ECLECTIC NETWORK MAGAZINE

Eclectic Network Magazine Turns Into The Spiritual Journalist

eclecticmiami — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:36:00 -0500

The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) or “Eye of God” on The Spiritual Journalist

Sisters and Brothers loyal followers of Eclectic Network Magazine,

I begin this farewell letter with an opening phrase by Indian spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda, a key figure in the introduction of Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western world.

A Capricorn born on January 12th, 1863 in Kolkata, India with the name of Narendra Nath Datta, Vivekananda is perhaps best known for his inspiring speech beginning with “Sisters and Brothers of America,” through which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893.

It has been a wonderful opportunity to be a Miami-based blogger working freelance documenting the art scene of the Magic City for this website and for WHATSUPMIAMI, WUM, Eclectic Network Magazine, Miami Art Walks and Eclectic Artists.

I was also a columnist on arts & spirituality working as an independent contractor for Examiner.com since April 2010.

The Spiritual Journalist is a 14-month old baby project that I launched with the intention of spreading good news about human consciousness, positive-thinking and positive-psychology which are so relevant and necessary nowadays throughout every level of society, all around the world.

The term Spiritual Journalist, it’s not of my creation; it comes from two radio producers, Isabel Rimanoczy and Mariam Tamborenea of Las Minervas Radio Show who conducted my first ever online interview via Habitat Uno Radio from Queretaro, Mexico and transmitted from Aventura, Florida in December 2011.

At the end of the interview entitled “Art as a Pathway to Spirit” both Mariam and Isabel declared, “You are our spiritual journalist” and as soon as I got home, I registered the domain in the BLOGGER platform.

Up to this Valentine’s Day, February 14th, 2013, The Spiritual Journalist has received 32,777 pageviews with only 214 added posts since its launching day on December, 12, 2011, exactly one month before my birthday.

On the other hand, Whatsupmiami,WUM has received 655,341 pageviews with 1135 posts. Last month alone on a single day, this webpage reached a little over 9,000 pageviews.

The Search Engine Positioning, SEP reached by WUM in such a short time has definitely exceeded all of my expectactions.

At this moment of transition, all of my energy, creativity and attention must be directed to the source I have decided to follow, which is the spiritual path, however, I will continue documenting about international art events and artist’s trajectory on WUM.

Last August, I visited Carlsbad, California and attended Dr. Deepak Chopra’s “Journey into Healing” retreat.

There is so much information about this subject of spirituality that I knew that sooner rather than later I was going to be talking about this.

At the end, I graduated with a Master of Science in Mass Communication and it is an intrinsic duty as a journalist to communicate all spiritual teachings that have left a strong imprint within my consciousness.

I want to share this through the Internet.

I have to be thankful for the support of all of those artists, colleagues, gallery owners, fair organizers, art dealers and art aficionados that encouraged me to continue blogging about the arts, however, I feel that my personal inclination is to communicate information that brings a change into the collective consciousness and for me, it’s spirituality the only means to reach such a goal.

You can follow me on Twitter where I use my artistic name JESUSJAY, The Spiritual Journalist.

Click here to be directed to The Spiritual Journalist and thanks!

Jesus Manuel Rojas Torres M.S.

Caracas-based Galeria Medicci at Art Wynwood

eclecticmiami — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 13:36:00 -0500

On Thursday, February 14th, 2013, from 6 to 10PM, the Caracas-based Galeria Medicci will be one of the 70 international participating galleries this week during the second edition of Art Wynwood presenting the work by Alejandro Mendoza, Carlos Luna, Manuel Mendive, Ivan Petrovszky and Manuel Carbonell.

This year, a unique feature of the fair will be the highlight of street art, murals, pop surrealism and other genres from the contemporary underground movement.

The Art Wynwood VIP Preview will take place on Thursday February 14th, 2013 and is only for VIP Cardholders and members of the Press.

MAM Artist Talk: Monika Sosnowska, PAMM Commissioned Artist

eclecticmiami — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:21:06 -0500

On Sunday February 17th, 2013 at 3PM, The Miami Art Museum, MAM will present an artist talk with Warsaw-based celebrated artist Monika Sosnowska, one of the four renowned international artists that were commissioned to create work for the Museum’s reopening as Pérez Art Museum Miami, PAMM in December this year.

