week in art holiday party edition 745025

This article from Artnet News recaps a series of holiday parties and galas in the New York art world during December 2016. Highlights include the New York Botanical Garden's 18th Annual Winter Wonderland Ball, attended by Anne Hathaway, Tinsley Mortimer, and Andrew Warren; artnet's own holiday party featuring the Bumbys and a magician; ACRIA's 21st Annual Holiday Dinner honoring the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and actress Judith Light; and Project for Empty Space's Winter Bacchanal Benefit, which presented the first Badass Art Woman Awards to curators Rujeko Hockley, Rocio Aranda-Alvarado, and Deana Haggag.

Hiba Schahbaz: The Garden

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Hiba Schahbaz is the subject of her first major museum retrospective, "The Garden," at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. Curated by Jasmine Wahi, the exhibition features 80 works spanning 15 years, tracing the artist's evolution from traditional Indo-Persian miniature painting in Lahore to her current large-scale practice in Brooklyn. The show highlights her recurring use of the female nude—often a stylized self-portrait—navigating mystical landscapes filled with Sufi poetry, mythical creatures, and art historical references.

5 Ways the Art World Can Better Support Women Artists

parties badass art women awards project for empty space

Project for Empty Space celebrated its 15th anniversary with the annual Badass Art Woman Awards at the Angel Orensanz Foundation in Manhattan. The event honored Dr. Deborah Willis, Ebony L. Haynes, and Helen Toomer, and featured performances by Mia X, Marcy De Pina, and Armana Khan, with a crowd of artists, curators, and scholars including Mickalene Thomas, Derrick Adams, and Legacy Russell.

independent curator kate wong organizing nada miami curated spotlight section 1234760216

The New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) has appointed Vancouver-based independent curator Kate Wong to organize the Curated Spotlight section of its upcoming Miami fair. Wong, formerly a curator at MOCA Toronto and founder of SITE Toronto, selected five galleries and nonprofit spaces—including EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, Spill 180, El Consulado, Romance, and Southside Contemporary Art Gallery—to highlight emerging artists. The fair runs December 2 at Ice Palace Studios, concurrent with Art Basel Miami Beach.

Persian miniatures and mermaids: Hiba Schahbaz’s garden of delights at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami

The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami has opened "Hiba Schahbaz: The Garden," the first major retrospective of Karachi-born, Brooklyn-based artist Hiba Schahbaz. Curated by Jasmine Wahi, the exhibition spans 15 years of Schahbaz's practice, including loans from private collections, studio works, and new commissions. Anchored by the concept of the jannat (Paradise Garden) rooted in Islamic tradition and Sufi poetry, the show is organized around the elements of earth, water, fire, and air. Schahbaz, trained in the Indo-Persian miniature tradition, works with water-based pigments and tea on handmade paper, and her practice has evolved from small formats to large-scale works, including a 45-foot-by-14-foot mermaid painting commissioned for the Miami show.