Product 81 Curatorial Lab with IHP

IHP Curatorial Lab (a project of FAU libraries) held a Curatorial discussion at Product 81/Creative Lab on April 7, 2017 [located at 2930 NW 7th Ave, Miami, FL 33127].

IHP Curatorial Lab holds informal gatherings at artist studios, galleries and museums to facilitate dialog relating to contemporary art practices. By gathering a group of professionals from different disciplines; the conversations act as a visual learning lab and facilitator to understanding current art practices; how curators or museum administrators view artists and work; and more importantly how the public interprets what creatives do.

Our discussions are meant to promote cross-sector dialogue about the arts; but also how we as artists and cultural curators can contribute to solving societal problems. Each Roundtable focuses on a specific topic or artist. This meeting focused on the solo show by artis Birds are Nice. The lead topic was environmental art. Other topics included activist art, Didacticism in this genre of art, as well as the commercialisation of art. 

Attendees included:

IHP officers: Diane Arrieta, Dana Donaty , Gianinna Dwin, Sibel Kocabasi

Product 81 Arts program coordinator, Karina Hayes Blakeley, Miami, FL

Elisa Medrano, Relationship mangaer with CIC Miami.

Artists Maria Martinez-Canas, Mary Ellen Scherl and Alessandrl Mondolfi

Art historian Mary Jo Aagerstoun

Below are a few images from the gathering. As you can see the topic stirred some emotion and as always a sense of fun and community.

[The Birds are Nice exhibition was part of the Wayne Ackers Ford #stART program.

What Happens in the Forest...

START ARTIST BIRDS ARE NICE TO EXHIBIT AT FORDISTAS GALLERY IN WYNWOOD: WHAT HAPPENS IN THE FOREST DOESN’T STAY IN THE FOREST

WESTPALM BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 10, 2017: StArt artist Birds Are Nice has been selected to exhibit at the #Fordistas Gallery on March 11th, during Wynwood Art Walk.

StArt is Wayne Akers Ford’s cultural initiative with a threefold, interconnected mission: help local artists thrive, inspire the Palm Beach area and benefit important philanthropic causes. The program invites local promising artists to showcase their work in an unexpected format, on the walls of an automotive dealership, and donates a portion of all artwork sold to one of three charities: Autism Speaks, Susan G. Komen Foundation and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Birds Are Nice was a StArt exhibiting artist for the program’s gallery night last winter; her thought provoking work is currently on the walls of Wayne Akers Ford. Birds are Nice employs a nonchalant use of stripped down schematic characteristics from 21st century cartoons and animation. This, together with the application to her paintings’ surfaces of ambiguous symbolic phrases and shapes, serve to intensify the curiosity of the viewer regarding the density of meaning implied in the term syncretism.

In her new exhibition What happens in the forest doesn’t stay in the forest, she explores the plight of animals and ecosystems in their struggle with humans. The artist delves into the real dilemmas affecting our basic health and wellbeing as a result of living off of a consumer based, human-centric treatment of the planet for decades. Her artwork highlights endangered, vulnerable species that are struggling to survive.

The exhibit will integrate with GALT is coming, a special evening previewing music and visual art from local nonprofit Miami Piano Circle’s show, GALT. The stunning musical representation of Ayn Rand’s 1957 groundbreaking novel Atlas Shrugged will be a an immersive experience in musical and visual storytelling.

Fordistas is a program with roots embedded deeply in South Florida culture, namely the arts. It has commissioned, hosted and supported resident artists and initiatives that enhance the community.

Join us for an evening of drinks, food, original art and a live music performance. Join us for an evening of drinks, food, original art and a live music performance. For more information, visit us here.

For media inquiries, please contact Nicole Cornella at nicole@kiphuntermarketing.com at Kip Hunter Marketing (954-765- 1329).

#Fordistas presents Birds Are Nice, What happens in the forest doesn’t stay in the forest.

March 11, 2017

7-11pm

The #Fordistas Gallery

2930 NW 7th Ave.

Miami 33127

About Fordistas

The Fordistas program is a platform for emerging arts and culture focused on nurturing and elevating homegrown talent. Powered by South Florida Ford, the platform has taken many shapes over the years adapting to artists and their evolving media. From street art to fine art, the culinary to the immersive, Fordistas has disrupted the flow of what has now become the South Florida arts and culture scene. To learn more visit www.fordistas.com. #Fordistas

About Wayne Akers Ford

Wayne Akers Ford, an automotive dealership based in Lake Worth, Florida, sells new and preowned vehicles. The company provides auto financing for personal and business needs, as well as full service and heavy truck repairs. For more information regarding Wayne Akers Ford and its products worldwide, please visit http://www.WayneAkersFord.com

Fordistas Gallery Artist Roundtable

IHP Curatorial Lab (a project of FAU libraries) held an artist roundtable at the Fordistas Gallery/Product 81 space [powered by South Florida Ford] on Friday, August 12^th, 2016. The gallery is located at 2930 NW 7TH AVENUE, MIAMI, FL 33127 in the Wynwood Arts District.

