For Miami: A Good Heart, Jean Ward
Former Miami Dade College faculty member and renowned artist, Jean Ward, most identified with the artistic concept of formalism, or a focus on the visual elements of art. Stemming from early twentieth century Modernists and the Abstract Expressionist period that preceded Ward's most active years as a sculptor, formalism is a critical position that shifts the center of attention of an artwork away from subject matter. For Miami: A Good Heart, suggests an anatomical structure through its title and form. Although the sculpture is a larger than human-scale abstract work consisting of several panels that appear to lean against each other in a pyramidal configuration, the piece is intended to be a conceptual representation of the human heart, even with Ward’s commitment to formalism. The work was initially placed on a west-facing part of campus in accordance with the artist’s wishes. A cardinal direction art historically associated with death, the westward placement of For Miami: A Good Heart was solidified near the end of the artist’s life in the 1980s. While initially located at the Kyriakides Plaza, the sculpture now rests at the intersection of NE 3rd Street and NE 1st Avenue.
Originally from the Rust Belt in Ohio, Ward originated from a family of metalworkers. After relocating to South Florida, Ward took visual arts courses at the University of Miami that were the catalyst for her fine arts career. Also an avid racecar driver, Ward created For Miami: A Good Heart with aerodynamic characteristics reminiscent of high-speed vehicles. The sculpture was dedicated at MDC in 1983 when Ward was an active member of the South Florida art faculty community, having exhibited with other professors at multiple shows, including the Florida Faculty Sculpture Invitational at Florida International University in 1979. Her work was also exhibited at the Frances Wolfson Art Gallery, a part of Miami Dade College, on multiple occasions, including the Faculty Exhibition in 1980, the Centro Colombo Americano Exhibition in 1981, and In Site: Ten South Florida Sculptors from 1985 to1986 (Smithsonian Archives of American Art).
The sculptures of Jean Ward continue to be remembered through an award named in her honor given at the University of Miami’s Annual Juried Art Exhibition and are also located at the MDC Kendall Campus.
“2024 Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition.” College of Art and Sciences, art.as.miami.edu/gallery/exhibition-gallery/2024-juried-student-art-exhibition1/2024-juried-student-art-exhibition.html. Accessed 21 Aug. 2024.
“A Finding Aid to the Frances Wolfson Art Gallery Records, 1973-1994.” Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution | Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, www.aaa.si.edu/collections/frances-wolfson-art-gallery-records-5416/series-4. Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.
“Faculty Member Jean Ward with Her Sculpture.” Florida Memory: State Library and Archives of Florida, www.floridamemory.com/items/show/15298. Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.
Gottleib-Roberts, Marilyn. Personal Interview. 24 January 2025.
La Vittoria de Samotracia (Victory of Samothrace), Maria Cristina Carlini (1942-), Corten steel, 2008, 110.4” x 98.4” x 91.2”
Italian artist Maria Cristina Carlini created La Vittoria de Samotracia (Victory of Samothrace) out of Corten steel, a departure from the ceramics that she used at the beginning of her career during her training at Palo Alto, California. While she still uses the material due to her affinity for working with earth materials, she is also known for creating monumental steel sculptures (“Maria Cristina Carlini Biography”). Despite exhibiting monumental sculptures at major sites, including Forbidden City in Beijing, China, widespread fame has eluded Carlini. One hypothesis attributes this to a lack of quality gallery representation (Tansini 41). Notably, she was the first contemporary sculptor invited to exhibit a work at Forbidden City, and Asia represents just one of the continents in which her work is located, along with North America and Europe.
