Our community, like many others worldwide, takes pride in their repertoire of Art in Public Places. Commissioned artworks supported with public funds are derived from development or construction projects. These programs create diverse, visually-rich environments that are integrated into the architecture and landscape of the area. In the last few months, Constant Companion and I took advantage of two tours organized and led by the staff of the County Art in Public Places collections.

A few months ago we drove over to the Port of Miami, publicized as the largest passenger port in the world. We were part of a group that was able to see recently completed artworks by local, national, and internationally renowned artists in the Port’s newest signature cruise terminals.

In Terminal B, we all admired Mark Dion’s The Arcturus Adventure, (2020), a sculpture of the Arcturus, a landmark ship in the history of marine biological art and science that served as a floating laboratory and field station. Cut-out sections allowed viewers to see the ship’s intricate inner workings.

As we drove to Terminal V, we passed Jim Drain’s The Bollard Project (2014) along Cruise Boulevard that transformed utilitarian bollards between terminals into a signature work with bright, expressive color combinations. The color sequences are arranged to reference semiphore flags used by sailors. I’m not sure if other participants in the tour saw them.

At Terminal V, our next destination, the monumental video wall, Sunday (2022), by internationally renowned, Miami-based artist Dara Friedman greeted us. Lights line the first floor entrance lobby of the Virgin Voyages modernistic terminal. Imagery drawn from the epic sunrises and sunsets of Florida’s Everglades and southern coastlines captured on 35mm film reveal the effects of sun, water, and horizon.

One wall of the second floor of the terminal is completely filled with a large-scale veneer inlay mural, comprised of 20 species of wood, A Nautical Love Letter: Our City and the Sea (2022) by Miami-based artist Kelly Breez. Breez worked with her father in a boat yard to learn ship building and wood-working skills. The mermaid in the center of the work highlights the glamor of journeys on the sea. She is joined by images of Miami Beach’s Art Deco buildings.

Threshold (2022) is several digital panels created by Coral Morphologic, the artist collaborative Colin Foord and Jared McKay. It greets visitors in several locations in Terminal V including the third Floor passenger waiting area, the 3rd floor VIP Lounge, and the round Floor VIP Entrance.

Coral Morphologic has installed underwater camera in the waters near the Port of Miami that records the life daily (https://www.coralmorphologic.com/). Their site-specific installation shows living corals illuminated by blue LED light to capture their natural colors.

One has to look up in the Third Floor VIP Lounge – Bar to catch Jillian Mayer’s Dropped Glass Ceiling (2022). Mayer’s installation is a new approach and a new body of work made from kiln-worked fused glass.

Upon entering Terminal A the entire group admired the “sculpture” created by mounting two very large, rotating ship propellers with light show at the top of the escalator. This installation was as captivating as any work of public art.

Our tour ended at Terminal A where internationally renowned artist Tomás Saraceno filled the space with Space Moving Light (2018), multifaceted geometric structures constructed of stainless steel with reflective panels. Space Moving Light is the largest permanent commission by Saraceno in the United States. Viewers can find themselved reflected in the sculpture’s surfaces

Our second escape into the realm of public art was during Art Week, when Constant Companion and I escaped the magnetic pull of the omnipresent art fairs. We joined an Art in Public Places tour, a Public Art Reveal. This time to River Parc Apartments, a recently opened large public housing complex in Little Havana along the Miami River. The art, like at the Port, is scattered across the property, in and out of buildings. Many of the artworks refer to the richness of our local flora and fauna. One goal is to enhance the lives of the residents. I’d love to live there to be immersed in the art I saw!

We started with an installation by Sri Prabha titled “Convergent Cognizance of a Multitude of Views and beings, … .” Three video panels alive with lights snd changing colors reference the water and birds that surround us.

“Tree Bouquet,” a painted tapestry by Summer Wheat, goes a step further to incorporate native animals and plants into a night garden scene. Viewers can find local flowers, birds, insects, and a frog, and an alligator around the spreading tree.

Miami-based artist, Agustina Woodgate partnered with the complex’s developer, Related Group, O Miami Poetry and others to create her “Concrete Poetry,” a walkway through the gardens inlaid with original poems written by local residents. The letters look like scrabble tiles.

An ancient oak tree, saved and moved to the property is encircled by “Broken River Ring” by Mark Handforth. Once the tree is stabilized and landscapig added, residents will be invited to sit on and interact with the powerful sculpture.

It was hard to miss the screens suspended from the parking garage leading between the two previous works. This artwork, alive with scenes of Miami by Cornelius Tulloch, is not part of the Art in Public Places collection. It was commissioned by the Related Group; the founder of Related, George Perez, is known locally as an art collector, philanthropist (Perez Art Museum Miami), and museum founder (Espacio 23). He continues to make a mark on our arts landscape.

We were drawn next to the large, dragonfly sculpture by internationally known Cuban-American multimedia artist Sandra Ramos. The image of the dragonfly was inspired by the sculpture’s proximity to the Miami River; dragonflies are resilient creatures, often drawn to bodies of water, like rivers.

Two large paintings by Magnus Sodamin bring the outside into one of the dining areas of this residence. “Passages Through Time” and “Wildlife Corridor” resulted from research Sodamin did while during residencies at the Deering Estate and Everglades National Park. Lavish flora in changing light emerge on both canvases.

The final stop was textile work and assemblages by Pepe Mar. His fabric wall works manipulate custom-printed textiles taking Mar in a new direction. In addition, he requested that the developers leave a niche in the building’s lobby into which he created a work made up of stuff he’s long been collecting that others no longer wanted.

Art Weeks seems like many weeks ago as we on the cusp of Chanukah/Christmas/Kwanza. The latter excursion was by no means our last outing during the week. It was, however, one of the highlights. We both look forward to other Public Art tours as well as a few more staycations.