Diaspora Vibe Gallery

Diaspora Vibe Gallery is a Miami based institution, founded by and under the caretakership of Rosie Gordon-Wallace. The space functions as both an Incubator for Caribbean Artists and as a gallery for their work. Here, Rosie guides us through the institution's history and goals for the future.  

 

Archive

Diaspora Vibe Gallery

3938 N. Miami Ave
MadonnaBuilding
Design District, Fl. 33127
305-759-1110 / 305-573-4046
www.diasporavibe.com
rgw@Diasporavibe.com
Hours: Tuesday – Sat. 12 – 6 pm
Appointments only Sun & Mon. 

DVCAI 2008 Calendar

December 4th 2007 – January 25th, 2008
Art Basel Miami Beach/Design District
Safety Zones
 
February 14th – March 25th, 2008
Dance of Colors in the Zumbi Nation
Werllayne Nunes
Curated by R GW
 
March 28th – April 7th, 2008
<<Off the Wall/Experimental Series>>
 
April 10th – May 24th, 2008
Women’s Work
Angela Piehl, Wura Natasha Ogunji, Vickie Oierre
Curated by Jacquenette Arnette
 
April 16th – April 23rd, 2008
International Cultural Exchange St Marteen
Featuring: Erman, Jean Chiang, Deborah Jack, Dr. Rosamond King, Chris Cozier, Jenifer Schmit
 
May 29th – June 6th, 2008
<<Off the Wall Experimental Series>>
 
June 12th – July 25th, 2008
The Man, the Work, His Images
Christopher Carter
Curated by Tracy Robinson
 
July 31st – August 8th, 2008.
<<Off the Wall Experimental Series>>
 
August 14th – September 25th, 2008
Space is the Place
Curated by Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud
September 26th – October 2nd, 2008
<<Off the Wall/ Experimental Series>>
 
October 9th – November 18th 2008
Erman: New Works
 
October 5th-9th 2008
Art off the Main
The Show of Contemporary African, Caribbean and Latin American Art
Puck Building, New York – Booth #16
 
December 2nd, 2008-January 26th, 2009
Art Basel Miami Beach/Design District
In Between Time
Curated by RGW
  

Calendar of Events for 2007

January 5-8, 2007
Art Miami 2007
Miami Beach Convention Center
Art Miami 2007 marks the 17th edition of this much anticipated world class event. Master paintings, museum quality works in glass, textiles and baskets, sculptures, and photography.
 
January 4 – February 3, 2007
Melanin: Asser St. Val
Melanin will present St. Val’s new body of abstract figurative paintings that explore the framing of identity through race. This work will be the culmination of St Val’s current residency in Centre d’art de Jacmel. Jacmel, Haiti. St. Valis currently on Artist-in-Residence at Diaspora Vibe with a BFA from New World School of the Arts/ University of Florida. Born in Haiti, St. Val lives in Miami and has participated in residencies and exhibitions in Aruba, Jamaica, Grenada, Haiti and throughout the US. St. Val is a recipient of the South Florida Consortium Grant.
 
February 10 – March 24, 2007
New Works: Ewan Atkinson
Ewan Atkinson explores the relationship between personality and personal space through mixed-media installation, digital photography, collage, and mapping. This body of work will investigate identity, as it relates to the room, the objects that decorate a room, and to sources that may influence these decisions. Born in Barbados, Atkinson received a BFA from Atlanta College of Arts and has exhibited internationally in the US, England, France, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and St. Kitts.
 
March 30-April 9, 2007
Caribbean Crossroads Series Student Exhibition
This exhibition highlights the accomplishments of students of the Caribbean Crossroads Series (CCS). CCS is an artist-in-residence program that provides young and emerging artists of color, opportunities for creative and professional development through mentorship, exhibitions, workshops, and arts administration.
 
April 14 – May 26 2007
Engendered: Flor Bosco & Swati Khurana
Engendered presents new takes on feminism and gender. Born and living in Leon, Mexico, Flor Bosco explores femininity and gender within Mexican culture through sculpture, collage, and installation. Swati Khurana was born in India and raised in New York where she currently lives and works. Her work mines personal narratives and explores immigrant issues with a focus on gender, popular culture and the seductive promise made by rituals.
 
