By Colleen Dougher ● A giant stuffed polar bear wearing a tutu and blue cone-shaped hat serves as the studio mascot for California sculptor, filmmaker and performance artist Marnie Weber. ● When making marionettes, Miami puppeteer Pablo Cano uses many donated items, including cigarette pack foils collected by Myra “Yo Momma” Wexler, and contributions from an elderly … [Read more...]
Marilynn Wick: South Florida’s costume mogul revives a theater
Marilynn Wick, president and chief executive officer of Costume World, the major national retailer and renter of theatrical costumes, has given herself a new challenge. Having bought the dormant Caldwell Theatre in Boca Raton to house her 1.2 million costumes — many of them Broadway originals — and to place her Broadway Collection Museum in larger quarters, she also gained a … [Read more...]
Cary Polkovitz: The painter turns writer
By Colleen Dougher West Palm Beach painter Cary Polkovitz has never been big on telling the stories behind his paintings. He’d rather let people conjure their own tales and share them with him. It's not that he’s opposed to storytelling. As an avid reader with an affinity for outlandish, fantastical tales, he wove many a tale himself in his bartending days, and told some … [Read more...]
Jackie Tufford: When the objects become the art
By Colleen Dougher As a college student, artist Jackie Tufford wasn’t sure about trying to make a living as an artist. So while majoring in anthropology and psychology, she continued studying art and eventually realized that the elements that drew her to her majors were the same things she loved about art. “It just boiled down to [being] very interested in understanding … [Read more...]
Chris Palacio: Building a culture of coffee and conversation
One recent morning I almost committed a crime. I was desperate for a hot cup of coffee and the flashing OPEN sign almost escaped me. The mysterious-looking logo near it didn’t help. I came very close to missing it. What is that? I said to my companion, a fellow scooter-rider, also desperate for coffee. Only one way to find out. That’s how we discovered Coastars, a new … [Read more...]
Martin Casuso: Enticed by textiles
By Colleen Dougher Martin Casuso, a Miami Beach artist who spent around 15 years working in the antique business, says his appreciation of objects and their untold tales began as a child when he and his brother would go to the seawall in their Coconut Grove neighborhood and build forts from treasures they found there. Their finds included rusty copper, sun-bleached … [Read more...]
Angela Meade: A rising soprano looks ahead
Soprano Angela Meade is the winner of the 2011 Richard Tucker Award and the 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Award from the Metropolitan Opera. Less than four years after her professional debut, she has quickly become recognized as one of the outstanding vocalists of her generation. Meade is from Washington State where she was a pre-med major before discovering her love of singing. … [Read more...]
Daniel Ellsberg: On whistleblowing, leaks and secrecy
Daniel Ellsberg was an anonymous military analyst working for a conservative think tank until 1971, when he ignited a national firestorm by releasing the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret expose of government decision-making about the Vietnam War. The epic document, detailing some 22 years worth of sensitive information, established a precedent for conscientious whistleblowers that … [Read more...]
Boca Symphonia enters Age of Philippe
The French pianist Philippe Entremont was born in 1934 in Rheims, France, to two musicians, and found fame early, entering the Paris Conservatoire at 12 and winning first prizes in solfège, chamber music and piano performance by the time he was 15. He made his American debut in 1953, and has enjoyed a career as one of the world’s leading pianists, with numerous recordings and … [Read more...]
Peter Nero, still exploring the intersection of musical styles
Born in Brooklyn in 1934, pops pianist Peter Nero (né Bernard Nierow) began his formal musical education at the age of 7. At 14, he was accepted to New York City’s prestigious High School of Music and Art and won a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music. A two-time Grammy award winner and 10-time nominee, Nero has released 68 albums over a career of 50 years. His early … [Read more...]