The Kimpton EPIC Hotel Miami Honors Mira Lehr: Panel Discussion Features Trailblazing Arts Leaders for Women’s History Month

Photography by Alejandro Chavarria on April 4th, 2022 in Lifestyle

Melissa Diaz, Diane Robinson, Jane Wooldridge, Mira Lehr, Lorie Mertes, Vivian Donnell, & Ombretta Agro

Miami Beach, FL – May 4, 2022 – Some of Miami’s trailblazing arts leaders were invited to a powerful discussion presented by the Kimpton EPIC Hotel Miami, about the role women have played in shaping Miami’s art scene. The Hotel’s General manager, Ericka Nelson, kicked off the event which honored the artist Mira Lehr, and her new exhibition Mira Lehr: Continuum. The gathering of arts influencers also celebrated the worldwide release of the new book by Skira Editore about Lehr’s artistic career.

The panel was moderated Jane Wooldridge of The Miami Herald, and featured: Vivian Donnell Rodriguez (former Director of Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places, now on the Palm Beach County Public Art Committee); Lorie Mertes (Executive Director of Locust Projects, formerly of the National Museum of Women in the Arts); Melissa Diaz (Cultural Arts Curator of the Deering Estate); Diane Robinson (filmmaker); and Ombretta Agro (curator and Executive Director of ARTSail).

Lehr was selected by Kimpton Hotels to commemorate both Women’s History Month and Earth Day with this exhibition in the Hotel’s new art space on the 16th floor. This is the 60th anniversary of Lehr co-founding one of the first art collectives for women artists in Miami, in 1961. It was called Continuum and thrived for more than 30 years. Lehr is known for championing the environment since 1969, when she was selected by Buckminster Fuller for his Spaceship Earth “World Game” project. The pioneer program happened a year before the very first Earth Day, and focused on sustainability of the planet’s resources. Mira Lehr’s exhibition featured all new work she created in 2022 and 2021, and marked the premiere of the 400-page international monograph about the artist by Skira Editore, one of the world’s leading art book publishers – www.skira.net/en/books/mira-lehr-arc-of- nature-the-complete-monograph.