Celebrating Women’s History Month 2023
For WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH, 2023, we have curated a group of video interviews from the ArtSpeak archives with prominent women in the arts, who are connected to the Miami and South Florida areas.
Beginning March, 2020, the videos below were recorded via Zoom. Click on any video link (below the images). You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.
Firelei Baez, Artist. Photo: Elman.
A Video Chat with Firelei Báez — Artist
FIRELEI BÁEZ was born in the Dominican Republic to Dominican and Haitian parents, and immigrated to the United States at the age of nine. Báez makes large scale, intricate works on paper that are intrinsically indebted to a rigorous studio practice. Through a convergence of interest in anthropology, science fiction, black female subjectivity and women’s work; her art explores the humor and fantasy involved in self-making within diasporic societies, which have an ability to live with cultural ambiguities and use them to build psychological and even metaphysical defenses against cultural invasions.
Artist Sandra Ramos: A Foot in Miami and a Foot in Havana
SANDRA RAMOS is a Cuban contemporary painter, printmaker, collagist, and installation artist who explores nationality, gender, and identity in her work.
Rosie Gordon-Wallace: Founder, Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator (DVCAI)
ROSIE GORDON-WALLACE is a recognized curator, arts advocate, community leader and pioneer in advancing contemporary diaspora art. She founded the Diaspora Vibe Culture Arts Incubator (DVCAI) to serve as a local and global laboratory dedicated to promoting, nurturing, and cultivating the vision and diverse talents of emerging artists from the Caribbean Diaspora, artists of color, and immigrant artists.
In Memoriam: Artist Mira Lehr
MIRA LEHR is an eco-feminist artist whose career spans four decades. Her nature-based imagery encompasses painting, design, sculpture and video installations. Lehr’s processes include non-traditional media such as resin, gunpowder, fire, Japanese paper, dyes and welded steel.
Interview: Nicole Henry — Jazz Vocalist
NICOLE HENRY is an award-winning American Jazz singer. Since her debut in 2004, she has been one of the jazz world’s most acclaimed vocalists, possessing a potent combination of dynamic vocal abilities, impeccable phrasing, and powerful emotional resonance. She played the role of Alpha Smith in the new musical “A Wonderful World,” the story of Louis Armstrong, which débuted at the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach, FL.
Anne Bernays: Author, Journalist, Educator
A novelist, journalist and educator, ANNE BERNAYS has been writing for over 40 years.
Julie K. Brown: In Pursuit of Justice
JULIE K. BROWN is an investigative journalist with the “Miami Herald,” best known for pursuing the sex trafficking story surrounding Jeffrey Epstein. She is the recipient of several awards including two George Polk Awards for Justice Reporting. Brown’s book, “Perversion of Justice,” based on her reporting on the Epstein case, was published by William Morrow and Company. The book served as the foundation for a limited series on HBO.
Joyce Tenneson: Visionary Photographer
JOYCE TENNESON is the author of sixteen books including the best seller, “Wise Women,” which was featured in a six-part NBC Today Show series. She is the recipient of many awards, including Fine Art Photographer of the Year in 2005 (Lucie Awards), and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Professional Photographers of America in 2012.
DR. YANELA G. MCLEOD, Ph.D. is director of Communications and Alumni Relations for the Florida A&M University (FAMU) College of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, where she is also an adjunct professor of history. McLeod has spent her professional career as an educator, journalist, and social historian. Her research specialty is the history of the Black Press, particularly in Florida. McLeod is the author of “The Miami Times and the Fight for Equality: Race, Sport, and the Black Press, 1948- 1958.”
