Art en Route
The nationally recognized Miami-Dade Art in Public Places program has commissioned and installed artworks in several Metrorail and Metromover stations, enriching and enhancing these public spaces. Art installations by artists of regional, national, and international reputation enrich our public spaces and contribute to our cultural heritage.
- Art at Metrorail Stations
- Allapattah
- Brownsville
- Coconut Grove
- Culmer
- Dadeland
- Douglas Road
- Earlington Heights
- Government Center
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza
- Northside
- Santa Clara
- South Miami
- University
- Vizcaya
- Art at Metromover Stations
- School Board-Omni Loop
- Eleventh Street - Omni Loop
- Park West-Omni Loop
- Freedom Tower-Omni Loop
- Riverwalk-Brickell Loop
- Eighth Street- Brickell Loop
- Brickell-Brickell Loop
Allapattah Metrorail Station
"Tracks"
Cor-Ten and stainless steel, 1983
Artist: Gene Kangas
Steel channels form a series of parallel lines that undulate, intersect, and create wave-like patterns. Two life-size silhouettes are placed at one end of the sculpture and a group of herring gulls perch above on a twisting linear pipe. A series of stainless steel bird tracks or footprints suggest unseen movement, perhaps by another visitor or at another time.
Back to Top
Brownsville Metrorail Station
"Optical Illusion"
Cor-Ten steel, painted, 1984
Artist: Jean-Claude Rigaud
Haitian-born Rigaud created this undulating, spiraling sculpture to be viewed and appreciated from many different perspectives. Using a red spiral and three white circular forms, the artist produced an optical and spatial illusion that evolves with the viewer’s changing perspective. While Optical Illusion appears to be a simple red spiral with three white forms when seen from either side, the three white circular forms create a target-like illusion of one large disc within a red ring when viewed from either end.
Coconut Grove Metrorail Station
"Sun Stations"
Steel, glass, aluminum, diffractive material, 1983
Artist: Dale Eldred
Internationally acclaimed artist and architect Dale Eldred was known for his installations designed to split sunlight into its color elements, producing luminous fields of energy and intense radiant light. In Sun Stations, Eldred created a 3-part solar sculpture which converts South Florida’s brilliant sunlight into unexpected bursts and flickers of pure color. Stated Eldred, “My work is about light. My sculptures are carefully calculated receivers - through refraction, reflection, or diffraction.”
Culmer Metrorail Station
"Ingathering"
Steel Sculpture, 1984
Artist: Tony Rosenthal
New York City-based sculptor Rosenthal created a large gray steel environmental installation titled "Ingathering." Set within a plaza and ringed by small mahogany trees, the sculpture includes an archway, a moveable metal wheel, and benches.
Dadeland South Metrorail Station
"16 Smokes"
Fabricated steel, painted, 1984
Artist: George Greenamyer
In the form of two improbable vehicles on oversized wheels, 16 Smokes is a visual metaphor for Metrorail and the movement of commuters from the suburbs to urban areas. The sculpture is topped with eight houses, each with two chimneys. Inspired by the American Industrial Age, Greenamyer uses vehicles with multiple houses to refer to the mobility of our society.
Douglas Road Metrorail Station
"Leaning Arches"
Cor-Ten steel, painted, 1984
Artist: Athena Tacha
Deep purple and orange “tension arches” are constructed from sheets of cut, stretched, and curved steel. Connected alternately at top and bottom, the steel sheets suggest the forces of rhythm and tension that gave them form.
Earlington Heights Metrorail Station
"Blue Station Stones"
Concrete, dyed and cast, 1986
Artist: Beverly Buchanan
Blue Station Stones is an installation of cobalt blue concrete forms at the entrance to the Earlington Heights Metrorail station. Buchanan was inspired by African ancestral tribal forms and intended the installation to function as a site marker, identifying the station and providing a meditative meeting area.
Government Center Metrorail Station
"Rhythm of the Train"
Stainless steel, 1988
Artist: Joan Lehman
Executed in brushed stainless steel, this monumental sculpture by Miami-based artist Joan Lehman spans 29 feet and rises 17 feet at its highest point. The eight arched elements create an undulating rhythm alluding to the speed, movement, and rhythm of rail travel. Sited in 1990, the sculpture has become a landmark for Miami's Cultural Plaza which houses The Historical Museum of Southern Florida, Miami Art Museum, and the Main Library.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza Metrorail Station
"On Our Way"
Baked enamel on copper plates, 1986
Artist: Betye Saar
Working with local residents and Metrorail users, artist Betye Saar created a compelling art installation celebrating the energy and vitality of the surrounding community. She traced the outlines of children and adults and created life-sized enameled silhouettes embellished with lively shapes and lines. Through this community-based art process, Saar instilled the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza station with a unique identity and spirit.
Northside Metrorail Station
Mural - enamel paint over treated surface, 1986
Artist: Purvis Young
This mural, painted in Young’s swift gestural style, celebrates the contributions of construction workers, bricklayers, steelworkers, carpenters, and others in building Miami’s transit system. Young continues to pursue his personal artistic vision, drawing extensively on the realities of growing up and living in Overtown, an African American community near downtown Miami.
Santa Clara Metrorail Station
"Ceremony of The Tropics"
Ceramic Tiles, 1986
Artist: Carlos Alfonzo
This vibrant hand-crafted ceramic mural, sited in the midst of Miami’s wholesale fruit district, incorporates symbols from the area and from Carlos Alfonzo’s own iconography. In the artist’s words, “This mural celebrates the relationship of nature and man and how this interaction manifests itself, including the moment in which the fruit is trapped by the hand and given as offering at the table in intimate domestic ritual. It is a ‘ceremony of the tropics’ and its symbols, in vibrant colors, in full public view.” Alfonzo, who came from Cuba in 1980 via the Mariel boatlift, achieved national prominence in the art world before he died of AIDS at age 41 in 1991.
