A brand new artwork museum has sprung up in Kendall with out a single brick or stone being laid. Leonardo Rodriguez, founder and president of the Kendall Art Cultural Center, is transitioning the middle into the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas (MoCAA), a bonafide museum proper within the coronary heart of the group.
“There is numerous weight that comes with the title of museum, and it is a approach that we are able to get the state and native authorities to take an curiosity in order that this place can proceed to operate the best way it’s, free for the group,” says Odette Lopez, director of MoCAA.
The museum formally opened final week at 12063 SW 131st Ave., nevertheless it’s seeking to broaden to a much bigger location in Kendall finally.
“[Rodriguez] has been gathering Cuban artwork since he was 17 years outdated, so he has this enormous assortment,” Lopez explains. “We have two very massive collections. We have his work and sculptures, which quantity about 700, and now we have the ceramics assortment, which is about 500 items in whole, and we would wish to exhibit extra of them.”
The new museum gives numerous applications, together with the Women Artists within the Rodriguez Collection program, which celebrates the revolutionary and artistic work of girls artists from the Caribbean and Latin America from completely different generations.
This program, which takes place in March, is often paired with a solo exhibition from a longtime artist. The most up-to-date program highlighted Cuban artist Gladys Triana within the exhibition “Gladys Triana in Perspective.”
Another is the SoFlo New Artists program which companions with graduating grasp of advantageous arts seniors from native and statewide universities.
“We maintain an exhibition for them, so that they full their senior check with us. They get exhibition expertise, curation expertise, they see what it’s wish to set out an actual present, they usually exhibit their work with their professor with out having to pay a dime for it,” Lopez says. “It is simply so satisfying to see their faces when all of it comes collectively.”
Around 70 p.c of the artists which have been featured on the Kendall Art Center-turned-museum are native artists who’ve emigrated from Latin America and Cuba.
“Just a few are established artists, and numerous them reside and work domestically,” Lopez provides. “[Rodriguez] has actually opened his doorways and offered all of the supplies and stated, ‘I need you to work, and I cannot cost you something for the area. I’ll offer you all of the publicity you want, and all [Rodriguez] asks for is that you simply give [him] one piece for [his] assortment.'”
With its new platform, Kendall could turn into the following go-to vacation spot for artwork fanatics.
“Kendall is a spot that, as of but, has no actual cultural presence, and Rodriguez and the museum hope to vary that,” Lopez says.
Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas. 12063 SW 131st Ave., Miami; 305-778-7739; mocaamericas.org.
– Vanessa Reyes, ArtburstMiami.com