On Feb. 15-17, the 61 Annual Coconut Grove Arts Festival took place. Artists traveled from all over to display and sell their work. The streets were filled with people who were actively purchasing and viewing the art. All different types of art were showcased and people were able to purchase paintings, sculptures, jewelry and more at the festival.
Melanie Schlossberg and Blake Smith are jewelers from Houston, Texas, and grew up in different focuses of art. Schlossberg was introduced to metalsmithing at her high school, and immediately fell in love with it. She met Smith 10 years ago, which is when they started working together and traveling to different shows around the country.
“Everything we do is a collaboration, because there’s two of us. So, the way I like to say it is that I lay the stones out, Blake rearranges them, and then I rearrange them yet again, and then he makes it upside down. So what we end up with is very surprising to us both, but I think is unique,” Schlossberg said.
With the expanding industry of fast fashion, finding unique statement jewelry pieces is becoming increasingly difficult, especially pieces that help support a small business. Choosing pieces from independent businesses may seem more expensive, but it is easier on the conscious knowing that a person’s livelihood is being supported, and not a big box company.
“We’re trying to make our way in the world, doing what we love, doing what we’re fated inside us to do. It’s hard to be a unique person in the world, following your own path these days, and the world would be really boring if we were all just office managers,” Schlossberg said. “It’s important to support those small businesses, because our system is not set up for small businesses at all.”
In the middle of the festival, Michael Williams, a Fort Lauderdale-based artist, displays his wildlife paintings. Using a more minimalist angle, Williams focuses on light, and the deconstruction of his subject matter. This consists of many flora and fauna, like tropical birds, flowers and waterscapes.
“I work in watercolor on canvas, so I have a specific process of priming the canvas so it takes the watercolor and takes the extra paint. Then I’m obviously painting and furnishing … just the [focus on the] actual subject matter itself, the tropics,” Williams said.
As someone who has been in the Miami arts community for a while, Williams feels it is important for people to come to festivals like this one to support different artists. This includes people using different mediums, applications and aspects of art from all over the country.
“There’s just a lot of good people that come to the festival, really art minded, very interested, very curious. I really enjoy interacting in that way,” Williams said.
A few blocks down Biscayne Blvd., colorful sculptures are displayed without the cover of a tent, allowing the sun to shine down on them. These figures were created by Scott Causey, an artist from Sarasota, Fla. This was his first year at the festival, and was happy to have the chance to show his art to a new audience.
“I always enjoyed making animals, and one of the great things that I learned with sculpting animals was that people buy a collection. So usually when I sell a piece or sculpture, it might not be at that shop, but it might be at the next four or five they get more pieces. All of my buyers are collectors. I have people who have over 50 pieces,” Causey said.
Causey began making money off of his art when he was eight years old, but actually started touring galleries once he was in art school. He emphasized the importance of supporting local businesses, as they have always contributed significantly to economies both big and small.
“Art is actually the first sign of developed civilization. So throughout history, great cultures of the time are defined eventually by the art that they create. So, the culture in development is going up, is moving higher and higher into art, and the culture that is descending, the culture that is falling apart, the arts go first,” Causey said. “And so whenever you see a situation where art is dissipating or disappearing or not being important, that’s a culture in decline.”