The work at the Wolfson Campus, La Vittoria de Samotracia is an abstract version of the original Victory of Samothrace sculpture created during the Hellenistic period in Greece. Dating back to approximately 190 B.C. and currently displayed at the Louvre Museum, that work was placed at the island of Samothrace in the Aegean Sea to commemorate a naval victory. That sculpture, with its dramatic backward flowing wings and forward stance, is a theatrical piece meant to surmount a fountain in an outdoor sanctuary. Placed on a base resembling a ship’s prow, it was meant to epitomize Hellenistic drama and movement that characterizes sculptures of that time. Carlini’s version, while significantly more abstract, has the semblance of wings flung back due to a gust of wind. The Corten steel sculpture has two tripartite sections that resemble wings in flight.
La Vittoria de Samotracia was a gift from the Centro Italiano per le Arti e la Cultura and the artist. The center, which was located in Turin, is now closed. Carlini opened a studio in Milan in 1985 and continues to create work in various materials for placement around the world.
Borioli, Gisella. “Maria Cristina Carlini. The Strength of Art Has No Sex.” At Magazine, 29 July 2020, www.at-superstudiomagazine.com/en/mariacristinacarlini.thestrengthofarthasnosex. Accessed 20 Aug 2024.
“Essential Biography.” Biography - Maria Cristina Carlini - Sculptor, www.mariacristinacarlini.com/en/biography.html. Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.
Tansini, Laura. “Maria Cristina Carlini: The Aesthetics of Authenticity.” Sculpture (Washington, D.C.), vol. 32, no. 10, 2013, pp. 40–43.
The original Winged Victory of Samothrace, Lartos marble (ship) and Parian marble (figure), c. 190 B.C.E. (Hellenistic Period). Currently located at the Louvre Museum, Paris, France.
The X, Ronald Bladen (1937-) , Painted aluminum, 1968, 132" x 132" x 144".
Artist Robert Bladen received formal training at the Vancouver School of Art and later at the California School of Fine Arts in the 1940s. Bladen’s work in the 1960s and 1970s had much in common with other Minimalist sculptors such as Donald Judd, Carl Andre, and Dan Flavin due to its industrial appearance and geometric structure. Considered one generation older than those other founders of the Minimalist movement, Bladen’s sculptures are considered more energetic and have even been referenced as a cross between Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism due to their dynamism, which one writer described as a “violent collision of forms” (Feinstein 140). The X, a larger than human-sized sculpture on the Wolfson campus, consists of strong diagonals, associated with implied movement in painting and sculpture.
Miami Dade’s Wolfson Campus is not the first time Bladen’s The X sculpture has been showcased. Although Bladen was included in the significant and seminal Minimalist exhibition, Primary Structures at the Jewish Museum in New York in 1966, the works showcased there, including Three Elements created by Bladen, were of a smaller size than The X. Later, a version of The X was shown at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. in 1968. The exhibition consisted of three works of a much larger scale than Primary Structures and was headlined by Bladen’s sculpture. The Corcoran show was called Scale as Content, and Bladen exhibited a wooden version of The X. Scale affects the relationship between a viewer and an artwork and with Bladen's The X, the intention is that the sculpture tower over its audience.
Bladen’s fame was later eclipsed by the careers of Donald Judd and Dan Flavin, but the elder artists was always distinguished by his larger sculptures. With the birth of movements such as Earthworks and the immense outdoor compositions of Pop sculptor Claes Oldenburg, Bladen can be classified as belonging to a group of artists in the 1960s and 1970s that chose to create a scale of art larger than what can be exhibited in a commercial gallery. Through the size of their work, these artists sought to imply that not all art can be bought or sold (Meyer, “No More Scale”).
Feinstein, Roni. “Ronald Bladen.” Art in America, vol. 97, no. 3, Brant Publications, Incorporated, 2009, pp. 140-.
Leclère, Mary. “From Specific Objects to Specific Subjects: Is There (Still) Interest in Pluralism?” Afterall, vol. 11, no. 11, 2005, pp. 9–16, https://doi.org/10.1086/aft.11.20711566.
Meyer, James. “No More Scale: The Experience of Size in Contemporary Sculpture.” Artforum International, vol. 42, no. 10, Artforum International Magazine, Inc, 2004, pp. 220–28.
