Miami Art Museum presents: Brick x Brick

Scaling Down the City

2012-01-30T16:26:00.000-08:00

A great new group of kids at Mater Academy, plus some of our Brick by Brick veterans, teamed up to develop their tabletop cityscapes. These scaled down models of urban spaces are helping us to become sensitive to architecture, construction and urban planning. Stay tuned...

Brick x Brick 2012 is underway!

2012-01-25T07:10:00.000-08:00

Artists Michelle Weinberg and Nereida Garcia Ferraz introduced the concept of small scale city models or maquettes to the groups at Girl Power in Liberty City. After establishing the differences between two-dimensional and three-dimensional, we began constructing a 3D cityscape using a ubiquitous 2D material - corrugated cardboard. After demonstrating a few basic cutting and building techniques with the group, they were off. Shortly, an amphitheater with sky box, towers and shops, public parks, streets and more were made. Next, the tabletop sets will be painted and documented by the girls with video and still photography, emphasizing the drama of architectural forms. Stay tuned for more great projects by both Girl Power and Mater Academy teens in the coming months!

MAM Brick x Brick 2011: cubic collaboration

2012-01-18T17:07:00.000-08:00

Brick x Brick 2011: cubic collaboration from MAM Brick x Brick on Vimeo.

Happy New Year everybody and welcome back to Brick x Brick.
We are now meeting actively at both sites:

Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30-5:30 at East Mater Academy in Little Havana
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4-6 at Girl Power in Liberty City.

This is the video of the stuff we did last year at Girl Power and Mater Academy. Stay with us for more great creative fun coming in 2012!!!

Brick x Brick exhibition and reception

2011-06-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

We had a fantastic time!
Thanks to Flagler Arts Space, and our sponsors JP Morgan Chase and the National Endowment for the Arts.
And the great catering from downtown Miami neighbor, Macy's!

Highlights of BxB 2011

2011-06-09T05:49:00.000-07:00

Check out some highlights of the creative fun we've had this year. We focused a lot on making art using recycled materials and creating temporary installations in public spaces. A huge number of kids participated in different activities over the course of this year, both at Mater Academy and Girl Power. Overall, we had an awesome year thanks to our sponsor: Miami Art Museum; our funders: JP MORGAN CHASE and the National Endowment for the Arts; our instructors: Nereida Garcia Ferraz, Michael Genovese, Dinorah de Jesús Rodriguez and Michelle Weinberg; and all the awesome kids who participated.

A special thanks go out to Federico and Nicolas Paseiro who took the time out to come down to the gallery and help us install the show. Nicolas Paseiro is also responsible for 90% of the music in the videos on display at the exhibition.

It was an amazing year and we can't wait for the next one!

Please come to our exhibition at Flagler Arts Space, 172 W. Flagler in downtown Miami, opening TODAY June 9 from 3-5PM.

Sneak Preview of Cubic Collaboration exhibition - - - -

2011-06-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

Here are a few peeks at the end of year Brick x Brick exhibition at Flagler Arts Space downtown. Brothers Nicolas and Federico Paseiro are making magic with a site-specific string and tape installation. The students were involved in all aspects of this exhibition, deciding what works should be featured and where.

Come to the reception tomorrow, Thursday June 9, 3-5pm, 172 West Flagler, to see all the work plus a video sharing all the projects we worked on this year. Congratulations to everyone from Girl Power and Mater Academy.

A huge thank you to our funders, JP Morgan Chase and the National Endowment for the Arts.

A special thanks to Annie and Tom Blazejack and the artists at Flagler Arts Space for the opportunity to work in their fantastic space! Check out their blog to keep up with their activities.

The public is invited!

2011-06-01T06:24:00.000-07:00

Brick x Brick page in Mater Academy school yearbook!

2011-06-01T06:23:00.000-07:00

Outdoor painting of the woven mats

2011-05-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

The girls at Girl Power had an extremely constructive day! After rapid mat weaving indoors, we brought the work outdoors to our colossal vacant lot studio to paint them using spray paint.

Woven recycled mats at Girl Power

2011-05-27T10:36:00.001-07:00

The girls became really adept at weaving cardboard strips into construction mesh - to form surprisingly durable and beautiful floor mats or wall coverings. They are flexible, lightweight - and coincidentally have a brick pattern!

