Dog Tales: Words and Images, Fact and Fiction
From Miami Artists and Collectors

Main Library – Auditorium
June 11 - August 23

Independent curator Barbara Young has organized a series of exhibitions celebrating human and animal relationships, but focused on the dog, long considered man’s (and woman’s) best friend. From hunting scenes in prehistoric cave paintings to contemporary art, the dog has been rendered by artists as worker, companion and protector. Over twenty artists responded to Young’s invitation with works where canines appear in delightful portraits, at the center of doggy performances, as mythical characters and as symbols. This diverse collection plays with memory and imagination to remind us of the fullness of our relationships with other members of the animal kingdom.

The exhibition includes work by John Bailly, Jill Cannady, Pablo Cano, Margarita Cano, Laura Cerwinske, Robert Chambers, Lou Anne Colodny, Gary Feinberg, Manuel Ferran, Marilyn Gottlieb-Roberts, Robert Huff, Michael Katz, William Keddell, Peter Kuentzel, Ed Levine, Carol Levy, Silvia Lizama, Ralph Provisero, Brian Reedy, Karen Rifas, Bert Rodriguez, David Rohn, Claudia Scalise, Volker Seding, Kristen Thiele, Robert Thiele, Mette Tommerup, Tom Virgin, Addison Walz; and film and video from the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives and the Dixie Dingo Super 8 International Film Festival, featuring Jacquelyn Jackson Johnston, Loni Kersten, US NOT HIM, and Iris Lynch.

Jill Cannady, detail, Big Dog, 1998, oilbar on linen canvas,
laid on panel with fabric collage, courtesy of Bernice Steinbaum Gallery.

Love Your Dog:
Dog and Pet Care Resources and Programs

Love Your Dog with the Humane Society
Allapattah Branch Library - Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 2:00 PM
Kendale Lakes Branch Library - Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Homestead Branch Library - Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 3:00 pm

Love Your Dog and possibly adopt a new pet with the Humane Society. If you already have a dog, pick up new tips on how to train old Fido. As part of the summer reading program, representatives from the Humane Society of Greater Miami’s Adopt-A-Pet program will present information on responsible pet ownership, being kind to animals, safety around pets, and more!

DOG: Shadow Puppets
Main Library - July 18, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Miami Beach Regional Branch - August 1, 2009 at 1:30pm

DOG:  A shadow puppet production by artist Pablo Cano in collaboration with Master Puppeteer James Hammond.

Noah’s Team of Miami Canine Assistants
Kendall Branch - July 11, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Palm Springs North - July 18, 2009 at 11:00 am

Canine Assistants is a non-profit organization, founded in 1991, that trains and provides service dogs for children and adults with physical disabilities or other special needs. In addition to physically assisting those with disabilities, Canine Assistants service dogs are instrumental in removing many of the barriers faced by the disabled in today's society.  Interact with the dogs and get more information.  

Miami Obedience Club
Little River Branch - July 11, 2009 at 1:00 pm

Gina and Randy Reed have an extensive history of professional training, showing and judging experiences in obedience work, agility, therapy, fieldwork and confirmation.  With their dogs, they are advocates for training and working with canines in a variety of situations.  Pick up some tips from Gina and Randy.

On-Demand Videos from Miami-Dade TV: Animal Services

It's a ruff life! Consider giving a second chance to a homeless dog or cat.

Selecting the family dog should be a well-researched and carefully soul-searched activity. Are you and your family willing to make a 10 - 15 year commitment to this sentient being in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, for as long as all shall live? If your family is ready for this commitment, then Miami-Dade Animal Services is ready to help you find your four-footed friend.

Analog/Digital – Part 2
By 131 Projects

Miami Beach Regional
2nd Floor Exhibition Space
June 18 - August 19

The curatorial entity 131 Projects presents Analog/Digital: Part 2, a multimedia exhibition including the works of Juan Griego, Marlene Lopez, Nicole Martinez, Jillian Mayer, Gustavo Oviedo, Stephan Tugrul, Courtney Johnson, David Tamargo, Justin H. Long, and Jay Ore. The exhibition explores the tension between old and new technologies using analog and digital media, creating a sensory environment that includes found objects, painting, audio, photography, installation, and new media.

