Above, gallery officials grabbing a quick bite to eat.

Several weeks ago I traveled to Miami. To be precise, I was in Fort Lauderdale at the Hilton Beach Hotel attending a Golden Artist Colors Company Conference. Not counting the day of travel each way, about half the week was devoted to workshops, lectures and eating. Yes the food was excellent! The other half of the time was spent in and around Miami looking art at various venues of Art Basel Miami.

There were 77 Golden Artist Educators and Golden Working Artists at the Conference from all over the world (literally). With participants from Western Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, the Netherlands, London, Canada and more, as well as from all over the United State, there were many interesting personal stories as well as insights into different cultures and ways of making art (and making a living making art). I made an effort to sit next to different people both during workshops and meals in order to get to know as many people as I could. In addition to first-rate workshops and lectures the opportunity to network with and learn from fellow artist/teachers was invaluable. The whole experience was amazing.

Below are several images from Marsha Staiger’s excellent workshop, Creative Momentum. It was the first of the workshops I took and alas, the only one in which I remembered to take a few photos.

Those of you who take classes/workshops from me in the future will benefit from what I learned at this conference, from new ways to approach various acrylic and other products, to ways to encourage creativity, organize materials and use new-to-me tools.

Thursday afternoon after the last workshop and lunch, we boarded a bus (arranged by Golden) to go to Miami to experience Art Basel Miami, one of the largest art fairs in the world. I spent that afternoon and evening, all day Friday and Saturday looking at art. Art Basel Miami is huge, with many different satellite venues as well as the main event at the Miami Convention Center.

I loved being able to get close up to artwork that belongs in a museum setting, observe the wheeling and dealing going on between the sellers and collectors, and watching the crowds of people. Photography was allowed everywhere! I took about 500 photos on my new iPhone, mostly of artwork and some of people.

From Context and Art Miami Thursday afternoon and evening:

Jacob Hashimoto  The Backbone of Night   Paper, wood, acrylic & Dacron

Frank Stella—there were tons of Frank Stella pieces at every venue both 3-d and 2-d

Esteban Vincente    Overjoyed   Oil on canvas

Pierre Bonnard   La Lande   Oil on canvas

Johannes Schranim   Wasserlinie 2    Oil on canvas

Jim Dine     Chartres, 2nd Version     Woodcut with lithograph

Kazuko Inoue     Untitled (000021)     Acrylic on canvas

There was quite a bit of drama on Thursday evening. It rained. A lot. The torrential rains were thunderously loud in this huge tent. The rain went on and on and then…leaks. Water was seeping and then flowing under the walls, and dripping from seams in the roof. Imagine—millions of dollars of artwork in a leaky tent. As far as I know nothing was damaged. I heard that 5 inches of rain fell in a couple of hours—don’t know if that’s accurate but it sure seemed like that much rain.

Eventually it was time to get back to the bus (around 9pm) on Thursday. Here’s the scene outside, bumper to bumper traffic and ankle deep water. Did I have an umbrella with me or a raincoat? Well, no. They were in my hotel room.

The photos I took while I was in Miami were of any artwork that caught my eye. I thought maybe I’d see a pattern in the photos. Thought I’d get some insight into my unconscious artistic taste/interests. But alas, couldn’t find any rhyme or reason. So I did the same with the paintings posted here—just spun through photos from Thursday and picked some. So if you’re looking for a pattern…there isn’t one. Or maybe there is and I just don’t see it.

I plan on doing another post or two on visits to Art Basel Miami on Friday & back to the Wynwood District on Saturday to see more art in that area. Check back in a few days if you’re interested.