Opening Ceremony for Artwork Installed at Carver Ranches Branch Library


2/26/2009 9:00:18 AM


Mosaic Artwork Installed at Carver Ranches Library
Opening Ceremony to be Held on February 26, 2009

BROWARD COUNTY, FL – Broward Cultural Division’s Public Art and Design Program announces the installation of a mosaic artwork at the Carver Ranches Branch Library in Hollywood. The opening ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, February 26, 2009, 5:00 p.m., at Carver Ranches Branch Library, 4735 SW 18th Street in Hollywood.

The artwork, Mr. Fox & Mr. Rabbit Face Off Again, is located in the clerestory of the atrium of Carver Ranches Library – a special spot, close to both the children’s area and the general reading area. The mosaics are created for the ceremonial, meditative and emblematic study of the cultural heritage (s) of Carver Ranches community. Artists John Pitman Weber and Nina Smoot Cain, collaborated choosing symmetrical facing images of the central characters of this African-American animal fable cycle: Fox and Rabbit. These two characters match wits with each other and everyone else. They survived the Middle Passage (refers to the forcible passage of African people from Africa to the New World, as part of the Atlantic slave trade) and endured with the ancestors for that same reason—that they live by their ideas and resourcefulness, not by strength or power. These clever animals are found in the folk tales of every nation of the world. The framing patterns of the artwork are animated by both African and Seminole designs.

John Pitman Weber is best known as a public artist who has also been active in the studio for more than 30 years. He has held more than two dozen solo shows, including five in New York City, and has been included in major national and international traveling exhibitions. Weber cofounded the respected Chicago Public Art Group in 1970 and has created public artworks in England, France, New York City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Chicago. He has a B.A from Harvard University and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and also studied in France. He presently teaches at Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, IL. His collaboration with Nina Smoot Cain has been in effect since 1998.

Nina Smoot Cain is an artist and art educator best known for her work in mosaic. She has done two previous commissions for Chicago libraries and numerous works for schools. With four solo exhibits to her name, she has been featured by many group shows. Cain taught at Roosevelt University for many years and has led workshops on Consensus and Collaboration. Her MFA and BA are from the University of Illinois; and she has also studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Bowling University, Ohio and the Grand Chaumiere in Paris. In 2000, together with John Pitman Weber, she was the Iowa artist for Artists and Communities, America Creates for the Millennium. They created a monumental mosaic plaza for Spencer, IA,

Refreshments will be available. For more information, contact Greta Willis, Public Art and Design project manager at 954-357-8011 or e-mail gwillis@broward.org.


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