Nicole Martinez and Marlene Lopez, detail, Untitled, 2008, video installation.

Puppy Dog Tales: Stories and Images of Dogs and Other Critters
By students of Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Casa dei Bambini Montessori School

Miami Beach Regional
Pinecrest Branch
South Dade Regional
June 20 – August 9

Independent curator Barbara Young coordinated these three exhibitions with the Library System, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and Casa dei Bambini Montessori School. The exhibitions feature stories and artwork about animals by K-6th grade students. They were invited to submit visual art or writing about real or imaginary animals and encouraged to do research using the wealth of library materials available on the subject. In addition to creating some wonderful tales and artworks, the children also learned more about responsible pet ownership.

PuppyDogTales
Meaghan Lintner, detail, Boston Terrier, 2009, color pastel.

Asser Saint-Val: The Melanin Project

Main Library –1st Floor Exhibition Space
June 1 - August 31

Melanin is the biological pigment that gives human skin and hair its color. Asser Saint-Val, interested in the way science and biology have been used to justify false perceptions about people of color, made a study of "the phenomenon of melanin" and the roles it plays in people of all races. His findings became a series of paintings of imaginary embodiments of this phenomenon – part figurative, part something you'd see under a microscope – made with a suggestive mixture of media including acrylic paint, coffee, shoe polish, flour, and food coloring.

Asser Saint Val, Dr. Suza, N.D., D.M. Drugs Masquerading as Foods, 2008, masonite, coffee, sugar, shoe polish, and flour.

Patches, the Disgruntled Carrot and Other Stories
by Benjamin Entner

Main Library – 2nd Floor Exhibition Space
April 18 - June 18

New York artist Benjamin Entner creates work that is the result of play, curiosity and experimentation. His sculptures, drawings, installations and performances are often humorous, the result of the artist posing the question, “What if…?” Entner brings this sensibility to a site-specific work made especially for the Library’s Art of Storytelling International Festival. Influenced by funny-and-scary children’s literature by author/illustrators such as Edward Gorey and Tim Burton, the artist has created a series of wearable sculptures representing imaginary children’s book characters. Through workshops with local schools, he will collaborate with third and fourth graders to create inventive stories and scenes for these characters.

Benjamin Entner, Barry and Patches' trip to the park to play badminton was spoiled when they realized they had no net and no arms, 2009, ink on paper.

Sponsored by

Journeys, Stories and Healing through Art

North Dade Regional
May 20 – August 13

The Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) Clinical Art Therapy Department and the Miami-Dade Public Library System have come together to present Journeys, Stories and Healing through Art. The artwork was created by M-DCPS students during art therapy sessions and is a tangible expression of each student’s story or journey through creative self-exploration and healing. The exhibition invites its community to participate in and witness the power of art.

Boat with Self and a Friend, 2009
wood clay
age 8

The Language of Flowers
A group exhibition by the Florida Tropical Botanic Artists

Pinecrest Branch
April 11 - August 5

A collective of Miami artists, working in the tradition of botanical art at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens, has developed an exhibition of watercolor and mixed media paintings depicting local native flora and lush tropical plant life.

Julio Figueroa, Paphiopedilum sp., 2008, watercolor on paper.

The Sword and the Sorrow
By Marlon Zuniga and James Slater Geggis, Jr.

West Dade Regional
March 26 - September 15

Writer and poet James Slater Geggis, Jr. and visual artist and educator Marlon Zuniga collaborated on a series of poems and drawings that explore the wastefulness, absurdity and calamities of war. Geggis' poems, based on his personal experience as a World War II Marine and veteran, inspired Zuniga's lyrical ink drawings.
The show consists of these poems and drawings on paper as well as the artists’ preliminary sketches and notebooks. Their work together expresses the grief, sorrow and loss of war.

Marlon Zuniga, Desert Incident, 2008, pen and ink on paper.

Sword and Sorrow Exhibit

Marlon Zuniga visits Miami-Dade TV’s County Connection and tells host Kim Anthony about the exhibition.

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