Still life drawing at Girl Power

2011-05-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

We got back to basics at Girl Power. Once we made the papier mache bricks, we stacked them to form a tabletop city, and we approached it like a traditional still life drawing assignment. Simple cubes, spheres, columns arranged in space led to some fantastic drawings by the girls. Too many good ones to show here. Just a selection.....

Outdoor Paintings at Mater

2011-05-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

We took our clay, some tape, spray paint, paint, glass tiles, and colored chalk and worked on these plywood boards that we found lying abandoned in an empty lot near Mater. We created these lovely paintings and installations and left them there for the community to enjoy.

Listening and Making New Sounds

2011-05-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

Brick x Brick artist Michael Genovese shares his work with Miami Art Museum MAM Contemporaries

2011-05-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

check out Anne Tschida's article covering a special event organized by the MAM Contemporaries in honor of the purchase of work by Michael Genovese.

Click to read The art of a scribe and the building of a community on KnightArts blog.

Mesh banner at Girl Power

2011-04-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

Today at Girl Power, we added color and pattern to our hand-sewn mesh banner via spray paint. We're thinking about layers, about using the spray paint to add pattern using silhouettes from found objects. A vacant lot is a fantastic workplace!

This work will be accompanied by another more rugged banner - perhaps we're creating a backdrop for more 3D works to come. We're starting to think about our installation for Brick by Brick's end of the year exhibition on June 9!

Vizcaya's Gardens

2011-04-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

Here some more images from last Friday's visit to Vizcaya.
Enjoy them!

Field Trip to Vizcaya!

2011-04-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

We spent an unforgettable day during our "Pink-T-Shirt Invasion" at Vizcaya, where we were lucky enough to meet Ernesto Oroza, the artist who currently has an exhibit there as part of Vizcaya's Contemporary Art Program.

Vizcaya is undoubtedly one of Miami's most interesting locations, and we really enjoyed our visit there. The building is really interesting, as well as the contents of the mansion (we were only allowed to take pictures outside) and the gardens were totally amazing! Some of us walked the maze in the Maze Garden - it wasn't as easy at it looked!

Clay Projects at Mater Academy

2011-04-24T10:56:00.000-07:00

We started out by creating our own clay brick factory. We mass-produced hundreds of tiny bricks, then used them to build our amazing projects.

Girl Power works on a mesh banner

2011-04-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

Inspired by a construction cover for a building during renovation by Landscape Architect Ken Smith, the girls at Girl Power set to work transforming their own giant piece of mesh. Using found fabric flowers and thread, the mesh banner is a work in progress. Needlework skills are being picked up along the way.

MOBILES at Mater Academy

2011-04-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

Visit to the local library

2011-04-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

We took a walk to the Hispanic Branch of the library to see the current exhibition there by artist Angela Valella, which includes large paper photographs and an overhead projection. We all wrote down some quick comments to offer as feedback for the artist. The comments are included below.

"At first I only saw images that I did not understand. However, the way you chose to arrange and express the images appears to have some sort of deeper meaning. I have always liked the emphasis in differences between light and dark, destruction and creation, life and death. The photos in black and white manage to do that in a way that seems unreal. 'Through destruction there can be creation.' That is the message produced and expressed through the images. Many of the people in the group appear to have different ways of interpreting this particular piece. However, they all seem to like it and I enjoyed it."

"One of the pictures that interests me was the one with Miami city, even though they are of Miami, but when I see this picture I see clouds but I also see a valley behind it, a place that was beautiful but still is becoming something else... but the history and beauty will live on no matter how it changes."

"I truly love that one picture that looks like a building in space. It's truly lovely. Another one I like is that one picture of Miami. The city looks covered in snow with dark clouds crowding the sky. I really like that one. If I could, I would love to hang it in my room and just stare at it forever."

"Construct, destruct, construct, destruct, construct, destruct, construct."

"Modern, Zoom, Focus, Editing, Original, Segmented, Effects, Stadium, Twilight, Neighborhood"

"Zoom, Focus, Photoshop, Editing, Nikon, Hipster, New, Tiles, Mechanical, Urban, Stars"

"Development, ruins, planets, access, time actual and fiction, layers of technological information, projections. What you are telling is very real and well-placed in this library."

