Guido Gonzalez/Staff Writer
An eclectic collection of artwork adorned galleries where students, faculty members, professors and artists alike wandered intently observing and admiring them.
Inside the Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum located in FIU’s Modesto Maidique campus, three exhibits were opened to the public.
The three exhibits included oil paintings, sculptures, photographs, films and interactive works.
One gallery exhibit, “Transitional Nature,” located on the second floor, contained a collection of oil-on-canvas landscapes made by the 19th century Hudson River School art movement.
Michelle Fields, a former student of museum curator, Amy Galpin, gained a new sense of appreciation upon seeing these traditional paintings up close.
“I really like them in person, it gives them a different feel. It’s sublime,” Fields said.
Another gallery, “Never Ending Gardens,” located on the first floor of the museum, featured the first solo exhibit of Miami based photographer and filmmaker Terrence Phillip II.
The gallery is comprised of black and white street photography and videos showcasing Phillip’s takes on race, history and community in Miami Gardens.
The third gallery showcased in the museum, Liu Shiyuan’s “Opaque Pollination,” featured experimental films detailing advancing technology and cultural exchanges.
Despite the vast difference in the mediums used to create these works of art, all three galleries are united by their exploration of ecology, industrialization and human connections.
“It’s important to see where current art came from and how they developed into different periods,” said Fields.
FIU Art and Art History professor, Fereshteh Toosi, also has two of her own artworks featured, both of which the audience can interact with.
Both of her pieces were constructed from plant materials including hardened tissue of palm trees and seeds.
“A lot of musical instruments are already made out of plants, like how a violin is made out of wood,” said Toosi. “Only my instruments don’t have the plant material altered that much.”
One interactive artwork was a piece of a tree carpeted with long, sharp thorns. Audience members were encouraged to flick the thorns in which the sounds were amplified by a speaker.
Her other artwork is a row of seed pods strung together by a length of string accompanied with small mallet like device the audience can use and tap on the seeds.
“When you tap it, it’s like a percussive-rattle instrument,” said Toosi.
Frost Art Museum open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday, 12 p.m.-5 p.m., at 10975 SW 17th Street, Miami, FL. 33199. Free. “Liu Shiyuan” exhibit runs through Apr. 12. “Terence Price II” exhibit runs through Apr. 26. “Transitional Nature” exhibit runs through May 17.
Correction: The story misstated that the interactive plant artworks by Fereshteh Toosi were made of bark. “The piece in the museum is made from hardened tissue that forms on the trunk, but it is not a true bark like you would find on dicot and coniferous trees.,” said Toosi.
I’m the artist mentioned at the end of this piece and I’d like your readers to know that palm trees (Arecaceae) do not have bark! The piece in the museum is made from hardened tissue that forms on the trunk, but it is not a true bark like you would find on dicot and coniferous trees.