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MOCAZINE2009Volume 10 ©2008-2009 Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami.
WELCOME to the tenth year of the MOCA’zine! The Museum Of Contemporary Art, North Miami, is delighted to work with the talented young people of our community on an arts and culture magazine created by and for teens. Over the past year, students from North Miami Middle and High schools have visited MOCA regularly to learn about contemporary art, journalism, poetry, and creative writing through lectures, discussions with artists, exhibitions, tours and editorial meetings. Subsequently, they researched and wrote articles, created photographs, generated images, and designed the issue. Once again we are proud to feature work by students in MOCA’s program, Women on the Rise!, and articles by students in MOCA’s Summer Journalism Institute. The fruition of their hard work is evident! The goal of MOCA’zine is to acquaint teens with career opportunities in the fields of art and journalism as well as to introduce teens to the world of contemporary art and enable them to make connections with our exhibitions.
MOCA’s teen programs are made possible through funding from The Children’s Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Florida Department of Education and the School Borad of Miami-Dade County, Jan and Dan Lewis, the Arnold S. Katz Endowment, Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affaris and the Florida Arts Council, John H. & Ethel G. Noble Charitable Trust with Deutsche Bank acting as Trustee, Ethel & W. George Kennedy Family Foundation, the Columbine Foundation and Citi Foundation.
Cindi NashBoard of Trustees, Chair Education Committee
Bonnie ClearwaterDirector and Chief Curator
Dr. Adrienne von LatesCurator of Education
Isabel Moros-RigauOutreach and Program Director
Karla D. KennedySummer Journalism Institute Adviser
Stephanie MenjivarEditor
Giovanna Stallings-BlancheEditor
Paul DaveyArt EditorIllustrator
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Contents MOCAZINE2009
3 Perspective by Keyandra Summerville
6 Sympathy For The Devil by Giovanna Stallings-Blanche
8 Men In The Cities by Amber Mark
10 Treasures from trash by Michael Silvers
12 Bourgeois inspires student by Makana Levy
14 Rock The House by Maia Pineiro
16 Food For The Gods by Christopher Small
18 Art Is... by Joanne Ongsitco
20 This Is Lyla by Andrew Sanzetenea
22 True North by Amanda Regis, Martine Souverain, and Nicholas Robie
24 The Twister by Paul Davey
26 Father didn’t want anything to do with it by Sabryna Raymond
28 Lasers and Lights by Journey Rangamar
34 Change36 WOTR! Artwork from the Women on the Rise! program
38 Station 10 and back again by Tarah Garcon
40 Two peas from the same pod by Alexandria Suarez42 Art therapy reveals what words cannot by Alexandria G Smith
44 Hey Jude! by Sam Angarita
46 Information on Junior Docent Program and Summer Journalism
Institute
for more of Paul Davey’s work, visit http://mattahan.deviantart.com 3
Perspective
By: Keyandra SummervilleGraduate of North Miami High
My first impression of the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami can be described in many words, but the word that comes to mind is enticing. I felt eager to find out more about art.
Considering the fact that I had never been in an art museum before, the experience left a positive effect on me.
The amazing works of art impressed me, as soon as I entered the museum. An exhibit located on the left wall grabbed my attention.
It was a collage of pictures that resembles the body of a muscular young man with colorful abstract designs ejecting from all parts of his body.
This piece was called Abravana Queen, a complex decal master digital file created in 2006 by assume vivid astro focus. The artist’s name was strange and stuck out to me.
Led by a Brazilian-born, New York-based artist who wishes to remain anonymous, the collaborative created its name as an amalgam of the 1982 album Assume Power Focus by British industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle and the late 1980s ambient rock performer Ultra Vivid Scene.
I remember the first time I created a piece of art. I had no idea what it meant.
What I remember most about that moment was the reaction from my family. They all had their own interpretations and were eager to find out the meaning.
People apply art in their lives without realizing it. Art is a form of expression. Art is a tool that people use to define who they are.
This can be done through various means such as the clothes a person wears, the music a person listens to, or the activities a person participates in.
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Perspective a funeral as art”, but this piece gets to the heart of the problem of senseless killings in some neighborhoods and the apparent reckless disregard for how precious life is.
Art can teach us to have the confidence to express ourselves and to let us know that it is ok to try and change. This is the influence that art has on society.
Artists also create work of art to inform people about the things that are going on in the world such as poverty, slavery, or political issues.
Art may come across in a negative or positive way.
For example, Priceless, created by Hank Willis Thomas and Ryan Alex in 2004, is a parody of a Master Card advertisement revolving around a funeral.
One person might say, “why would someone illustrate
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assume vivid astro focusAbravana Cosmocock, 2007Complex decal, master digital fileDimensions variableCourtesy of the Artist, John Connelly Presents, New York, and Peres Projects, Los Angeles and Berlin
The first time I saw Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock & Roll Since 1967 exhibition at MOCA, on its opening night, the galleries were filled with people, like a midsized concert that wasn’t quite sold out.
“The key theme of the show is how rock music has engaged avant-garde techniques, practices, or visual elements familiar to (or directly from contemporary art) in order to make it a more sophisticated art form,” Dominic Molon, the curator of the show, said.
“There have been exhibitions addressing this crossover but never really recognizing rock
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Sympathy for the devil
by: Giovanna Stallings-BlanchéCoral Gables Senior
Visitors experience Christian Marclay’s installation, Untitled, 1987-2007, vinyl LP records. Photo: Noelle Theard
Jim Lambie, The Byrds (Love in a Void), 2007, Ceramic and acrylic, Dimensions variable Photo: Steven Brooke
music as much more than the source of inspiration rather than as an equal player. The exhibitions have looked at rock as subject matter in art and not as a more intangible and intrinsic part of contemporary art practice,” Molon said.
The way the pieces were set up, with so many in a relatively smaller area than its previous incarnation at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, made the show feel very vibrant and energetic like the subject matter of the pieces themselves.