July 4 – 11 2007
International Cultural Exchange Nassau, Bahamas Between the Lines: Text as Image
Presented in the Bahamas, Between the Lines explores the written work and language in visual arts, performance, installation, and in Caribbean culture. Twenty artists from Miami, the Caribbean, and the Bahamas will present an exhibition and workshop that frames text as image and explores the hybridity of language.
 
June 9 – July 21, 2007
Solo Exhibition: Jean Chiang
Jean Chiang will present an interactive installation inspired by Yin and Yang the five elements and the Daoist ritual dance. Chiang is a ceramist, sculptor, painter, printmaker, textile, and installation artist whose work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, including the 2nd Havana Biennal. Currently researching Chinese migrations in Jamaica. Chiang received a BFA in Ceramic Sculpture from Parsons School of Design, New York and an MFA in Sculpture from Hunter College, New York. 
 
August 11 – September 22, 2007
Work John Cox, Heino Schmid, Jason Bennett, Michael Edwards, Toby Lunn, Blue Curry
John Cox was born in Nassau, Bahamas, and attended Rhode Island School of Design, where he received a BFA in Illustration and a MAT in Art Education. Cox Taught in the Art Department of the Bahamas for nine years and currently work in the Educational Department of the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas.
 
 
October 13 – November 24, 2007
Flash Contemporary Photography
Hank Willis Thomas
Deborah Jack
Chantal James
Noelle Theard
Juan Sanchez
Flash traces current uses of photography in artistic experimentation. Artists from Haiti, Guyana, Cuba, and the US present their use of the camera to frame critical explorations of a range of issues including the body, self-portraiture, and as a documentary tool. Photography workshops will be presented to community youth for the duration of the exhibit by participating artists.
 
December 6 – December 9, 2007
Art Basel
 
December 1 – December 22, 2007
 “Safety Zones”
 Featuring time-based artwork including video, installation, earth-based work and a film series, In Between Time centers on the role memory plays in relation to cultural diaspora. Artists will present ephemeral art forms that explore personal, collective, and imagined histories. This exhibit will be accompanied by a catalogue essay and lecture by Dr. Rosamund King.
 

Calendar of Events for 2006  

 
Kim Myung-Sik
January 5 – January 31, 2006
Artist Talk: Saturday, January 7, 2006
Nature has been a main subject and a foundation of my works from early years in my painting career, for it is where we are from, originally and where we will go, eventually.
Denial of urbanized civilization is the primary reason for using nature as a main subject. Urban development /expansion is a double-edged blade, which makes our lives convenient but gradually hurts our human purity, as well.
When I was young, there were rice pads and grain fields in front of my village surrounded by low mountains, called ‘Kodegi”. On the way home after school, I used to catch grass hopers and dragonflies with my friends. That was how we cherished our young dreams, then.
 
Barbados 2006 
February 10 – March 2006
Artist Talk: Saturday, February 12, 2006
 
Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud- goober dust
March 24 – April 8, 2006
Public Performance: Thursday, March 23, 2006, 8pm
Mojo bags, laying tricks, and two-headed doctors are all part of the lush rituals of African-American healers. In the tradition of such rituals, goofer dust is a new multi-media performance including a collage of images, pre-recorded natural sounds, and a live performance. With a rich visual vocabulary and full-bodied movement, goofer dust abstracts the ceremonies of hoodoo, conjuration, and root-work. Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud will guide the audience through the surreal and emotional, investigating human’s relationship to natural and mystical elements. Jolivet Mccloud received a BA from the School of the Art Intitute of Chicago and has participated in exhibits/residencies in Mexico, Spain, New York, Chicago, and Houston.
 
Teri Richardson           April 13 – May 2006
Teri Richardson’s strength as a colorist is apparent. While her plastic is rich, warm and seductive, she is not content to simply make “pretty pictures”, not in the least. What has emerged in her most recent work is an even greater grasp of color and a tremendous leap forward in visual content. Teri’s work continues to improve, as her aim is to improve. Teri’s discipline is reflected in her productivity. I am constantly amazed that Teri Richardson applies layer upon layer of paint to panel and often achieves the delicacy and light of watercolor.
 
