Join us for short excerpts from a new play exploring Purvis Young’s beloved art and life through the lens of Shakespeare’s mythical warrior Othello.
The free public reading features award winning M Ensemble actor Andre Gainey as the painter Purvis Young.
Live opera and piano music inspired by Southern Spain, Africa, Venice Italy and modern American Jazz, performed by Dillard Center for the Arts graduates and professional artists, amplifies key moments of the approximately 30 minute reading.
Attendees are invited to join the cast to discuss the impact of libraries in the cultural community and to share stories of how Purvis’ early public artworks in particular influenced their understanding of folk art and contemporary modern art.
Rare archival material and video (from the Wolfson Archives and the Miami-Dade Public Library System) immerse audiences in the key decades of Purvis’ artistic development and career growth including the influence and impact of the Miami-Dade Public Library System between 1960 – 1990.
Seating is limited.
Please take the elevator to the Sixth Floor and walk towards the Bienes Seminar Rooms.
Text 954.816.3324 if you need more information or have questions once you arrive.
This project is funded in part through support from the Broward County Cultural Division, The Community Foundation of Broward, and Grace Arts Center Inc.
Click here for more information and to RSVP.
M Ensemble Company is the longest running Black professional theater company in the State of Florida, formed in 1971 on the University of Miami campus under the direction of its founder, the late T.G. Cooper and his wife Grace. Our mission is to preserve and promote the African American culture and experiences through the performing arts.
Grace Arts Center’s (GAC) public charity (501.c3) status in 2011 provided a platform for GAC to formally ‘…take art beyond gallery walls’ of the original art business that fostered free cultural programming in the community. GAC projects evolved from years of outreach of a retail art gallery, studio, coffee bar & pop-up cafe owned by GAC’s Founder and Creative Director along Florida’s Scenic Highway restored in 2005. GAC sponsored Art Miami 2007 ‘Director’s Choice’ Artist exhibition for the late self-taught painter, Purvis Young. This pivotal moment for the gallery and Young was the beginning of many relationships with artists and designers who visited the studio and cafe.