The Summer Of Art Is In Season At MDC

Miami Dade College’s Art Gallery System springs into its “Summer of Art” presenting three distinct exhibitions featuring private photo collections, paintings, and other mixed-media works by international artists.

Embedded: A Photojournalist Captures Conflict and Resistance, Collections & Curiosities andEmergence & Structure opened on May 24 at MDC’s Freedom Tower for an audience of 375 according to Jeremy Mikolajczak, Executive Director of the Art Gallery. “The opening was successful and well attended by the local community, across Florida and the United States,” Mikolajczak said. “The response has been fantastic and we have had a consistent flow of traffic in the gallery since we opened the exhibitions.”

Revealing rare images of war, struggle, and allegiance of a group of Cuban patriots during the Movimiento de Recuperacion Revolucionaria—a movement that attempted to overthrow Fidel Castro—Embedded consists of more than 800 still photographs collected throughout a nine-month period in the mid-1960s by Jim Nickless, a freelance cameraman for NBC News.

“[Documenting the conflict] was a pivotal experience,” Nickless said. “[It was] the most important work I did.”

A talk with the artist was held on June 2 where Nickless shared his experience documenting the conflict and why he chose to release the records at the Freedom Tower, a symbolic site for the Cuban community.

“I didn’t realize it was so important to other people,” Nickless said. “There were people with tears; it was very emotional.”

Among the attendees were Jose Vale and Santiago Alvarez, ex-soldiers of the movement who reunited to see the images of their time in battle.

Collections & Curiosities is a compilation of two personal art collections gifted to the college from the estates of Jock Truman and Norma Niurka. Truman was the director of the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York City; Niurka was an acclaimed journalist, writer and theater critic for The Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald.

The Truman collection contains a pool of interesting assortments, such as primitive ceramics, works by the great American artist Saul Steinberg, constructions by American artist Leo Rabkin and a selection of watercolors crafted by Truman.

The Niurka collection is an intimate compilation of her treasured works from Latin American artists, including prominent local figures Arturo Rodríguez, Antonia Eiríz, and Ramón Carulla.

Emergence & Structure explores enigmatic concepts in scientific theory. The pieces are primarily two-dimensional and vary from acrylic on fabric to graphite and tea on paper, oil on linen and acrylic and resin on plexiglass. It features over 40 works by 16 internationally-renowned artists, including Ed Kerns, Jim Toia and Mary Hambleton.

All exhibitions are free and open to the public through August 11.

The Freedom Tower at MDC is located at 600 Biscayne Blvd. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, from noon to 5 p.m.

For more information, please contact MDC’s Art Gallery System at 305-237-7700.