Tina Spiro: Making Waves in Miami & Jamaica
Tina Spiro is a New York born-artist who studied undergraduate art at Stanford University and art history at NYU with Professor Jansen, author of Jansen’s History of Art. She obtained her bachelors degree from Skidmore College and began her artistic career as the protégé of American sculptor David Smith while she was still an undergraduate student. She obtained her MFA in sculpture from Pratt Institute and exhibited in landmark exhibitions such as Primary Structures at the Jewish Museum in New York and Seven Sculptors at the ICA, Philadelphia.
Spiro began her teaching career at Hunter College and exhibited in New York City and was friends with Andy Warhol until she moved to Jamaica West Indies in 1969, where she taught at the Edna Manley College and University of the West Indies (UWI). During the following decades she became one of the foremost artists in Jamaica and the Caribbean and is included in the books Modern Jamaican Art and Jamaican Art.
She spent a decade in Miami, Florida, from 1999-2009, where she distinguished herself as an artist, curator and professor of art. She authored a course in Caribbean Art History, which she taught at Florida International University (FIU) for eight years. One of her projects, Paint the Town, transformed the Omni district into a large-scale urban panorama of color. She initiated and produced OMNIART I, II an III for the City of Miami for Art Basel Miami Beach, a large-scale exhibition format of cutting edge art in vacant warehouses in Miami’s Omni area, which was cited in the Miami press as “…the coolest thing Miami has ever done.”
She is founder and executive director of the Miart Foundation since 2003, an art forum to promote Miami as an art destination, support Caribbean Art, and promote environmental and humanitarian awareness through art. She also was a director and curator of Chelsea Galleries, in Kingston, Jamaica, and in Miami’s Wynwood art district at its inception. She has curated over 100 exhibitions of international and Caribbean contemporary art and is included in the book Miami Contemporary Artists.
Spiro is the recipient of numerous honors and awards. She and her husband architect and urban planner Eran Spiro, continue to reside in South Florida and Jamaica. The artist maintains studios in both Kingston and Miami and exhibits in museums, biennials and galleries internationally.
The videos below are organized by topic and run between 30 seconds and 10 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.
INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 1:30 min.
SELF-CONFIDENCE: 1:36 min.
EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES: 1:13 min.
VALUES FIRST-RATE EDUCATION: 9:40 min.
SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES: 4:34 min.
SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES: 0:46 sec.
SELF-CONFIDENCE: 1:18 min.
SERENDIPITY: 2:20 min.
OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED: 3:11 min.
OPEN TO CHANGE, FLEXIBILITY: 3:26 min.
INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 1:41 min.
CREATIVE FLEXIBILITY: 1:42 min.
OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED: 2:38 min.
SERENDIPITY: 2:02 min.
INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 1:12 min.
INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 2:16 min.
CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND: 1:48 min.
CRITICAL THINKING: 2:15 min.
GoRembrandt. Oil and casein on canvas. 51 x 52 inches. 2013.
THE BACKSTORY: 2:44 min.
Rembrandt’s Last Laugh. Oil and casein on canvas. 58 x 54 inches. 2011. Exhibited at the Jamaica Biennial 2012, National Gallery of Jamaica
THE BACKSTORY: 2:47 min.
THE BACKSTORY: 1:09 min.
Lion Heart. Oil and casein on canvas. 36 x 36 inches. 2019.
THE BACKSTORY: 1:28 min.
Hanub Ku. Oil and casein on canvas. 48 x 54 inches. 2017.
THE BACKSTORY: 1:31 min.
Remembrandt 2012. Oil and casein on canvas. Triptych: each panel 54 X 30 inches. Total 54 X 96 inches. Exhibited at the Beijing Biennial 2012.
THE BACKSTORY: 3:14 min.
THE BACKSTORY: 1:00 min.
SHEKKINAH SCROLLS: 2:07 min.
Tina Spiro News
Tina-Spiro: The Deep. Oil and casein on canvas with driftwood. 120 x 90 inches. 2019.
By Zulema Peralta
Tina Spiro is well known for her sculptures and paintings that focus on environmental and humanitarian issues. One recent work is “The Deep,” a large scale painting of a whale, with a soundtrack, and a frame made of found driftwood. The piece was until recently on exhibition at the National Gallery of Jamaica. Spiro was deeply honored to discuss her work with Mrs. Margaret Kenyata, wife of Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyata. Madam Kenyata is internationally recognized for her work on behalf of women, children and endangered species. Spiro also shared her thoughts with Olivia “Babsy” Grange, Jamaican Minister of Culture, Entertainment, Gender and Sports, who hosted the private tour of the National Gallery on the occasion of the anniversary of Jamaica’s independence. The exhibition was curated by Monique Barnett Davidson, assisted by NGJ Chief Curator O’Neil Lawrence.
The soundtrack for The Deep is a duet between a humpback whale and Spiro’s granddaughter, Bella Spiro Walter, playing the cello. The overall dimensions of the painting with a Baroque driftwood frame are 120 x 90 inches. The work evokes the tension and fascination in the encounter between humanity and nature. Spiro explains that the small female diver is suspended abovethe hulk of a male Humpback whale, who eyes all of us with suspicion, and a bit of menace, as if he was saying,“I am bigger than you, take heed”, while the sea weeps.