In her work, Sosnowska explores the politics and poetics of the built environment, engaging and transforming the architecture of the exhibition space, often in implausible ways. She is best known for large, site-specific sculptures made of industrial materials such as steel and concrete, as well as surreal, tableau-like installations. Last year, she was a finalist for the Guggenheim Hugo Boss Prize.

The artist talk will be moderated by MAM Associate Curator Rene Morales and will have as speaker Joanna Mytkowska, Director of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

For the last 5 years, Mytkowska has held the post as director of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. She is a curator and art critic. Formerly she was a curator at the Centre Pompidou in Paris where she organized the exhibitions “Paweł Althamer” (2006), “The Magellanic Cloud” (2007), and “The Anxious” (2008).

Community Q & A on the Knight Arts Challenge

eclecticmiami — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:31:12 -0500

Bryan Hiveley at the Bakehouse Art Complex

eclecticmiami — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 10:27:00 -0500

Another solo show that inaugurated last Friday, February 8th at the Bakehouse Art Complex was “The Ribbon Snake Revolution” by Minnesota-born Miami-based craft artist Bryan Hiveley.

The colorful exhibition consists of a collection of sculptures pieces made from clay with an oil patina on their surfaces delicately arranged throughout the Swenson Gallery placed on pedestals and walls.

Hiveley has been a professor of ceramics at Miami International University of Art & Design for 12 years and this exhibition opportunity at the Bakehouse will bring him additional exposure for people to see his work.

He received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of South Carolina and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota.

“This show is all inspired by animals in different interpretations and also has abstract sculptures,” said Bryan Hiveley.

Hiveley uses what he calls “zoological work” using animal imagery to manifest and transmit personal narratives. The use of abstraction distorts his depictions of common animals into morphed shapes blurring identification.

His abstract sculptures present surface textures that are candy-like and color-saturated and according to the artist, his goal is not to directly mimic specific objects in nature, but rather to suggest ambiguous bio-morphic forms with no discernible identity.

”The natural world has always been the driving force in my creation of art and is an endless source of inspiration and fascination. Its beauty and intelligence are reflected in the seapod or the complexity of an entire ecosystem,” added Hiveley.

Ninoska Huerta Gallery Presents Karim Borjas at Biscayne Art House

eclecticmiami — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:18:00 -0500

This coming Thursday February 7th, 2013 at 7PM Ninoska Huerta Gallery will present an exhibition by Venezuelan-born Paris-based artist Karim Borjas.

According to Carlos Ortega, Publisher of the UNESCO Paris-based Dialogue Magazine, Borjas is one of the outstanding representatives of the new generation of Venezuelan painters.

“During the last years, Borjas has undertaken an intense intellectual work; based on the subject of writing under his diverse manifestations, permeating such iconography to the pictorial universe that their density and expression force have not stopped intensifying,” said Carlos Ortega.

The private event to be hosted in Brickell Avenue is not open to the public and is by invitation only.

Daniel Fiorda "Present & Forgotten" Exhibition at ArtLink Gallery

eclecticmiami — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:26:48 -0500

This coming Friday February 8th, 2013 from 6 to 9PM, the ArtLink Gallery in Wynwood will inaugurate “Present & Forgotten” (on view through March 16th) an exhibition by Miami-based artist Daniel Fiorda.

As the name implies, Fiorda will be presenting a collection of works that were hiding in forgotten and present spaces seen just by few people.

His series of wall metal sculptures were created between 2007 and 2008, using primary forms, rectangles, squares, perfect or irregular shapes which are placed like a puzzle, in the right places.

In other pieces, Fiorda approaches objects from our daily lives as anthropological findings of a recent past.

The ArtLink Gallery is located at 130NW 36th Street, Miami, Florida 33127.

José Pacheco Silva at the Bakehouse Art Complex

eclecticmiami — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:04:00 -0500

José Pacheco Silva, Sampling Hopper

This coming Friday, February 8th from 7 to 10PM, The Bakehouse Art Complex, BAC will present the 2013 annual series entitled BAC Spotlight featuring BAC Resident Artist, José Pacheco Silva at the Audrey Love Gallery.

For the past year, Miami-based guest curators Adriana Herrera and Willy Castellanos, of the Aluna Curatorial Collective, collaborated with Pacheco Silva to develop his exhibition entitled Transformed Interceptions / Encuentros Transformados (On view through March 1, 2013).