"I love the overhead projection. It seems to fill in the blanks raised by the photographic images."

Altering Images at Mater

2011-04-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

New work at Mater Academy. In the exercise below, we all used the same photograph as a starting point, and each of us created a different image from the same source.

Girl Power works on image isolations

2011-04-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

We tore apart magazines on fashion, art and design and blacked or whited out all but one or two iconic images. This process of isolation forced us to see the photos of models, furniture and products as icons. The girls at Girl Power produced more than 150 of these icons in two days! Next step, to understand how billboards and posters on the street work on our imaginations. Stay tuned.

Banners out to the street.

2011-03-30T06:56:00.000-07:00

Last week our workshop participants finally put their banners on the walls in the vicinity of Girl Power. With each piece placed
on the walls of the empty spaces, in wire fences, in abandoned buildings our students claimed an space for pride and creativity in this neighborhood of Miami.

Opportunity for Miami HS students

2011-03-29T15:28:00.000-07:00

Opportunity: The LAB (Locust Arts Builders)

Dates: Weekdays, June 22 - July 8, 2011
Public Opening Reception: Saturday, July 9th, 7-10pm.

Deadline: April 1, 2011 - applications must be received by 5pm

Opportunity Description: Locust Projects is pleased to announce an open call to South Florida high school students for a chance to participate in a collaborative exhibition at the organization's 2,700 square foot exhibition space in Miami's Design District.

Locust Projects is alternative, not for profit exhibition space dedicated to providing contemporary visual artists the freedom to experiment with new ideas without the pressures of gallery sales or limitations of conventional exhibition spaces.

In furtherance of the organization's thirteen-year commitment to providing an approachable arts venue for the South Florida community, for the second year, Locust Projects will offer an exciting program in which a select group of local high school students are given the opportunity to create a collaborative exhibition in a public venue.

Through this open call to artists currently enrolled in local high schools, Locust Projects' Director, a Miami-based artist, and a local art professional will select fifteen students to participate in this unique initiative.

Students will collaborate in conceiving and executing an original artwork and/or installation under the professional advisement of contemporary artist, Monica Lopez de Victoria of the TM Sisters collaborative. The project will be developed and exhibited in Locust Projects' 2,700 square foot space in Miami's Design District, and include a public opening reception to celebrate this important program. The goal is to promote contemporary art and project based learning as a means to encourage creativity, critical analysis, and problem solving, while building communication skills.

This invaluable opportunity will allow young artists to learn the practical and exciting aspects of creating a public exhibition in collaboration with their peers.

To view the 2010 LAB program visit: http://wetheat.tv/WhyMe-LocustLab.html
Courtesy Wet Heat Project

The LAB (Locust Arts Builders) Application Instructions:

1 Express your interest in The LAB and explain why you would be a good fit for this opportunity. (Half page maximum)

2 Submit a list of relevant art classes, projects and/or exhibitions in which you have participated.

3 Images: 5-10 images of completed artworks or projects. Submit images on CD in jpg format. Each file should be labeled with artist's surname and image number to correspond with an image list. Image size should be under 2MB each. Please do not submit original artwork.

Applicants who do not submit all the required items may be eliminated from the review process. Materials will not be returned to the artist.

Applications must be received before 5pm on April 1, 2011

Send / deliver materials to:
Locust Projects
Attention: The LAB
155 NE 38th Street #100
Miami, FL 33137

For further information contact locustprojects@yahoo.com or 305.576.8570

About Locust Projects: Founded in 1998, Locust Projects is alternative, not for profit exhibition space dedicated to providing contemporary visual artists the freedom to experiment with new ideas without the pressures of gallery sales or limitations of conventional exhibition spaces. Artists are encouraged to create site-specific installations as an extension of their representative work and Locust Projects offers them a vibrant Miami experience to develop their ideas. Locust Projects is committed to offering an approachable and inviting venue for the Miami and international art community to experience the work and meet the artist.