“While it was disappointing not to be able to include particular works, the exhibition not only retained a sense of integrity but in some ways actually became a much more intense and energetic experience due to the more concentrated presentation,” Molon said. Continued on page 30
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Top: Installation View, Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967. center: Rirkrit Tiravanija, Untitled 1996 (Rehearsal Studio No. 6 Silent Version), Photo: Steven Brooke
Above: Downhome Southernaires per-form in Rirkrit Tiravanija’s Rehearsal Studio No. 6 Silent Version, 1996. Photo: Noelle Theard
Down Home Southernaires perform at Battle of The Bands
Center Left: assume vivid astro focus, carnival freakamaly, 2006, complex decal, master digital file, dimensions variable, courtesy of the artist, john connelly presents, new york, and peres projects, los angeles and berlin.
MEN IN THE CITIES
While walking through the Sympathy for the Devil exhibit, I entered a room with three sketches on one wall. The pieces were called, Men in the Cities by Robert Longo.
By: Amber MarkPembroke Pines
Charter
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like they had a hidden side to them, a side that no one sees, but he was able to capture.
What drew me to this piece was its realism. At first, I thought it was a grayscale photograph. As I approached closer, the details of the drawing became clearer.
The long charcoal strokes created the silhouette of a human body making it look more flexible. The positions of each person were ones of which an actual three-dimensional human would do.
The use of black and white makes the artwork stronger.
The difference between the smooth white skin and the pitch-black suit makes the drawing more dramatic, drawing the viewer in. The sketch is soft and silky but at the same time blunt and to the point.
Men in the Cities fits the show’s theme perfectly. The use of dancing movements breaking out of the sleek professional mold definately showcases the diversity of rock n’ roll.
I was in a trance for what seemed like eternity. This was the one piece in the whole museum that actually spoke to me.
The smooth curves and the simplistic shading created a still, almost photo like, painting of three people.
Each person seemed to be engaged in a song that took him or her away to another place. Their bodies seemed to take shape of the song, as if they were dancing.
Longo was very precise in making sure that each person’s face was hidden behind his or her swaying dance moves. It was like he wanted to say that when listening to music everyone is faceless. They can be whomever they want in the world that their music has taken them.
Each person depicted was wearing formal work clothes; this created some irony in the artwork. Usually when I see someone in a suit and tie I perceive them as conservative and reserved. Longo twisted their identity by making it seem
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Robert LongoUntitled (Men in the Cities), 1980Charcoal and graphite on paper 96 x 60 in. (244 x 152 cm) Holzer Family collection, New York
Pablo Cano“When I was seven I knew I wanted to be a sculptor. My mom wrote a children’s story about a little boy who wants to show his art work so much that he tapes them
to the walls inside a museum and at night they come to life,” Pablo Cano said.
He was born in Havana Cuba in 1961. He was on the last flight out of the country before the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. He has since been a resident of Miami’s Little Havana and is regarded as one
of Florida’s best local sculptors.
I met Cano during a field trip I took during the Summer Journalism Institute at MOCA.
When I first met him, I thought he seemed a little eccentric. However, I came to see he was a very kind man who was very passionate about art.
Art was always a big part of Cano’s
By: Michael Silvers American Heritage School
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Treasures from trash
Local sculptor Pablo Canomakes marionettes from discarded items
Pablo Canolife. He grew up in a fine arts family.
“My father was a musician and my mother a painter. My house was always filled with new paintings and beautiful music,” Cano said.
When I walked into his house I felt like it was alive. All of his finished marionettes were displayed all over his house.
Cano’s house is actually his studio.
“I have my studio at home because it’s practical,” Cano said.
It was magnificent. It made me feel
like I was in one of his plays.
He is currently working on a play called The Beginning. It is his interpretation of the world’s creation, from Adam and Eve to the death of the dinosaurs.
“A new thing I am doing with this play is I am making it interactive. The audience will participate in some parts of the play,” Cano said.
Cano also has his workshop in his backyard.
I saw that he
collected many miscellaneous materials: hubcaps, antique pottery, pieces of discarded furniture, even guitars.
“I once went looking for materials at a dump in Coral Gables, I was jumped by a man holding a machine gun. He took my car and all the materials I had gathered that day,” Cano said.
Continued on page 31
From left to right: Pablo Cano, The Fountain marionette, 2008, mixed media, variable dimensions
Pablo Cano, Campbell's Soup Can marionette, 2008, mixed media, variable dimensions
Pablo Cano, The Pointing Man marionette, 2008, mixed media, variable dimensions
Pablo Cano, The French Manager marionette, 2008, mixed media, variable dimensions
Pablo Cano, Queen Elizabeth marionette, 2008, mixed media, variable dimensions
dkdfgdfgfOne of my favorite pieces is a sculpture by Louise Bourgeois.
The sculpture is shaped like, and is about the same size as, the head of a person. It is made of fabric, aluminum, glass and wood.
Untitled is covered in a dark pink fabric. It causes the piece to look very full, but at the same time, soft.
The mouth is the focus of the piece. It makes the head appear as if it is screaming and is shaped in a way that causes it to look wide open.
“I thought she was screaming, at first,” Ana Rodriguez said.
Bourgeois most likely made this piece because she struggled in the same way and wanted to express that.
The sculpture is supported by a small white platform. It is about the same size as the average nightstand.
The sculpture is surrounded by what looks like a glass box. The artist refers to this as “blocking” which means to put a figure in a cell.
It shows someone not being able to express themselves to others because she is being blocked and/or ignored.
This piece is not very large and because glass walls also surround it, the head appears very lonely and lost.
Although the glass walls are on the outside of the sculpture, the sculpture seems to be close to someone looking at it.
Nothing seems far away. It is all right there. The color, dark pink, seems close. This is simply because it is the main and only color.