DVCAI International Cultural Arts Exchange Series- Puerto RicoJune 2006
Artists will participate in an international arts residency in Puerto Rico
 
Luisa Mesa    
June – July 2006
My artwork- fueled by a life-long passion for the metaphysical- is an exploration of the self and a mirror of my own internal process. My paintings reflect this process, serving as points of reference of my personal and artistic growth. When I observe my work from beginning to present, I see a chronology of my own history.
I was born in Havana, Cuba and arrived in the United States just before my second birthday. A Cuban-American growing up in Miami, Florida I am fluent in both English and Spanish, feeling very comfortable in both cultures. As an adult I have lived in Spain, Venezuela and Puerto Rico for a total of twelve years- an interesting and enriching experience that has influenced my artwork.
 
Brave New World 
August 10 – September 23, 2006 
Amanda Burk
Denton Fredrickson
Caroline Holder
Dorie Millerson
Nancy Price
Mary Anne Wensley
Brave New World explores the state of art-making and individual freedoms after September 11, 2001. This mixed-media exhibition features installation, sculpture, textiles, drawing, new media, painting, and ceramics.
Curated by Caroline Holder
 
October 12 – November 20, 2006 
Juan Valdes, The Land that Time Forgot 
Born in Cuba, Juana Valdes received an MFA from the School of Visual Arts and has participated in exhibitions in Holland, Australia, Belgium, France and Poland. Her work has been exhibited at a combination of alternative spaces, galleries and musrums including Miami Art Central, Art in General, El Museo del Barrio, Whitebox Gallery, River Art Center, and Nohra Haime Gallery.
 
Brave New World             August – September 2006
Curated by Caroline Holder
MFA Candidates 9-10 artists; Barbados, Canada and New York
 
Juana Valdez      October – November 2006
Juana Valdes was born in Cuba and came to the United States with her family in 1971. Ms. Valdes’ childhood/adolescent experience, which informs her work, is of leaving Cuba and growing up in the United States. One of her first experiences in the arts took place when she assisted the sculptor Christo with the installation of the Surrounded Island project in the Florida Keys. This experience, at a very young age, influenced her views on art and the process of art making. Ms. Valdes has participated in exhibitions in Holland, Australia, Belgium, France and Poland. In New York her work has been exhibited at a combination of alternative space, galleries and museum: Art in General, El Museo del BarrioBronx River Art Center, and Nohra Haime Gallery.  WhiteBox Gallery,
 
Art Basel  December 2006
Juried artists exhibition featuring immigrant artists from the DVG.
 
 

Calendar of Events for 2005

 
Maximo Caminero- With All the Soul   
January 6 – January 31, 2005 
Máximo Caminero has shifted his literal approach to the human figure to a more conceptual and sophisticated one. His method of abstract reduction has the human figure as its point of departure, but it has moved away from the individual and become more intellectual, more aware of design and form. Caminero has had over fifty one-person and group shows in different cities in the Dominican Republic, the U.S.A., Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and Italy, and he has been awarded important prizes and distinctions.
 
Three Generations: Barbadian Contemporary Artists  
February 10 – March 31, 2005 
Bill Grace, Joyce Daniel, Laura Ward, Stanley Graves, Alison Chapman Andrews, Ewan Atkinson, Ras Ishi, Sue Holder, Arlette St Hill, Fielding Babb 
Barbados Investment & Development Corporation and Diaspora Vibe Gallery are pleased to present Three Generations: Barbadian Contemporary Art which will focus on the theme of three generations of artists who live and work in Barbados from fantastic to whimsical, abstract to portraits. Curated by Rosie Gordon Wallace this exhibition will afford these artists an opportunity to share a diverse group of approximately 10 juried artists of different generations who work with a wide range of materials, processes and ideas.
 
Paradox   April 14 – May 31, 2005
Patrick Narbal Boucard, Kate Tarratt Cross, Asser St Val
In honoring Haitian culture, art and lifestyles, Diaspora Vibe Gallery continues to feature art in the Caribbean by exposing the work of artists who live and work in the Region and the Diaspora. “Paradox “says Kate Tarratt Cross, is a point in common that she and Patrick Narbal Boucard have. Kate Tarratt Cross deals with shadows and the paradox to real and the illusory, Patrick Narbal Boucard’s work originates from different cultures that have influenced his life and therefore work. Tarratt Cross and Boucard are both natives of of Jacmel, Haiti. The exhibition will also include Haitian born Asser St Val has been an artist- in -residence at Diaspora Vibe Gallery in Miami’s Design District.
 
