Most Miami-Dade County residents don't live or work in the City of Miami. Matter of fact, more of the 305 is made up of suburbs, villages, gated communities, and strip mall wastelands than urban areas. Yet, creative people manage to live, work, and make their living all over Dade. The point is, when it comes to art, Wynwood ain't the only game in town.
Last month, we wrote about the Bird Road Art Districts comeback. Well, this weekend is BRAD's second official art walk. There'll be food, drinks, and a big yellow school bus shuttling folks around between almost 30 working studios and "guerilla galleries." We spoke to gallery owner Cuqui Beguiristain about what to expect.
The Bird Road Art Walk started in October right?
Yes. Last month was our soft opening. We wanted to give visibility to the artists in the area in their working studios. It's not like some of the other art districts where you can just walk up, these are not necessarily galleries with regular hours.
How many studios are going to be open?
It's gonna be about 25 studios and alternative art spaces. Like I said, they're not galleries per se, they're warehouses and spaces that have been retrofitted where the artists, who are independent business people, actually do their work. We have a very involved group with people doing signage, the marketing, coordinating the buses, the food vendors...
You're gonna have food trucks out there?
Yes, we have Doggi Style, Mamita Linda, and Jefe's Original. Those are the ones that are confirmed. Last month we had Latin House Grill too, but they got married and they're on their honeymoon right now.
What can people expect to see?
Some spaces do traditional gallery type shows, but some artists just show whatever they're working on. We're not just doing pristine gallery exhibits. Guests have the opportunity to see how the art is actually made and I think that's very important to the appreciation of it, the endeavor, the physical process and technical ability that goes into the piece.
What's the deal with the shuttle bus?
It belongs to one of the artists, Ray Azcuy. It's actually sort of hilarious because it's a big yellow school bus. It makes nine different stops for each of our major hubs because we're kind of scattered around. The main hub is at 4229 SW 75th Ave where we have the largest concentration of artists. There are 7 studios on that street so that's a good place to start. We will be handing out maps so that people can know where to go. The shuttle starts there at 7 p.m. Or you can go solo and start at any of the studios.
Where can people find out where to go?
On our Facebook page. We list out all the different participating studios. And we are excited to have new artists in the area opening their doors with us like glassblower Matthew Miller and his Nickel Glass gallery.
Bird Road Art District (BRAD) art walk. Every 3rd Saturday. Meet at 4229 SW 75th Ave and catch the free shuttle to area galleries.