The pink color gives the sculpture a more feminine look and causes it to look a bit weaker, than if it were any other color.
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by: Makana LevyDoctors Charter School
Bourgeois inspires student
Makana Levy interprets
Untitled
dkdfgdfgfThe mouth has significance because it is open. If it did not appear to be open, it would be hard to find the point, which is not to draw attention to ‘a screaming head.’
“Well, the first time I saw it, I thought it was just a screaming head,” Christopher Small, SJI attendee said, “but, when it was explained to me, I realized it was an emotion.”
The Untitled piece could be titled, Feminine Struggle, because of what it may represent to some. If not, then it would simply be titled, Not Heard.
These titles explain what can be
seen in this piece: a female not being listened to by whomever is ignoring what she has to say.
The release of all her thoughts and feelings is shown with her mouth, being that it is open. The fact that, for whatever reason, those thoughts and feelings are not being heard is shown, using the glass box.
“I have had times when I feel like just screaming and I keep it inside,” Michael Silvers, SJI attendee said.
If someone were in the box with her, there would be a different meaning. They would probably let her know that she could confide in them and they would try to understand what she is going through.
If this piece could make a sound, it would definitely be the sound of a female voice screaming for someone to hear her out. If not, she would be crying because she cannot be heard.
Many people, regardless of gender, have trouble being heard. Sometimes, when they are listened to, they cannot be understood. This piece represents those people and leaves a message that explains what they go through.
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Louise Bourgeois, Untitled 2001. Pink Fabric, aluminum, glass and wood. collection of MOCA North Miami, Gift of Louise Bourgeois
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Mark Leckey, Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore, 1999Color video with sound15 minutesCourtesy of Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York
Dance music pumping through the speakers. On the screen, people dance at a party. No light in any part of the room. Everything is dark and black except for the video. It offers a thrill of excitement.
Mark Leckey’s Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore is a video presentation showing different party scenes during the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Featured last summer in the Sympathy For the Devil: Art and Rock & Roll Since 1967 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, this exhibition is all about getting lost through the music.
Pushing the black curtain aside to go into the room, it may all seem mysterious and gloomy. Once inside, the music and video make it a whole other atmosphere.
At first, Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore may not seem like it has anything to do with art, but art is a form of expression, and in this exhibit Mark Leckey probably wanted the viewer to get
a kick and feel the excitement.
Feeling the bass and music rushing through, the desire to be part of the blissful crowds dancing on the screen is overcoming.
In the video, a group of guys dressed alike are walking down the street, wearing leather jackets with similar haircuts. They make their way to a dance club.
Once inside, slow motion footage of girls and guys dancing fills the screen. A desire to dance fills the whole room.
Another part of the video shows what looks like a dance class during the 70’s. People are lined up in a room and dancing.
One interprets Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore as an exhibition where the artist wanted the audience to feel what the people in the video were feeling. This is greatly accomplished since this exhibit takes one back in time and makes one get lost in the music.
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by: Maia PineiroDr. Michael Krop Senior
Rock the house
,
Cargo Cult, 2005, by José Bedia located at Goldman Warehouse is composed of a mural on the right wall made with battleships and small fighter planes.
On the left wall, is a black figure in front of a huge battleship, on the floor is a brick boat filled with rice, sugar, and grain.
The left wall that was 16 by 19 feet, you can see small battleships and fighter planes. In the far left corner there are canned goods (cargo) hidden by a cloth.
“I just wanna scoop up the rice,” Karla Kennedy, SJI Instructor said.
On the right wall, which is
approximately 12 by 16 feet, there is a black shadowy figure blowing black smoke and trying to grab an airplane that is surrounded by arrows coming out of the wall.
“I like the big guy and how he was trying to grab the plane,” Nicholas Robie, SJI attendee said.
The color used the most is blue. The colors in the surrounding area are black, white, yellow and red. The different colors in the mural gives a strong feeling as if you were actually there.
The floor was smooth and black which compliments the whole mural that is what truly gives that in depth feeling.
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Opposite: José Bedia, Cargo Cult, 2005Mixed media, 121 in. x 648 in. (307.34 cm x 1645.92 cm)Purchased with funds provided by Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz and Diane and Robert Moss. Photo by Steven Brooke
FOOD FOR THE GODS
by: Christopher SmallNorth Miami Middle
Cargo Cult teaches a soulful lesson
,
The largest thing in the area is the boat made of bricks and filled with rice, sugar and grain. The boat itself was about 8 to 9 feet long. The smallest things in the area are the small battle ship paintings.
In the wall painting there was a black God and it symbolizes that he is bringing down the cargo to the people.
The most important part of the art was the boat filled with rice, sugar and grain because it is what the people are offering to the Gods in order to receive their cargo.
“At first I didn’t understand it, I don’t get how Gods are going to kill us because of rice,” Jasmine De Salvo, SJI attendee said.
The title that I would give this mural would be Sacrifice For Cargo because this makes a lot more sense and it gives a clearer understanding. If I were in the mural I would probably hear the sounds of guns blazing, missiles being fired, and people running and screaming.
When I first saw it, I thought it was not really important, then Dr. Adrienne vonLates, Curator of Education at MOCA, asked me to read a small plague (label). Then I was really confused. She carefully explained it and then I understood that this is a reflection of a type of religion.
I picked this piece because it really drew me in and I wanted to know more about it. It means
Continued on page 31 17
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Art is...
I’ve been attending art classes at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami for about two years now, but I never actually took the time to go into the galleries and check out the exhibits.
It may be because I was never really interested in the whole art thing before.
But being at MOCA in the Summer Journalism Institute this summer and being able to see and interpret the works of art in the exhibit, I feel like I’ve been missing out on a lot of things this whole time; that I’ve been too ignorant to even notice.
Now, my desire to learn more about art is stronger than ever before. I want to see more of what I’ve been too blind to see, to experience things that I never thought in my whole
life so far that I would ever experience, and ultimately, to grow more as a person.