Deep Blue: Caribbean-American Statements   
June 9 – July 30, 2005
Curated by Juan “Erman” Gonzalez
Being Caribbean is an amalgam of influences arising out of European, African, and Indigenous cultures. This group exhibition showcasing a variety of media and, artists from throughout the Caribbean, “shows evidence (of) shared artistic roots among the islands: connections to the earth, the sea, agrarian and communal life,” according to Tampa Weekly Planet writer, Mary Mulhern. “Deep Blue” show celebrates the art and life of the African-Caribbean-American experience in painting, ceramics, sculpture and, mixed media. This exhibit features a dynamic cast of sixteen artists.
 
That’s What’s Poppin’- Contemporary Pop & Sequential Art  
August 11 – September 30, 2005
Curated by Rodney Jackson
Pop Art highlights everyday life and popular culture, continuously pushing for a bridge between “high arts” and “low arts”. Television, magazines, comics, billboards, and consumer products all serve as a source for this art form. This group exhibition highlights artists exploring the intermingling of pop and urban culture and their impact on sequential art. Five contemporary Miami based artists are presented including comic book veteran, Grey; sequential artists, R. Jackson and Caiphus Moore; photographer, Noelle Theard; and emerging fine artist Memo.
 
Art off the Main: The Show of Contemporary African, Caribbean, and Latin American Art (NY)
October 6 – 9, 2005
Diaspora Vibe Gallery artists present for the second year in Art Off The Main: The Show of Contemporary African, Caribbean & Latin American Art at New York's Puck Building, SOHO. Last year's artist list ranged from Latin American luminaries like Wilfredo Lam, Rufino Tamayo, Roberta Matta and Arnaldo Roche, to contemporary artists like Cuba's Manuel Mendive and Haiti/Miami’s, Edouard Duval-Carrie. Diaspora Vibe Gallery (DVG) artists presenting in this year’s Off the Main include Ermán, Kim Myung Sik, Jean Chiang, Aisha Tandiwe Bell, Swati Khurma, Maria Bouquet, Teri Richardson, Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud, Caroline Holder, Juana Valdes, Antonius Roberts, and Deborah Jack.
 
 
Juliana Kang- Migrations    
October 13 – November 18, 2005
Artist Talk: Saturday, October 15, 2-4pm
Migration, is a show by Juliana Kang of paintings on wood and artists books, dealing with the movements and marks left by people, birds, plants during mass migrations from one part of the world to another. Kang focuses on the ways that we can trace, follow and remember migration. Kang received her MFA in Print Media from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Kang currently teaches as a Guest Lecturer at the California College of Art in Oakland, CA and on faculty in the Creative Arts Division at De Anza College in Cupertino, CA.
 
 
Art Basel
Miami Beach  
December 1 – 24, 2005
Out Castes: Crossing the Line to the Model Majority
Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Diaspora
Art Basel Design District Party Dec. 3, 2005 6 pm -12 am
Opening Thursday, December 1, 2005, 7-10 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, December 3, 2005, 2-4 pm 
For the past nine years Diaspora Vibe Gallery has exposed artists from the Caribbean Diaspora and other immigrant communities from the developing world. “Out Castes”: Crossing the line to the Model Majority, Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Diasporais a multi-media group show featuring installation, video, painting, sculpture, and performance exploring various ways of how we see and process identity. Whether from Cuba, Jamaica, Bahamas, Barbados, or India, all of the artists converge to explore varying concepts of issues while living in America. 
 
 [Content provided by Rosie Gordon-Wallace]

Art Basel

Diaspora Vibe Gallery: Art Basel 2008

This year -end we discuss our sense of space and safety, in “Safety Zones” ; These questions fit under the umbrella of discussions examining or political consciousness that is critical to art making today. We have settled on exhibition twelve artists together, featuring paintings, video, installation and photography. We will expand our walls to include Art Center - 942 Lincoln Road – featuring Geraldo Gonzalez’s paintings , Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud’s – performance art and Deborah Jack’s photography .