Meyer, James. “Ronald Bladen. (P.S. 1 Contemporary Arts Center, New York, NY).” Artforum International, vol. 37, no. 9, Artforum International Magazine, Inc, 1999, pp. 174–174.
“Ronald Bladen.” Art in Public Places Miami Dade County, miamidadepublicart.org/app/art/artworkDetail.page?id=12eb552c-d576-479b-8456-0f804bfaddde. Accessed 16 Aug. 2024.
Induction Chromatique, Carlos Cruz-Diez (1923-2019), 2018, 283” x 291.”
Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez was an emerging artist in the 1950s, when he decided to abandon figurative painting. Like many other creatives of his time, he felt that everything that could be painted had been exhausted and decided to seek a new form of expression. During that early phase of his career, he worked as a social realist painter, but then realized that his collectors were the ones causing the misery depicted in his work (Bianco). In the following decade, he moved to Paris, where he was exposed to a wider variety of abstract work, and where he found connections with the creative vision of artists like Julio Le Parc and Victor Vasarely. Eventually, he established a studio in Venezuela to stay connected to his roots and because the country was always a source of inspiration. Through his stays in Europe and the international reputation that he acquired, Cruz-Diez helped establish the idea that Latin American art should not be marginalized.
The work of Cruz-Diez matured in an era consistent with the emergence of Op Art, spearheaded by Vasarely, whom he encountered in Europe. The focus of his work is largely on color and its interaction, an inspiration from the Impressionists’ focus on color; although unlike the earlier movement, he departed from the traditional methods of artmaking. In an interview, Cruz-Diez stated that he plans all his work, although he realized that to create the work for which he is best known, chromatic experimentation and kinetic art, he needed to collaborate with technicians (Bianco).
The piece at the Wolfson Campus, Induction Chromatique, is one of many in that series. The intent is to experiment with the concept of “after-image,” which is caused after staring at certain combinations of colors. This concept is also known as retinal persistence (“Induction Chromatique"). At the time the piece was dedicated to MDC in 2018, Cruz-Diez was an internationally renowned artist near the end of his life.
Induction Chromatique was pledged to the campus in honor of Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2018. A nonprofit organization called the International Solidarity for Human Rights (ISHR) wished to raise awareness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and sponsored the donation of four artworks at MDC, located on four different campuses. Wolfson’s piece is over twenty-four feet in height and width and is placed on an exterior wall of Building 1. Signage identifies it as being associated with Article 27, which states that individuals have the right to “participate in the cultural life of the community” (United Nations 1948).
The initiative at MDC was started by two women of Venezuelan descent that founded the ISHR upon moving to Miami. The declaration, established after World War II, was not widely known, and they hoped that through the placement of the sculptures and other projects, awareness could spread. Cruz-Diez's piece at Wolfson Campus encourages viewers to watch the colors on the static piece appear to move before their eyes, typical of the artist’s best-known work. Signage in front of the work encourages the audience to connect it to the United Nations declaration.
Banai, Nuit. “Carlos Cruz-Diez: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. (Art Exhibition in Texas).” Artforum International, vol. 50, no. 1, Artforum International Magazine, Inc, 2011, pp. 352-.
Bianco, Adriana. “Carlos Cruz-Diez: Venezuelan Philosopher of Light, Color, and Movement.” Américas (English Edition), vol. 63, no. 4, Organization of American States, 2011, pp. 42-.
“Public Art | Miami Dade College December 7th 2018.” Carlos Cruz-Diez, Sicardi Ayers Bacino, 26 Nov. 2018, www.sicardi.com/news/carlos-cruz-diez11.
“Route MDC (Miami Dade College).” International Solidarity for Human Rights, ishrights.org/route-mdc/. Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.
“Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” United Nations, www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights. Accessed 29 Aug. 2024.