About the artist: Monica Lopez De Victoria is a Miami-based artist that works in collaboration with Tasha Lopez De Victoria under the name TM Sisters. Together the sisters work in the mediums of video, digital video performance, VJing, collage, social experiments, zines, clothing, installations, and interactive video. The TM Sisters' 2009 exhibition, WHIRL CRASH GO! at Locust Projects was featured in The Miami Herald. Their work has been featured in publications including L'Officiel magazine, The Guardian, STEP Inside Design, the New York Times, Vogue Italia, and on the cover of ARTnews. The sisters' work has been included in the international traveling exhibition Uncertain States of America; the Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art; and PERFORMA 07 in New York.

The LAB (Locust Arts Builders) is made possible with major support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

GP Banners Hit the Street in Liberty CIty!

2011-03-27T19:21:00.000-07:00

We installed our banners in different public environments and photographed them. The idea was to insert our work and messages in the public space and to beautify areas in the neighborhood. The pictures on the banners seemed to tell different stories when we installed them in varying orders and in different contexts.

String Theory!

2011-03-22T17:54:00.000-07:00

Mater Academy students assembled their works in a trial installation. Their architecture included box structures, string webs, and tape glyphs on the wall. They made drawings in their journals - that resembled hurricanes of stuff. We talked about chaos and anarchy, but it was all pretty integrated.

box theory

2011-03-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

Mater Academy got a lot of mileage out of the boxes we constructed. Here are a few drawings from their journals.

Outdoor presentation

2011-03-12T10:45:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Miami artist Purvis Young's Good Bread Alley, the students from Mater Academy presented their works on the facade of a colonial style building. The students incorporated tape and other materials to transform the built environment and used drawing to observe their surroundings. The work was hung outside where it was presented to the public and we held a small critique.

WASTED - an exhibition made from recycled

2011-03-12T08:15:00.000-08:00

Andrew Sribyatta and crew from PIE Studios in Miami and NY created this incredible installation - interior architecture made from milk bottles, paper covered dry cleaner's hangers, and more. Inspiring, right?

Augmented City by Keiichi Matsuda

2011-03-11T05:36:00.000-08:00

Matsuda is an architect and filmmaker. He says, "The architecture of the contemporary city is no longer simply about the physical space of buildings and landscape, more and more it is about the synthetic spaces created by the digital information that we collect, consume and organise; an immersive interface may become as much part of the world we inhabit as the buildings around us."

He says we must "re-evaluate the city as an immersive human-computer interface."

What do you think?

What is your experience of moving around the city while connecting to information and communication networks?

Augmented City 3D from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.

check out this look at our hyperactive, hyper-connected future domestic space

2011-03-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

pencil animation

2011-03-01T13:38:00.001-08:00

In preparation for creating animations using our photos and drawings, we started working today at Mater with pencil, a free software that lets us draw frame by frame animation. Pamela made these frames.

Field Trip to MAM construction site

2011-02-26T17:09:00.000-08:00

It was hot and we had to wear hard hats, but we totally enjoyed riding the MetroRail to MAM's future location in Museum Park. We got a great tour from the Landscape Architect and the Contractor and actually learned a lot about the construction process and the materials, especially the way that they create different textures in concrete.

We got to see a sample of what the "vertical gardens" are going to look like and some of the plants that they plan to use. Our city is going to have one of the most awesome art museums in the world! Wow!!!

It was a tiring day, but we learned a lot. The ride on the MetroRail was great. A lot of us had never been on the MetroRail before. It was a whole new way to see the city of Miami!

Banners Project at Girl Power

2011-02-26T16:53:00.000-08:00

After looking at the work of Nick Cave and Mickalene Thomas, we were inspired to work with color and texture, using needlepoint, sequins, fabric markers and our wild imaginations, we transferred these images from magazines and made them our own.

Our next step is to take these banners out into the neighborhood and photograph them.

Public Intervention in Little Havana

2011-02-26T16:27:00.000-08:00

We found an empty lot in Little Havana and decided to experiment with our Box/Bricks, some colored tape, recycled bungee cords and the space itself.

We took the bricks back with us, but left the tape installation as a contribution to the community. Definitely added some color to the neighborhood!

Painted Bricks, and more to come!

2011-02-18T06:24:00.000-08:00

Once the papier mache covered bricks are fabricated, it's on to the surface decoration.

Using spray paint and poster paint, everyone got involved in customizing the building material.

Next, the bricks will tour the neighborhood and assemble themselves in the context of Little Havana's historic old houses, urban and commercial zones, and of course, our favorite empty canvas - the vacant lot.

