Miami Art Week is here, and so is the chaos, crowds, and traffic that comes with it. Perhaps you want to avoid all that while actually appreciating some art. Well, stay right here in Broward County. There are plenty of art shows and events available for your viewing pleasure, without all the jockeying for parking and the throngs of people from everywhere that descend on Art Basel Miami Beach. BAJA has put together the following guide to help you explore Broward’s vibrant arts scene during Miami Art Week without ever crossing the county border. Dive in below:
Goin’ Downtown
A great place to start your Broward art tour is in downtown Fort Lauderdale at the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale (1 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; 954-525-5500; nsuartmuseum.org). The largest and arguably most prestigious art museum in the county is also hosting an enviable slate of exhibitions for its fall slate, including a trove of recently acquired photographs from legendary shutterbug Joel Meyerowitz and the debut of Miami-based Chinese-American painter Cici McMonigle. Read more about these shows and more here. Admission is $16 for adults; $10 for seniors; $8 for military; $5 for university and high school (ages 13-17) students; and free for NSU students, faculty, and staff as well as Broward College students and children under 12. And during Miami Art Week, on Thursday, Dec. 5, its free museum admission as part of its Sunny Days/Starry Nights, which the museum hosts monthly on first Thursdays. From 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., is the Mini Muse drop-in art making for everyone from kids to adults.
You’ll find more art a few blocks east near Esplanade Park. At the private art space Girls’ Club (330 SW 2nd St. #102, Fort Lauderdale; 954-828-9151; girlsclubcollection.org), “No Looking Back” exhibits some of the most important female photographers of our time. See more about Girls’ Club in this BAJA story. Famous names like Cindy Sherman, Vivian Maier, Ana Mendieta, and Peggy Levinson Nolan are on view. Admission is free and the space is open by appointment or on Fridays from 1 to 5 p.m.; they’ll also host a curator brunch on Saturday, Dec. 7 during Art Week. RSVP at eventbrite.com. Nearby at History Fort Lauderdale (231 SW 2nd Ave., Fort Lauderdale; 954-463-4431; historyfortlauderdale.org), see art from Seminole artists Erica Deitz and Brian Zepeda in “Yanke Seminoli” and learn about the county’s indigenous inhabitants thanks to supplemental material from the Ah-Ta-Thi-Ki Museum. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors, and $5 for students.
North of downtown Fort Lauderdale is the Thrive Art District (710 NW 5th Ave., Fort Lauderdale; 786-878-9600; thriveartdistrict.com), a bustling complex of studios, galleries, and local enterprise. Their periodic art walks happen at the end of the month, but anytime is a good time to visit creative businesses like Connect Records and Uncommon Path Brewing. Follow the neighborhood’s Instagram page to get info about upcoming events. Nearby, the 24 Marie gallery (825 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale; 754-701-1128; 24marie.com) focuses on contemporary art by Black artists, mostly of Jamaican origin.
Digital Love
Miami Art Week is full of digital art displays of questionable quality, but Mad Arts (481 S. Federal Hwy, Dania Beach; 754-239-0707; yeswearemadarts.com) in Dania Beach happens to be the real deal. With two floors of cutting-edge immersive and interactive art installations, it’s one of the most unique art destinations in all of South Florida. Their latest exhibition, “Lit Encounters,” focuses on work by the digital poetry collective theVERSEverse, using new technological innovations to redefine what a poem can be in the information age. Mad Arts also occasionally hosts cult movie screenings and events such as the Small Press Fair; check their Instagram page to keep up. Admission is $19.99 for Florida residents ages 13 and up, children ages 3 to 12, students and seniors, active military and veterans, healthcare workers, and groups of more than eight people; everyone else pays $24.99.
Head down US-1 and you’ll run into ArtsPark at Young Circle and the Art and Culture Center / Hollywood (1650 Harrison St., Hollywood; 954-921-3274; artandculturecenter.org), where the winners of the Southern Prize and State Fellowships for Visual Arts are exhibiting. Read more in-depth coverage about the exhibition. Nine artists, each from one state, have been awarded the coveted grant from South Arts, including Florida’s own Elliot and Erick Jiménez, known locally for their photographic practice. Winners from Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and the Carolinas are also on view. Admission is $10 general admission, $5 for seniors, students, and teens ages 13 to 17; and free for children under the age of 12, teachers, and active duty military personnel and veterans.
While you’re in Hollywood, stroll through the city to see some of the fascinating street art included as part of the Downtown Hollywood Mural Project (hollywoodcra.org). Famous artists such as Kenny Scharf as well as locals like Grabster, Hoxxoh, and Nicole Salcedo have lent their artistry to beautify the city’s walls and sidewalks. It’s just one public art initiative in Broward, which has an entire collection of public art, including at the airport and Port Everglades. Find a full directory of public artworks at broward.org/arts.
Go West
Broward’s art scene isn’t limited to the coastal communities. In the suburban city of Pembroke Pines bordering the Everglades, the Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery and Exhibit Hall (601 City Center Way, Pembroke Pines; 954-392-2120; thefrankgallery.org) is showing art from South Florida’s accomplished female-identifying artists. Curated by Sophie Bonet and Pamela Lopez del Carmen from an initial concept by artist MaiYap, “Ebb & Flow: Exploring the Womanhood Continuum” features art that explores the female experience from birth to motherhood and into menopause and old age. The show features work from Lisu Vega, Amy Gelb, Amanda Covach, RPM Projects, and more; several mediums are on display but fabric art is prominent. Admission to the Frank Gallery is free. Also in Pembroke Pines is the Studio 18 Art Complex (1101 Poinciana Drive, Pembroke Pines; 954-961-6067; ppines.com/studio18) whose resident artists are putting on their own exhibition. Find out more here.
Go North
Coral Springs Museum of Art (2855 Coral Springs Drive, Coral Springs; 954-340-5000; coralspringsmuseum.org) is going deep in the water. Its group show “Tides and Currents” explores humanity’s constantly shifting relationship with our most vital resource, a topic that should provoke some thought in a community bounded by the ocean on one side and the “River of Grass” on the other. There’s a couple of multimedia installations by Julia Zurilla that discuss overseas migration, fabric artworks by Michelle Drummond concerned with limited clean water access in developing nations, and Aria Tan’s transportive works on fishing communities. Sharon Lee Hart, Holly Hanessian, and Evelyn Politzer also feature in the show. Admission is free.
Broward County has plenty of world-class art so get ready to create and indulge in your own Art Week exploration.