“Safety Zones” features art with content, art that reveals at least an awareness of issues as diverse as labor and working conditions, political freedom and or the lack of it , environmental beauty, sex, war , poverty, happiness, homelessness, hope. Some of the artists working in film and video use quasi- documentary fashion while others use metaphorical references to communicate their ideas.


 

Beginning on December 4, DVG will present Safety Zones; recent works by US based Caribbean American Artists and International Artists who created new work in 2007. The primary intention of the exhibition is to present and discuss pieces by these artists who are working in mixed media and new media.

With the significant and ugly racial incidents that have marked 2007, now more than ever, it is important to have a conversation about the political landscape in the U.S. using work just like this to spark debate about multi-cultural lives and living and the concept of safety in specific spaces whether it is your home, your neighborhood or the country in which you live. Has the idea of the melting pot gone awry? -- (Content provided by Rosie Gordon-Wallace November 2008)

Biennale

Diaspora Vibe Gallery: Artist Biennale 2007, St. Maarten


The International Diaspora Artists Biennale (IDAB) was conceived of by Rosie Gordon-Wallace, the curator of Miami-based Diaspora Vibe Gallery and director of the non-profit organization Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator (DVCAI). The Biennale is part of a series of international cultural exchanges DVCAI arranges that have taken place throught the Caribbean and in France and Miami. DVCAI partners with local arts organization to present the Biennales, which are funded by Miami Dade Department of Cultural Affairs. The first IDAB was in Nassau, Bahamas in 2006, and the local partner was Popup Studios. The second Biennale was recently held in Philipsburg, St. Maarten with the Philipsburg Community and Cultural Center. In St. MAarten, over seven days, artists from St. Maarten, St. Martin, Jamaica, Aruba, and Trinidad, as well as those who trace their origins to the Dominican Republic, Cuba, China, and Africa came together in workshops and chat sessions to discuss their lives as artists.

The Biennale's goal is to facilitate creative, intellectual, and collegial exchange among artists who live in and outside of the Caribbean; to enable artists to see each others' work and hear each others' thoughts; and to provide them with professional development. Most of the artists who participate are of Caribbean descent, as are most of the artists represented by Diaspora Vibe Gallery.

While IDAB states no specific outcomes other than the exchange itself, the hope is that targeted conversations will elucidate what it means to be an artist today generally, and specifically what it means to be a Caribbean artists working in the region or its diaspora.An additional hope is that formal and informal exposure to new people and places will generate new creative directions for individual artists and new friendships and collaborations among artists, Finally, because these exchanges rotate among different Caribbean countries, another implicit goal is for participants to learn more about the region.

In addition to presenting artwork and providing professional workshops, the Biennale was also meant to create a sense of community among the artists. Rosie […] kept the schedule flexible to allow for unexpected opportunities. […] the Biennale is held in the Caribbean partly “to escape the restrictive mentality” towards art and life often found in North America and Europe. Her Caribbean flexibility led to an entire day of studio visits, with carloads of artists traveling around the Dutch and French sides of St. Maarten/St. Martin to see where and how local artists live and work.

For many, these trips were the highlight of the Biennale. During the visits real exchange took place between the artists discussed everything from brush strokes to selling in the galleries, to storing paintings in a small studio space. The artists traveled to Ruby Blute’s welcoming gallery space inside her home – where everyone got a taste of homemade guavaberry rum – and to Lucy Trifan’s tiny studio where she keeps thousands of paintings in very careful order. Seeing where artists work deepened everyone’s understanding of their art is created. Though it was intended to link foreign and local artists, the Biennale also connected a number of St. Maarten artists who had never met!

The next Biennale will take place in another Caribbean country, though it may return to Philipsburg in the future. But its energy lingers on, as local artists promise to continue creating an artistic community, in addition to their individual art and careers. 

