By: Craig Peterson, Director, Live Arts Brewery and Philly Fringe Festival

The Live Arts Brewery program is rounding the halfway mark of its third year and we show no signs of slowing down.  When Live Arts began the LAB program in 2009 we had no idea how many lessons were in store for us.  In general, artists have guided the way and the building blocks of our programming were constructed in response to the needs revealed along the journey.

A few weeks ago the LAB had the first Scratch Night with artists Lee Ann Etzold, Jeffrey Stanley and 2012 Fellow, Justin Jain.  Scratch Night is an evolution of our programmatic thinking about engaging audiences in the creative processes of artists.  Work-in-progress showings are common.  It’s a term we often hear and its one that, quite frankly, often induces yawning.  What IS work-in-progress?  The idea of Scratch Night celebrates the notion that artists and audiences need each other in ways that go beyond the obvious.

Visiting artist Luciana Achugar will perform at Scratch Night Feb 9.

Part of my job as LAB Director is to mess with artists and their processes, to challenge their notions about the way they engage with making their work.  I do this in a variety of ways but central to almost all of it is utilizing the outside eye.  I firmly believe that artists must open up their creative process in an effort to view their work-making from new and varied perspectives.  It is quite easy for artists get lost in the studio bubble.  They build ideas, and build upon those ideas and, to them; it is all coming together and making perfect sense.  But then their show opens and suddenly, all those ideas that they thought would work perfectly just don’t seem to register in the intended ways.  Those funny jokes?  Not so funny.  The provocative content?  Meh.  By getting live performance in front of an audience at an earlier stage, artists have the opportunity to see what’s working and what’s not.  Just being in the room with an audience changes the tenor of the work and it allows artists to feel the work in ways that can’t happen in the solitary confines of the studio setting.

For audiences, Scratch Night is an opportunity to experience art in a raw but vital state and audiences have the opportunity to learn more about the artistic process.  However, we turn the Q and A on its head and instead of audiences asking artists questions, I ask the artists to interrogate their viewers.  I first ask artists to seriously consider why they want to show their work at this particular stage in its development and then, together, we formulate some specific questions that they hope to reveal or understand by using the many sets of fresh eyes on the work.  This way, audiences become a part of the making process instead of being passive viewers.

At the last Scratch Night Lee Ann Etzold got the audience out of their seats to help her enact a stage fight and asked them to film her with cell phones so she could develop a stunt reel for a character she is developing.  In addition to experimenting with audience participation, she wanted to know if the audience ever felt like they were, at any point, in real danger.  Jeffrey Stanley is currently reworking a piece that was originally performed in a small space to see if it can translate to a more typical proscenium stage.  During his piece he wandered out into the audience in an effort to create intimacy despite the formal theatrical setting.  Did the audience feel the connection as he intended?  Justin Jain showed a series of scenes about growing up gay.  He wanted to find ways to make viewers uncomfortable and feel challenged by the subject matter but he wasn’t sure how until he could test an audience’s reaction.

These are just a few ways that we are trying to challenge artists to make their best work and to inspire audiences to get involved in the actual creative process.  Of course, it’s very important to mindful of the risks involved.  It takes great courage for an artist to willingly burst their own bubble when work is in such an evolutionary state.  And audiences need to understand that not all experiments yield success.  But there is no better way to try out an idea than to step out of our comfort zones and begin asking questions, to burst one’s own bubble.  At Scratch Night we ask everyone to be a bit more daring and a lot more involved.

Next up for Scratch Night on February 9: Visiting artists Luciana Achugar, Jesse Zaritt vs. Jumatatu Poe, Devynn Emory, and current LAB Fellow, Brian Osborne.  To learn more visit the Live Arts website.

And remember, we always serve free beer and snacks!  All we ask for in return is YOUR opinion.

By Eric Woodhams, Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Hands-down, the best part of working at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is hearing our amazing musicians perform in Orchestra Hall. The intimate connection between the stage and audience, the beauty and history of the building, and its acoustical warmth make every concert a joy to be a part of. As much as I love sitting in the Hall, nearly every week I happily and excitedly resort to what I consider the next-best seat in the building—the vintage Ikea armchair in my cubicle—to share our beloved DSO with the world during our Live from Orchestra Hall webcasts.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra

My cube (or “the command center,” as I like to call it) features all the tools I need to oversee the live webcast experience and interact with our online audience: a 27-inch widescreen monitor full of open windows, an iPad chirping from incoming tweets, and my phone buzzing with texts from the control room downstairs. It’s an awesome setup, and I’m very fortunate to have it.