Vasquez, Michael. “New Sculptures at Miami Dade College Connect Human Rights.” The Miami Herald, 25 Sept. 2012.
Manhattan Schist: Portrait of a Rock, Robert Lawrence Lobe (1945-), Aluminum,1977, 138" x "72" x 78".
Born in 1945, Robert Lobe began working as a sculptor in the 1960s. Like the artists working in the Minimalism movement that was rising in that decade, Lobe strayed from using natural materials such as wood and created work primarily from metal. Unlike the strict geometric forms preferred by Minimalists, Lobe’s work has been compared to the American Transcendentalists of the nineteenth century due to its biomorphic forms and thematic connections to nature (Sheffield 8). While other artists like Robert Smithson were also inspired by ecology and led to the rise of the Earthworks movement as a contradiction to Minimalism, unlike Smithson, Lobe worked with aluminum sheets rather than naturally occurring materials.
Lobe’s working process for sculptures such as Manhattan Schist: Portrait of a Rock on the Wolfson Campus involves direct interaction with nature. Utilizing a process called repousse, which has its origins in ancient history, Lobe shapes sheets of aluminum around natural elements such as rocks and tree trunks. Subsequently, he attaches the individual components and leaves visible seams on the surface. Combined with gaps between and within some of the sheets of metal, Lobe hoped to show the hollowness of his pieces, which contrast with the solidity of nature.
His sculptures are often placed in outdoor spaces amongst nature, and they remain relevant due to his call to memorialize nature in the face of its destruction (Thea 47).
Brenson, Michael. “Works From Nature.” The New York Times, 1989, pp. C32-.
“Robert Lobe.” Art in Public Places Miami Dade County, https://miamidadepublicart.org/app/art/artworkDetail.page?id=9e20c942-0db1-4057-a42d-381eac61bcda. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
“Robert L. Lobe.” John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, www.gf.org/fellows/robert-l-lobe/. Accessed 10 Aug. 2024.
Sheffield, Margaret. “Robert Lobe: New Work.” Sculpture (Washington, D.C.), vol. 20, no. 1, 2001, pp. 8–9.
Thea, Carolee. “Robert Lobe: Nature as Effigy.” Sculpture (Washington, D.C.), vol. 32, no. 3, International Sculpture Center, 2013, pp. 44–47.
Double City Boots, Kenneth Snelson (1927-2016), Polished stainless steel, circa 1967, 96.5" x 137" x 96.5."
Kenneth Snelson’s work is a combination of art and engineering. Although he recognizes himself solely as an artist, Snelson patented “continuous tension, discontinuous compression structures” in 1965 (qtd. in Gomez-Jauregui 4). Snelson discovered the concept of tensegrity in the 1940s, although it was not coined until the 1960s by architect Buckminster Fuller. He met Fuller when Snelson studied art at Black Mountain College in 1948 and shared his discoveries with the architect, a guest professor then. Fuller later received credit for the concept and term, although documentation shows that Snelson designed a wire wheel dome and cable dome in 1949 before engineers developed the ideas decades later (Gomez-Jauregui 30 of 37). Double City Boots on the Wolfson Campus demonstrates tensegrity, a combination of tensional and integrity, due to its suspended stainless-steel cylinders.
Self-equilibrium is a key characteristic of tensegrity, seen in Double City Boots. When Snelson presented his first solo exhibition in 1966, including similar sculptures, many wondered if his work could be considered “art,” but in that decade, the Minimalism artistic movement had initiated a taste for non-representational sculptures made of industrial materials. In that backdrop, his work was unquestionably characterized as art.
Coplans, John. “An Interview with Kenneth Snelson.” Artforum, 26 Sept. 2023, www.artforum.com/features/an-interview-with-kenneth-snelson-211429/.
Gomez-Jauregui, Valentin, et al. “Tensegrity Applications to Architecture, Engineering and Robotics: A Review.” Applied Sciences, vol. 13, no. 15, 2023, pp. 8669-, https://doi.org/10.3390/app13158669.