Text adapted from Dr. Rosamund S. King's  "From There to Here & Back: Implications of the International Diaspora Artists Biennale" (January 2008)

 


 

CV

Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, Inc

Diaspora Vibe Gallery
Miami Design District
3938 North Miami Avenue
Miami, FL 33127
PH: 305-573-4046
FX: 305.573-7675
www.diasporavibe.net
rgw@diasporavibe.net

Areas of Focus 

Selected Professional Experience  

Programs Developed & Curated 

Selected Community Projects

Selected Lectures, Panel Discussions, Conferences

Selected Publications

Selected Funding Secured

Memberships and Board Appointments

Education

 

Gallery 1

Diaspora Gallery Invitations 2008

 Werllayne Nunes presents Dance of Colors of the Zumbi Nation (2008)
 

Christopher Carter presents Bound (2008)
 

Ignacio Medrano-Carbo presents Painting in Self-Defense (2008)
 


 

Gallery 2

Diaspora Gallery Invitations 2007

Asser St. Val presents Melanin: Reconstructing Shades of Blackness (2007)
January 4 – February 3, 2007

Melanin: Asser St. Val
Melanin will present St. Val’s new body of abstract figurative paintings that explore the framing of identity through race. This work will be the culmination of St Val’s current residency in Centre d’art de Jacmel. Jacmel, Haiti. St. Valis currently on Artist-in-Residence at Diaspora Vibe with a BFA from New World School of the Arts/ University of Florida. Born in Haiti, St. Val lives in Miami and has participated in residencies and exhibitions in Aruba, Jamaica, Grenada, Haiti and throughout the US. St. Val is a recipient of the South Florida Consortium Grant.
   

Swati Khurana presents Engendered (2007)
April 14 – May 26 2007
Engendered: Flor Bosco & Swati Khurana
Engendered presents new takes on feminism and gender. Born and living in Leon, Mexico, Flor Bosco explores femininity and gender within Mexican culture through sculpture, collage, and installation. Swati Khurana was born in India and raised in New York where she currently lives and works. Her work mines personal narratives and explores immigrant issues with a focus on gender, popular culture and the seductive promise made by rituals
 

Jean Chiang presents Step by Step (2007)
Solo Exhibition: Jean Chiang
Jean Chiang will present an interactive installation inspired by Yin and Yang the five elements and the Daoist ritual dance. Chiang is a ceramist, sculptor, painter, printmaker, textile, and installation artist whose work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, including the 2nd Havana Biennal. Currently researching Chinese migrations in Jamaica. Chiang received a BFA in Ceramic Sculpture from Parsons School of Design, New York and an MFA in Sculpture from Hunter College, New York. 
 


 

Gallery 3

Antonius Roberts presents Emerging From the Shadows - A Celebration of Hope (2007)
 

Off Color (2007)
 

Art Basel - Safety Zones (2007)
Featuring time-based artwork including video, installation,
earth-based work and a film series, In Between Time
centers on the role memory plays in relation to cultural
diaspora. Artists will present ephemeral art forms that
explore personal, collective, and imagined histories.
This exhibit will be accompanied by a catalogue essay
and lecture by Dr. Rosamund King.
 

 

 

Gallery 4

Diaspora Gallery Invitations 2006

 Kim, Myung-Sik (2006)
January 5 – January 31, 2006
Artist Talk: Saturday, January 7, 2006
Nature has been a main subject and a foundation of my works from early years in my painting career, for it is where we are from, originally and where we will go, eventually.
Denial of urbanized civilization is the primary reason for using nature as a main subject. Urban development /expansion is a double-edged blade, which makes our lives convenient but gradually hurts our human purity, as well.
When I was young, there were rice pads and grain fields in front of my village surrounded by low mountains, called ‘Kodegi”. On the way home after school, I used to catch grass hopers and dragonflies with my friends. That was how we cherished our young dreams, then.
 

Art Miami (2006)
 


 

Gallery 5

 Ulysses Marshall (2006)
 

Teri Richardson presents From Brooklyn to Miami
April 13 – May 2006
Teri Richardson’s strength as a colorist is apparent. While her plastic is rich, warm and seductive, she is not content to simply make “pretty pictures”, not in the least. What has emerged in her most recent work is an even greater grasp of color and a tremendous leap forward in visual content. Teri’s work continues to improve, as her aim is to improve. Teri’s discipline is reflected in her productivity. I am constantly amazed that Teri Richardson applies layer upon layer of paint to panel and often achieves the delicacy and light of watercolor.
 