When I walked in the gallery, I was amazed and sort of
“weirded” out. I realized that people make art to express how they feel, how
By: Joanne OngsitcoNorth Miami Senior
PHOTO COLLAGE BY STEPHANIE Menjivar
Continued on page 32 19
they interpret something, or show everyone who they really are, in a different but creative way. They make art because it’s their passion.
Art is important not just to artists, but to society as well. Because everything is based on art, everything starts from art. Just how people dress themselves, the buildings that
are built, how one
arranges a certain
something in their life, and much more.
Art is not just simply drawing
or painting or sculpting something, it is much more than that. It is very broad. It can be applied to a lot of things. It can come in different forms, such as music, literature, visual arts, and more. It is an illustration of the artist, his thoughts, and his imagination.
An artist puts his or emotion in his works, his ideas, and
experiences. One does not necessarily
have to look into deeper and
complex things to be able to see
art, because we live in art.
Our world is art.
Everything is art.
Art teaches us creativity, personality, strengths, attitudes, how to be unique, and how to have fun in different ways. It exposes us to new and different techniques and other types of it.
Lyla Ann GaspardUntitled, 2008Pencil on Paper
THIS IS LYLA
Lyla Ann Gaspard can do a few things. She has plenty of hobbies and a unique background. She has an interesting love for drawing Manga.
“I like to draw Manga ‘cause it is cool, it is from Japan, and there is a lot of violence in it,” she said.
Lyla enjoys photography, nature, and spending time with her friends. She likes to sit in front of her television and draw things she sees like Manga and Anime.
Lyla also travels a lot. She was born in Brooklyn, New
York and moved when she was two. After a few places, Lyla settled in Florida to see her mom get married.
“I really didn’t have a choice of moving around,” she said. “I think I really wanted to stay in Brooklyn.”
Although Lyla has an intense love for her family, when she gets upset she usually goes to her dog for comfort.
“My sisters usually get on my nerves, so I go to my room with my dog. My sisters are evil,” she said.
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By: Andrew SanzeteneaJohn F. Kennedy Middle
21Emily SobelDr. Michael M. Krop Senior
Jeanna CheryTurner Tech
Katerina ResekCoral Gables Senior
Snow, blowing in the wind.
In the midst of the North Pole, one sees a woman dressed in black, walking through a taiga landscape.
“A powerful and beautiful image,” Karla Kennedy, Summer Journalism Adviser said.
The three large photos hung in succession on the wall.
With the three different frames it seems as though this lone individual is moving in and out of stillness and never seems to reach their destination.
“He wanted to capture the North Pole in different juxtapositions,” Michael Silvers, 9th grader from Miami
Country Day School said.
The lines of True North are horizontal and vertical. Even with such simple lines, the artist portrayed a compelling and strong image.
The colors were very simple as well; white, blue and black. The colors symbolize daylight and the brightness of the North Pole.
The largest objects in most photos were the mountains in the background.
An aspect of the artwork that could be considered controversial is how Isaac Julien, the artist that created the work, used Vanessa Myrie as a stand-in for Matthew Henson, an African American,
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TRUENORTH
Isaac JulienTrue North, 2004
Digital Photography on Epson Premium Glossy44 1/2 in. x 139 in. (113.03 cm x 353.06 cm)
Collection of MOCA, North MiamiMuseum purchase with funds provided by Pop Love
By: Amanda Regis, Martine Souverain, North Miami Senior and Nicolas Robie, John F. Kennedy Middle
the first person to reach the North Pole, but was only recently given credit for his feat.
In one photo, the woman was extremely close to the camera, making her seem larger than anything else.
“Isaac Julien wanted to show the person in many spots,” Christopher Small, 8th grader at North Miami Middle School, said.
True North raises many questions concerning the project that was set up to explore race and gender set against specific landscapes.
According to Leonhard Emmerling and Victoria Lynn of the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, “by casting the role of ‘explorer’ in the guise of a black woman, Julien contradicts the ideology of colonialism, which is assumed
to be both white and male.”
The white of the snow is most dominant and close to the photo.
The way the artist took the photo was to show the vast landscape of the North Pole and emulate an epic movement in world history.
If one could rename this installation it would be Epic North, because it portrays an intense and harsh struggle to the top of the world.
“The photograph has the effect of changing history and righting a past wrong,” Jude Legiste, former MOCA’zine reporter and freshman at the University of Miami, said.
What caught the attention of students was how humanity decided who actually is able to accomplish something.
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Continued on page 33
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Paul DaveyThe Twister, 2009Digital Painting
25
A Caucasian male stands with his eyes squeezed tightly shut and his hands cupped over his ears. He is slightly hunched over and looks something like a father figure from a fifties television show like My Three Sons or Father Knows Best.
Local young artist, Michael Vazquez, used graphite against a white background to create this portrait. The man in the portrait is an example of a stereotypical father figure.
The image portrays a straight-laced or at times fictitious idea of what a father should be.
When I see this piece, I wonder why he is hunched over. Is he frustrated or angry? And if he is, why? With his hands covering his ears and eyes closed, it gives the impression that he is trying to shut out the world.
The thought of what the ideal father should be has been exhausted over and over again, and maybe the figure is frustrated because there is no such thing as the ideal father. In this art piece, Vasquez may be trying to convey that the individuals we often emulate are the stereotypes that evoke negative emotions.
Michael Vasquez, who currently resides in Miami, grew up fatherless in the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. Unable to receive the guidance and support from a father at home, Vasquez found it in the individuals of the gang, Young Blood.
“Through his relationships with the gang members, Vasquez adopted core values, such as respect, loyalty, and responsibility, which according
Father didn’t want anything to do with itBy: Sabryna RaymondNORTHWEST CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
26
to the artist, provided a much needed sense of manhood,” Christopher Cook, a curator at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City said. The members of this gang acted as father figures in Vasquez’s life.
