FIU’s Frost Museum opens “Suddenly Last Summer” exhibit

Photo credit: WorldRedEye/ Alejandro Chavarria

Chloe B. Gonzalez/ Contributing Writer

In a gallery at the Frost Museum on the afternoon of Saturday, June 18, Adrienne Rose Gionta explained to her audience the significance and inspiration behind her new exhibit titled, “Suddenly Last Summer.”

The Frost Museum’s curator, Klaudio Rodriguez, had invited Gionta, an independent curator and artist, to curate an exhibition for the museum’s “The Summer of Women” series. Rodriguez asked Gionta to work with him because he wanted to display an exhibit that was created by women and that celebrated women in art.

For her exhibit, Gionta looked to a 1984 song titled, “Suddenly Last Summer” by a band called The Motels for inspiration.

She then searched for artists who could relate to her interpretation of the song. Gionta selected three women artists, Donna Haynes, Leah Brown and Michelle Weinberg, and asked them to listen to the song. After, they were to design an installation that reflected their interpretation of it.

Each of these artists created unique rooms that explore different aspects of summer such as nature, love and romance, and the fleeting nature of summer days. Haynes’ room is the first one in the exhibit.

Her pieces are reminiscent of a young girl’s bedroom, and they reflect the purity and innocence of “cheesy and idealized summer romance,” said Haynes.

In the next room is Michelle Weinberg’s part of the exhibit. Weinberg’s pieces are whimsical collages of color and geometric shapes.

Gionta explained that Weinberg’s room represented “a place for a moment and a time, like a makeshift artist residency.”

The final room in the exhibit belongs to artist, Leah Brown. Her work consists of 13 black, laser-cut museum boards that represent scenes of Florida wildlife, in what she calls, “The Land of Eternal Summer.”

Gionta says that “each artist’s interpretation … evokes a contemplative, timeless reverie, and deep longing for innocence, romance, nature, freedom … associated specifically with summer.”

Haynes says that the exhibition offers FIU students the opportunity to reminisce about their own summer experiences.  

Gionta’s exhibit is the second installation in the “Summer of Women” series, and will be open until Sept. 18.

AdrienneRose Gionta, Leah Brown, Donna Haynes, & Friends

 

From left to right: Jade Moten, Adrienne Rose Gionta, Chloe B. Gonzalez, Leah Brown and her daughter Juniper, and Donna Haynes. (Photo credit: WorldRedEye/ Alejandro Chavarria)

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