
taking place, for a couple of short minutes, just long enough to check out the Historical Museum’s Photojournalism Show (while the food table was being set up) – only to return to empty
plates and grinning finger lickers.
Note to self: Don’t turn your back for a second… tasty fares and hometown concoctions disappear quickly in this hungry town!
The food may be gone, but the visually delicious artwork and recipes are still on view. For more information, log on to www.mdpls.org.
Send your Upper East Side, Design District, Downtown Miami and Brickell events information for consideration to megs@gate.net.