Friendly Father Figures (2005) is a series of art pieces created by Vasquez to acknowledge the gang members who played an important role in his life.
The fifties father figure in comparison to the thugs represented in Vasquez’s portraits differ at great lengths.
Illustration of the Caucasian father figure represents a fabricated thought of what a father should be like, and yet in the picture it seems the ideal father is aggravated with stereotypes and expectations demanded from him. However, the portraits of Friendly Father Figures depict the real images of real fathers.
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Michael VasquezFather didn't want anything to do with it, 2007Graphite on paper. 30 in. x 22 in. (76.2 cm x 55.88 cm)Gift of Fredric and Kathy Snitzer
The piece I chose is an installation called Standing Still While We Move Across Land, made in 2004 by John Espinosa.
It is a statue of five doves with lasers coming out of their eyes that form a big, jagged triangular explosion. There are three black lights that change the colors to yellow, orange, and purple.
“It was fascinating,” Andrew Sanzetenea, John F. Kennedy
Middle School student, said, “It gave unique color.”
The room is dark so the black lights can take effect. The doves look like they are moving as you walk around the sculpture. They are suspended in the air from the lasers attached to their eyes which make it seem like the birds are flying.
Vivid is a word that describes the piece. Vibrant, interesting, and unique are other words that could describe the installation.
28
By: journey RangamarNorth Miami Middle
Lasers and LightsEspinosa’s installation a big hit with students
“It is eye catching,” Lyla Gaspard, an upcoming young artist, said. “I think without the black lights and the color the piece would not really appeal to me.”
The combined lasers are the biggest in the piece, and it is the yellow that makes them pop out the most. The doves have a gradient orange to purple color so that their orange heads spring out even though they are small.
The contrasting bodies are purple and fade into the darkness. There is a lot of yellow in the room that catches attention. The yellow gives the installation a glow around it which makes the installation shine in the darkness. The lasers are the most important part to me because it is the biggest piece probably for a reason.
According to the catalogue from the 2005 exhibition MOCA & Miami authored by Bonnie
Continued on page 45 29
John EspinosaStanding Still While WE MOVE Across Land, 2004Mixed media. 84 in. x 216 in. x 216 in. (213.36 cm x 548.64 cm x 548.64 cm)Gift of Mario Cader-Frech and Robert S. Wennett
Sympathy for The Devil Continued from page 7
Opening night, the music from the DJ outside filled the galleries and a talented local band, The Down Home Southernaires, was performing inside Rikrit Tiravanija’s rehearsal studio box. This box would be the stage for many spontaneous and creative jam sessions over the summer.
Most women in the crowd wore bright fashionable party dresses and pretty heels, guys tended to wear graphic tees and nice “kicks.” The visitors or partygoers in this case were torn between trying to hear the band in the box, taking in the fascinating crowd and socializing and experiencing the mostly static exhibition.
Many people were excited about the art, trying to take in as much as we could. The records that covered the floor of the room that Christian Marclay envisioned were all new, and walking over them felt even more sacrilegious.
Almost everyone I saw laughed at Fiorucci Made me Hardcore, a video installation that documented British music scenes in the late 70s and 80s, with outdated music, fashion and dances, and the ridiculous way that the artist slowed down and spliced up the footage.
That night, I really loved the exhibition or what I had been able to take in, which honestly was not all of it. I loved the vibrancy of the pieces and how the exhibition tried to bring the experience of music into the art and show various viewpoints on that concept.
One of the greatest functions of art is communication, not only between artist and viewer but viewer-to-viewer and even curator to viewer.
Walking through the exhibition with the Summer Journalism Institute, I was able to see many
30 Katerina ResekCoral Gables Senior
of the pieces with a different perspective. Some pieces that I had ignored the first few times around, like many of the flat drawings and paintings, revealed complexities once examined through a another perspective.
Karla Kennedy, SJI Instructor, stopped in front of a set of black and white ink drawings that I passed by so many times. One looked like a drawing of Spiderman with a bunch of women caught in the web, but after our discussion we realized that it was actually a good visual metaphor for explaining the complex stereotypical relationship between men and women and the web of lies that can exist.
Fiorucci Made me Hardcore was still funny, but it became a more complex piece of documentation with each viewing, with more layers of meaning.
Hopefully through viewing the show from different perspectives, others were able to experience the show to its fullest potential.
Now he sticks to finding his materials at thrift shops.
“My favorite medium for sculpting marionettes is cigarette foil because it is so durable,” Cano said.
that people have the freedom to create their own religion.
“It kind of scares me because it tells what’s going to happen in the future and I don’t want to know,” Iris Byfield said.
The people in this mural could be thought of as primitive because everything they had was really simple, but once the war came, these things were taken away so they destroyed many items that were important to them like their crops and homes hoping to cause more war and
Cargo Cult Continued from page 17
The more I looked at his marionettes. The more I understood them. It seemed like each marionette had a message.
“I become inspired from everyday objects because they reflect the world,” Cano said.
By creating marionettes, he is sending the world messages about evolution, our environment, history, or even something more trivial like: how styles change.
Cano is a visionary with a talent that can open a person’s eyes.
The next time you hear about a Pablo Cano exhibit see for yourself exactly what I’m talking about.
Pablo CanoContinued from page 11
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gain all these things back.
One of the reasons why the artist may have created this piece is because he wanted to show religious phenomenon back in the early to middle 20th century. In other words, Jose Bedia contextualizes this in reference to the first world nations, like Cuba, who depend on goods sent from other nations.
In the mural, people are offering goods to the Gods. Another thing that could possibly be happening in this mural is that there is a war going on.
The painting is about how people have the right to express or make their own religion no matter the circumstances.
If I were in this mural it would be very overwhelming to hear and see all these things happening around me and there is no way to stop it.
“I would be scared because there is a war going on and I wouldn’t know what to do,” Makana Levy said.