“Kenneth Snelson.” Art in Public Places Miami Dade County, miamidadepublicart.org/app/art/artworkDetail.page?id=44ca044c-652e-4ecc-babc-d6e025b1af5f. Accessed 10 Aug. 2024.
Kenneth Snelson, kennethsnelson.net/faq/. Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.
Snelson, Kenneth. “The Art of Tensegrity.” International Journal of Space Structures, vol. 27, no. 2–3, 2012, pp. 71–80, https://doi.org/10.1260/0266-3511.27.2-3.71.
Untitled, Ernest Shaw (1942-), Metal sculpture, 108.5” x 84.”
Sculpture was a second career for Ernest Shaw, who received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. Shaw began his career as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist in New York, although he remained inspired by a drawing course he took his last year as an undergraduate at Alfred University. Self-taught in welding, Shaw never attended art school or received formal training, although he had been encouraged by the professor that graded his drawings (Grounds for Sculpture). In the 1980s after an accident he experienced while working on a piece, Shaw turned from metal sculptures to wood, seeking a more malleable surface (Woods).
Untitled, located at the Wolfson Campus on an outdoor balcony of Building 2, consists of several metallic elongated prisms giving the illusion of being in delicate balance. The sculpture's form and materials are consistent with the stylistic movement of Minimalism, prevalent in the late 1960s and 1970s and from the first phase of Shaw’s career as an artist.
“Artist Statement.” Ernest Shaw, ernestshaw.net/artist-statement/. Accessed 16 Aug. 2024.
https://ernestshaw.net/artist-statement/
Brenson, Michael. “Art: 8 Artists in ‘Between Drawing and Sculpture.’” The New York Times, 1985, pp. C29-.
“Ernest Shaw - Grounds for Sculpture.” Grounds For Sculpture, 11 Oct. 2019, www.groundsforsculpture.org/artists/ernest-shaw/. Accessed 16 Aug. 2024
Woods, Lynn. “Armor and the Man.” Hudson Valley One, 28 Aug. 2017, https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2017/08/17/armor-the-man/ . Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.
Marina, David von Schlegell (1920-1992), Aluminum, polished, 1970, 72.5"x16"x 18."
Although he was the son of an American Impressionist artist, David von Schlegell had a lifelong affinity for airplane design. He joined the United States Air Force after his tenure as a student at the University of Michigan in the 1940s where he considered pursuing a career as a naval architect or airplane designer. After two years of college, he enlisted as a pilot in World War II. Following his service in the war, he returned to his studies, this time to the Art Students League in New York City, where his father had taught.
After studying painting, von Schlegell turned to sculpture, partly due to his love of architecture and engineering. He discovered that through sculpture, he could construct forms, not just carve and mold (Archives of American Art). While he originally worked with wood, he transitioned to aluminum sheets, which could be shaped and attached. Later, Von Schlegell worked as a professor and head of the sculpture department at Yale University from 1971 to 1990.
Through his sculptures, von Schlegell tried to achieve strength and lightness, which he saw as similar to the construction of actual airplanes (Archives of American Art). The overall lightness and connections with rivets or screws are reminiscent to aircraft design and are visible on Marina, located on an exterior wall of Building 2 at the Wolfson Campus. The piece is projected from the wall, sustained only by two small connections. In its outdoor location, curved metallic arcs of aluminum sheets reflect the sun, another objective of von Schlegell’s. Similarities between his sculptures and airplane wings were intentional decisions. In addition to airplanes and marine crafts, von Schlegell expressed having been influenced by sculptors David Smith and Mark di Suvero.
“David von Schlegell.” Art in Public Places Miami Dade County, miamidadepublicart.org/app/art/artworkDetail.page?id=ce24c1e6-5395-40f8-80d4-761966af36ae. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
“David von Schlegell.” Smithsonian American Art Museum, americanart.si.edu/artist/david-von-schlegell-5177. Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.