Our series of webcasts, viewable online or on the new ‘DSO to Go’ mobile app, are a thrill to work. Upstairs in my command center, I constantly flip back and forth between different computer screens, monitoring posts from our friends on Twitter and Facebook, and I keep a special eye out for tweets using the hashtag #DSOLive (for non-Twitter folks, a hashtag is a popular way for users to I.D. a certain topic, event, or place). I can then respond directly and relay their posts to an interactive box on our player page. Throughout performances, I also pose questions, post program notes, and display fun facts about composers and our soloists in real-time as the music is played. It’s a complex number of things to quickly juggle at once, but incredibly fun and rewarding at the same time.

The DSO has a rich history of innovations in broadcasting (it was the first orchestra to air on radio nearly 90 years ago, followed by numerous legendary recordings), and our Digital Media team takes much pride in helping continue its legacy using the latest trending technologies. At the start of each webcast, I ask our online audience my favorite, simple question: “Where are you tuning in from today?”. To hear instant responses from people across the U.S., as well as countries like Germany, Spain, Dominican Republic, and Japan (just to name a few), is truly remarkable.

So far this season, we’ve had over 20,000 viewers from more than forty countries worldwide, and over 1,800 downloads of our mobile app in thirty seven countries, all made possible by the generous support of Knight Foundation.

We hope you can join us for a future webcast. To learn more and RSVP to our next Live from Orchestra Hall performance, please visit www.dso.org/live.

To download DSO to Go for your mobile device, simply search for “Detroit Symphony” in your app store, or follow this link to learn more.

Selections from Live from Orchestra Hall performances can also be enjoyed on the DSO’s YouTube channel.

Enjoy reading some of my favorite posts from our live Twitter audience:

• “Loving listening to #DSOLive! Hearing these brilliant musicians gives me every reason I need to desire to play professionally.”
• “Bravo to everyone who worked so hard to make this a reality! Looking forward to years of live DSO broadcasts!”
• “I wish [our orchestra] could reach out like this!”
• “Watching the streaming webcast of the @DetroitSymphony webcast. Our symphony > yours”
• “Beethoven 5 from Detroit is about to begin and I’m watching live on my iPhone. WOW!!”

Will Ryman "Icon." Courtesy Paul Kasmin Gallery

We have hit the peak cultural season in South Florida. There is so much going on, most people will only be able to catch a fraction, from theater, dance, music and visual arts. Another round of Second Saturdays art openings is around the corner, as is the inaugural Art Wynwood, taking place at the Art Miami pavilion in Midtown.

Ryman "Encore." Courtesy Paul Kasmin Gallery

But unlike the rest of the country, we also have glorious weather right now, which is why a combined art and nature trip to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (A Knight Arts grantee) is the perfect February outing. During Art Basel Miami Beach, Fairchild installed Will Ryman sculptures throughout the park. Based on his Roses on Park Avenue in New York City, which debuted in January 2011, Ryman — who has serious artistic pedigree from his mother and father — created flower and insect sculptures. For instance, there are some large-scale brass and stainless steel bees crawling around, along with some giant ants. But the dominant pieces are the primary-colored roses, in deep blue, crimson red, matte yellow.

These are lovely, complementary pieces, but there is more to them than that. A rose is, of course, loaded with symbolism — but Ryman realized that like so much else in our hyper-commercialized society, symbols such as the romantic rose lose their power when over-stretched and over-exposed, which is why he initially put up his sculptures on an avenue, Park Avenue, synonymous with consumption and indulgence. Take in these massive sculptures as heavy or light as you want — the experience of art and Fairchild in winter is without compare.

“Will Ryman at Fairchild” will remain up until May 31, 10901 Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables; 305-667-1651.

Detroit native Andrew Krieger was, until recently, a fulltime carpenter, but he returned to making art after a two-decade absence following a revelation of sorts — that his avoidance of art making was actually the symptom of something deeper, an evasion from some fearful element he’d been unwilling to confront. That sounds rather serious considering how truly fun and pleasurable much of Krieger’s work is, but that contradiction is actually the crux of his artwork.

"She Sings Sweetly."