If I had a chance to interview the artist I would ask a whole bunch of questions, but I would ask him, “why do you think this mural is really important? What inspired you to do this?”
Art Is... Continued from page 19
“I believe it is important because it is about protecting or defending their beliefs,” Ana Rodriguez said.
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Exposure is important because artists pass those techniques and other relevant things down to other future artists. Exposure shows how they started becoming artists in the first place, and the reasons why they got into art, and why art itself.
Katerina ResekCoral Gables Senior
True North Continued from page 23
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There is no such thing as perfect art, or perfect anything for that matter. Everything has its own flaws, hence uniqueness comes in.
In the coming years, I want to be able to look at a piece of art, and actually appreciate it, or criticize it, or maybe even interpret it. I want to be better in my writing skills, or be more in touch with my creative side.
I want to learn all about the “it” in art, what “it” is in the pieces that the artists create, what they’re trying to say or prove, and how they’re trying to do “it.”
“There’s nothing and no one in the world that can say who is able to accomplish something, anyone who puts their mind to it can do it,” Alexandria Suarez, 11th grader at North Miami Senior High, said.
“It’s people’s prejudices that make them blind to this, and that makes them think someone incapable because they’re biased,” she said.
Isaac Julien’s lyrical film and photographic project was made to show Henson’s journey as a descendant of slavery, in the U.S., leading to his role in exploring a climate and environment that was unfamiliar to his ancestors.
A significant part of the piece is its atmosphere, because at the time that the North Pole was discovered, black people were in mostly warm climates, so, for a black male to be there was astounding.
If the picture had been of a black man in hot weather, no one would have been as surprised, and the name would not have been relevant to the piece.
The objective of Isaac Julien’s work is to unite different art forms which include: drawing, film, dance, photography, music, theatre, painting and sculpting etc., to tell a story in his pieces.
Much of his work relates to his experiences of being black and homosexual as well as issues of class, sexuality, and artistic and cultural history; as shown in True North.
“True North is in three sections to show many perspectives,” Andrew Sanzetenea, from John F. Kennedy Middle School, said.
Not many people know about Mathew Henson’s journey with Robert Peary. So, Isaac Julien made True North to tell a ‘forgotten’ story. The installation supports the theory that Henson, indeed, discovered the North Pole and not Robert Peary.
CHANGE
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“It’s amazing because I am a part of history, I can tell my grandkids about the event. It was incredible watching them announce the Presidential family on CNN and seeing people who look like me.”
Jude Legiste, University of Miami Freshman, Summer Journalism Institute Mentor
“Even though I was not running for President, I can relax now that the election is over. I feel that the fight for equality and justice is now over and we can stand as a proud nation of believers, that no goal is unattainable if you work hard and trust in your abilities.”
Martine Souverain, 16, North Miami Senior
“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream has officially come true.”
Shawn Gustave, 16, North Miami Senior
“I feel happy. Now, when they print the history books, I will find somebody that is my color. Instead of hearing my friends say they want to be a rapper, they’re saying maybe they can one day be president. If Barack Obama can be president, then I can be whomever I want to be.”
Markus Jean, 16, Miami Beach Senior
“There comes a time when man overcomes the impossible. Obama has accomplished what was thought to be impossible.”
Naica Baptiste, 15, North Miami Senior
“I really like the fact that he has become the first multiracial president and I hope he keeps his word and promises of a better America.”
Harold Waight, 17, North Miami Senior
“With the economic crisis that we are in, I don’t think that change can really happen in just four years. It is going to be really hard for our new president.”
Jeanna Chery, Turner Tech
35Paul DaveyNo More Time? (The Change), 2008Digital Painting
WOMEN ON THE RISE! SERVES MORE THAN 1,500 AT-RISK 12-24 YEAR OLD GIRLS THROUGH A SERIES OF 8, 2 -HOUR WORKSHOPS THAT EXPOSE THE PARTICIPANTS TO CONTEMPORARY WOMEN ARTISTS. EACH PARTICIPANT CREATES A WORK OF ART BASED ON THE ART REVIEWED AND DISCUSSED IN A SLIDE SHOW OF IMAGES THAT INSPIRE THE INDIVIDUAL FINAL PIECES. INCLUDED HERE ARE IMAGES OF WORKSHOPS BASED ON THE FOLLOWING ARTISTS: YOLANDA LOPEZ, NIKI DE SAINT PHALLE, JANINE ANTONI, ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI, CARRIE MAE WEEMS, AND WANGECHI MUTU.
WOMEN ON THE RISE! PARTNERS ALSO PARTICIPATE IN FIELD TRIPS TO MOCA, MOCA @ GOLDMAN WAREHOUSE, AND OTHER CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS IN MIAMI-DADE COUNTY.
W O T R !
ARTWORK BY WOMEN ON THE RISE! PARTICIPANTS36
W O T R !
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Station 10 andback again
Station 10 and Back Again by Ann-Sofi Siden was created in 2001. The videos show the life of firefighters in Norrkoping, Sweden when they are off duty. The videos were displayed on 18 9-inch monitors. The
monitors were placed on a metal shelf with equipment used by firemen surrounding it.
“I liked the way it was displayed. I thought it was very unique and creative,” Terri Moise,
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By: Tarah GarconNorth Miami Middle
a seventh grader at North Miami Middle School, said.
The lines in the videos are straight. The colors used in the videos are black and white. The artist said that the black and white videos gave the museum visitor the soothing assurance that the body politic is in safe hands.
“The real reason I think the artist didn’t use modern day color cameras is because she didn’t want to make it look like a television reality show,” Tameka Clarke, another middle school student, said.
Although most of Siden’s work was staged, Station 10 and Back Again was done in real time. She carefully placed surveillance cameras throughout
the firehouse for a three-week period, catching every move the firefighters made. Some cameras were placed in private places like the bathroom and bedrooms.
