Miami’s Only Live/Work Residency for Artists Debuts at Special “Private Eye” Party
April 7, 7 to 10 p.m.
the Residency
1035 N. Miami Ave.

For tickets and more information, visit www.legalartmiami.org.
General admission is $30. For $150, partygoers will take home a limited edition work from one of nine artists that will be selected for them during a unique performance art piece by Clifton Childree.

Partygoers Go Behind the Scenes to Experience Artists’ Creative Process Building Designed by an Artist, For Artists

LegalArt and Board Chair Daniel Arsham will celebrate Miami’s first and only live/work residency for artists at a special launch party April 7. The theme: “Private Eye,” as partygoers will get behind the scenes access to the artistic process on two levels.

First, they will tour the LegalArt Residency, a 1920’s era warehouse converted into seven, 600-square-foot studios plus communal living space at 1035 N. Miami Ave. The building is a true work of an artist for artists. Arsham, a visual artist with commissions from Dior Homme and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, along with his firm Snarkitecture, designed the interior space.

In addition, the silent auction will offer special Behind the Scenes art experiences with some of Miami’s best-known visual artists. Items include a pasta dinner with Naomi Fisher and Jim Drain, a bike tour of Wynwood’s graffiti with Primary Flight and a home cooked dinner by the LegalArt Residency artists where the bonus is a portrait session with Jiae Hwang. (A list of all silent auction experiences is available at legalartmiami.org.)

“For eight years, LegalArt has created innovative programming for Miami’s visual arts community. The ‘Private Eye’ event introduces our biggest accomplishment to date, the opening of our residency program and headquarters. With ‘Private Eye,’ LegalArt continues to cultivate new collectors while celebrating our city’s dynamic and vibrant artists,” said Carolina Garcia Jayaram, LegalArt co-founder.

The highly competitive LegalArt Residency is home to five local artists, including two collaboratives, with additional studios set aside for a visiting national or international artists and a writer, scholar, or curator. Designed as an incubator, the Residency offers artists access to exhibition, lecture, legal counseling spaces and an upcoming resource library. Living communally allows them to collaborate in ways only a residential model can offer.

In addition, as part of the residency, all artists produce a project that gives back to the community. Projects this year include Jiae Hwang’s computer technology series for artists including instructions in digital image formatting, Facebook marketing and metadata for images. Manny Prieres’ art in the classroom project brings professional artists into high school art classes. In addition, the TMSisters will be hosting a series of salons to discuss the intersection of art and science, technology, literature, architecture and modern life.

“This building, with its industrial bones and modern design, provides the kind of infrastructure Miami needs to foster and attract artists to South Florida year-round,” said Kathleen Carignan, LegalArt executive director. “Research indicates that communal live/work environments have been the most sustainable and successful for both the artists and the community. With its national and international artists, writers, and curators, as well as innovative programming, we look forward to all that the LegalArt Residency can help bring to Miami’s arts scene.”

The LegalArt Residency is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Knight Arts Challenge, a $40 million effort to bring South Florida together through the arts. The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs are providing additional support.

“Private Eye” event sponsors include Chivas, which will offer three signature cocktails including Chivas Smash and Out of This World Punch along with Chivas 18, Magners Irish Cider, neMesis, a new restaurant going in downstairs being created by Top Chef Season 3 contestant and owner of The Wandering Chef catering company Micah Edelstein. An after party will take place at The Vagabond.

Special thanks to the Host Committee members who include Bert Rodriguez, Steven Giles, Amir Ben Zion, Norelkys Blazekovic, Hadley Henriette, Mitchell Kaplan, Carmel Ophir and others.

About LegalArt
LegalArt empowers artists by providing affordable legal services, professional development services, the Live/Work Residency, grants and educational opportunities. The SeminArt series brings experts to educate artists on wide-ranging subjects including strategic planning, marketing, wage theft, winning arts commissions, and public speaking. LegalLink, a legal assistance and education program which partners with University of Miami Law School and local attorneys, provides legal services on a pro bono, barter or reduced rate basis. LegalArt’s professional staff made up of attorneys and arts advocates offers training in copyright and trademark, incorporation, portfolio management, writing skills and maintains the LegalArt headquarters where South Florida artists are welcome to seek guidance, support, resources and a greater sense of community with their peers. For more information, visit www.legalartmiami.org.

About Snarkitecture
Snarkitecture is a collaborative practice operating in territories between the disciplines of art and architecture. Working within existing spaces or in collaboration with other artists and designers, the practice focuses on the investigation of structure, material and program and how these elements can be manipulated to serve new and imaginative purposes. Searching for sites within architecture with the possibility for confusion or misuse, Snarkitecture aims to make architecture perform the unexpected. Snarkitecture was established by Alex Mustonen and Daniel Arsham and is represented by Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin. More at Snarkitecture.com