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One big display, 365 spigots: Art exhibit taps into South Florida’s water woes 

By Jack Lemnus for the Sun Sentinel 

It was early April, and colossal floodwaters were ravaging parts of Broward County, engulfing streets and displacing residents. Just as the floods surged through Fort Lauderdale, sisters Dana Kleinman and Ruth Avra were debuting their art exhibit highlighting a different water crisis. 

“It was sort of art coming to life,” Avra said. They took it as a sign. 

Titled “Boil Notice,” their interactive art installation at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center illuminates chronic water quality issues, specifically the prevalent issuance of boil-water notices. 

The exhibit features 365 unique spigot sculptures, each representing a day in 2022. Some dispense a clear, plant-based resin, meant to represent a day when all of Broward County had clean drinking water. Out of these 365 spigots studding the walls, 270 are clogged with a murky ooze made from recycled concrete and debris, resembling dirty water. 

These symbolize the days when boil-water notices were issued in the county, the precautionary move over concerns of contaminants in the drinking water supply. “Broward County, as much as it’s an affluent, well-to-do area, we still have water access issues, and it’s not something that everybody is aware of,” Kleinman said. 

The Venus of Willendorf, dating to the Upper Paleolithic age around 28,000 BCE, is one of the oldest sculptures known. The small figurine can fit in one’s hand and yet it transports its viewers to a time and place unknown to any modern mind. This is the power of sculpture – it is a creation that allows the challenge of our realities and further proposes an essence of truth that no other human medium has been able to attain. From ancient Egypt to the Renaissance, the physical manifestation of the world has been thoroughly exposed.  

In 1913, however, artist Alexsei Gam and his peers changed the course and use if sculpture as a defiant measure. At once declaring an “uncompromising war on art” - in an effort to curry support for revolution – constructivist sculptors scoffed at the paintbrush and instead created works that defied scale. Industrial and unrelenting, this form of sculpture helped to define an entire art movement.  

Jane Manus is a modern-day abstract sculptor and minimalist carrying the torch of those that came before her. Born in 1951 in New York City, Manus was inspired by the industrial materials and aesthetics of early constructivist revolutionaries. Working with an enticing type of geometry, gravity, and asymmetry, Manus’ sculptures are welded from metal and incorporate jewel tones of deep blues, reds, and yellows. Manus had her first exhibition in the 1970s and continues to be exhibited and showcased all around the world due to the strength of her exhibitions.  

In the spring of 2022, Max-Steven Grossman was invited to Gloria Steinem’s 3-story apartment in NYC to photograph her extensive personal book collection.  The resulting bookscape is a piece of art that highlights Gloria’s work in activism, feminism and human rights. This collaboration is a fundraiser for GLORIA’S FOUNDATION whose primary goal is to support and nurture the feminist movement. Since 1968 Gloria’s home has served as a center for activism, thought, creativity, security and planning. The vision for the future of the apartment is that it shall continue to be what it always has been.

 Somewhere in the Middle: Donald Martiny sets the stage for a new dance by Amy Hall Garner and the Paul Taylor Dance Company

The Paul Taylor Dance Company’s new commissioned dance, Amy Hall Garner’s Somewhere in the Middle, with set design by Donald Martiny, will have its World Premiere at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on November 3, 2022 at 7pm. A second performance will take place November 11 at 8pm.

JANE MANUS “Undaunted” exhibition at the Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA

 Jane Manus celebrates change through the illusion of geometric forms. Her bold abstract sculptures are now on display at the Georgia Museum of Art  in its Jane and Harry Willson Sculpture Garden in the exhibition “Jane Manus, Undaunted” through February 12, 2023. Five large works show a variety of balance, movement and abstraction, and smaller maquettes are on view inside the museum, allowing visitors to follow the artist’s dynamic creative process.

In conjunction with the seasonal King Tides, The City of Delray Beach and the Office of Sustainability organized a climate education outreach event to raise awareness about the impacts of climate changes and the need to proactively adapt. The weekend invited organizations from around the city to be involved and programs included artist talks, art exhibitions, in-person panels and environmental activities.  As a coastal city within a larger coastal area, Delray Beach hopes to share the realities of the climate crisis, rising tides, and ultimately how it can directly affect us and the local neighborhoods in the future.

Two works, “Tide Markers” and “Obstructed Flow” by Kx2 (artist duo Dana Kleinman and Ruth Avra) were included in the exhibit “Waves” at the Arts Warehouse in Delray Beach, FL. 

By Karen Hedeen Choudhury for Splash Magazine

 In her new exhibition “Art Meets Hollywood” showing at the Boca Raton Museum of Art through August 21, 2022, Bonnie Lautenberg compares art as it captures the mood of a particular time period. It is a visceral examination of two artistic presentations via a snapshot in time though a creative use of diptychs, an ancient writing tablet form using two flat plates which make a pair often attached by hinge. It is a history of art from 1928 to 2020 seen though film and painting.

Through these 28 diptychs, Ms. Lautenberg compares a film and a painting created within the same year as each depicts the culture, fashion, and emotional tenor of that year. Although it is just the moment in time that they share, the viewer can see the influence on both the filmmaker and the painter. Three examples:

Sponder Gallery & Gino Miles spotlight in the newest edition of 1926, the exclusive magazine of The Boca Raton.

What started out as a generous installation of 15 sculptures throughout the property grounds in 2009 has ballooned into a far-reaching,n collaborative relationship with the Sponder Gallery, which continues to showcase important works of art in its on-property gallery. Deborah Sponder, president of Sponder Gallery, details the decades-plus relationship with The Boca Raton and highlights an intriguing new sculpture found on the property.

We recently connected with Dana and Ruth Kleinman, KX2 and have shared our conversation below.

Dana and Ruth, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

91.7 WVXU | By Tana Weingartner

A large-scale abstract sculpture by contemporary artist Rob Lorenson is now a centerpiece on Earlham College's campus in Richmond, Indiana.

"Absolutely beautiful — it's about nine feet tall, and it's in that classic red-orange color that's similar to classic works by artists like Alexander Calder and Keith Haring," explains Christian Adams, art curator for Earlham. "It's set at the entrance to our campus in front of the chemistry and science and technology buildings with 'the heart' — which is the center of our campus — in the background."

Lorenson is a faculty member at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts. His large-scale metal sculptures "explore the relationships of space," according to a statement. The artist was in Richmond during the installation and met with faculty and students and heard their insights on the piece.