Glueck, Grace. “Art: Abstract Sculpture By Von Schlegell at Pace.” The New York Times, 1983, pp. C25-.
“Oral History Interview with David Von Schlegell, 1967 June 5: Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.” Smithsonian Institution | Archives of American Art, www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-david-von-schlegell-16048. Accessed 10 Aug. 2024.
Smith, Roberta. “David von Schlegell, Abstract Artist, Is Dead at 72.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Oct. 1992, www.nytimes.com/1992/10/06/arts/david-von-schlegell-abstract-artist-is-dead-at-72.html.
“Untitled by David Von Schlegell.” Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis, 18 Dec. 2020, racstl.org/public-art/untitled-by-david-von-schlegell/ .
Zamir, Richard van Buren (1937-), Painted aluminum, 1966, 96" x 156" x 168."
Richard Van Buren was one of forty-two artists included in the pioneering exhibition of Minimalism, titled Primary Structures, which was on view in 1966 at the Jewish Museum in New York City. The exhibition included legendary artists of that time such as Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, and Walter De Maria. Like other artists associated with that style, Van Buren utilized metal to create his sculpture, in this case, aluminum. Unlike most Minimalists, Van Buren incorporated curved lines in his three-part sculpture located at the Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus. The composition consists of a painted gold central element that rises and swings back from a flattened surface like a reclining seat. It is flanked by two L-shaped dark blue components, much lower in height than the central part.
The sculpture, titled Zamir, is likely a nod to his wife, Batya Zamir. A trained dancer, she participated in a dance exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1977. One of the performances, Airplane, was a collaboration with Van Buren, whom she married in the 1960s. Although Zamir was made in the late 1960s, Van Buren was noted to have created works for his wife to interact with in the late 1970s (Rubinstein 102). He also worked as a professor at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, while Zamir transitioned to a career as a social worker. The sculpture, Zamir, is part of the Art in Public Places program of Miami Dade County.
Reisenfeld, Robin. “Richard Van Buren.” Sculpture (Washington, D.C.), vol. 32, no. 1, International Sculpture Center, 2013, pp. 74-.
“Richard Van Buren,” Art in Public Places Miami Dade County, miamidadepublicart.org/app/art/artworkDetail.page?id=f9623021-0c6a-475a-a35c-1d8c7fddc686. Accessed 15 Aug. 2024.
Rubinstein, Raphael. “Richard Van Buren.” Art in America, vol. 107, no. 10, Brant Publications, Incorporated, 2019, pp. 102-.
Tuchman, Phyllis. “An Interview with Richard Van Buren.” Artforum, 26 Sept. 2023, www.artforum.com/features/an-interview-with-richard-van-buren-210683/. Accessed 15 August 2024.
View of the Performance “Airlines” by Batya Zamir and Richard Van Buren in the Exhibition “Batya Zamir: Dance Performance” | Moma, Museum of Modern Art, www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/4023/installation_images/45717. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.
Lazers Maze, Forrest Myers (1941-), Aluminum, painted 1965, 138"x 72"x 78."
Lazer’s Maze, a geometric sculpture, was created by Forrest Myers from extruded aluminum, meaning each individual segment of the metal has a cross-sectional profile. Together, the enameled pieces create the form of cubes consisting of negative space resting in a diagonal position.
The arrangement of aluminum that forms Lazer’s Maze looks remarkably like a design drawn by Myers on Moon Museum, a 9/16 × 3/4" ceramic tile, of which a version is believed to be on the Moon. That tile, believed to have been sent to the moon during the Apollo 12 mission, is one of an edition of 40. With Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, John Chamberlain, Robert Rauschenberg, and David Novros, Myers created a tiny drawing on a tile that is believed to have been affixed to a lunar module in a clandestine manner.
