Ocean Drive, Eco Art at the Coral Gables Museum

“Ocean Drive”

The repurposing and the reuse of materials define the picture plane exploring extraordinary lives masked in the routine of ordinary life. Using collage and assemblage consisting of one 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea paperback, ink removed pages of magazines and other paper ephemeral Eco Artist Nancy Martini depicts famous writers which include, Jules Verne (as the bus driver), Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, Emily Bronte, Jane Austin, and William Shakespeare. She uses the figures of the famous authors not to glorify them, but to wonder about the unwritten stories of seemly ordinary people on a simple bus trip.

Layered in her work are environmental messages to from the destination of Ocean Drive to the water and graphic outlines representing buildings created from the ocean’s bounty (cement being pulverized limestone, oyster or seashells). The piece invites the viewer to understand not only be green, but to be blue as well.

The most noticeable feature of the assemblage is the positioning of a bus bike rake that serves to educate the public through direct participation how to mount a bicycle on the front of a city bus. The process is a fairly easy procedure, but can be intimidating for the first time in a real life situation when a cyclist has to stand in front of an impatient ten foot tall bus.  Especially when there is no help available from the bus driver who is not allowed to assist you in any way for liability reasons.

Steps to mount a bicycle on a city bus rack.

             Grab the top center of the rack and squeeze the handle to lower it.

              Remove any baggage on your bike then lift your bicycle on to the rack with the front tire toward the   rotating support arm.

       Rotate the support over your front tire by starting the rotation under the rack.

            Get on the bus and make sure you tell the bus driver upon exiting that you will be retrieving your bicycle.

       'Ocean Drive' will be on exhibition at the Coral Gables Museum from January 23 until February 22, 2014.

The Accidental Beast - ARTcycle and bicycle safety

This year's ARTcycle entry in conjunction with Art Basel Miami was inspired by my personal horror of seeing my thirteen year old son get hit by a car on his bike. Thankfully, he survived with bruises and scrapes which kept him out of school for two days. It could have been so much worse.

When my son announced that he forgot to charge his cell phone before leaving for school, I decided to ride my bicycle behind him on the way just to make sure he made it to school safely. The week before he fell off his bicycle because he has to carry a heavy backpack that makes him off balance.

We were half way to school when a car stopped at the street, but did not stop at the stop sign line. The car hit my son's bike at the edge of the street. There was not a single thing that I could do. One second my son was hit, the next three seconds he was down under the car where I could not see him. Then, one glorious second later he jumped up and said, 'Mom, I'm ok!"

As the neighbors all brought bandages, I watched car after car pass over the white line next to the stop sign. I realized that anyone could have hit him and that many more bicyclist would be injured or even killed. It also occurred to me that we imagine human beasts lurking in the dark corners waiting to take the lives of our children and loved ones, but it is more likely that an accident will take their lives.

I created, "The Accidental Beast" to bring awareness that anyone could be this beast at any moment, if we don't see one bike, one kid on his way to school. Please stop at the white stop line. Then, move up and stop again at the street to see. Look for bikes! 

The sculpture measures 60" x 89" x 27" and is constructed out of brown grocery bags and handmade colored paper. The bicycle was donated by ARTcycle.

Please join me to view "The Accidental Beast" at the opening reception December 5th 7pm to 10pm at FLOR Miami - 127 NE 40th Street, Miami along with my collection of sculptures titled, "The Food Forest" (In the Design District across from Michael's Restaurant).

There are thirteen additional art bikes created by local artists in various galleries throughout Wynwood during Art Basel week with a guided bicycle tour December 6th through 8th at 1 pm.

Next month the art bicycles will be exhibited together at the Coral Gables Museum from January 16 to February 26 with an artist lecture/panel on January 23rd. For more information about the bike tour visit art-cycle.org.

Solo Exhibition at the Tropical Audubon Society

My solo exhibition at the Tropical Audubon Society was a hugh success! I had so much fun! The Doc Thomas Historic house was a bit challenging, but well work the effort. We could not put any nails in the walls and due to the flammable vintage varnish on the walls we had to use low lighting.

Live music by Joanne Meagher on the front screen porch added so much to the opening. I love partnering with artists of all genres. I even invited student artists to participate.  

The concept behind my collection is to introduce the idea of growing food all around us in public spaces. Each sculpture uses grocery bag paper to represent our current relationship with food. Read more on my website at nancymartini.com

"The Messengers" Encaustic Birds

A flock of encaustic birds where installed flying out of a chandelier.

"Food Forest Tiers"
Lorraine studies the concept of growing vertical gardens in public spaces.

"Glorious Imperfection"
Finigan types the answers to the question, "What would you do if you were not afraid to make a mistake?"

Joanne Meagher - Deco Tones
Songs of nature were song beautifully by Joanne Meagher.

Dylan Terry - Ready to Grow
Featured next to Dylan are the works by Coral Reef High School Art students who took on the eco art challenge of creating art from a simple grocery bag.

Vegan Creations from Relish
All of the delicious appetizers where eco and animal friendly with only food from the garden thanks to
Elizabeth Guerra at relishmiami.com

Celeste De Palma

The Bird Bar was in good hands with Celeste!