Being an adult is serious business. Often we’re unable to even enjoy ourselves unless everything is on the line. This drives people to do insane things, like jump out of airplanes or mortgage their house to “invest” in a fleet of antique tractors. Or, in the case of artists, to gather friends and strangers in a gallery and invite them to stare at the idiosyncratic products of their obsession, an obsession that often carries with it the implied baggage of lost hours and lost wages and a loosening grip on the grimly dull requirements of practical adulthood. It is this kind of obsession that can make a grown man like Krieger quit his job and build an art workshop in his backyard. That Krieger’s workshop is essentially a fun factory doesn’t make it any less terrifying.

Andrew Krieger, standing before the playhouse he built for his kids, which features hinged doors and windows, electricity and a trap door.

Since Krieger’s return to the art world, he’s been making an impressive variety of multidimensional work, often featuring small figures affixed to painted landscapes, but he’s also making action figures and electronic toys, such as a “King Kong Panic Playset.” He brings obvious carpentry talent to bear on his pieces, and along with that comes his desire for functionality, as well as a collaborative imperative for the viewer. Physical collaboration — in the sense of moving pieces around, as well as moving oneself around the pieces— and also creative, abstract collaboration, in the sense that much of his work creates the framework for an unfolding narrative, but doesn’t determine it, leaving the viewer to create their own story.

"King Kong Panic Playset."

In “The Drink,” a series of dioramas display the same banal scene, that of a man sitting at a table, holding a cup and smoking a cigarette. But the perspective in each of the dioramas is drastically different — some are zoomed close in on the face, others are from the far side of the room — and the effect is that of an epic, tragic sweep. There is truly nothing more epic than the mundane, for the mundane is typically what’s happening just before the horror interrupts, and even sans horror it often masks a darker, inner tragedy. In “The Drink,” the subject could just be a guy taking a smoke break, but he could also be a relapsing alcoholic taking the first gulp of a destructive bender. It’s ultimately up to the viewer to decide.

Image of the "The Drink."

Another image from "The Drink."

The entirety of "The Drink" on display.

It’s impossible to write about Krieger without mentioning his admiration for Howard Finster, the evangelist turned folk artist, who started making artwork after receiving a revelation: a mandate from God that he use art to spread the Gospels. Despite the overt, macabre message of Finster’s work — that you will enter hell unless you repent before your inevitable death—each piece radiates a childlike enthusiasm, the pure joy of an unbridled imagination, an imagination powerful enough to contemplate the void with enough grim seriousness to feel viscerally relieved to have discovered a way out.

"Andy and Stacy."

In the great folk art tradition, for Krieger as well as for Finster, art must ultimately be functional, even when its main function is “just” to be enjoyed. It’s not made to be entombed in a museum beside a bewildering artist statement read by bewildered museumgoers. In fact, Krieger practically summed up his artistic philosophy by describing how he writes artist statements — as a way to explain the work to his grandmother. Which is not to say that artwork must appeal to real or metaphorical grandmothers — though I think that’s a fine place to start — but is more to say that artwork had better be at least pleasurable on its own, removed from the magic wand of the artist statement and the very serious pretensions of the art world — removed even, perhaps just momentarily, from the very serious pretensions of the practical world.

Current and upcoming shows include:

“Love for Sale,” currently up at Work.Detroit: 3663 Woodward Ave., 313-593-0940, Work.Detroit.

“Let’s talk about love, baby,” debuting Feb. 10 at MOCAD, a Knight Arts grantee: 313-832-6622, 4454 Woodward Ave. mocadetroit.org.

Rebekah Templeton Contemporary Art is currently showing the exhibition “Becoming Something Else.” The work in the show comes from four different artists — Anita Allyn, Micah Danges, Todd Keyser, and Leigh Van Duzer — and all of it is in some way a reworking of photography as a medium.

Anita Allyn, "+-,"digital archival print on photo tex, balloons, string, 2011. Photo courtesy the gallery

Allyn’s piece in the show consists of a dual image in “+-.” The image pictures a large-printed photo of multicolored balloons. Below the print hangs a mirror image of the balloons in a dark bronze/black color. The major difference between the two images is that one is not a depiction; the hanging balloons are actually real, inflated objects. Like much of the work in the show, this piece very directly challenges photographs as objects aside from their representational quality.

Leigh Van Duzer, "Metaplasia,"archival pigment print, 2011. Photo courtesy the gallery

The work by Van Duzer is also quite object-like. “Metaplasia” is a manipulated photo of wooden structural supports, which is abstracted via mirroring and symmetry. Initially the underside of a pavilion roof or some similar construction, Van Duzer then takes to the newly arranged geometric patterns and cuts out negative space. The image is hung in such a way that it bends toward the viewer, and both cutouts and curvature lend to its three-dimensional nature. The starting image’s lattice of wooden beams is reflected in the cut slivers of paper. This serves to reintroduce three dimensions into a structure that formerly had its depth removed by the photographic process.