Brickworks

2011-02-18T06:21:00.000-08:00

At Mater Academy, we have been busy fabricating bricks to use as elements in stop motion animations and to help us perceive building materials and surfaces in a new way.

Projections and Personal banners

2011-02-10T11:09:00.000-08:00

We continue at Girl Power with an intro to contemporary artists.
This past week we showed works by Kerry James Marshall who spoke about what kind of
art is usually expected from African American artists. Them our own
Dinorah de Jesus Rodriquez showed examples of her last
project Elusive Landscape.
After the presentation we were ready to continue with the banners project.

Looking at the works of Nick Cave and Mickalene Thomas

2011-02-04T12:51:00.000-08:00

This week we have been looking at the works of these two contemporary artists, listening to their voices and connecting some of their ideas and techniques with the materials for the art project we are currently working on.
We also totally enjoy the idea that Mickalene's works are about fashion, and how they comment on pop culture and common perceptions of women. We found her truly inspiring.

Line into Knots

2011-02-02T18:05:00.000-08:00

We moved from linear tape drawings to using rope. We looked at braids, and Alesa taught us friendship bracelet technique. So, we made friendship bracelets on trees and lamp posts in the parking lot of Mater Academy.

Next week we'll take our rope sculptures out into the neighborhood and try them on fire hydrants, phone booths, etc.

Some designs on Miami storefronts

2011-02-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

Mater Academy students work each session on sketches, exploring possible solutions to the problem of a blank wall!

Tape drawings in the street in Little Havana

2011-02-02T17:53:00.000-08:00

Storefronts along SW 1st Street offered several promising blank canvases for our linear interventions with colored tape!

@ Girl Power drawing.

2011-01-28T10:03:00.000-08:00

Image transfer as a way to connect new ideas.

2011-01-28T09:18:00.000-08:00

A new year in Girl Power!

The building is all fresh painted and bright, just like the new face and some familiar ones waiting
and ready to start making new art projects connected to our environment, our neighborhood and
our ideas. The best point to start is by drawing and image transfer.
Working from printed materials, each student got busy searching, marking, cutting, editing.

The possibility of urban Storefronts

2011-01-26T10:29:00.000-08:00

Check out this project in which large-scale photographs of storefronts were used as canvases for graffiti artists.

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/08/miami_graffiti_photographers_i.php

This work is a great inspiration for us at Brick by Brick - the city is our canvas!

STEP THREE: transfer line drawings to environment

2011-01-20T19:56:00.000-08:00

OK. So now, translate those line drawings from the paper sculpture to the wall, countertops, doors, floor - using tape!

STEP TWO: Line drawings from folded paper

2011-01-20T19:52:00.001-08:00

So now you make line drawings of the folded paper model, to see which possibilities are the most interesting.

STEP ONE: Folded Paper

2011-01-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

Imagine you have a giant sheet of steel, and it needs to become a public sculpture, or a roof of a concert hall. Folding paper is one way architects and designers - and artists - discover new forms. Some results from Mater Academy.

Mater Academy 2011 - Day One

2011-01-20T19:27:00.001-08:00

The Dry-erase board.
An animation begins....Stay tuned!

Brick by Brick has a flickr account!

2011-01-20T19:11:00.001-08:00

You know how to find it!

Robin Rhode

2011-01-20T18:47:00.000-08:00

Robin Rhode is an artist born in South Africa, working in Berlin, Germany, who creates stop motion video works interacting with drawings on walls and floors - and more - outdoors in the city. Check out some video about him here.

We will create works inspired by Rhode's process on the street in our neighborhoods. We've already begun to practice using the dry-erase board!

Collaborative Graffito Drawing joins MAM's Permanent Collection!

2011-01-16T20:36:00.000-08:00

Collaborative Graffito Drawing, Girl Power and Mater Academy, Miami, FL, Aluminum with baked enamel finish, 70 X 89 inches, 2010

Welcome to Brick by Brick 2011

2011-01-10T20:09:00.001-08:00

And check this out -

2010-07-22T14:57:00.001-07:00

Two Dutch artists trained young people in the favelas of Rio to paint on a huge scale, and they painted 34 houses in incredible rainbow stripes. Hmmmm.... Maybe Miami deserves some of this treatment.......