IHP Curatorial Lab holds monthly roundtable gatherings at artist studios, galleries and museums to facilitate dialog relating to contemporary art practices. By gathering a group of professionals from different disciplines; the conversations act as a visual learning lab and facilitator to understanding current art practices; how curators or museum administrators view artists and work; and more importantly how the public interprets what creatives do.

Our roundtable discussions are meant to promote cross-sector dialogue about the arts; but also how we as artists and cultural curators can contribute to solving societal problems. Each Roundtable focuses on a specific topic or artist. This meeting focused on the solo show [Reality Check] by artist Dana Donaty at the Fordistas Gallery. It is on view through September 9th, Monday -Thursday 10am-5pm.

Attendees included:

IHP officers: Diane Arrieta, Dana Donaty & Sibel Kocabasi

Fordista/Product 81 staff: Karina Hayes Blakeley, Cristina Ramos, Joel Fernandez, Guillermo Arias Ramiraez [Memo Arias], David Turk

Bakehouse Artists: (Dana Donaty), Troy Simmons, Jenna Efrein

Andrienne Chadwick, Deputy Director of Education at the Perez Museum of Art; 

Carmenza Ortiz, art agent; Clara Vanessa Avalo, Uninhibited Urban Magazine; Heather Davis, Special Events Coordinator [along with her lovely mother]; and Gary James Fitzsimmons, Streamline real estate associate MB.

[All images copyright of Dana Donaty].

THIS MONTH AT THE FORDISTAS GALLERY

This July 9th during Art Walk, Wynwood’s favorite off-Art District gallery space will once again open for an interactive evening of surfboards, art and creative healing.

Fordistas Gallery presents The Pop-Up

A collection of six Miami artists’ visions reflected on surfboard canvases to raise awareness of autism and benefit the Surfers Healing foundation.

The Pop-Up is the iconic surf move that denotes the switch from paddling to surfing stance. It is a pivotal turning point for anyone practicing the sport and encapsulates the subtle adrenaline building at Surfers Healing Camp that leads to the empowering moment children with autism stand up on their board.

Surfers Healing enriches the lives of children living with autism by exposing them to the unique experiences of surfing. It is one of the latest initiatives hosted by Fordistas, a program with roots embedded deeply in South Florida culture, namely the arts. The platform has commissioned and supported resident artists and initiatives that enhance our community.

Six artists will engrave their local talent and perspective on a freshly shaped surfboard by industry legend Matt Kechele. The board is a work of art in and of itself, and this is their canvas. The Pop-Upsurfboards will later join The Bowery Project, the larger New York-based collection of surfboard art works that are part of an annual benefit auction to raise funds for the Surfers Healing Foundation.

Dana Donaty • Reality Check

A collection of contemporary works by an innovative conceptual artist widely recognized for provocative canvases with unusual narratives. Donaty began exhibiting her work as a selected artist for StArt, an art program at Wayne Akers Ford helping local artist showcase their work, enriching Palm Beach culture and benefitting important philanthropic causes, like Autism Speaks.

Donaty’s goal is to create works that go beyond that which is immediately visible, real and imagined. An auto associative memory process frames her approach to figuration and abstraction.

The work explores the relation between memory (individual and collective) and perception, emphasizing the role of memory. Memory as a space where the past and present coexist in the form of images. The images are activated through the artist’s perceptions that the work ignites through process.

Donaty’s examination of past experiences disrupts sequences, allowing for fluidity of time and the transition of one perception to the next without any clear dividing lines. The artist explores memory as content and medium, examines the role of color while traversing how the past persists in the present.

The viewer is presented with grammar arising from a process of complex memory construction, issues of their interpretation of the work and the artist’s dedication to messing with perceptions. For more information on Donaty’s work, visit danadonatyfineart.com 

Join us for an evening of complimentary drinks, bites, live music and original art supporting a project that has uplifted and empowered South Florida culture. RSVP for the free event here.