Multi Media Bash (2006)
 

Conversations with Erman (2006)
 

Jamila Abdul-Sabur presents "...believe, in what?" (2006)
 

Gallery 6

Brave New World (2006)
August 10 – September 23, 2006
Amanda Burk; Denton Fredrickson; Caroline Holder;
Dorie Millerson; Nancy Price; Mary Anne Wensley
Brave New World explores the state of art-making and individual freedoms after September 11, 2001. This mixed-media exhibition features installation, sculpture, textiles, drawing, new media, painting, and ceramics.
Curated by Caroline Holder
 

Alejandro Contreras presents Paint as an Object (2006)
 
 

Diaspora Gallery Invitations 2005

 3 Generations Barbadian Contemporary Artists (2005)
Bill Grace, Joyce Daniel, Laura Ward, Stanley Graves, Alison Chapman Andrews, Ewan Atkinson, Ras Ishi, Sue Holder, Arlette St Hill, Fielding Babb 
Barbados Investment & Development Corporation and Diaspora Vibe Gallery are pleased to present Three Generations: Barbadian Contemporary Art which will focus on the theme of three generations of artists who live and work in Barbados from fantastic to whimsical, abstract to portraits. Curated by Rosie Gordon Wallace this exhibition will afford these artists an opportunity to share a diverse group of approximately 10 juried artists of different generations who work with a wide range of materials, processes and ideas.
 

Paradox (2005)
 

Paradox   April 14 – May 31, 2005
Patrick Narbal Boucard, Kate Tarratt Cross, Asser St Val
In honoring Haitian culture, art and lifestyles, Diaspora Vibe Gallery continues to feature art in the Caribbean by exposing the work of artists who live and work in the Region and the Diaspora. “Paradox “says Kate Tarratt Cross, is a point in common that she and Patrick Narbal Boucard have. Kate Tarratt Cross deals with shadows and the paradox to real and the illusory, Patrick Narbal Boucard’s work originates from different cultures that have influenced his life and therefore work. Tarratt Cross and Boucard are both natives of of Jacmel, Haiti. The exhibition will also include Haitian born Asser St Val has been an artist- in -residence at Diaspora Vibe Gallery in Miami’s Design District.
 


 

Gallery 7

Deep Blue: Caribbean American Statements (2005)

June 9 – July 30, 2005
Curated by Juan “Erman” Gonzalez
Being Caribbean is an amalgam of influences arising out of European, African, and Indigenous cultures. This group exhibition showcasing a variety of media and, artists from throughout the Caribbean, “shows evidence (of) shared artistic roots among the islands: connections to the earth, the sea, agrarian and communal life,” according to Tampa Weekly Planet writer, Mary Mulhern. “Deep Blue” show celebrates the art and life of the African-Caribbean-American experience in painting, ceramics, sculpture and, mixed media. This exhibit features a dynamic cast of sixteen artists.
 

That's What's Poppin'

August 11 – September 30, 2005
Curated by Rodney Jackson
Pop Art highlights everyday life and popular culture, continuously pushing for a bridge between “high arts” and “low arts”. Television, magazines, comics, billboards, and consumer products all serve as a source for this art form. This group exhibition highlights artists exploring the intermingling of pop and urban culture and their impact on sequential art. Five contemporary Miami based artists are presented including comic book veteran, Grey; sequential artists, R. Jackson and Caiphus Moore; photographer, Noelle Theard; and emerging fine artist Memo.
 

Andree Louise Ferdinand:  After the Storm (2005)
 


 

Gallery Index

Diaspora Vibe Gallery Invitations

 

History

Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator and Diaspora Vibe Gallery

The mission of the Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, Inc. is to promote, nurture and cultivate the vision and diverse talent of emerging artists from the Latin and Caribbean Diaspora through the artists in residence programs, international exchanges, and community and youth activities that celebrate Miami's rich cultural and social fabric.  DVCAI was founded by Rosie Gordon-Wallace, a Jamaican-American curator, collector, and businesswoman. The organization was granted its 501(c)3 nonprofit status in 2003, but has been offering programs and fulfillinf its mission since 1996 under the auspices of Diaspora Vibe Gallery, Inc. through a fiscal agent, Cultural Development Group, Inc.