“I don’t think that the artist should have done that because the men should be able to have their privacy and not have to worry about people spying on them,” Ana Rodriguez, a ninth grader from North Miami Senior, said.
The men were relaxing, which is something that you don’t normally see firefighters do since they are on the move most of the time. They were playing cards, eating, watching television, and working out. Some were even taking showers while the surveillance cameras were taping. Some people found this disturbing while others did not.
“Why would it be disturbing? It’s art,” Jasmine de Salvo, SJI attendee, said.
There is no audio.
“I think that if the videos had audio it would be disturbing because they would be speaking a different language,” Christopher Small, NM Middle eighth grader, said.
If there could be another title for this artwork, it might be I Spy. This would definitely be a good title because the artist is basically spying on the firefighters and sharing it with the whole world.
The firefighters are similar to many people because they relax, play cards, sleep, and work out. Then again they are different because their jobs are dangerous and they put their lives on the line almost every day.
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Ann-Sofi SidénStation 10 and Back Again, 2001DVD Installation, 18 channels, b/w, silent, 18 surveillance monitors on metal shelves. Gift of the Martin Z. Margulies Foundation
Maia Pineiro takes the stage at the luna star cafe during the photo assignment from the summer journalism institute.
The current exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami is called Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock & Roll Since 1967. The exhibit is a look at the relationship between the visual arts and rock-and-roll culture throughout the decades.
The exhibition shows the dual role that many individuals play in both the music and visual art realms. Visual artists and musicians are different,
but the two are interspersed with each other as is shown in the exhibit. Visual artists are different than music artists because they use mediums to create a physical piece of art. A work of visual art could be a painting, a photograph, a sculpture, wall installment, anything that could be physically touched is visual art.
Music is also an art form, it’s different because musicians
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Visual Artists & Musiciansby: Alexandria SuarezNorth Miami Senior
Two peas from the same pod
are artists but they use sound to paint their pictures. Sound is untouchable and it can’t be seen. Musicians use their voice, instruments and other technology to create a piece of work.
Musicians and artists evoke different senses in their audiences and although both attract a wide scope of fans, these fans are different.
Visual artists are usually less well known than musicians because they attract a different type of attention.
Although both visual art and music is universal, music is available to all people even the poorest man can be a fan of a certain type of music and could list the names of several of their favorite artists.
The two artists are different because of the respect they garner and the publicity and notoriety they receive. Generally, musicians are more well-known. They are seen and known almost everywhere.
Music instills in people a type of devotion. Music has a type of spirituality in it. Millions of teenagers all over the globe are the greatest example of this. People are more likely to know the singer of a top song then
know the name of a visual artist.
Visual artists are capable of capturing spirituality in their pieces but for a newcomer to the visual art world it could elude them.
More people will cock their head at a piece in a museum and say how they don’t get it while music is respected by the masses perhaps much more because it could be understood in different ways but it could be understood.
For many music speaks to their soul and visual art confounds them, although in essence they are the same thing because years from now the music we listen to and the art we created will be a factor in the judging of our society.
But it is musicians that contribute most to the changes in our society that is the biggest difference between a visual artist and a musician.
These differences between visual artists and musicians create a relationship as the two inspire one other for example Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground. This relationship between artists of different mediums is shown in Sympathy for the Devil.
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When a person is unable to find the words to verbally express their emotions, experiences, and thoughts, art therapy is an alternative.
“I didn’t know how to deal with it. I didn’t know how to talk about it. Art therapy helped me keep my sanity. It helped me deal with my depression,” Stephanie Owen-Moreno, board certified art therapist (ATR-BC) said.
Art therapy is the process of creating art that provides insight to a person and allows the therapist to understand their patient’s issues.
“With little ones, you see a lot of houses, families and people. Very concrete ideas, there is not much abstract work,” Eileen Misluk-Gervase, ATR-BC, said.
Adolescents and teens create pictures of superheroes, with more of a focus on the villains. There are gang colors and names of neighborhoods, materialistic creations of shoes and cars, and
the tagging of names, revealing a quest for self-identity.
“Adults are more difficult because they have been removed from the art process. Adults focus more on the product. Art therapy is the opposite, you follow the process,” Misluk-Gervase said.
Patients who have experienced traumatic events benefit from art therapy when they cannot find the words to tell their story.
“A lot of trauma overwhelms the brain and the trauma reoccurs visually, when there is an inability to verbally express what is going on and to organize experiences, art is the middle man for them to be able to express themselves,” Misluk-Gervase said.
Art therapy is especially revealing for children who have been abused and have been threatened to keep silent.
“It allows patients to ask for help without telling,” Owen-Moreno said. Art therapy helped
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Alexandria G. SmithUniversity of Florida FreshmanFormer Junior Docent and Mocazine writer
Art therapy reveals what words cannot
her work through personal trauma. She was raped at 16.
However her artwork did not relate to her traumatic event until after college when she realized she had been violated.
“It [her art work] was very sad,” she said.
Misluk-Gervase, works for Miami Dade County Public Schools, providing art therapy to students in the Emotional Behavioral Disability (EBD) program. She has worked in juvenile maximum security and therapeutic foster care.
“Working in the school system is difficult because you are a tiny entity in their entire day,” she said. She tries to have her students identify their goals and work on long-term projects because they are more revealing.
“If there are 30 sessions and 30 pieces of art, it gives a visual image to the progress they have made and sometimes that is what people need,” Misluk-Gervase said.
She said her students enjoy art therapy because it makes them feel special and they can talk to someone outside of the classroom. Misluk-Gervase works on building self-esteem through her sessions.
Art therapy creations are reflective of the patient, revealing personal issues, experiences and messages.
“The primary goal of art is to communicate a message and the message is often quite personal,” Lark Keeler, assistant education curator for the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami said.
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Paul Davey, Bring The Pain, 2006Digital Painting
Prospective University of Miami student, Jude Legiste is the kind of guy whose friends would call “a good guy with good intentions.” This 18-year-old good guy has ambitions – or as he calls them life goals.