According to the Aluna Curatorial Collective team, Pacheco Silva’s work is submerged in nostalgia but at the same time it contains that of an affirmation, “a laugh that affectively maintains the spaces that were once inhabited and that now belong to the construction of his artistic world for whom this exhibition is an entrance.”

Another solo show opening on Friday entitled The Snake Revolution will feature the work by Bryan Hiveley at BAC’s Swenson Gallery.

$5 Admission; Free for BAC Members (and Press-please contact gshonek@bacfl.org for reservations)

Bakehouse Art Complex, 561 NW 32nd Street, Miami, FL 33127

Emerging Collectors with Emerging Artists

eclecticmiami — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 15:41:16 -0500

This coming Thursday February 7th, 2013 from 6 to 8PM, the Bakehouse Art Complex will be presenting the second part of “Emerging Collectors with Emerging Artists” series Spring 2013 with a talk entitled “Find the Artist, Make Your Purchase.”

“Find the Artist, Make Your Purchase” will be moderated by Denise Gerson and panelists include Nick Korniloff, Alan Roth and Bernice Steinbaum who will speak about having a determined direction for your art collection, knowing and identifying what your interests are and what to look for in terms of value.

Gerson, was the former Associate Director of the Lowe Art Museum for more than two decades. She currently serves on the Board of Directors at the BAC, where she is also an active member of the special events committee.

$25 Admission; $20 BAC Members (Free for Benefactor Level and above)

Space is limited, kindly reserve your seat: rsvp@bacfl.org

Metro 1 Properties & MAM Contemporaries Art Bike Crawl

eclecticmiami — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:44:00 -0500

This coming Thursday February 9th, 2013 at 2PM, The Miami Art Museum, MAM and Metro 1 Properties will take you to a bike tour to see murals and street art in Wynwood led by Miami-based artists.

Space is limited and reservations are required. Bike rental available from Deco Bikes; please indicate if you need a bicycle at online registration.

The Artist Tour guides will be Agustina Woodgate, TYPOE and HOX, event host.

Committee: Marcella & Daniel Novela, Aileen Quintana, Alexandra Gonzalez, Ben Wolkov, Brian Erhlich, Cece Feinberg, Cristina Scarano, Daniela Frewa, Erin Chainani, Evan Agatston, Ginger Harris, Kelly Penton, Lawrence Binder, Liza Walton, Marcia Martinez, Nina Johnson, Valentina Gutchess.

Apply to the Knight Arts Challenge 2013

eclecticmiami — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:18:00 -0500

Today, Monday February 4th, 2013 The Knight Foundation continuing with its mission of investing in artistic excellence throughout Miami has announced the opening of the application process for the Miami Knight Arts Challenge 2013 effective through March 4th and open to all South Florida-based residents.

Over the past 5 years the Knight Foundation has invested over 20 million dollars in this community-based contest, funding a wide variety of projects from all points of the county.

The formal announcement comes from Dennis Scholl, VP/arts at the Knight Foundation.

“Each year, we’re in awe of what South Florida comes up with, innovative ideas, truly Miami ideas, ideas to engage our neighborhoods in the arts,” said Dennis Scholl.

Scholl has also said that applying to Miami Knight Arts Challenge continues to be as easy as ever.

“In this first stage, we just need a 150-word description of your project; We have been inspired too by the geographic reach of our recent winners, who are helping to weave culture into neighborhoods stretching from Delray Beach to Opa-locka and Hialeah,” added Scholl.

The Knight Foundation will host a small Q & A sessions in four neighborhoods: South Dade, North Central Dade, Hollywood and Downtown Miami. Knight Foundation staff will be there to answer all questions regarding this application process.

Community Roundtables:

Fort Lauderdale: 7 p.m. Feb. 18, Cinema Paradiso, 503 SE 6th St.
Downtown Miami: 7 p.m. Feb. 20, Cannonball, 1035 N. Miami Ave., Suite 200
South Dade: 7 p.m., Feb. 21, South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center, 10950 SW 211 St.
North Central Dade: Time and date will be announced soon

LOVELIKETHEUNIVERSE Solo Show by Sinisa Kukec

eclecticmiami — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 19:27:00 -0500

Images Courtesy of Spinello Projects

With an Opening Reception on Valentine’s Day, Thursday February 14th, 2013 from 7 to 10PM, Spinello Projects will inaugurate Sinisa Kukec’s solo exhibition entitled “LOVELIKETHEUNIVERSE: The Collected Social Media Writings of Isha Rose Servitus” (on view through April 6, 2013)

Like legendary humorists Benjamin Franklin, Ambrose Bierce, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., the keen wisdom of contemporary author Isha Rose Servitus is revealed in a series of brief axioms: samples of literal, profound observations regarding the world at large and the nature of human compassion resident in creativity.