See more at favelapainting.com

Some summertime joy to share with all BxB participants

2010-07-16T19:22:00.001-07:00

Here are two videos (with links) that inspire us to discover new possibility in the urban landscape.
Enjoy!

Masstransiscope was installed on a disused subway platform in New York City by independent filmmaker Bill Brand in 1980

MUTO
MUTO is an ambiguous animation painted on public walls in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Baden, Germany by artist BLU.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Interacting with Miami Art Museum exhibition

2010-06-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

Brick by Brick students LOVED the exhibition: Carlos Cruz Diez: The Embodied Experience of Color.
It brought out many of their natural performative abilities, and there was an audible whir as cell phone cameras were whipped out to document and text their enthusiasm.

Our end of year reception 2010!

2010-06-09T20:22:00.001-07:00

All good things come to an end. Brick by Brick 2010 had a fantastic final reception with groups from Mater Academy and Girl Power. The Miami Art Museum staff welcomed us, and treated us all to a lunch, gift cards and certificates - and an exhibition of works produced during BxB's weekly workshops. A video full of scenes of all of our meetings and projects reminded us of all the work we actually did this year! Thanks to our funder JP Morgan Chase for making it all possible.

A cool project - already thinking of next year!

2010-06-09T20:05:00.001-07:00

The endless design possibilities of post-its!

Art for Now

2010-06-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

Art for Now.

2010-06-02T15:06:00.001-07:00

This recycle piece made of discarted grocery bags and is the last project for this year.
It is a collaborative piece done between Mater Academy and Girl Power.
It was ironed together and organized by both groups. Today the Mater students added their final details by adding and making new marks on it.
The result will be on display next Wednesday at the reception at MAM.

Earth Works in Little Havana

2010-05-26T08:40:00.001-07:00

Just realized we never posted the final images for the intervention projects at Mater Academy. Check it out!!!!

Girl Power exploring the possibilities of text

2010-05-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

Typefaces expressing student impressions of Miami - in TWO WORDS - are drawn, enlarged with an opaque projector, and painted on canvas banners. The completed banners will be exhibited at Miami Art Museum for the Brick x Brick year-end finale on June 9.

Mater Constructions

2010-05-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

This week students took the task of building 3-D block letters out of corrugated cardboard, the build the word BRICK, and then with wood blocks created a base for their word. An homage to this program.

Landscape interventions.

2010-05-18T22:31:00.000-07:00

Last week students from Mater Academy took over the some of the public areas around the School to create attention to environmental issues.

Image transferring- Mater Academy

2010-05-18T17:37:00.000-07:00

In the process of creating our large scaled paintings we chose typefaces on-line and created small drawings that were then projected and painted onto large canvasses.
Following is a link to collaborative public project created in Chicago where we used this approach to image transferring. State Street Mural
Also see how artists used projection to recreate and enlarge their images onto different surfaces before electricity- Art and Optics

A painting being made

2010-05-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

by the dedicated group at Mater Academy!

YOUNG ARTS can help you succeed in the arts

2010-05-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

Lego on a grand scale

2010-05-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

In keeping with the Brick by Brick theme, check this out! James May of the BBC show Toy Stories built and designed a two story house made of the boldly-colored pieces. The entire process took two weeks and 3.3 million little bricks!

Placing the building projects...

2010-05-04T07:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a group of student makers from Girl Power took their buildings to sites in the hood to see their work interact with real spaces.

Updates from the Garden

2010-05-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

Girl Power's New Earth Garden in the making.

The site keeps getting new elements and ideas for improvement.

Last week feathers and dry leaves were added.

Each element creates new meanings and possibilities.

Banners - Describe Miami in 2 words

2010-05-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

Mater Academy students are painting with house paint on large canvas and paper dropcloths.
After boiling down their description of Miami in 2 words, the text is given a graphic expression, and painted in a limited palette.
Happy Sorrow.
Urban Elephants.
to come:
Lively Panic.
Lavish Poverty.
Endless City.
Mahou Diverse.
and more.......

Building Bonanza Begins at Girl Power

2010-04-23T12:10:00.001-07:00

So, last year it was dominoes, the year before it was sugar cubes; this year we're using found objects (i.e. garbage - with a few popsicle sticks thrown in) to build our projects. Here is what the building frenzy looked like at Girl Power this Thursday.

