Collector donates major aerial sculpture installation to the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU

Dr. Robert B. Feldman, the New York-based art collector, has promised this large-scale installation by Mira Lehr as a gift to the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU.

The artwork, titled “Sacred Dreams,” is comprised of 183 aerial sculptures made of burned and dyed Japanese paper, acrylic, ink and resin that descend from the ceiling of the museum, with an estimated value of $300,000.

“I am honored to donate this major work by Mira Lehr to the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU,” says Feldman.

Currently on view at the museum as a temporary loan from Dr. Feldman, the installation will become part of the museum’s permanent collection in September.

“This large-scale work now has a permanent home in the community for all to enjoy, including the millions of tourists that visit Miami Beach, at this beloved gem of a museum that is of historic importance in the Southeast.”

The museum is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is the only museum dedicated to telling the story of more than 250 years of Florida Jewish history, art and culture with a growing collection of more than 100,000 items.

“Sacred Dreams” (detail), by Mira Lehr (2019). Burned and dyed Japanese paper, acrylic, ink and resin. From the collection of Dr. Robert B. Feldman, now donated to the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU.

“Mira Lehr created this stunning installation, “Sacred Dreams,” specifically with the museum in mind as a result of a personal visit here,” says Susan Gladstone Pasternack, the Executive Director of the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU.

“After Lehr spent time at the museum, she reflected upon the emotions and inspiration she felt and created these 183 aerial sculptures to interact with the light they create together with our stained-glass windows. The result is truly magnificent.”

“The mistress of light”

Nationally renowned as an eco-feminist artist, Lehr is celebrated for working with imagery from the natural world, creating layered abstract compositions with unconventional materials. Morley Safer, “60 Minutes” television correspondent, referred to her as “the mistress of light.”

“I want viewers to feel like they are walking beneath an aerial garden of luminous, reflecting sculptures,” says Lehr. “A holy garden of light, that takes people out of the actual world and transports them onto a spiritual plane,” adds Lehr.

In 1960, Lehr co-founded one of the country’s first co-ops for women artists in Miami Beach. It was called Continuum and thrived for more than 30 years, blazing a pioneer trail that helped establish Miami’s evolution as an art destination.

She is known in the art world as “the Godmother of Miami’s art scene” and has mentored many artists through the years.

Lehr’s 2020 solo museum show at the Mennello Museum of American Art was selected by The New York Times as one of its leading museum exhibitions in the U.S. in 2020. She has currently been chosen by Flying Horse Editions as an invited artist for a major project this year.

Mira Lehr in her studio

She is a graduate of Vassar College (1956) with a degree in art history, under the mentorship of Linda Nochlin, the renowned feminist art historian. Her works have been collected by major institutions across the U.S., including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art (Washington), the Getty Museum Research Center (Los Angeles), the Boca Raton Museum of Art, the Perez Art Museum (Miami) and the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (NY), among others.

The Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU is housed in two restored historic buildings that were once synagogues for Miami Beach’s first Jewish congregation. Centrally located in South Beach, the original synagogue was built in 1929. The second, built in 1936, was designed by Art Deco architect Henry Hohauser and features 80 stained-glass windows, a copper dome and a marble bimah.

While reflective of the Jewish experience in Florida, the museum creates understanding of the shared immigrant experience in our multicultural society.