Renowned artist and Miami native Michele Oka Doner was immediately inspired upon first visiting UM’s Marine Invertebrate Museum housed in the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Atmospheric Science on Virginia Key. In 2004, she set out on a simple fact-checking visit to the museum, but soon became enthralled with the natural beauty and vast intricacy of the collection. Her inspiration led to her collaboration with the Lowe Art Museum; Into the Mysterium, an exhibition that represents the human impulse to organize and classify, one which exists in tension with the beautiful and chaotic fluidity of life underwater.
Under the directorship of alumnus Nancy Voss, M.S. '54, the Museum of Invertebrate Mammals has catalogued and digitized 93,000 preserved specimens of marine invertebrates. It is one of the largest such collections in the world, and continues to lead to the discovery and naming of new species.
Oka Doner’s work generally focuses on humanity’s desire to collect and arrange, our need to make order out of the overwhelming and often chaotic natural world. This approach was a natural fit with the work Voss continues at the museum—the result is a stunning and memorable reflection on humanity’s relationship with nature.
Alumni and visitors can now see the awe-inspiring exhibit, which features fifty-five painted and stained photographs of museum specimens, as well as Oka Doner’s video installation, Mysterium Alive, at UM’s Lowe Art Museum through January 14, 2018. Oka Doner will also be the featured speaker at the Lowe’s annual Art Basel Miami Beach Bubbles & Brunch program on Sunday, December 10.
The Lowe Art Museum on UM’s Coral Gables campus opened in 1950 as the first art museum in South Florida. Its 19,000–object collection is one of the most important in the southeast, with strengths in Modern and Contemporary, American, Ancient and Native American, and Asian art. Discover your personal connection to art with the year-round program of special exhibitions, rotating displays of the permanent collections, and innovative educational programming the museum offers. For more information about the Lowe or the exhibit please visit www.lowemuseum.org.
