Sophia Grace & Rosie

If your Monday morning hasn't started the way you hope, I promise that after watching this video it will get better. The clip is from the Ellen show where Sophia Grace & Rosie have become the regular guests. Since Ellen every time gives them presents, this time the girls decided to give something for Ellen.

If you aren't familiar with these two Brittish girls, you apparently haven't been on YouTube. Sophia Grace & Rosie, became famous from their videos where Sophia Grace was singing and Rosie dancing and toady the girls have more 3 million views. With their pink dresses and Brittish accent they travel around the US interviewing celebrities and filming "Tea Time with Sophia Grace & Rosie".

Street Art

Street art and graffitis are many times criticized and seen in a negavtive light. Well the other hand it's understandable, there are people whose purpose to create graffiti work is not even art but just to destroy someone's property. Luckily, there are artists who want to prove that spray paints can be also used to create unique art pieces on everyday surfaces. 

In Miami, Wynwood is the favorite place for many graffiti artists. Paintings on buildings' walls make the city a lot more vivid and when you walk around the streets it feels like you are in a comic book. The work is so detailed that you can nothing but wonder how on earth they were done by only using spray bottles? Oh well, some people just know how it's done. 

Pictures here: http://woodlandshoppersparadise.blogspot.com/2012/09/miamis-wynwood-street-art-3-of-3.html

Here's a good blog that's only focusing on street art around the world from Valencia, Spain to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Enjoy! 

http://www.unurth.com/

Coco Art Live Fair 2012

On October 26,27 and 28th, Coconut Grove's Convention Center filled with contemporary artists and people who were eager to see the newest inventions of the art world. Art works varied from music to installations and dance shows. 

Everybody who wanted could try drawing or painting so not only the artists were allowed to create art in front of the audience.  

You could also join for "brunch" but unfortunately this time the expression "too good to be true" was right. Even though the cupcakes looked amazing, they were just decorations. 

You can find out more about this project from here. 

http://artlivefair.org/index.html

Here and There

The beauty of art is that it can be found everywhere.. On the streets, in stores, or at home. A lot of times many people think that art is something compared to rocket science and in order to understand it, you need to have a double degree in art history and physics. No, the only thing you have to have is patience and open eyes. 

A good example of transforming everyday things into art is Hans-Peter Feldmann, a German visual artist and 2010 Hugo Boss award winner. He is known as a collector and is able to create art of almost out of anything. Once he had paid a few women 500 euros to give their purses and all the contents. Later the purses with their contents were seen in installations in one of his exhibitions. 

His most famous work is $100,000 dollars, an installation of $1 bill pinned on the wall, and yes there's 100,000 of them. Probably majority of the people would find some other use for that big amount of money but Feldmann came up with something else; an art piece against capitalism. The message that he is tried to convey was how money has become the  most powerful factor, even in the artistic world that should be free from all the outside authorities. 

http://www.artbahrain.org/archives/jul-aug2011/award_THE_HUGO_BOSS_PRIZE_2010__Hans-Peter_Feldmann_july.php

Probably the best thing in art is that anybody can make it, whether it's music, photography, poems, drawing, painting, acting, or whatever you can come up with. The hardest thing about it is to get rid of the thought "No I can't, I'm don't how to.." Even the Hugo Boss award winner Feldmann, said "I'm not artist, I'm just a person who happens to love photos."

This morning I woke up at 5:30 for no reason, so I decided to go get breakfast from Starbucks. It was still dark outside so it felt almost like an autumn morning in Finland, although instead of 5°C it was 25°C but still I wanted to wear a scarf since it's mid-November and Christmas is coming.. A good morning got even better after realizing my coffee was served from Starbucks Chirstmas cups. For some it's just a paper cup, for me it's cute design that tells that one of the holiday of the year, Chirstmas, is coming. 

See, art is everywhere.. 

Wynwood Art Walk

November's Art Walk was just as good as the ones before and even the 10 minutes pooring rain didn't bother the enthusiastic groud.

