Target Wednesday After Hours with Xavier Cortada & ArtWorks! Feb.4
arget Wednesday After Hours
The second Target Wednesday After Hours will explore the healing power of art and the artistic process, Feb. 4, from 6-9 p.m. The event is also the launch of ArtWorks!, a joint initiative by The Frost and Miami-Dade County Public Schools Clinical Art Therapy Department to promote cultural support of art as a source of healing.
Internationally recognized artist Xavier Cortada will discuss his worldwide installations that address issues of healing, be they environmental, physical or the cause of peace in the world. One of the first sights to greet visitors to The Frost is a stunning 40-foot tapestry created by Cortada. The piece entitled “ignis”, which hangs in the museum’s soaring atrium, is the second of four commissioned works that the artist describes as “digital tapestries.” The works are inspired by the four elements of water, air, fire and earth, and will be rotated throughout the year. The first, “aer” debuted at the opening of the new Frost Art Museum in November 2008. Cortada’s work was chosen from among 80 artists who submitted proposals to the Frost for an installation as part of the state’s Art in State Buildings program.
Cortada has created art installations in the North Pole (2008) and South Pole (2007) to address environmental issues and in many locations in between. Cortada has worked with groups across the world to produce numerous collaborative projects including eco-art interventions in Finland, Latvia and in his hometown of Miami, as well as peace murals in Cyprus and Northern Ireland, child welfare murals in Bolivia and Panama and AIDS murals in Geneva and South Africa. Cortada has also been commissioned to create art for the White House, the World Bank, the Florida Supreme Court, the Florida Governor’s Mansion, Miami City Hall, the Miami Art Museum and the Museum of Florida History.
Exploration of Self, a powerful exhibition of work by Miami-Dade County Public School (MDCPS) students opens to the public. The show, which runs through Feb. 14, features symbolic self portraits by students in the M-DCPS Clinical Art Therapy Department’s program, who confront their feelings and the challenges of their daily lives through the process of art therapy. Enid Garber, board certified art therapist, will discuss art therapy and its impact on students.
Opening Reception: 6 p.m.
Enid Garber: 7 p.m.
Xavier Cortada: 7:30 p.m.
