Sebastian Spreng: DRESDEN

Two exhibitions of digital art—Sebastian Spreng: DRESDEN and Sheila Elias: Painted Pixels—open at the Lowe Art Museum with a reception at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 17. While focused on vastly different subjects, the artists have been making art in the digital sphere since, respectively, 2015 and 2010, harnessing the creative possibilities offered by this technology. Their exhibitions will be on view through September 23.

Spreng’s DRESDEN depicts the decimation of this beautiful eastern German city by Allied bombers in February 1945, and is a meditation on mankind’s infinite capacity for both good and evil. Despite the stark messaging of the images in the DRESDEN project, the 61 works, created on an iPad, have an undeniably lyrical, painterly quality due, in part, to Spreng’s deep knowledge of and passion for classical music; he infuses his paintings with the spirit of his preferred composers.

Elias’ works in Painted Pixels come in and out of focus, buoyed by waves of colors, as one engages with them. Though abstract, many pay homage to her own body of figurative work as well as favored literary masterpieces that inspire her. Created on the iPad and printed on aluminum, whose luster and reflective qualities echo the effect of an illuminated screen, Elias’s works enable viewers to enjoy the so-called “liminal” or in-between spaces.

To be permanently installed in the foyer of the Lowe Art Museum, Dale Chihuly’s spectacular Mosaic Persian will be on view to the public beginning Friday, April 13.  A gift to the Lowe, Mosaic Persian was commissioned in 1998 for collectors Dale & Doug Anderson’s Palm Beach home, and comprises 32 beautiful glass elements reconfigured specifically for the Lowe. The installation reflects the Lowe’s focus in 2018, which it declared the “Year of Glass.”

“The Andersons’ remarkable gift to the Lowe Art Museum is truly transformative,” said Jill Deupi, Beaux Arts director and chief curator of the Lowe. “Not only is their stunning Chihuly installation destined to become one of the Lowe’s signature works of art, it will also highlight for our visitors the remarkable collections housed in our Myrna and Sheldon Palley Pavilion, which was reinstalled earlier this year in celebration of the  “Year of Glass.” We are deeply grateful to Dale & Doug for their generosity of spirit and their belief in the power of art to touch and to change lives.”

The installation of Mosaic Persian in the Lowe’s foyer will be followed by other glass art-related events throughout the “Year of Glass,” including glass exhibitions; a lecture by artist Clifford Rainey as part of the Palley bi-annual glass artist lecture series; teacher workshops, Community Days, tours, and other education and engagement events. For details, view the Year of Glass program.

Special to UM News

The Myrna and Sheldon Palley Pavilion at the Lowe Art Museum

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (February 28, 2018)—With the reinstallation of its Myrna and Sheldon Palley Pavilion now complete, the Lowe Art Museum has declared 2018 the Year of Glass and is celebrating the dazzling studio glass collection the Miami couple donated a decade ago with a series of glass exhibitions and related programs throughout the year.

Curated by Linda Boone, owner of Habatat Galleries of Boca Raton, the new installation features 150 pieces by a who’s who of glass artists, from Dale Chihuly and Jose Chardiet to Therman Statom and Lino Tagliapietra.

“We might have collected the glass, but the collection belongs to the community where we have lived for the past 70 years: attending UM, working, and raising our family,” Myrna Palley said at the reinstallation celebration on February 6. “Miami and the University of Miami mean so much to Sheldon and me that giving the collection to the Lowe, and making it available for everyone to see and enjoy, was our way of saying thank you. The community has done so much for us.”

The Year of Glass celebration will continue with hands-on workshops with UM glass artist students; the spring installation of Chihuly’s Mosaic Persion (1998), a donation by Dale & Doug Anderson, in the museum’s lobby; a fall presentation by internationally acclaimed sculptor Clifford Rainey as part of the biannual Palley Glass Artist lecture series; and three temporary exhibitions featuring highlights from the Collection of Robert and Florence Werner, new work from Venetian master glass artist Giampaolo Seguso, and the ninth edition of ArtLab @ the Lowe, which will examine the studio glass movement in the context of contemporary art and culture.

