Artistically Social with Amy Rosenberg

Over the last nine months, I watched entirely too much Homeland and scarfed down tomato paste directly from the tube. Oh, and I was pregnant. Now that I have a smiling bundle of joy and a heated wipe warmer, I’m ready to get back into the artistic mix.

My return to the arts started with a visit to Hialeah. Yes, Hialeah. The name conjures a visceral response. The name Hialeah actually means “pretty prairie” and it has quite a storied history. (D.W Griffith’s The White Rose was filmed in Hialeah.) It is also the only place that I know of in Miami where one can get a deep discount on lychees and ceramic tiles all on the same block. Hialeah is now home to a designated area for artists to live and work. So far, hundreds of people have come out to support this arts initiative.

Years ago, I had the pleasure of being invited to arts pioneer and former gallerist, Bernice Steinbaum’s home on the Venetian Islands. For those of you unfamiliar with the inimitable and magical Bernice, she owned an eponymous gallery in what is now known as Midtown – in the days when that area was an ideal spot for, say, a pharmaceutical exchange. In those heady pre-Target days, Bernice nurtured female and minority artists and mentored a lot of the people making waves in the arts today. It was in Bernice’s bedroom that I saw my first Glexis Novoa work. It featured a horizon line that went clear around the room and incorporated the stunning, direct view of Biscayne Bay. The work had what I have come to know as Glexis’s usual precision. It was romantic, melancholy and dystopian all at once. I have been a fervent fan of his work ever since. Glexis gets his due at the Lowe Art Museum with the exhibition Emptiness. It’s a quiet tour de force and it’s open til October. Go.

I had the chance to swing by the new IconBay sculpture and dog park designed by ArquitectonicaGEO for the unveiling of three sculptures designed by YoungArts alumni. The park marks the first partnership of its kind of YoungArts, uniting public art with a residential development. The winners were selected by The Related Group’s Art Committee and other members from the local, national and international arts and architecture community. Meeting sculptress and YoungArts alumni Michela Bentel was the highlight of the balmy night. Michela is as brainy as she is creative and attends both Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design. She and her brother, Nikolas, created the environmentally conscious work, Miami Forest, to highlight extinct plants in Miami. It reminded me of a work curator extraordinaire Claire Breukel made me take note of – artist Mark Dion’s South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit, a work depicting the damage wrought by humans on our ecosystem that was shown not too long ago at PAMM.

My gorgeous Romanian friend, Andreea Baclea, and I were honored to attend a recent private event at the Rubell Collection. The luncheon for 50 women was sponsored by Net-a-porter and Cultured Magazine and featured a discussion about collecting women artists. Ironically, the backdrop of the lunch was a giant painting of the birth canal. (Too soon!) I met the adorable Asha Elias and reconnected with friends Kathryn Mikesell, Yolanda Berkowitz and Stefanie Reed. Mera Rubell, Foundress of the Rubell Collection, let us all in on a secret: the upcoming Art Basel show will feature all female artists!

After all this arting around on my still swollen feet, my hubby and I reconnected at the Spa at the Mandarin on Brickell Key. The masseuses are some of the best in our fair city. After blissing out for an hour in the couples massage suite, we rewarded ourselves with a brunch overlooking the water at La Mar by Gaston Acurio. If you did not already know that La Mar has some of the best ceviche in town, in the words of the Notorious B.I.G. now you know. It’s the perfect fuel for a day of culture.

Until next time…