Projection Drawings Become Paintings at Mater Academy

2010-04-23T12:04:00.001-07:00

These works are really taking shape!

Land Artists in Action

2010-04-19T16:02:00.000-07:00

Here's how it's done!

Land Art in Liberty City

2010-04-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

After watching documentaries about Andy Goldsworthy and Ana Mendieta, students at Girl Power are transforming a forgotten urban rock garden in the parking lot at GP into an amazing Land Art installation using natural materials found in the surrounding landscape.

George Sanchez-Calderon at the de la Cruz Collection

2010-04-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

Students posing on Miami Based Artist-George Sanchez-Calderon (Plinth/Monut) at the de la Cruz Collection

highlights from our field trip

2010-04-18T12:31:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing time visiting the De La Cruz Collection in Miami's Design District. On the way home, we stopped to look at the Wynwood Walls.

land art and frottage from nature

2010-04-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

This video is about Andy Goldsworthy, an environmentalist and "land artist". We have been looking at work by different land artists in preparation for a very special piece of Land Art that we are going to create as a group in a corner of the parking lot at Girl Power.

Here are some other images of land art by Cameron Hockenson, who I met while I was in residency in Spain.

We will also be working with a technique called "frottage" in which work is created by rubbing against a texture - this could be the texture of a tree bark, a rock, or the side of a building. You could even do it with something as small as a coin. Below is a video of artist Charla Puryear whose work is made using this technique.

la pequeña habana

2010-03-25T14:22:00.001-07:00

we looked for things that were influenced by mediterranean design like the stuff in my pictures from spain... we found lots of stuff, but also some surpriess outside of our theme. Mike went nuts with the camera and took almost 300 pics!

march 22 walkaround: liberty city

2010-03-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

the theme for this shoot was finding a sense of home in the urban landscape. here's some of what came up:

Art that looks like Food?

2010-03-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

To be continue...

traces of spain

2010-03-21T13:31:00.000-07:00

I realize it's about time I shared with everyone some images from my amazing artists' residency in Spain. Here are a few choice pics, showing some of the architecture and design of the region, which lies just north of Africa, across the Mediterranean sea.

Narrow streets on hills with steep stairs to climb, view of the inside of a gypsy cave, images of the Palace of the Alhambra - an amazing fortress built by the Moorish rulers in the 13th Century - all in the city of Granada, located in the region of Andalusia, Spain. Surrounded by the snow-capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada. From the tallest peaks, people say you can see the North African city of Algiers.

Meanwhile back in the claymation studio....

2010-03-20T13:27:00.000-07:00

The characters are being molded by the artists at Mater - next week we begin shooting. Keep your eyes peeled!

A skatepark is born

2010-03-20T10:01:00.000-07:00

This is how a Brick x Brick project begins - in the drafting space of sketchup, a skate park takes shape. First phase, deciding on some initial volumes.

Inspiration: Typography + Architecture

2010-03-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

Herbert Bayer (American, b. Austria, 1900-1985). Design for a multimedia building, 1924. Gouache, cut-and-pasted photomechanical elements, charcoal, ink, and pencil on paper. 21 1/2 x 18 7/16 in.
Kerry Keeler from Miami Art Museum brought this image to share with us - and it expresses perfectly some of the themes we're working with this year in Brick x Brick - Words arranged in a graphic way combined with 3D models of buildings and spaces. This work was made almost 100 years ago - and we all agreed how fresh and cool it was.

The engraving goes on

2010-03-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

This collective enterprise is all about creating a rich, dense surface on the aluminum panels Mike Genovese has brought in for us. Graffito has captured us all, in both groups - Girl Power and Mater Academy - and it's fun to communicate with each other via this giant tablet.

Lego filmstrip

2010-03-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

Working within the free software Lego Digital Designer, a student at Mater Academy created an epic saga of bricks and characters, played out on many backdrops, from the abstract to monumental landscapes. These scenes are a storyboard for any moving image film/video work. Next up, claymation. Stay tuned!

Stop Motion Feature Film coming to Miami

2010-03-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

We're all HUGE fans of stop motion animation at Brick x Brick - so here's a film we should all run over to see at the Miami Beach Cinematheque.

