INTO HER OWN

A Film About Artist Ursula Rydingsvard

By Rebeca Herrero

“Into her own” is a film by Daniel Traub based on the legacy of one of the best contemporary artists, Ursula Von Rydingsvard. Her expressive cedar sculptures combines traces of a long and distant peasant past evocative and fueled by a remembrance of her childhood, one that was filled of a complexity and chaotic nature due to the forced labor her parents endured in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The basic organic materials symbolize humility while the vast sizes of grandeur are shaped by the monumental sculptures she creates. A symbiotic relationship between past and present. The German born artist (b. 1942), who descends from Ukrainian and Polish parents, belongs to more than 30 museum collections around the world. One of her first solo exhibits was titled “Interior Ursula”. In this particular manifest, Von Rydingsvard was inspired by a line from Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem: “Fourth Duno Elegy”: “We don’t know the contour of our feeling, only the thing that molds it from without.” Do not miss this film…watch it on Vimeo or Amazon.

The Pirelli Calendar 2020

Artistry Belongs To The Famous And The Beautiful

Paolo Roversi’s 2020 Pirelli Calendar “Looking for Juliet” was presented to the public at Verona’s Teatro Filarmonico. Drawing inspiration from Shakespeare’s timeless drama, Paolo Roversi has tapped into the “Juliet that exists in every woman” with Claire Foy, Mia Goth, Chris Lee, Indya Moore, Rosalía, Stella Roversi, Yara Shahidi, Kristen Stewart and Emma Watson as the protagonists of this 47th edition of The Cal™. Visit www.pirellicalendar.com

Vintage on Vintage:

FASHION & ARCHITECTURE

Coral Gables Historic Sites Play Dress Up

Karelia’s love of vintage fashion combined with a passion for historic architecture was the impetus for the photo shoot among several historical sites in Coral Gables. Dr. Karelia Martinez Carbonell is a longtime Coral Gables resident who sees herself as an “accidental preservationist.” She also loves vintage fashion. These images marry her two passions.

By Rebeca Herrero

Coral Gables Congregational Church

An outdoor pulpit and Spanish sanctuary sconces

Designed by Kiehnel and Elliott [the firm also designed Coral Gables Elementary School] and patterned after a cathedral in Mexico, it was the first church built in the city. It was dedicated on Palm Sunday, April 5, 1925 and included an outdoor pulpit. George Merrick, whose father was a Congregational minister, donated land for the church and dedicated the building to him. He and his wife also donated the Spanish sanctuary sconces. The church’s interior—with polychrome beams and massive chandeliers—is the best remaining example of pristine Coral Gables style.

Miami Baltimore Country Club

This structure will remain a thing of lasting beauty

The 1926 Biltmore is of Spanish style with Moorish and Italian accents considered “Mediterranean Revival”. Designed by internationally known architects Schultze and Weaver, The Miami Biltmore is designated a National Historic Landmark. The 26-story tower is a replica of the Giralda Tower of Spain. Schultze and Weaver also designed New York’s Pierre and Waldorf-Astoria Hotels, Palm Beach’s Breakers, and Miami’s Freedom Tower. For the opening, Venetian gondolas traveled from the hotel through the Coral Gables Waterway to Tahiti Beach (now Cocoplum). Guests also enjoyed a polo field, two golf courses, tennis courts, a bridle path, fox hunting and a gigantic pool. After a preservation battle, the city acquired the building under the Historic Monument Act of 1972. In 1985, the city signed a 99-year lease for renovation and management of the structure as a 286-room luxury hotel and office complex.In 1996, the National Register of Historic Places designated The Biltmore a National Historic Landmark, an elite title offered to only 3 percent of all historic structures.

VENETIAN POOL First Opera at the Venetian Pool in 1926 with a Cost of $1 Million

The Venetian Pool was opened in 1924 as the “Venetian Casino,” which was part of the Grand Plan George Merrick had for the City of Coral Gables. Completed in 1925 it was designed by Phineas Paist with Denman Fink.

Originally serving as a rock quarry pit from which the oolitic limestone used in many of Coral Gables earliest buildings, its construction it was dubbed “the world’s most beautiful swimming hole.” It is the municipal swimming pool of the City and resembles a Venetian lagoon featuring a tall limerock outcropping, a waterfall, Venetian posts, and a small island connected to the Casino by a Venetian bridge. In the early days, George Merrick used the pool as his sales center and hired renowned orator, William Jennings Bryan, to extol the virtues of Coral Gables to willing customers.

The first national opera troupe performance in Miami was in the drained Venetian Pool on February 2, 1926. The million-dollar production had a cast of 30 singers and 28 ballet dancers who arrived on three special trains. The opera was sponsored by the developers of Coral Gables and Miami Shores.

A year earlier, in 1925, the celebrated Paul Whiteman Orchestra played in a drained Venetian Pool to help George Merrick promote sales in Coral Gables.

The local landmark is the only pool included in the National Register of Historic Places.

Desoto Plaza And Fountain

An obelisk and four relief carvings make up stone fountain known as De Soto.

The City Beautiful Movement encouraged the use of wide tree-lined avenues, monumental buildings, winding roadways, green space, ornate plazas and fountains galore. All these elements of style have been and continue to be incorporated by Coral Gables city planners. Out of 14 planned plazas, only six were built by 1923. The Desoto Plaza and Fountain was built a few years later in 1925. It is named after Hernando de Soto, a Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the first European expedition to the United States. It is located in close proximity to the historic Venetian Pool at the intersection of Sevilla Avenue, and Granada and DeSoto Boulevards. The location is one of the City of Coral Gables original traffic circles.

The pedestal fountain is in a neo-baroque French architectural style of the late 19th century. It was designed by Denman Fink, the uncle of Coral Gables founder George Merrick. Fink designed all of the original entrances to Coral Gables, the original water tower in the shape of a light house, and Coral Gables city hall. The stone fountain supports an obelisk and features four relief carvings of faces containing water jets. At night, vintage lanterns light the fountain.

in the magazine Gables Living. She was instrumental in acquiring funds from the City of Coral Gables to restore the historic 1926 White Way Lights; recently spearheaded a campaign to halt the demolition of a Coral Gables landmark and is currently working on raising awareness to save the only Brutalist-style government building in Coral Gables. She is also campaigning to historically designate the last remaining Cold War bunker in South Florida.

Dr. Karelia Martinez Carbonell is an independent fundraising and communications consultant after many years employed in the not-for-profit sector. Dr. Martinez Carbonell has been a leader on numerous nonprofit boards of directors. She is past executive board member of the Coral Gables Community Foundation; longtime board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Miami Chapter;past president of the Junior League of Miami Foundation and current president of the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables. She holds a Doctorate in Public Administration with a concentration on non-profit management from NSU. Martinez Carbonell is one of a limited number of fundraisers worldwide who have earned the CFRE credential (certified fundraising executive).

Dr. Martinez Carbonell is a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and lectures on the importance of historic preservation. She also writes a monthly column about historic landmarks in Coral Gables and beyond.

Designed by Kiehnel and Elliott [the firm also designed Coral Gables Elementary School] and patterned after a cathedral in Mexico, it was the first church built in the city. It was dedicated on Palm Sunday, April 5, 1925 and included an outdoor pulpit. George Merrick, whose father was a Congregational minister, donated land for the church and dedicated the building to him. He and his wife also donated the Spanish sanctuary sconces. The church’s interior—with polychrome beams and massive chandeliers—is the best remaining example of pristine Coral Gables style.