Thank you to everyone who participated including Terry Long who took all of the event photographs for me!

International Biennale Artist Exhibition 2013

The International Biennale Artist Exhibition (IBAE) was a hugh success and will continue this week with an auction June 13 to benefit The Art & Entertainment Council. 

Even with tropical storm Andrea and the Miami Heat Game happening last night a hugh crowd of art enthusiasts including Mayor Tomas Regalado came out to see the art. In Miami, there is always so many things going on. You can go to multiple major events on any day of the week.

'Erasing Barriers' - Nancy Martini

70" x 40" x 22"

Upcycled mixed media

Miami Iron Side Main gallery was a fabulous venue for an art event! For the next event, come early. The valet parking and street parking fills up fast! Thank you to everyone who came out to support all the artists from all over the world!

Eco Art Fashion show by designer Luis Valenzuela inspired by Marie Antonette

Mayor Tomas Regalado (center) Jose Garcia (center right) Chibarro invited artist from Chile and IBAE organizer Tata Fernandez (far right)

Thursday, June 6th from 7pm to 10pm I will be exhibiting at Ironside in the Little River Business District for the International Biennale Artist Exhibit.
The exhibit will be on display until Friday June 14th concluding with an auction to benefit the Arts & Entertainment Council. Ironside is located at 7600 NW 4th Court, Miami which is near the Haitian Cultural Center. Ironside is a campus like facility that for the past few years has been cultivating a creative community of artists, designers, architects and interior designers.

The piece that I will be exhibiting is called "Erasing Barrier." The 70" x 40" x 22" sculpture uses an upcycled garden fence and papier mâché to represent dividing lines that separate starting with our own backyards. The concept of eliminating barriers is also reflective in societal barriers as it relates to economics, ethnicity, gender and race. With this sculpture, I hope to open nonjudgmental dialogues for peaceful coexistence on land and in relationships unencumbered by barriers.

"Erasing Barriers" is part of my collection of sculptures titled ‘The Food Forest.' The collection explores growing healthy food all around us as part of Whole Systems Living and Permaculture. The sculptures contemplate how and where food is currently grown, our relationship with how we purchase food, and nature’s ability to adapt to our changing environment. Each sculpture examines the connection between nature and urban life as a way to inspire the concept of growing food wherever a pocket of nutrient rich soil can be found in our overbuilt and stressed communities.

The sculptures all have two key components. First, each sculpture uses an upcycled object to symbolize everyday urban life and human impact on the environment. Second, the sculptures are covered in brown paper to mimic brown grocery bags. The brown bags represent our relationship with store purchased food as well as to unite man, objects and nature.

"The Food Forest"
8' x 7' x 5'

My sculpture for the ARTcycle exhibited during Art Basel is called "The Food Forest." It will be exhibited during Art Basel at GAB Studios, 105 NW 23 Street, Wynwood.

Although ARTcycle is bringing awareness to bicycle safety, I wanted to take one step further and bring awareness to the need to plant food in public spaces as well.

Food forests are vertical garden ecosystems planted in layers starting with edible fruit  trees as the top layer down to smaller berry shrubs and herbs in the lower layers. Food Forests are important because they help restore the health and abundance of land by saving energy, soil, water and resources. It is a sustainable approach to the long-term needs of land while providing food and food education to the local community.

Bring your bike or rent one from Deco Bike!

In Wynwood, we will have bicycle tours departing daily at noon from Fountain Art Fair, 2505 N. Miami Ave. that will take touring bicyclists gallery to gallery without having to look for a single parking space! 

ARTcycle was curated by Tachi Llamas and Giselle Delagdo to raise awareness for riders as well as drivers to education the community to make the healthy alternative of cycling safer for everyone. The money raised from the sale of all fifteen of the sculptures will go to Green Mobility Network's Safe Streets Miami educational programs to reduce the number of bike-related accidents and fatalities that occur in our city every year.

Please go to www.facebook.com/artcyclemiami to see the route and map of sculpture locations. 

Thank you to All4Cycling for sponsoring my work and bringing health and bicycle safety to our community.

Save the date!

Thursday, October 25^th from 12noon to 1:00pm at The Artisan Lounge (500 NE 1^st Ave).

For a Brown Bag Break Away... Break away from STRESS!!!

Viewing art dramatically reduces stress! In 2006, Professor Angela Clow from the University of Westminster in the UK studied saliva cortisol levels in participants who viewed art for 40 minutes during lunch and discover a reduction of 32% which would normally take stress levels five hours after work to fall to that extent.

Pack your lunch and hop on the Metro Mover to The Artisan Lounge (College North Station). Enjoy your lunch surrounded by art and studio artists then return to work rejuvenated, relaxed and more productive.

More benefits… It’s free, green and healthy.

Questions? Call Artist, Nancy Martini at 305.401.7726.

Please RSVP to hello@theartisanlounge.com by Tuesday Oct 22 

Go to http://www.nancymartini.com/where-to-find-me/ to view a map and get directions.