Hilarious and frequently surreal, the stop-motion extravaganza A Town Called Panic has endless charms and raucous laughs for children from eight to eighty. Based on the Belgian animated cult TV series (which was released by Wallace & Gromit’s Aardman Studios), Panic stars three plastic toys named Cowboy, Indian and Horse who share a rambling house in a rural town that never fails to attract the weirdest events. MAR 26 FRI, 27 SAT, 28 SUN, 7pm for more info, visit www.mbcinema.com

Collages

2010-03-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

In the past few weeks we have been working on collages from actual photos and from magazines.

Here some samples of different applications at both Mater and Girl Power

Brazilian artist/designer Nando Costa

2010-03-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

Designer and artist Nando Costa is doing a project about his local environments - views of places he sees everyday - in Brazil and in in Portland Oregon. These works in his Landscape Engraved Series are wood engravings created digitally and later engraved with a laser on an untreated block of maple. We've been doing hand-engraving on aluminum with Mike Genovese. Now check these out. The video at the bottom of the linked page shows it being done.

Watch this space

2010-03-05T06:41:00.000-08:00

Brick by Brick participants are charged with solving the problem of an ugly, empty lot in the Little Havana neighborhood. Watch in the coming weeks for some proposals to turn urban blight into livable space!

Patterned spaces

2010-03-03T11:48:00.000-08:00

Using a tile design simulator online, students at Mater Academy created patterns for floors and walls of their constructions in Sketchup. These young designers are getting more advanced at using Sketchup, and are creating more complex structures. Power users!

Documenting our neighborhoods

2010-02-26T08:38:00.000-08:00

Brick by Brick is first and foremost about raising awareness of the facts of our neighborhoods. By walking and documenting with photography - and capturing sound - we can take time to observe details that contribute to the overall feeling of our streets and buildings. We discuss safety, green spaces, traffic, health of businesses, anything to communicate the particular quality of life there. These photos were taken in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, within blocks of Mater Academy.

Architectural Photographer Paul Clemence

2010-02-26T08:17:00.001-08:00

Architectural photographer Paul Clemence accompanied us on our expedition on Miami's Metromover. Before we boarded the free tram that loops around downtown, Paul shared some tips for shooting on location, and he helped us focus on and frame interesting elements to make the best pictures. This was a real treat, because Paul has published books on some very important architecture landmarks in the United States.

Codes and personalized alphabets

2010-02-21T14:02:00.000-08:00

Sample of students alphabet system

The hieroglyphic alphabets were created as a personalized system to communicate between classmates and students at other locations. They engraved personal messages as well as quotes from African American History, including those of Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., and Zora Neale Hurston. The following workshop was asked to decode the text where they discovered the quotes chosen from students on the opposite side of the city.

The aluminum panel is making progress

2010-02-18T10:20:00.001-08:00

Under the direction of artist Mike Genovese, students have been collectively creating an artwork engraving a large aluminum panel. After discussing all the text in signs on the city street, each student invented a hieroglyphic alphabet, then translated phrases by scratching them into the aluminum.

Recycling plastic bags - a inventing a new material

2010-02-18T10:02:00.000-08:00

Inspiration is everywhere. Until plastic bags are history, we'll get busy transforming them into art. An exercise in urban scavenging, the group at Mater Academy ironed layers of bags together to form large swatches of material that we will use to make banners. The text and logos from the stores remain sandwiched in the layers, leaving ghost images.

Getting the hang of sketchup!

2010-02-15T16:28:00.000-08:00

Google Sketchup is such a fantastic tool - we have to get into it and experiment little by little before we can begin our master plan of the New Miami.

Stephanie, from Mater Academy, made a great start.

Michelle Weinberg's Art in Public Places commission

2010-02-15T16:05:00.001-08:00

Brick x Brick artist Michelle Weinberg has completed installation of 3000 square feet of handmade cement tile at Miami-Dade County's newly built General Services Administration facility, commissioned by Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places. The GSA building is LEED certified, conforming to environmental standards. We've learned about LEED certification during BXB, and we've taken some walks around our neighborhoods to see how they can be improved with art. Look for our solutions to ugly vacant lots and boring bus shelters in the weeks ahead. And we plan to visit Michelle's project once the building is open for work - and meet the architect who designed it.