Contemporary society has become fond of the art of literal reduction: news, opinion, observation, and testimony is whittled down to the soundbite or a limited series of characters on a screen.

Croatian-born Miami-based Sinisa Kukec will channel these overwhelming questions into mysterious aesthetic objects, hand-crafted and found elements, softly coated with heavy and industrial surfaces.

Kukec’s interest in discarded or obsolete items, often within the realm of a ‘lost-to-found’ sensibility is transformed into aesthetic conversations between things both beautiful and betrayed, delicacies and the disregarded.

Servitus’s writings act as both an inspiration and a catalyst for Kukec’s sculptural experience: from flesh-toned icosahedrons intertwined with Mongolian faux fur, to vintage stereo portals covered with graphite-rubbed epoxy, and ergonomic steam-bent poplar ribbons in seemingly suspended algorithms.

Kukec received a Diploma of Fine Arts from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg and his MFA from Alfred University New York. He is one the artists currently exhibiting at the Miami Art Museum New Works 2013, and he was awarded the 2011 MasterMind sponsored by the NewTimes Broward-Palm Beach.

Spinello Projects, 2030 NW 7th Avenue, 33127

Swampspace Presents "La Maison du Desir" by Nickless & Hamather

eclecticmiami — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 14:11:00 -0500

Next Saturday, February 9th, 2013, Swampspace, the unique Design District exhibition space launched by Miami-based prolific artist Oliver Sanchez in 2008, will be inaugurating in its deluxe new space a collaborative exhibition by Conrad Hamather, professor at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago and by artist & curator, Lea Nickless.

The collaborative show entitled La Maison du Désir or The House of Desire, is the continuation of a dialogue generated between artist and technology that began with the Industrial Revolution.

A pop-up boutique with atelier garment collections, glitter bomb objects referencing the luxury goods industry, mono-prints and a video time-lapse drawing continue the exchange between the digital and the body, technology and art, and the corporal and the spiritual.

Hamather has been creating sculpture and installation work with a discourse on body and architecture for the last two decade and Nickless is an artist interested in the unseen, the subliminal and with all that is shown beneath the surface.

She creates garments from eco-dyed silks that she patterns with leaves, seeds and windfall blossoms which she collects on her daily walks.

La Maison du Désir (on view through March 9) will showcase an atmospheric floor by Atlanta-based scenic artist Keith Frutiger.

Swampspace, 150 NE 42 Street, Miami Design District, 33137

New Book by Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection To Be Presented at ARCO, Madrid

eclecticmiami — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:08:37 -0500

Anne-Marie O'Connor at The Wolfsonian,FIU

eclecticmiami — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:27:31 -0500

Tonight, Friday February 1st, 2013 at 7PM, The Wolfsonian-FIU will present a book discussion and signing with culture writer and veteran correspondent Anne-Marie O’Connor who will be talking about her book released last February by Knopf entitled “The Lady in Gold.”

During World War II, the Nazis stripped Jews of their belongings, including many pieces of art.

Some of these were returned after long legal battles. In O’Connor’s book,the author tells the story behind one of the most famous cases, Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.

The Lady in Gold, considered an unforgettable masterpiece, one of the twentieth century’s most recognizable paintings, made headlines all over the world when Ronald Lauder bought it for $135 million a century after Klimt, the most famous Austrian painter of his time, completed the society portrait.

O’Connor, writer for The Washington Post, formerly of the Los Angeles Times, tells the galvanizing story of the Lady in Gold, Adele Bloch-Bauer, a dazzling Viennese Jewish society figure; daughter of the head of one of the largest banks in the Hapsburg Empire, head of the Oriental Railway, whose Orient Express went from Berlin to Constantinople; wife of Ferdinand Bauer, sugar-beet baron.

The Bloch-Bauers were art patrons, and Adele herself was considered a rebel of fin de siècle Vienna -she wanted to be educated, a notion considered “degenerate” in a society that believed women being out in the world went against their feminine “nature-

The author describes how Adele inspired the portrait and how Klimt made more than a hundred sketches of her—simple pencil drawings on thin manila paper.

