caribbean village mural / miami dade art in public places
Wonderful Isle of Dreams / Colored pencil on maple panels / 84 x 180 inches / Caribbean Village / Pinnacle Housing / Affordable Housing for the Elderly / Community Room / Miami Dade Art in Public Places Commission / February 2020 / 19755 SW 110th Ct, Cutler Bay, FL 33157
For my recent Miami-Dade Art in Public Places Commission I was asked to design the Community Room, where residents would spend the most time together. Therefore a subtle approach was preferable to the high impact of a hotel lobby or airport, so I chose the domesticity of wood and wallpaper, and as residents have likely lived in South Florida many years, the imagery should honor their heritage. The South Miami Heights neighborhood is almost entirely devoid of historical buildings or the natural landscape, nor does it particularly reflect the residents Afro- Caribbean heritage. Therefore I created the atmosphere of Old Miami- bygone imagery of a quainter tropical paradise, in particular tourist attractions popular in the 50s and 60s, the heyday of places like the Parrot Jungle, Coral Castle and Venetian Pool- transporting you to a Caribbean paradise, one of delight and meaning for an under-recognized faction of the population, so residents can connect with it.