Micah Danges, "Upper Rim," photograph, acrylic, enamel paint, aluminum, 2012. Photo courtesy the gallery

Acting somewhat as inversions of one another’s process, Danges and Keyser both alter the surface of photos but in two opposite ways: addition and subtraction (in a way, a nod to the title of Allyn’s piece). Danges slices out parts of photos and leaves flat colors in place of the removed sections. In these instances, one shows a photo with only a thin, red wave cut out from its center. The other desaturated photo mimics the hill in the background with a black bell-curve-like shape. Simultaneously negative space and the focus of the piece, the missing section, unlike those in Van Duzer’s work, is not really a gap in the picture but a heavily weighted visual form in and of itself.

Todd Keyser, "Cave Painting B,"acrylic on digital print, 2010. Photo courtesy the gallery

Keyser’s process is additive in that paint is applied to photographs, but the covered areas also reveal that adding layers can also be subtractive. Once areas are blocked from sight, they indeed become something else, and the exposed sections of photo now exist in relation to the new sections and not whatever lies beneath the paint. The dichotomy of the positive and negative, additive and subtractive, is also very telling of the show as a whole.

Photography in the digital age has come a long way since the time of chemicals and darkrooms. “Becoming Something Else” demonstrates how processes evolve and create new meanings on seemingly old forms. By returning to physical photography instead of light from a computer monitor, these artists examine photos in their role as objects aside from their representational content.

Rebekah Templeton Contemporary Art is located at 173 W. Girard Ave.; 267-519-3884.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a seasoned dancer or new to salsa, there is something for everyone at the “4th Annual Charlotte Salsa Invitational.” The party starts the evening of Friday, Feb. 3 leading into two full days of salsa workshops and professional performances on Saturday, Feb. 4 and Sunday, Feb. 5.

Salsa On1, Salsa On2, Bachata and even the Kizomba styles are all coming together in one location. It could almost be called a “Salsa International” with the different cultural varieties of this dance the event will represent. Yet, all have the common root in the very exciting — and always fun to watch — skillful movement, precision and sexiness of salsa.

Fourth Annual Charlotte Salsa Invitational banner.

World Dance Center is the sponsor of this annual event. Its owners, Rodrigo A. Jimenez and Wendy Jimenez, are well known dancers and educators who are passionate and accessible, in addition to being plugged in to the Charlotte community and greater salsa world. They make dance fun and easy to approach for everyone.

Rodrigo is originally from Chile, where he studied Latin American folklore and Flamenco dancing, which he began performing at an early age. In the United States, he continued his dance studies on International Latin Ballroom (he’s a silver medalist), Latin American Folklore, Flamenco and Capoeira. He performed and toured in the United States, through Europe in 2002 and South America in 2003. He moved to Charlotte in 2003 and has been teaching dance and performing since.

Wendy is originally from El Salvador and has been dancing since 2006. In just a short period of time, she has become a top dancer and performer for Charlotte Salsa. Currently, she teaches beginners, general and intermediate classes along with Rodrigo at their “World Dance Center” and other venues, where Charlotte Salsa is involved. She performs and leads workshops for various Salsa Congresses, as well as special events, Latin festivals and school programs.

What is nice about the weekend of events is you can submerge yourself or take one workshop. You can even just attend one performance. Full weekend event passes are $150, which you can purchase online or at the door. There is even a “beginners” package that includes a four-hour beginners salsa boot camp, plus the Saturday night show and party. Individual workshops are very affordable at only $25 each. (Like most conferences, this Charlotte Salsa Invitational will be held at one venue, the Renaissance Charlotte Suites Hotel.)

The well-known performers will also be the workshop instructors during the day.  They include duos Abel Pena & Zulmara Torres (seen on the video clip above), Christian Oviedo & Alien Ramirez, Junior & Emily Alabi (nine-time world-renowned dance champions) and Luis Gutierrez & Pia Sanz. Other performers are Proyecto Barrio, Mambo Dinamico, Shaka Brown, Paso Fino, Magna Gopal and Griselle Ponce.

If you love salsa or have always wanted to learn more, this is going to be a memorable event and great opportunity to work with some of the best salsa dancers in the United States. For more details, check out the website.

