Beck and a talented group of artists will present “WORD PLAY: FLORIDA ROAD SHOW” a traveling public art carnivalesque odyssey featuring text-based art, interactive sculpture, games, film projections, performances, poetry, and community workshops. The art-mobiles will be active throughout the year making planned and spontaneous stops at art festivals, fairs, main streets, museums, schools, libraries, historic sites, sports arenas, and public spaces. Each stop will include special programming and opportunities for the public to make art and write poems to become part of the project.
Sponsoring the tour is Broward County’s Cultural Division that invited The Revolving Museum to play a role in their IGNITE-BROWARD international showcase of immersive art experience, exciting interactive video and light installations created by leading contemporary artists and designers.
Works From The Revolving Museum’s
Collection and Invited Artists
NADYA VOLICER
Nadya Volicer is an artist in Boston, MA who works with wood, paper, found objects and fabric to make objects and installations. She also works as a designer, creating everything from architecture to ephemera. Nadya has created site-specific works for many spaces, including the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, MA and Real Art Ways, CT, and permanent installations at Sheridan College, WY and the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD.
JIM ROCHE
Jim Roche has taken phrases used by a cross-section of contemporary culture, and drawn them meticulously on paper, framed them, and placed them on a museum wall. By shining a spotlight on some of the more inflammatory and politically-incorrect views in contemporary culture, Roche is initiating serious dialogue. He is not providing solutions, but is asking better questions, the essential role of the artist in Culture.
SHEPERD FAIREY
Shepard Fairey is a well-known American artist, muralist and graphic designer who first gained international attention for his work especially creating a sticker with a portrait of the towering professional wrestler André the Giant and the word Obey. His work combined street-art activism with entrepreneurial spirit.
MARIO RUSCHEL BURGOA
Fort Lauderdale artist, Mario Ruschel Burgoa, builds his work from covering up the past. Each painting he creates is a process of layers. Paint is put down, manipulated, dries, then is contemplated for some time; the process is repeated. Each work of art can go through 3-10 coverings before he is satisfied with the result. This process of painting gives the colors in each piece an unusual depth that can only be found in Mario's art.
DANIELLE JAMES
Danielle James was born in NYC to a Jamaican father and Jewish-Belgian mother. Identity, immigration, and the impact of violence are recurring themes in her work. Through her projects, she shines a light on the unseen, gives voice to what often goes unheard, and brings people in through story.
HOWARD CAMNER
Howard Camner is the author of 20 poetry books including the Pulitzer Prize nominated “Poems from the Mud Room”, the acclaimed autobiography “Turbulence at 67 Inches”, and the self-help humor book “Happy Birthday to…Who? He was named “Best Poet” in the New Times “Best of Miami” edition of 2007 and was inducted into the Miami Dade College Hall of Fame for Literary Arts in 2014.
KEITH WALSH
My artwork maps the transformation of political attitudes and relationships that have evolved through the intertwining histories of socialist and liberation activism in the United States and Los Angeles.
RENITA MARTIN
Critically acclaimed storyteller, Renita Martin's works have appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and on Good Morning America. She has over 30 years of experience on screen and stage, most well-known for her one-woman shows!
JOSE GONZALEZ
Jose Gonzalez became The Revolving Museum’s first youth advisor in 1988. Since then, he and his twin sister Becky have been a major force behind the museum’s success. Jose has a long history working with people with challenging mental health issue and disabilities.
JON ALLEN
I am an artist, illustrator, muralist, and father. My art and design employs a variety of mediums from painting, drawing, and digital mediums such as Adobe Illustrator. I use art as a vehicle to raise awareness and spark inspiration, debate, and conversation.
GABRIELLA BATES
Gabrielle Bates is a writer and visual artist originally from Birmingham, Alabama. JUDAS GOAT (Tin House, January 2023) is her debut collection of poems.
KEVIN BRADLEY
Kevin Bradley’s is a nationally known text-based artist and the founder of “Voodoo Rocket Institute of Advanced Typographic Research”. His artwork integrates humor, surrealism and spontaneous prose isn't his own type of storytelling.
William T. Wiley
William T. Wiley (1937-2021) is an internationally exhibited contemporary American artist. Maintaining an eclectic practice that has been associated with the Funk Art movement, Wiley incorporates drawing, painting, sculpture, performance, and filmmaking into his work. His work is held in many important collections, such as the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
BILL CZAPPA
My work is made from found objects of all kinds, from spaghetti sauce to concrete, and often includes sculpted wood. I am also a writer and have incorporated text into some of my work. As with my art, there is a lot of humor and social commentary in my writing. My goal in art is to make people feel better for having seen it.
