Students preview Art Basel exhibit, meet noted artist and authors in Little Haiti

As the contemporary art world descended on Miami last week for Art Basel, a group of College of Arts and Sciences students got unique access to renowned Haitian artists and authors and a private preview of one exhibit.

Professor Patricia Saunders led students from two courses, "Re-imagining Haiti: From Revolution to Reconstruction" and "Caribbean Popular Culture," to the Little Haiti Cultural Center to preview the exhibit "Global Caribbean III: Haiti Kingdom of this World."

Noted Haitian artist Edouard Douval Carrie then opened his studio to students, who also discussed Carribbean art, culture and literature with authors Edwidge Danticat and Marie Ketsia Theodore-Pharel, art curator Rosie Gordon-Wallace and UM Professor Emerita and distinguished Caribbeanist Sandra Pouchet Paquet.

“It was, for many of them, their first time in an artist’s studio,” Saunders said. “My hope was to create the atmosphere of a classical literary salon.”

The event united freshmen and upperclassmen to apply their scholarship in the community, and gave the students a first-hand understanding of their studies, she said.

“I really want to focus on getting the students into Miami as a classroom,” Saunders said. “Miami is an amazing city for what it holds culturally, especially in the context of the Caribbean.”

December 5, 2011