Is it just coincidence that Cinco de Mayo and the "supermoon" arrive on the same exact day, May 5, as the upcoming Coconut Grove Gallery Walk? Or is it some weird Grove conspiracy to turn City of Miami officials into werewolves, infect them with Montezuma's Revenge, or both -- thereby allowing Grove-ites, during the ensuing chaos, to regain the independence they lost in 1925?
Okay, so it is just a coincidence. There is a Grove Gallery Walk every first Saturday of every month from 7 to 10 p.m., during which Coconut Grove's various galleries will offer hors d'oeuvres, refreshments and even live music. David Collins, executive director of the Coconut Grove Business Improvement District, which co-sponsors the event, thinks the Cinco de Mayo-supermoon alignment will make the upcoming Grove Gallery Walk a memorable and unusual one. But then again, Collins says, every Grove Gallery Walk is unusual.
"This is not a real conservative town's gallery walk," Collins says. "Sometimes there is performance art, there are musicians coming in and out, anything can happen."
Case in point: The Coconut Grove Drum Circle, which also meets on the first Saturday of
every month at the Mayfair Atrium at Grand Avenue and Mary Street,
plans to mark the occasion of Mexico's victory against the French during
the Battle of Pueblo in 1862 and the moon being the closest distance to
the Earth this year with much more drumming and dancing than usual. Of
particular significance is the lunar event. "We have dancers who will
dance in honor of the Super Moon," Karen Deilke, the drum circle's
organizer and a Grove-based artist, promised New Times via e-mail. Among
them will be Carmen Cecelia Richards, a registered nurse and life coach,
who is known for utilizing a florescent, multicolored hula-hoop during
her drum circle dances. "[She] is especially attuned to the energies
of the earth and moon and I know her movements will be focused in that
direction," writes Deilke, whose paintings will also be on display
during the gallery walk. "We always have a very special circle during
the full moon, and this one should be even more so."
Most of
the upcoming Grove Gallery Walk's events, however, appear to have
nothing to do with Cinco de Mayo or a full moon that will be up to 16
percent brighter than normal. Instead the major theme is -- surprise! -- art.
Some highlights:
The RODEZArt.com Gallery will host the 24th
annual exhibition by the National Art Exhibitions by the Mentally Ill
(NAEMI), a South Florida-based organization that showcases the work of
artists being treated for mental illness. Artists featured at this
exhibition come from Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Spain and the
United States.
3015 Grand Avenue, Suite 237. Contact NAEMI at 954-922-8692 or at naemi.org.
An exhibit by
Argentine artist Alberto Gonzalez Vivo at the Christina Chacon Gallery
promises to be magnetic. Entitled "Formas/Shapes," the featured
geometric and Op art work will use light, shapes, and color to form the
visual effect of magnetism.
3162 Commodore
Plaza, Suite 1F2. Call 305-442-2884 or visit cristinachaconstudiogallery.com.
Paul Marcellini's
photographs of "wild Florida" will be showcased at FrameWorks Gallery.
No, we are not talking about images of Spring Break in South Beach. (For
that, log on to Miami New Times' photo gallery.) The exhibit features
Marcellini's photographs of the Everglades and other parts of Florida
that remain unblemished by humans.
3196
Commodore Plaza. Call the gallery at 305-443-4581
or visit Paul Marcellini's website at paulmarcellini.com.
Boswell Mourot Fine Art will
feature the mixed media and sculptures of the gallery's original artists
including Hans Feyerbend, John Allison, Diana Ashley and Coconut Grove
Drum Circle organizer Karen Deilke.
3162 Commodore Plaza. Call 305-528-4971 or log
on to boswellmourot.com.
Abstract painter Meme Ferre,
daughter of former Miami mayor Maurice Ferre, will paint to music during
the opening of her exhibition "Raw Energy/Energia Cruda" at the Coconut
Grove Arts Festival Gallery. Ferre's paintings are inspired by the
"colors of the Caribbean and the iconic mysticism of India."
3390 Mayfair Street, Suite 128. Call 305-447-0401 or visit Ferre's website at cargocollective.com/memearte.
Meanwhile, in the next
door section used by the Jim Hunter Gallery, is Miami artist Erika
King's abstract painting/collage exhibition e "Evolution of Spirit." In
this particular show, King uses images of the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo,
the Statue of Liberty, Native Americans, angels, and Marlyn Monroe, as
well as pieces of sheet music, stamps, ripped up foreign money, and lots
of paint.
3390 Mayfair Street,
Suite 128. Call 305-447-0401 or visit King's
website at erikaking.com.
--Erik Bojnansky;
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