DANNY AYALA
Danny Ayala is a visual artist born in Mexico City and lives in West Oakland, California. His inspiration mainly comes from the energy, complexity, and beauty in people and nature. Whether painting hard working people that still have to sleep in the streets or his multi-cultural inspirations, Ayala’s uses of a wide range of materials to create a powerful story.
ED MARSHALL
Artist, Poet, Rock and Roll Lead Singer, Ghost Hunter, Carny and Grandpa is only a few titles that describe Ed Marshall. Ed Marshall is a native New Englander. Most of what he writes about can be seen through the windows of his New Hampshire home. His work has been featured in several poetry anthologies, art books, and a variety of magazines.
PAUL LEWIN
I was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1973 and moved to the U.S. with my family in 1977. I currently live in Miami FL. Creativity has been a part of my life from as far back as I can remember. The work I do today is inspired by a few basic concepts; nature, science, ancestors, and dreams.
Howard Finster
Howard Finster (December 2, 1916 – October 22, 2001) is a world-famous American artist and Baptist minister from Georgia. He claimed to be inspired by God to spread the gospel through the design of his swampy land into Paradise Garden, a folk art sculpture garden with over 46,000 pieces of art. His creations include outsider art, naïve art, and visionary art. Finster came to widespread notice in the 1980s with his album cover designs for R.E.M. and Talking Heads.
Jamie Friend
Jamie’s work has always spoken to social justice. Her “street art” can be seen across South Florida at demonstrations and rallies, bringing attention to topical issues. She found her niche working with styrofoam, creating an original, giant, 3D, interactive puzzle”. A visual, tactile and cerebral messaging tool, her puzzles act like a “Mingle Magnet” attracting passers by to work side by side creating meaningful art. Jamie’s puzzles have been commissioned by such giants as Ford Motor Company, United Way, Tortuga Music Festival and Sunfest. Several of Jamie’s pieces have been featured and are archived at History Miami Museum.
Annie Dechainee
Annie Dechainee is a self-taught artist working with any medium that fits the vision. She started with creative writing in her early years, and transitioned to photography in her late twenties. Now, Annie's focus is on multidimensional mixed media pieces. Her subject matter includes politics, metaphysics, psychology, trauma, sociology, and whatever else The Muses command.
Annie is currently working on a large scale representation of the inequalities that various marginalized people suffer.
Jason Daniels
I work at the intersection between video, art and community. This area covers multi media project management, video production and streaming. It extends to animation, graphic design, live event visuals, projection mapping, cooperative software development and AV engineering. In 2005 I launched a 100 Second Film Festival which garnered international recognition leading to a unique content exchange with the 100 Second International Film Festival of Iran in 2016,
Additionally, I have served on the boards of local, regional and national community media organizations.
Keith Wasserman
Keith Wasserman is a multi-media artist who has won awards in his various roles as Producer, Writer and Film Editor. After graduating with honors from the Dramatic Writing Program at NYU Tisch, Keith began his career in New York City producing content for GREY ADVERTISING. He moved to the Boston area in 2000 where he was the co-founder and Artistic Director of EVOS ARTS, producing live theater and dance, curating art installations, and working with youth teaching media literacy. In 2006 serendipity brought Keith together with Micah Levin to collaborate on a short film, and the 2 have been working together on various projects ever since. Keith has been a major contributor to many Revolving Museum projects and special events.
Caleb Neelon
Caleb Neelon is an artist and writer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.By the mid 1990s, Neelon was immersed in the global graffiti scene under the name SONIK. He traveled constantly and developed a vivid, homespun, and raw style of mixed media painting in cities from Kathmandu to São Paulo. He freely crossed boundaries between graffiti, murals, and what would soon be referred to as street art. Neelon has authored or collaborated on over two dozen books, including several with frequent collaborator Roger Gastman such as the 2011 HarperCollins release The History of American Graffiti.
Sister Corita Kent
Corita Kent (1918–1986) was an artist, educator, and advocate for social justice. Throughout the ‘60s, her work became increasingly political, urging viewers to consider poverty, racism, and social injustice. In 1968, she left the order and moved to Boston. After 1970, her work evolved into a sparser, introspective style, influenced by living in a new environment, a secular life, and her battles with cancer. She remained active in social causes until her death in 1986. At the time of her death, she had created almost 800 serigraph editions, thousands of watercolors, and innumerable public and private commissions.
Levi Cain
Levi Cain is a gay Black writer from New England. They are the author of dogteeth. (Ursus Americanus Press), a 2022 Mass Cultural Council fellow, and a two-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Their work has appeared in Room Magazine, Vagabond City, The Slowdown podcast, and elsewhere. Their first chapbook, “dogteeth.” was published by Ursus Americanus Press.
Cloe Friend
Cloe Friend is an artist from Hollywood, Florida now living in New York City. She is a recent Student at The Cooper Union ands part of their prestigious Advancement of Science and Art Program. Cloe was an Artist-In-Residence for The Revolving Museum’s summer program.