And O’Connor writes of Klimt himself, son of a failed gold engraver, shunned by arts bureaucrats, called an artistic heretic in his time, a genius in ours.

After tonight’s talk, O’Connor will be signing books that will be available for purchase at The Wolfsonian Shop. The event is free and open to the public.

Lamia Khorshid at Curator's Voice Art Projects

eclecticmiami — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 23:28:01 -0500

Beats after Sunset at the Bass Museum of Art

eclecticmiami — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:06:36 -0500

This coming Friday, February 1st, 2013 from 8 to 11PM, The Bass Museum of Art will present the popular Bass first Friday’s of art and music “Beats after Sunset” sponsored by Hendrick’s Gin.

There are three exhibitions currently on view at the Bass, “The Endless Renaissance: six solo artist projects”, “tc: temporary contemporary”, and “Egyptian gallery”; also on view is an art installation by ahol sniffs glue.

Beats will be by Darwin Castillo. This event is free for Bass members; non-members $10

INCOGNITO at Friends of Art at the Patty & Jay Baker Naples Museum of Art

eclecticmiami — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:10:25 -0500

Tomorrow, Thursday January 31st, 2013 at 5:30PM, The Friends of Art at the Patty & Jay Baker Naples Museum of Art will inaugurate the first fundraiser of the year with INCOGNITO, an ingenious idea of showcasing 200 works of art in a full-day raffle event to benefit the exhibitions, lectures and educational programs at the museum.

The event starts at 11AM with a preview for patrons and sponsors ($500-$1000 level) at the Daniels Pavilion at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts. In INCOGNITO the identity of the artists has been concealed but their names will be known only after the work has been selected during the raffle.

The artists will be presenting original 8x10 works of art that will be signed on the back. The way the event is structured will allow everyone in attendance to go home with a work of art, which will be distributed by raffle, as the tickets are drawn, the ticket-holders will select the painting of their choice.

The Friends of Art at the Patty & Jay Baker Naples Museum of Art is formed by the Chair, Richard L. Tooke, and Committee members, Bobbie Lublin, Charles L. Marshall, Jr., and Millie Schott.

MAM & Miami-Dade College Present College Night

eclecticmiami — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:21:00 -0500

This coming Thursday January 31st, 2013 from 6 to 8:30PM, The Miami Art Museum and Miami-Dade College will present a lively, interactive evening of exhibition-inspired student performances including dance, dramatic reading and more.

New Work Miami 2013 artists will lead art-making projects.

DJ Woozles will be spinning and refreshments will be provided.

Information at education@miamiartmuseum.org or 305.375.4073.

The Barnes & Noble Writers on the Bay Presents John Hodgen

eclecticmiami — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:35:00 -0500

On Thursday, February 7th, 2013 at 8PM, The Barnes & Noble Writers on the Bay Reading Series will present award-winning author John Hodgen at the Wolfe University Center, F.I.U Biscayne Bay Campus.

The free and open to the public event is sponsored by Barnes & Noble Booksellers and The Betsy Hotel.

John Hodgen won the AWP Donald Hall Prize in Poetry for Grace (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005) and the 2008 Chad Walsh Prize in Poetry from Beloit Poetry Journal.

His fourth book of poetry, Heaven & Earth Holding Company, was released from University of Pittsburgh Press last year, and his first book, In My Father’s House, has just been reprinted from Eastern Washington University.

Hodgen has also been a recipient of other prestigious awards such as the Grolier Prize for Poetry, an Arvon Foundation Award, the Yankee Magazine Award for Poetry, first prize in the Red Brick Review poetry competition, and a Massachusetts Cultural Council Finalist Award in Poetry in 2000.

Several of his poems have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize, and he was one of five finalists in the Massachusetts Artists Foundation Fellowship Program. Hodgen was also a finalist in Houghton Mifflin’s New Poetry Series, Cleveland State University’s Poetry Center Prize, Carnegie Mellon University’s Poetry Series, and Northeastern University’s Samuel French Morse Poetry Award.

For further information, call the English Department at (305) 919-5857 or visit http://casgroup.fiu.edu/english/.

Requests from individuals with physical disabilities who may need specific accommodations must be made five working days in advance. Please call the English Department at (305) 919-5857.