The organization is based in an exhibition space, Diaspora Vibe Gallery, in Miami's Design District. Diaspora Vibe has been sought out not only by other Florida organizations, but also by regional, state, national and international organizations to bring its unique open format and cross-cultural skills to significant collaborative efforts. For example, since January 2002, Diaspora Vibe's programs, curators, and artists have collaborated in well over one hundred educational, governmental, tourism, cultural arts, business, and international exhibitions, events, presentations, exchanges, seminars, and workshops throughout South Florida and the Caribbean, as well as in New York, Paris, and Switzerland, in addition to its ongoing Caribbean Crossroads Series exhibitions and events held monthly in Miami.

Our definition of artistic vision and cultural aesthetics is expansive and inclusive, with a primary focus on the visual arts.  Diaspora Vibe is particularly interested in African, Caribbean, and Latin American work that addresses and "works out" themes of the African Diaspora as well as immigration and migration between the Caribbean, Latin America, and the U.S. We value that is evocative, sincere, and well-crafted, from a variety of cultural traditions. Through exhibitions and educational programs, we contextualize and give proper attention to work that is often dismissed as educational programs, er contextualize and give proper attention to work that is often dismissed as "ethnic," "political," and "picturesque" by those not familiar with its context and the sophisticated cultural traditions that inform the work.


Our work is not only responsive to but was born out of the cultural and demographic changes in our community. The organization was formed in response to a community needs to murture and heighten the visibility of African-American, Caribbean, and Latino emerging artists, as well as to develop culturally diverse audiences and collectors to support the work. DVCAI is known for its focus on Caribbean artists, but expands to include the many cultural hybrids and manifestations of Caribbean and Latin American culture - English, Spanish, and French-speaking. This is both rare and necessary in Miami, where diasporal communities are often extremely polarized and segregated by language, race, class, ethnicity, and even the period in which they immigrated. There is often much tension between these communities. DVCAI creates a space where artists, educators, collectors, audiences, and others of diverse cultural backgrounds can interact and learn through the commonalities of Diaspora and immigrant experience.

We reflect on our work in part through our yearly International Cultural Arts Exchange Series between Miami and the Caribbean, with partner sites including Aruba, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Martin, and the Bahamas. During these programs, we hold exhibitions, events, workshops, and seminars with participation from Miami-based and Caribbean artists, students, curators, and educators. This encourages a meaningful exchange of ideas, skills, resources, and information and gives us an enhanced perspective on our work at home.

On the last Friday of the months May through October, Diaspora Vibe Gallery hosts an exhibition featuring an artist of the month, an intimate celebration of culture and community. (Content provided by Rosie Gordon-Wallace 2008)

 

Interviews Index

Pat Saunders Interviews Rosie Gordon-Wallace

 

 

Interview 1

Patricia Saunders interviews Rosie Gordon-Wallace. The history of Diaspora Vibe Gallery - Part 1

 


 

Interview 2

Patricia Saunders interviews Rosie Gordon-Wallace. The history of Diaspora Vibe Gallery - Part 2

 


 

Interview 3

Patricia Saunders interviews Rosie Gordon-Wallace.  The Incubator Space

 


 

Interview 4

Patricia Saunders interviews Rosie Gordon-Wallace.  Art Basel

 


 

Interview 5

Patricia Saunders interviews Rosie Gordon-Wallace.  St. Maarten Biennale

 


 

Interview 6

Patricia Saunders interviews Rosie Gordon-Wallace.   Guiding Questions

 


 

Interview 7

Patricia Saunders interviews Rosie Gordon-Wallace

The beginning of Diaspora Vibe Gallery (12:00)

What is Caribbean Art (3:56)

Uniqueness of culture and Immigrant experience (4:15)

Interview Index

Patricia Saunders Interviews Rosie Gordon-Wallace

  • Interview 1
    • The history of Diaspora Vibe Gallery. Part 1  (audio/video)
  • Interview 2
    • The history of Diaspora Vibe Gallery. Part 2  (audio/video)
  • Interview 3
    •  Incubator Space (audio/video)
  • Interview 4
    • Art Basel (audio/video)
  • Interview 5
    • The St. Maarten Biennale (audio/video)
  • Interview 6
    • Rosie Gordon-Wallace's guiding questions (audio/video)
  • Interview 7
    • Rosie Gordon-Wallace. Other topics (audio)