FOCAL POINT STYLING: Havana

Wednesday evening was the reception for the exhibit La Habana, in honor of the artist, Victoria Montoro. It was held at the University of Miami's School of Architecture in the Korach Gallery of the Jorge M. Perez Architecture Center. The reception was open to the public, and had a surprisingly very good turn out for being a Summer event, according to the Dean of the School of Architecture, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, who I had the honor to meet and speak with. She suggested also to go visit the adjacent building to see the new auditorium, which was also an amazing structure.

I had gone with my friend Jose, and we met some other people during the event, but the highlight of the evening for me had to be having the pleasure and honor of meeting the artist - Victoria Montoro. We spoke, I cried (again), she hugged me and gave me her card.

Visit Victoria's website at

Victoria Montoro Zamorano

I say again because not even three steps into the exhibit, I was overcome with emotion. Seeing these images, I feel, in some way brought me closer with my father. Although we didn't speak much of his life in Cuba, he did tell my mom, and she's shared the stories with me. One story I do know though is how my father LOVED the song, "I left my heart in San Fransisco." However after seeing the exhibit, I learned it wasn't the San Fransisco of California. There is actually a San Fransisco in Havana. These are some of the images I quickly captured with my cellphone while at the reception.

Image called, "San Fransisco"

Admiring my favorite image - "La Turquesa"

Photo on canvas...

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
"Cuban–born Victoria Montoro left Havana in 1961 and returned for the first time in 2008. The daughter of a former political prisoner, she calls the trip the most important of her life. It was a time for her to reconcile her memories from those invented ones or imagined ones acquired through the years. This body of work reveals how the buildings in La Habana have endured."

The exhibit will continue to be on display now through August 12. It's open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. If you're in Miami or South Florida I highly recommend go to see the exhibit. My images here don't do it justice...

Seeing what my father once saw... and he hoped to see again one day...

This was the closest he (we) ever got... was standing at the Southern Most Point in Key West back about 1979....

But thanks to Victoria, I feel like I got a little closer

for the both of us =)

Special thanks to Victoria's two assistants

for finding her that evening so I could meet her. And thanks also to the University of Miami for holding the event & exhibit of images that were frozen in time...

I don't know about you, but I still enjoy flipping through a newspaper while sipping coffee on Sunday morning. And this past Sunday, while looking for the Home Design section of the Miami Herald, I came across something even better - The Visual Arts section. On its front page were these remarkable images of amazing architecture, and it was called Views of Home. The article tells the story behind these beautiful images captured by photographer Victoria Montoro Zamorano. Fortunately, these images and more will be in an exhibit at the University of Miami's Korach Gallery, Jorge M. Architecture Center - starting TODAY through August 13.

Turquesa en la Prado by Victoria Montoro Zamorano

The exhibit, free to the public, is open from 9am - 5pm Monday - Friday. There will also be a special reception with the artist from 6-8pm on July 13.

La Herida by Victoria Montoro Zamorano

I'm looking forward to going to both - quietly sometime during the next week, and also for the reception to meet the photographer.

La casa Rosada by Victoria Montoro Zamorano

"The buildings are presented without sentiment. You see peeling paint, broken windows, makeshift repairs and laundry hung out to dry. But you also see works of surpassing beauty, with extraordinary architectural ornament — pilasters, pediments, brackets, friezes, columns, arches, balustrades, rosettes, medallions, gargoyles. In almost every image there is a person, or an object, to give a sense of the grandness of these buildings, of their imposing scale. They are presented not so much as a fashion parade of important buildings but more as a semi-anonymous (some buildings are identified, but others are neither named nor located) collection in which the whole is indeed more than the proverbial sum of parts, just as Havana is." Read more at The Miami Herald.

El Balcon by Victoria Montoro Zamorano

The images really spoke to my heart, probably most of all because Havana, Cuba is where my father was from. If you're in Miami, this would definitely be a worth while exhibit to go see.