Coraly Rivera
Coraly Rivera is an artist, fashion designer, and educator at Plantation High School. She has also been The Revolving Museum’s Educational Director for over 10 years and continues to bring her eclectic talents and love of teaching to every project.
Rohanji Novas
Rohanji is a talented young artist and poet. She was one of the Revolving Museum youth leaders in our past “Art & Poetry Art-Mobile Project” while a senior at Fitchburg High School. She studied Biology and Cyber-Security at Mount Wachusett Community College. She is also a Tutor at GEAR UP Fitchburg. We are proud of her accomplishments and excited to present some of her poetry as part of the WORD PLAY: Florida Road Show
Robyn Buchwald
For over twenty years, Robyn B has been a self-taught artist who has been creating one-of-a-kind fashion forward designs. She has melded her process of working with her hands and heart into one. With her love of dogs and coming up with new creations, Robyn has culminated hand-stitched haute couture style that defies your typical fashion, added customized conversational piece patches, colorful unique collage designs, variations of textured fabrics and created one-of-a-kind denim vests, jackets and accessories.
JERRY BECK
Jerry Beck is an artist, writer, community activist and founder of The Revolving Museum. Beck has exhibited widely including at the American Visionary Art Museum, Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, RISD Museum, Artists Space in New York City, Miami Jewish Museum, Rose Art Museum, Capp Street Project in San Francisco, Mass MoCA, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Barbara Krakow Gallery, and NYC Creative Time’s “Art on the Beach.” He has an MFA from Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts and a BFA from Florida State University. Beck is the author of six published books. His last poetry book “Onto Umm” received one of the top awards at the Miami Book Fair
Jason WENIG: The Creative Workshop
We are a nationally recognized, full-service car restoration business dedicated to historic, antique, vintage, pre-war, post-war and classic, European and American cars. Located in Dania Beach, FL, the workshop is housed in a unique, 80+ year-old historic building that has been fully converted into a comprehensive restoration & coachbuilding facility. Cars restored and custom coachbuilt by Creative have garnered numerous awards at international, national and local events – such as Pebble Beach, Amelia Island, Villa d’Este, Cavallino, Mille Miglia and many, many more.
The Revolving Museum will be projecting film/videos/text from out of the eyes of the "Big Ideas” 12 foot high head sculpture (made by artist Bob Harman). Throughout the year-long project, new works will be created and shown to the public.
In many prisons, mostly located in hot states, there is an art revolution happening with prisoners of all ages making drawings on handkerchiefs for more reasons than meets the eye. One is art-making is healing. Another is it can speak in many languages. Thirdly, it can pay off.
The tradition of paño (from the Spanish 'pañuelo' which means 'handkerchief') began in the correctional facilities of Western American States sometime in the 1940s. At the time, decorating handkerchiefs was the only way for illiterate Mexican prisoners to communicate with the outside world. To this day, paños are still often sent to friends and family instead of letters, while, in certain prisons, the handkerchiefs are a popular form of currency.
Most of the artworks are tattoo-like images drawn of cloth with ball point pens and pencils. They include a plethora of images including beautiful women, skulls, sex, cars, religion and sports teams. Sometimes you find innocent pictures like children playing, teddy bears, unicorns and broken hearts.
Our prehistoric ancestors used charcoal, berries, and flowers to draw on cave walls to develop language. Egyptian and Mesa-American cultures had pyramids that were carved and painted with images called hieroglyphics which unified art and storytelling. In the fourth century, the Chinese used horse-hair bushes and inks to paint and write calligraphy on scrolls. During Medieval times, “Illuminated manuscripts” came alive in books made with gold, silver, and organic paints.
Today, text-based art is part of a new creative revolution happening around the world in urban centers, small villages, on trains and buildings. Graffiti and public art has been on the forefront of this youth-driven art movement bringing a powerful, diverse, and extraordinary expression of art into the public view. It was driven by insurgent youth wanted to change the precarious world around them. Millions of artists of all backgrounds and abilities began taking to the street—spray painting, tagging, making images, and powerfully and poetically expressing their fearless passions, feelings, emotions, and ideas. There are many artists fighting against racism, sexism, violence, poverty, and other social, environmental and political issues trying to make positive changes for a world for all.
For nearly forty years, the ever-evolving Revolving Museum has been on a nomad adventure inspiring collaborations between artists and the public through the creation of art festivals, interactive exhibitions, educational programs, and special events. WORD PLAY: Florida Road Show is a traveling art carnival organized celebrating the relationship between art and text. The project includes visual, literary and performing art geared to illuminate the transformational power of art.
- Jerry Beck
- Jerry Beck