For his sculptures, Myers claims to have been influenced by Alexander Calder, renowned for his mobiles. Myers stated that the colors of Calder’s work resonated with him, which is an element visible in Lazer’s Maze (Irwin). Myers is perhaps best known for The Wall, A Gateway to Soho, metal protrusions placed on the side of a building in New York City. The subject of controversy due to its positioning over potential advertising space, the work was originally installed in 1973. The title of the work at the Wolfson Campus, Lazer’s Maze, could be a nod to Myers’ laser projections in New York City in the 1960s, which combined his interest in art and technology.
“Forrest Myers.” Art in Public Places Miami Dade County, https://miamidadepublicart.org/app/art/artworkDetail.page?id=d509d8f8-1898-4560-9ea2-4a991f4ace47. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
“Forrest W. Myers.” Frosty Myers, forrestmyers.com/. https://forrestmyers.com/ . Accessed 8 Aug. 2024.
Glueck, Grace. “New York Sculptor Says Intrepid Put Art on Moon.” The New York Times, 1969, pp. 19-.
Irwin, Michael. “Frosty Myers Reflects on 50 Years of ‘The Wall’ in Soho.” Ocula the Best in Contemporary Art Icon., Ocula, 4 Oct. 2023, ocula.com/magazine/art-news/frosty-myers-reflects-on-50-years-of-the-wall/.
Leffingwell, Edward. “Light Industry.” Art in America (1939), vol. 94, no. 11, Brant Publications, Incorporated, 2006, pp. 128-.
“The Moon Museum.” Museum of Modern Art. www.moma.org/collection/works/62272?artist_id=19497&page=1&sov_referrer=artist. Accessed 7 Aug. 2024.
Tower of Snow, Enrique Martinez Celaya (1964-), Bronze, 2012, 132”x 89”x 64."
Los Angeles-based, Enrique Martinez Celaya has served as Provost Professor of Humanities and Arts at the University of Southern California since 2017. Prior to his career as a professional artist, Celaya earned a Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics and a minor in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, and a Master of Science with a specialization in Quantum Electronics from the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his Master of Fine Arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1994, and has had a distinguished career marked by exhibitions, lectures, and projects in dozens of renowned national and international institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden.
Tower of Snow was commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Operation Pedro Pan, an exodus of over 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban children from the island between 1960 to 1962. The sculpture was initially conceived as a different work, titled The Gambler, which was based on Celaya’s idea that carrying a house “seemed like a wager” undertaken by children with the promise of exile and the hope that accompanies the other side of the journey (Padron et al.). The artist’s son, Sebastian, served as a model for the child in the sculpture. Tower of Snow has autobiographical connections for Celaya, who left Cuba with his parents, and lived in Spain before moving to the United States. A similar version to the sculpture in Miami was displayed in front of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2012. The central figure in Tower of Snow is symbolically fleeing communism, so Celaya felt that the connection between Operation Pedro Pan, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Russia, part of the former Soviet Union, led to the famed Russian museum being a suitable place for the temporary installation of the sculpture. For the public work placed in downtown Miami, a small meditative space near the Freedom Tower was selected. Due to limitations with historical properties, a location directly in front of the Freedom Tower was not realizable. The sculpture stands as a testament to the children of Pedro Pan who became a noteworthy part of the cultural fabric of Miami.
“Biography.” Biography - Enrique Martinez Celaya, www.martinezcelaya.com/biography.html. Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.
“News Release - Huntington Launches New Partnership with Artist Enrique Martínez Celaya Including Installation of Three Works.” The Huntington, huntington.org/news/news-release-huntington-launches-new-partnership-artist-enrique-martinez-celaya-including. Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.
Padron, Eduardo, et. al. Tower of Snow. Whale & Star Press and Miami Dade College, 2016.
“The Tower of Snow Historical Marker.” Historical Marker, 11 July 2023, www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=71941.
