Deborah Brown
Miami On the Wild Side, 2002
Glass mosaic, marble
Terminal #5, Miami Seaport

For her new installation at Miami’s Seaport, New York artist Deborah Brown created twenty-four glass mosaic roundels depicting wildlife of the Everglades and Biscayne Bay. Titled Miami on the Wild Side, Brown drew from South Florida’s unique community of aquatic and avian creatures for her inspiration. Within a roundel format styled after a ship’s porthole, Brown depicted sea creatures and birds including a green sea turtle, a manatee, a great egret and a wood stork. The roundels, installed on interior columns in the terminal, give the illusion that the viewer is peering out a porthole into the natural world. 

A painter by training, Brown often uses glass mosaics for public installations, appreciating their unique beauty and resilience.  Hand-chiseled, individually shaped glass tesserae are arranged to convey the detail, tactility, and character of the painted design. In the case of the roundels, a wrap-around band of marble stones creates a finished edge. Each roundel is twenty-five inches in diameter.

Stated Brown, “My goal is to remind visitors to the area of the wonderful, and endangered, creatures that exist in close proximity to the cruise terminal.  Cruise voyagers may wish to return to explore this aspect of Miami and South Florida. The roundels also alert voyagers to other creatures that they may encounter on the trip in the waters of South Florida and the Caribbean.”

Deborah Brown holds a Masters of Fine Arts from Indiana University, Bloomington and a Bachelors of Arts from Yale University.  Her work can be found in many museums and public collections including the Indianapolis Museum of Art and The Art Museum at Florida International University. Her public installations can be found in Manhattan at the Houston Street Subway Station as well as in Tallahassee at the Department of Environmental Protection.

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