A graduate from William H. Turner Technical High School, Legiste will be majoring in Journalism at the University of Miami in the fall of 2008.
“I am really excited to go,” he said.
Though his excitement might imply a longtime interest in the journalism world, Legiste’s like for the field is quite recent.
“I didn’t have any idea what I wanted to do until I joined the Summer Journalism Institute at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, MOCA,” Legiste said, “I just fell in love with journalism.”
His involvement with MOCA traces back to October 2007 when he joined the museum’s
Junior Docent program. He participated in the Summer Journalism Institute and worked as a camp counselor for the Museum’s art camp.
Aside from journalism he has an interest in the business world as well.
“I’ve been thinking about doing business marketing,” Legiste said. “I took a business class my junior year, and since then I’ve had an interest in the business world.”
If you do not find him reading about the stock market out of the Wall-Street Journal, you might see him shooting hoops at the basketball court or listening to music – most likely something by John Mayer.
“I love helping young people,” Legiste said.
He plans to become a teacher in the far future.
His most emphasized ambition is to help the next generation asserting his friend’s idea
Hey Jude!
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by: Sam AngaritaMiami Lakes Educational Center
that Jude Legiste is a good guy with good intentions.
His career decision is still on hold since Legiste’s parents are apprehensive about his pursuit of journalism as a career.
His life goals are more definite. He defines them as things he would like to conquer that affect all mankind, not just himself.
“I want to destroy stereotypes and help stop all the ‘isms’ (sexism, racism, ageism, ‘moneyism’), they limit people,” Legiste said.
Clearwater, MOCA Director, John Espinosa had always wanted to create a device that would incorporate the flow of ultraviolet light and engage the viewer.
“It just amazed me,” Tameka Clarke, SJI attendee, said. “I felt like I was captured in time with the birds.”
John Espinosa had done many more installations like this one with different animals that have lasers coming out of their eyes also. But there is no black light in the others.
The installation was made of steel, resin, UV sensitive acrylic, high output UV lamps, polyurethane foam, and aluminum. The piece
was probably a product of a lot of welding, molding and craftsmanship. Most likely, the installation had a very well thought over plan.
Instead of Standing Still While We Move Across Land, I would name the installation Birds of Thought because it makes people think what the meaning of the artwork is. I also might call it Laser Trance because it looks as if the birds are in a trance.
I think that the doves are sharing energy to freeze time or unifying their energy to make something bigger and better.
If I were in the piece, I would be looking up to the birds that are making a bright explosion, which engulfs the sky in whiteness. Then they disappear like they have transformed and gone on to somewhere else.
This piece could be considered religious art because the doves could be interpreted as agents of the Holy Spirit. The laser explosion is a visual representation of the Holy Spirit’s energy. It can make a statement on how there might be someone watching over you.
I think the artist made the piece to make you think because we all have our own interpretation, and since opinion is based on fact you can create your own truth.
Standing StillContinued from page 29
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JUNIOR DOCENTSJoin the Junior Docent Program at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami
Teens ages 13 to 18 can earn more than 100 community service hours by working at a cool museum after school or on the weekends.
(A Junior Docent is a volunteer trained to be a leader and a teacher)
FREE
•Learn about contemporary art and culture•Get FREE tutoring to improve your reading and writing skills•Publish your poems and artwork in our fabulous MOCAzine•Take FREE drawing classes•Volunteer at fun community events•Earn community service hours
To request an application and more information, call 305 893 6211 or visit www.mocanomi.org
Education programs at MOCA are made possible by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Jan and Daniel Lewis, Niety and Gary Gerson, Columbine Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Women’s Fund of Miami-Dade County, Dade Community Foundation, The Children’s Trust, the City of North Miami, the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Concil, the Miami-Dade County Cultural Affairs Counci, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of City Commissioners.
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART770 NE 125th Street. North Miami, FL 33161 305 893 6211
The Summer Journalism Institute is a FREE three-week intensive program in journalism that gives students the opportunity to create and produce their own publication. Using the Museum of Contemporary Art as a backdrop, the students will focus on art and its societal effects as well as other concerns in their community. Students will meet with professional journalists; work on layout and design; visit the Miami Herald, and be exposed to the journalism programs at local universities. Classes will take place in June and July of 2008 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, 770 NE 125th Street from 1:00 to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday.
The dates of the institute will be Monday, June 8 through Friday, June 26, 2009.
Interested students ages 12 to 18 are encouraged to apply by completing the application form below. Drop off the application along with other requested materials to Dr. Adrienne Von Lates, Curator of Education at the Museum of Contemporary Art located at 770 N.E. 125th Street, North Miami 33161. Call 305-893-6211 for further information. Space is limited so complete your application today!
WHO,WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW
Name: __________________________________ Gender: Male Female
Address: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Email: ______________________________________ Phone: ________________________________________
Minority group (circle one or more): Black Hispanic Asian American Indian Other: ______________
MOCA SUMMER JOURNALISM INSTITUTE APPLICATION
Personal Information
School Information
School: ________________________________________ Grade: _______ Grade point average:_____________
School address (include city & ZIP code): _____________________________________________________________________
School Telephone (include journalism extension):____________________________________
School publication or activities: _________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you have any experience in desktop publishing, list the name of the program(s): ___________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Other extrcurricular activities or part-time jobs: ____________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PLEASE ATTATCH YOUR TWO BEST CLIPPINGS OF STORIES, LAYOUTS AND/OR PHOTOGRAPHS FROM YOUR SCHOOL NEWSPAPER OR YEARBOOK, OR YOUR BEST ESSAY FROM A LANGUAGE ARTS CLASS.
ON A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER WRITE A 200-WORD ESSAY TO EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST IN JOURNALISM AND ATTACH IT TO YOUR APPLICATION.
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