“4th Annual Charlotte Salsa Invitational”
Sponsored by World Dance Center
Held at Renaissance Charlotte Suites Hotel
Friday, Feb. 3 through Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012

Miami Light Project’s (MLP) Here and Now 2012 program opens tonight at The Light Box at Goldman Warehouse with commissioned works by a diverse group of South Florida-based performing and multimedia artists. The unifying theme of Here and Now 2012, which includes the use of 3-D mapping technology, a glimpse into terror and nightmares, the nightmare of plastic surgery, live video feeds and spoken word, tells the story of the absurd beauty of human nature.

Natasha Tsakos.

Here & Now 2012 also tells the story of South Florida’s emerging and ever-evolving performing and multimedia arts scene — a scene that is, in part, the result of Miami Light Project’s (a Knight Arts grantee) investment in South Florida-based artists. Since Here and Now’s founding in 1999, more than 70 South Florida artists have been commissioned to create works that have added to the region’s cultural DNA.

“Here & Now is the MLP program that is nearest and dearest to our hearts,” says Rebekah Lengel, managing producer of Miami Light Project. “And this year we received more than 30 applications for this nationally recognized program, and we believe that the artists commissioned for Here and Now 2012, Luis Alberto Cuevas, Ivonne Batanero, Carlota Pradera & Priscilla Marrero and Natasha Tsakos, are among the most promising performing artists working in Miami today.”

For the first time, Here and Now will be held at the Goldman Warehouse. The commissioned artists have had the chance to actually rehearse in the same space where they’ll perform. “This is a tremendous benefit [for the artists],” Lengel says. “They have been able to draw inspiration from the rope curtains, poles and every other part of the space; coming up with interesting entry and exit points for their work and lighting options.”

Miami Light Project’s role in the development of Miami’s cultural landscape, through Here and Now, is significant. We’re not just the host for Art Basel. Every day, in countless ways, in countless places, art is conceived of and created in Wynwood warehouses, apartment studios and in the hearts and minds of artists as they make their way through the city.

“Having the Here & Now artists here on a daily basis for rehearsals has brought an incredible feeling to the building,” Lengel says. “For the past 7 to 8 months art has not just been presented here but is created on a daily basis. The creativity that these daily rehearsals bring to the Light Box has made it an inspiring place to work. Miami is establishing itself as a very real place for art and culture.”

I agree. Art is real, and it is thriving in Miami. And it is Here & Now through Feb. 11 at the Light Box at Goldman Warehouse.

Here and Now: 2012, A Knight Emerging Artists Series, February 2-11, 2012, Performances, Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m., The Light Box at Goldman Warehouse, 404 N.W. 26 th St., Miami, Fla. 33127, Tickets: $20 general admission, $15 students & seniors, Group rates available. Tickets are available at miamilightproject.com or 866.811.4111.

Random Acts of Culture™ gains a bit more national attention this month as Doug Borwick, president of the Board of the Association of Arts Administration Educators, writes about the program in Engaging Matters, a blog that explores community engagement and the arts community. Borwick calls the Random Acts of Culture™ one of the best funded and most visible flash mob efforts. Borwick writes:

“In the context of the mission of this blog, flash mob arts is a potentially valuable mechanism for engagement. Arts organizations on the local level, whether LAA’s (local arts agencies) or individual arts groups can use this “genre” (if you will permit me to elevate it to that) as one method of reaching out to and (ideally) involving their communities. I suspect that there is a good deal of as yet untapped potential here. I’d love to hear from or about organizations utilizing this kind of work in an attempt to make meaningful connections with their communities.”

Click here to read the complete post.

A Random Act of Culture performed at MSP International Airport in December 2011.

Two print shows that deserve your attention are going up in St. Paul this week . First, the College of Visual Arts Gallery will open its biennial illustration exhibition tomorrow, “Illo Minn: Volume Three,” for which it will showcase the work of 25 notable Minnesota illustrators. Each artist will exhibit a print illustration and the original art from which it was derived, along with another original piece of their choosing, and their contribution to the silent auction (about which, more in a second).

"Illo Minn: Volume Three" showcases work from 25 local illustrators and opens Thursday, Feb. 2 at the College of Visual Arts gallery. Design by Andy Powell, courtesy of CVA

The biennial offers a handpicked sampling of the many talented artists we have working in illustration and design in our state, whose work is published in national glossies and big city newspapers, the centerpiece of major ad campaigns, and adorning various and sundry books and album covers all over the world. The included artists spotlight the breadth and diversity of the field and feature a mix of printmaking styles and techniques. Find a full list of illustrators included in this year’s “Illo Minn” exhibition here.

