The Aqua Party is a highlight of the Key Biscayne winter social calendar. The annual event features a silent auction as an important fundraiser for the Key Biscayne Community Foundation.
I attended this year’s party at the Yacht Club and enjoyed a lively evening with friends and members of the community. The festive affair featured live music on three stages, an acrobat dancing inside a clear oversized ball at the pool, and the colorful sunset over Biscayne Bay.
The auction offered the opportunity to bid on fifty-some tempting items and experiences, including a soccer ball signed by superstar Leo Messi. Wanting to support the fine work of Melissa White and the Foundation, I placed a bid on a tour of Craig Robins’ private collection of contemporary art in the Miami Design District.
It was Robins who had the initial vision for the Design District.
To my surprise, mine was the winning bid. So on a Friday morning a few weeks later, eight of us headed to Craig Robins’ real estate office in the Dacra building in the Design District for the tour.
Stepping off the elevator into the modern, high-ceilinged space was like entering another dimension. We found ourselves surrounded by paintings and sculptures in all kinds of harmonious colors and interesting shapes. The current exhibit, “The Sleep of Reason,” is based on an etching by Francisco de Goya. It features over 300 pieces, including many complex emotional landscapes by German artists Kai Althoff and Jana Euler.
The tour lasted about 90 minutes, though our enthusiastic guide Thom Wheeler Castillo seemed like he could easily continue for another hour or more.
Feeling newly inspired by the tour, I returned to the Design District two weeks later for a free walking tour of the area’s public art. It turns out that Thom was also the guide for the walking tour.
I have never spent much time in the Design District but while driving east on I-195 I’ve often admired a six-story building with a shimmering gold facade. When I saw it from below during the tour, I realized there is much more to it. The perforated aluminum facade was designed by Leong Leong, in a curvilinear pattern that provides a masterful “Welcome to the Design District” greeting.
The glittering facade disguises an ordinary parking garage. Robins spared no expense in creating his oasis of design, architecture, and art. There are three additional parking garages, and all are equally resplendent.
I had also previously seen a two-story blue glass awning in the Palm Court but hadn’t really appreciated it until Thom gave some context. The artist, Sou Fujimoto, patterned the piece after Miami’s weather, from thunderstorms to sunlight. One corner of the awning provides a translucent curtain of shade over the 10-foot bust of the French artist Le Corbusier created by Xavier Veilhan.
In addition to the shops, restaurants, museums, galleries and public art, a new feature of the Design District is the free Gary Nader Sculpture Garden.
There are two more walking tours offered this spring before a summer hiatus. They are free of charge. Go to miamidesigndistrict.com for more information and to register.
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