What began as a “Clothesline Sale” more than 60 years ago, where artists would hang their work on clotheslines outside the Lowe Art Museum, has grown into the Beaux Arts Festival, Miami’s oldest juried art show.
Since Thursday, the university has been preparing for the 64th annual festival, blocking off Stanford Drive and spray painting tent numbers onto the grass. Now, hundreds of white tents line the path along Merrick Drive.
“We have a variety of artists, compared to previous years,” said junior Andrea Brook, a student assistant at the Lowe Art Museum. “There’s more modern sculptures and paintings, a lot of really interesting photographs. We have a really wide range of expressionism to modernism to contemporary to classic pieces, so there’s something for everyone here, which is really cool.”
The event is free and open to the public, and students have a front-row seat to the colorful displays, multiple art mediums, live music and food vendors that will inhabit the festival throughout the weekend.
“It’s more cultured, and nice to broaden your horizons. You wouldn’t know if you like art until you could do this,” said senior Camille Eloi. “It’s not even a hassle, it’s literally in students’ backyard. There is little to no excuses why you shouldn’t just walk down and see it.”
The event will feature 220 local and visiting artists, up to 150 works from Miami-Dade middle and high school students, live music and free art activities for children. The festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the University of Miami along Stanford Drive and in the Eaton parking lot. Admission and parking are free.
“Another thing that I love about this is that we feature the student art work of middle school and high school students, which is a pretty great way to get the community to be aware,” Brooke said. “It’s probably my favorite part of this whole festival, checking out the kids’ art and seeing the future of art.”
This annual event attracts thousands and will offer a variety of art mediums for many budgets. It is hosted as a fundraiser by Beaux Arts, a partner of the Lowe for 63 years and its founding support group. According to freshman David Breyer, a student assistant at the Lowe, more than 900 people visited the museum on Saturday, a dramatic increase from the 20-30 visitors he said attend on a regular day.
In November, Beaux Arts donated $1.5 million to the museum to create a Beaux Arts Director and a Chief Curator position, as well as support programming and community outreach, according to an article in The Miami Hurricane. Jill Deupi, who was named director of the Lowe in June, now holds that endowed position.
IF YOU GO
What: Beaux Arts Festival
WHERE: Stanford Drive and Eaton Parking Lot
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Admission and parking are free.
For more information, visit beauxartsmiami.org.