Individually decorated Moleskine by Shannon Brady for the CVA silent auction. Courtesy of College of Visual Arts

The biennial show is a reliably good one, but I’ve especially got my eye on the silent auction offerings. For this year’s fundraising component of the show (all proceeds go toward the CVA Scholarship Fund), the college asked each illustrator to decorate the cover of a Moleskine notebook. These individually embellished Moleskins will be on the block during the exhibition’s opening reception tomorrow night (and available for view in the show), and, if you want one of your own, you can place bids throughout the evening.

Individually decorated Moleskin by James O'Brien. Courtesy of CVA

“Illo Minn: Volume Three” opens with a reception and silent auction on Thursday, Feb. 2 from 6 to 8 p.m. (the auction closes at 7:30 p.m.) at the College of Visual Arts gallery, 173 Western Ave. North, St. Paul, Minn. There will be a panel discussion with some of the artists in the show in the gallery Feb. 9 from 6 to 8 p.m., and the exhibition will be on view through March 3. Gallery hours are Wednesday and Friday noon to 6 p.m.; Thursday noon to 8 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday noon to 4 p.m.

"For the Love of Love," a poster show opens Friday, Feb. 3 at Big Table Studio, in support of Minnesotans United for All Families (and the campaign against the proposed Marriage Amendment)

The second exhibition of note, “For the Love of Love,” opens Friday at Big Table Studio (a design and print shop profiled here just a few weeks ago). This one’s a themed, group poster show held in concert with a fundraiser hosted by the neighboring venue, Amsterdam Bar & Hall, and the coalition of organizations and professional partners behind Minnesotans United for All Families. Funds from these events will go toward the campaign against the Marriage Amendment, which, if enacted, will amend the Minnesota state constitution so that marriage is defined as the union of one man and one woman, effectively banning marriage between same-sex couples; the Marriage Amendment bill passed both houses of the state legislature last May and will be voted on by the public in the 2012 election.

On the Big Table’s website, proprietor Peet Fetsch calls “For the Love of Love” their Valentine’s Day show, and writes, “Valentine’s Day is about love, no matter who that person is. Let’s show the world what we believe love is.” The artists and designers involved in Big Table’s shows are always stellar and many of them particularly adept at creating effective political poster designs; I’m curious to see the work they’ve produced for this cause.

“For the Love of Love” poster show opens Friday, Feb. 3 with a reception from 7 to 10 p.m. at Big Table Studio, 375 Wabasha St. North, St. Paul, Minn. The Minnesotans United fundraising event is that night, but the exhibition will be on view all month in the studio gallery. On Facebook, you can find information about the affiliated St. Paul Professionals Fundraiser, held Friday night at Amsterdam Bar & Hall and hosted by St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and the coalition of organizations behind Minnesotans United.

Work by Rodolfo Sanchez Lalinde.

Mexican gallerist, curator and dealer Nina Torres has a new home on Biscayne Bay, a stunning waterfront art center on North Bayshore Drive opened up during Art Basel. Torres, for the most part, globetrots the world putting on shows and exhibiting at top fairs, focusing mostly on Latin American and especially Mexican contemporary art and masters. But she will also be putting on shows here in Miami.It wouldn’t be right to call the space a gallery, as the sprawling, shining venue is supposed to double as an event showroom for lectures, performances, dinners and art conventions. So the opening of “Monumental Exhibition: Here and Now” will be a bit more than a gallery show. Indoors, works from Eduardo Agelvis and Henry Bermudez of Venezuela and Jose Antonio Zarate of Spain will be highlighted, while outside the huge steel sculptures of Rodolfo Sanchez Lalinde of Colombia will be on display in Bayfront Park.

In fact, Torres is also creating a “Gallery Walk on the Bay,” which will start at the art center gallery, continue down Biscayne Boulevard, stopping at Marina Blue and ending at the park. This is no gritty Wynwood stroll, and also unlike that neighborhood, there are plenty of high-end restaurants in which to rest your feet, if that’s your thing.

“Monumental Exhibition: Here and Now” opens Feb. 3 and runs through March 30; “Monumental Sculptures” runs through March 30; and “Gallery Walk on the Bay” takes place on Feb. 11 from 6 to 9 p.m. Also, Torres unveiled the “Visual Gallery International Art Exhibition 2011″ online, as well. Nina Torres Fine Art, 1800 N. Bayshore Dr., Miami; www.ninatorresfineart.com.