(picture here)

I think Art Walk is one of the best events in Miami. In addition to numerous open galleries, they have open air markets where new and young designers sell for example clothings and accessories. When you get hungry or thirsty instead of trying squize into one of the packed bars or restaurants, you can buy delicious arepas or waffles from the stands. It's once in month and even though you don't carry a calender in your purse or don't even use the calender on your iPhone, you still won't miss the date because it's on the second Saturday of every month.

Wynwood is the place to find not only contemporary and interesting art, but also people. If you're lacking creativity in attire or just need some inspiration for your style, I recommend you to join one of the Art Walks and see what people are wearing. It's like your're reading a colorful fashion magazine.

(picture here)

There's no chance that you would go back home with a sad face, the live music, vivid art and great people guarantee you a good night. Even if there's a chance of rain.

MOCA

Museum Of Contemporary Art located in North Miami Beach, a few blocks towards the beach from Broward College. The museum displays pieces from new and young artists so it is a perfect place for audience to discover very contemporary art. Despite its small size, their calendar of events is big. One of the most popular events is live jazz night on the last Friday of every month. Thanks to Miami's never ending sauna, except during hurricanes, the event is held outdoors.

On the last Friday of October, we were supposed to join the Jazz night that was due to the tropical cyclone Sandy taken inside. Although, a couple of years in Miami apparently the "Miami-time" has gotten into us born and bred Scandinavians as well. We got to MOCA at 9:30pm, one hour and half later and the only musical rhythms we heard were from the electronic art pieces. 

Even though we missed our main goal, listening to live Jazz, we still were able to see the current the exhibition called "Trading Places" that will be up till Novemeber 11th. Because of photo policies, there's not much photos to show, but maybe there's a reason for you to go there yourself and see the exhibition. :)

Jazz at MOCA is free and is held on the last Friday of month. Galleries are open by donation from 7pm-10pm.

http://mocanomi.org/2012/11/30/

https://mocanomi.org/

Art and Miami

If you were asked to describe Miami, what would you say? Beaches, nice cars, 359 days of sun, a few too tanned tourist, heat and the real Heat, big night clubs and never ending parties? Probably very few people would say "Oh, Miami. Yeah we went there to learn about art and architecture!" Yes, I know what you think, a better place for that is Paris. In Miami you're more likely to learn to swim with dolphins and snorkeling, to break a coconut and mix the coconut water with vodka, and dance reggaeton until your feet are too swollen that your high heels won't fit anymore.

I've been studying in Miami for a while now and moved here from Europe, where art culture and architecture is easy to find and access. After moving here, only things that I saw were concrete buildings after another, cars and fast food restaurants. I felt that at the airport in Finland I didn't say only good bye to my family, but it was also a farewell to culture and sophistication. Despite my presumptions, thanks to a few friends, I was proved wrong and Miami turned out to be a lot more than that.

During the first year here, my friends took me to the Wynwood Art District on one of those second Saturdays, better known as Art Walk. For those who have never heard or taken part in one, I highly recommend you to read Miami NewTimes and go to at least one of them even if you weren't that into arts. You can wonder around NW 20th and 36th Streets West of North Miami Avenue and all the galleries are open to the audience. Walking between the blocks won't get boring thanks to live music and crowded streets. If you aren't convinced enough yet, most the galleries welcome people in with a free glass of wine and cheese plate.

When you drive just a couple blocks up to the North from Wynwood you'll get to Miami Design District. Even though the area is more focused on design, luxury, and fashion, you can still find a great selection of art galleries. The Design District also has its own Art Walk on the second Saturday of each month. Although compared to Wynwood's contemporary style and rather hipster people, when you step into these galleries, it's better to take off your skinny jeans and Converse Shoes and put on your "first date" clothes, or preferably even better.

If you're just starting to explore all the art events and places than you're in a right place. To this blog I will try to gather as many art events and galleries as my limited time and student budget allow. Hopefully I will also get one or two of you to join the events and go and find the beautiful art that Miami is full of. Please, feel free to share your own experiences and suggestions whether leaving a comment or just email.

ps. Last but not least: some links that might be necessary if you decide visit Wynwood

http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Hipster

http://www.miami.com/wynwood-second-saturday-gallery-night-article