During December’s Miami Art Week, the Lowe’s annual Art Basel Bubbles and Brunch lecture on Sunday, December 9, also will feature a presentation by an internationally recognized glass artist. Additionally, glass-related programming will take place all year long, including tours, community days, teacher workshops, Lowe After Hours, and other educational and engagement events.

“Myrna and Sheldon’s vision and passion have transformed the Lowe Art Museum into one of the nation’s finest academic art museums, which in turn has been transformative for the entire University,” said Jeffrey L. Duerk, executive vice president and provost for University of Miami. “Their newly reinstalled Pavilion is a testament to the wonder of glass as well as to the Palleys’ importance as collectors in this exciting field.”

Leonidas G. Bachas, dean of the College Arts and Sciences, expressed deep gratitude for the unstinting friendship the Palleys have shown the college for so many years. “Their exemplary commitment to philanthropy makes clear precisely how such munificence benefits not only the direct recipients but also the entire community,” Bachas said.

Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, and from 12 to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The Lowe is closed on Mondays and University holidays. Admission is free on Donation Day, the first Tuesday of every month. For more information, call 305-284-3535.

Medical, nursing, and physical therapy graduate students come to the Lowe to observe and discuss art—and enhance patient safety.

Special to UM News

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (June 21, 2017)—Medical, nursing, and physical therapy graduate students gathered at the Lowe Art Museum last week as part of a unique study program that hones their observation and communication skills—while reflecting on art.

Part of the University of Miami’s annual Patient Safety Week, the Fine Art of Health Care program developed at the Lowe is based on Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), a methodology that invites participants to enhance their sensitivity, empathy, communication, and teamwork, which in turn improves patient outcomes.

“Participants are always surprised at what they discover beyond their initial impressions of what they see,” said Hope Torrents, the Lowe’s director of the program, now in its fourth year. “Additionally, they learn to communicate about their observations with sensitivity and in collaboration with their peers, which can only benefit their patients.”

While many programs around the country incorporate visual art into medical education, the Lowe program is singular in that it convenes students from different medical disciplines who one day will need to work together.

More than 300 students spent part of last week in small groups, observing and discussing pieces of art in the museum’s galleries, and focusing on the connections between examining art and examining a patient. The exercise is valuable, Torrents says, because ambiguity in art is similar to the uncertainty of a patient’s illness. Different perspectives and interpretations can help to enhance the understanding of a work of art, just as multiple perspectives support a more accurate patient diagnosis.

Hierarchy doesn’t exist when the students walk into the museum. The playing field is leveled, and all interpretations and perspectives are welcomed.

Now a surgical resident in Chicago, Miller School of Medicine graduate Benjamin Lemelman was asked to share his thoughts about the Lowe program with the students who attended last week’s session. He applauds it for breathing arts into the sciences.

“As you focus on a painting or sculpture or photograph, you will: Observe. Listen. Communicate. Acknowledge. Connect. Substantiate. Lead. Affirm. Be silent. Disagree. And JUST BE,” Lemelman wrote in a message. “This is what’s missing from medicine. We get so focused; we get lost. We can lose sight of what matters. What is meaningful. Why we entered health care in the first place.”

In an age where insightful communication is compromised by social media and stimulation overload, VTS and the Lowe program are now recognized as a highly effective strategy to develop the empathic and observational skills fundamental to so many industries—from law enforcement to air traffic controllers to human resources.

Children happily inaugurated the newly renovated Beaux Arts Children’s Pavilion last week as Beaux Arts members and guests celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting, music, treats, pizza, and art-making activities developed by the Lowe education team.

Sebastian the Ibis was the star of the evening—posing for photos and creating masks with the kids—but Beaux Arts members who pledged $148,000 to update the pavilion were the real heroes.

Beaux Arts Co-Presidents Diana Moll and Kim Wood, above,  joined Sergio Gonzalez, senior vice president for university advancement and external affairs, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Leonidas Bachas, and Lowe Director Jill Deupi in the official ribbon cutting.