South Miami is a bustling place most every weekend but on the second Friday of the month, things are livelier than ever. The reason for this is the SOMI Art Walk, co presented by Chamber South, City of South Miami and SOMI Magazine. As part of the Jan. 11th Walk, Tachi Llamas and Giselle Delgado created ARTcycle, a bicycle-centered art event with a goal of raising bicycle safety awareness to reduce the number of bike-related accidents and fatalities in the City of Miami.
Among the most original was a sculpture by artist Nancy Martini whose work was later on display at the Coral Gables Museum. Martini’s creation sold before the first exhibit with proceeds helping to benefit the bicycle safety awareness effort.
A “Food Forest” themed sculpture, Martini’s piece incorporated bicycle parts and brown paper bags for paper mache to create a large tree and bush to resemble a layered food forest.
For those new to that concept, food forests are eco systems planted in the manner of a landscape that is not only appealing to the eye but also provides food and is sustainable by planting in layers. While Miami has no public food forests, there is a very successful one in Seattle that provides food for the community as well as a place to learn about food and seed sharing. Through Nancy’s art, she hopes to educate and inspire the community to plant food forests in their own gardens as well as in public spaces, even if it is just a tiny PEG (permanent edible garden) plot. Martini works in a variety of mediums using recycled materials and is often a featured speaker for various civic and service organizations. By the way, Nancy Martini works in a variety of mediums using recycled materials and is often a featured speaker for various civic and service organizations.
Other talented artists exhibiting that evening included Johanna Boccardo, Erwin Georgi, Mariano Costa-Peuser, Giselle Delgado Buraye, Elito Diaz, Astolfo Funes, Katiuska Gonzalez, Lucinda Linderman, Martini, Janet Mueller, Maximiliano Pecce, Gioconda Rojas, Katy Stallfus and Aida Tejada.
Speaking of art, save the date for South Miami Rotary’s Annual Art Festival on the weekend of Feb. 23 and 24. This is always a great family event enjoyed by all with music, a variety of food, interesting art of all genres, children’s activities and more. The Rotary Club of Coral Gables takes pride coordinating this annual festival. The Club, by the way, meets at Carrabba’s Italian Restaurant in South Miami every Tuesday at noon and welcomes visiting Rotarians.
In other Rotary related news, Coral Gables Rotary’s next Wine and Dine for Charity series, the second event in the series, will be held at Angelique Euro Café on Tuesday, Feb. 26. Event Chair, Rodney Langer, encourages wine lovers and foodies to sign up early for this affair as space is limited. Guests will enjoy a four course menu with wine pairings for an all inclusive price of $125 per person with the proceeds benefitting the Coral Gables Rotary Foundation. Other beneficiaries for the series include the GFWC Coral Gables Woman’s Club May Van Sickle Children’s Dental Clinic, Shake- A-Leg, and The First Tee Foundation. For reservations, call Rod at 305-786 251-8459 or Gloria at 305-968-3090
Until next time, keep making each day count.
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