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FALL ART EXHIBITIONS AT MIAMI-DADE PUBLIC LIBRARIES

(MIAMI, September 23, 2009) – The Miami-Dade Public Library System is offering a number of exhibitions and art programs during its fall season. Exhibitions include works in textile from Cuban born artist, Juan Antonio Gonzalez, better known as Erman; fine art photography by Seattle-based artist B.A. Bosaiya; an exploration of “the neighborhood,” through sculptures, painting and artists books, with Miami artists Mary Malm, Brian Reddy, Claudia Scalise and Tom Virgin. Special art programs include a workshop, with author Dr. Melanie Almeder, where participants will be encouraged to visit the “landscapes of their memories” to evoke images for poetry and memoirs.

For complete details visit www.mdpls.org or call 305-375-5048.

Exhibitions and programs will be held at the following locations:
North Dade Regional Library, 2455 NW 183 St. 305-625-6424
September 10 – December 22
Angels and Insects by B.A. Bosaiya

B. A. Bosaiya’s black and white photographs portray tiny insects in larger than life, atmospheric portraits that blend fantasy and reality. Bosaiya makes familiar organisms unfamiliar by portraying them in a cinematic language that is bright, fanciful, sinister and mysterious. Bosaiya is a photographer who lives and works in Seattle, Washington. His work is deeply rooted in his love of cinema and his keen interest in the sciences.
Bosaiya has exhibited in galleries throughout New York, Colorado, Virginia, and Oregon.

West Dade Regional Library, 9445 Coral Way, 305 - 553-1134
September 26 – December 17
Cortando, Cociendo y Recordando by Erman
Reception with performance and artist talk: Wed., Sept. 30, 6-8:30 p.m.

Juan A. Gonzalez, better known as Erman, was born in Cuba in 1956 and has lived in exile in the United States since 1969. His first career was as a designer in the fashion industry; his transition to visual artist began in 1989, when he began to meld fashion, sculpture and fiber art.

Cortando, Cociendo y Recordando is a site-specific installation and a survey of Erman’s work from 2000 to the present. Erman creates evocative environments and artists’ books using a lyrical vocabulary of images and metaphors: sewing objects; handwritten text; handmade garments; shoes, and houses empty of their wearers or inhabitants. The work alludes to familiar narratives of migration, exile, up-rootedness, transculturalism, and displacement. Erman draws on his family’s history as garment workers with pieces such as El Plato Nacional, a huge, gauzy dress form with rations of black beans, rice, and bay leaves sewn into it; A Stitch in Time, in which eight white coats made from translucent, vein-like fabric are linked together and suspended from the second floor of the Library; and The Last Mile, an installation work that includes ceramic shoes “walking” towards a LED sign on the wall, evoking “both the successful migrants’ fragile hope and the uselessness of hope to those who do not succeed.” Curated by Rosie Gordon-Wallace.

Main Library, 101 West Flagler St., 1st & 2nd floor exhibition spaces -305-375-2665
September 30 – December 21
Recent Acquisitions from the Permanent Collection of the Miami-Dade Public Library System

The library’s permanent art collection focuses on works on paper, photographs, and artists’ books, multiples, and publications. Much of the work references language, literature, or Miami life and history. This exhibition highlights new additions to the collection from 2006 to the present, including work by Christian Marclay, Gary Moore, Mickey Smith, Tauba Auerbach, Julieta Aranda, Michelle Weinberg, and many others.

Miami Beach Regional Library, 227 22nd St. – 305-535-4219
October 14 - February 28
There Goes the Neighborhood - Reception: Wed., Oct., 14, 6:30-8:30 p.m. with a reading by Dr. Melanie Almeder, author of On Dream Street

Miami artists Mary Malm, Brian Reddy, Claudia Scalise, and Tom Virgin collaborated on this exhibition which explores the idea of “the neighborhood” from divergent perspectives: from displacement and gentrification, to the intimacy of home and family, to physical and human neighborhoods. The show includes works on paper, artists’ books, a painting installation, and small sculpture.

Auditorium- Main Library, 101 West Flagler St. – 305-375-2665
October 18 – December 27- Love and Respect for Self and Community: Struggles for Justice in Miami-Dade Neighborhoods - Reception: Sunday, October 18, 2:30-4:30pm

Residents of Little Havana, Overtown, Homestead, and Florida City took vivid color photographs depicting their everyday lives. The exhibition is a collaborative project between researchers at the Research Institute for Social and Economic Policy of Florida International University and Community members from Power U Center for Social Change, Vecinos Unidos and WeCount.

Special Art Programs:

Children’s Room, Main Library, 101 West Flagler St. – 305-375-2665
October 9, 12 – 2 p.m. November 13, 12 – 2 p.m., December 11, 12 – 2 p.m.
The Reading Room: A Temporary Space for Artists’ Books, Publications, and Multiples.

On the abovementioned dates, the children’s storytelling room at the Main Library will become the “Reading Room.” In this cozy, intimate space visitors can get up close and personal with selections from the library’s collection of artists’ books, publications, and multiples. Experience these objects the way their creators intended. Touch them, page through them and look at them closely. There will also be a screening of new media art from: Aspect: The Chronicle of New Media.

Storytelling Room- Miami Beach Regional, 227 22nd St., 305-535-4219
October 13, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
There Goes the Neighborhood: Writing from the Landscapes of Memory – a workshop with Dr. Melanie Almeder

In this workshop Dr. Melanie Almeder, poet and author, will help participants explore how to invoke, and put to use those landscapes of their memory--what the poet Richard Hugo called "triggering towns." Using several literary pieces as examples, participants will discover what process each writer uses for tapping into memory; and will look at the ways the stories and music of "the neighborhood" are expressed. Poets, fiction writers, and those writing memoirs are welcome.

Workshop is limited to 15 participants. To register, email art@mdpls.org or call 305-375-5048, by October 9. This program is presented in collaboration with the University of Wynwood.