South Miami Metrorail Station
"Paciencia"
Aluminum and steel, painted, 1981
Artist: John Henry
Constructed of linear tubes of aluminum and steel jutting at oblique angles, Paciencia stands 31 feet high and creates a bright visual statement against the massive South Miami Metrorail station. Painted a vivid yellow, the elements wrap around each other in a circular, rising motion that creates a fluidity and lightness of feeling, in contrast to the heavy, static forms with which they are created. First exhibited at the Chicago Art Fair in 1982, this sculpture was purchased by Art in Public Places and installed later that year.
University Metrorail Station
"Tetrahelix and Son"
Cor-Ten steel, painted, 1983
Artist: Freda Tschumy
Inspired by the twisted double helix structure of a DNA molecule and solid triangular figures or tetrahedrons, Miami artist Freda Tschumy created this whimsical 38-foot-tall sculpture of welded Cor-Ten steel. Created in two parts, a ribbon of twisted steel comes off the end of each piece appearing to join beneath the sidewalk. Tschumy was intrigued by Buckminster Fuller’s theories on the triangle as the basis of the universe.
Vizcaya Metrorail Station
"Terror and Delight of the Sea"
Cast Stone, 1983
Artist: Stirling Calder
The fountain at the Vizcaya Metrorail station incorporates figures originally commissioned for Villa Vizcaya in 1915. The statues were cast from the mythical mermaids and mermen on the Great Stone Barge created by sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder and commissioned by James Deering. Using special molds, each replica was formed with a sand-based aggregate and then resculpted by artist Mark Jeffries to sharpen timeworn features. Alexander Stirling Calder was the father of Alexander “Sandy” Calder, known for inventing the mobile and as a pioneer of kinetic art.
School Board Metromover Station
"Vision of Peace"
Ceramic tile mural, 1994
Artists: Noreen Morelli/D.A.S.H. students
(Design and Architecture Senior High), Miami, FL
Noreen Morelli and D.A.S.H. students created a ceramic mural which abstractly depicts the tropical landscape and architecture of Miami. The central shape, the sun, also represents a peace symbol, while ladder-like images symbolize the students' striving toward the future. Through the represented images, the intent is to invoke a positive ideal for the community.
Eleventh Street Metromover Station
"Moving Over"
Mixed media/polished terrazzo, 1994
Artist: Buster Simpson, Seattle, Washington
Buster Simpson created sculptural seating for three stations on the Omni leg of Metromover. His platform benches have been crafted as a remnant from the street below. The curb on the street traditionally has been, in the face of no alternative, public seating. By elevating the curb and reinterpreting its customary materials and texture in polished terrazo, it is placed in a new context: one to be sat upon and studied. The artist incorporated Hurricane Andrew debris inlaid into the terrazo with gestures of mangrove roots - symbolizing a rebirth, and expressing the exuberance of Miami's culture.
Park West Metromover Station
"New Calypso"
Incised bluestone 1994
Artists: Houston Conwill, Estella Conwill Majozo, and Joseph DePace
New York, New York
The Park West Station is located in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Miami. As a site-responsive art installation and a peace memorial tribute to the city's multicultural community, the floor, formed from bluestone slabs, becomes a circular cosmogram. The artists worked closely with the Black Archives History and Research Foundation to identify historical figures, local literary symbolism, poetic texts, and song fragments which are sandblasted into the stone. The cosmogram celebrates Miami as a place of spiritual renaissance.
Freedom Tower Metromover Station
"Moving Over"
Mixed media/polished terrazzo, 1994
Artist: Buster Simpson, Seattle, Washington
Buster Simpson created sculptural seating for three stations on the Omni leg of Metromover. His platform benches have been crafted as a remnant from the street below. The curb on the street traditionally has been, in the face of no alternative, public seating. By elevating the curb and reinterpreting its customary materials and texture in polished terrazo, it is placed in a new context: one to be sat upon and studied. The artist incorporated Hurricane Andrew debris inlaid into the terrazo with gestures of mangrove roots - symbolizing a rebirth, and expressing the exuberance of Miami's culture.
Riverwalk Metromover Station
"Red M"
Concrete/mixed media
Artists: Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt
Miami, Florida
Designed as an entranceway to the station, "Red M" creates an intimate scale within the station's lofty eight story structure. Located in front of the turnstiles on the east side of Riverwalk Station, the artwork refers historically to subway and other transit entrances with decorative elements, such as clock and lighting. The bright red color adds interest and excitement to the site.
Eighth Street Metromover Station
"Ventana Solar"
Ceramic tile/mixed media 1994
Artist: Carlos Alves, Miami, Florida
A Miami ceramist who uses found objects and broken tiles, Alves has created two separate and unique installations at the 8th Street Metromover station. On the south side of the station, a ceramic royal palm tree rises from ground level to the top of the station. As in Jose Marti's poetry, the royal palm represents freedom. On the north side, "Portón de Sentimientos" (gate of sentiments) symbolizes the gateway to Calle Ocho. The handles are red tile in the shape of a heart (as in "heart of palm"), echoing the palm image on the 8th Street side of the station. Using recycled ceramics and items embedded in clay and collected from Calle Ocho merchants, "Ventana Solar" (solar window) represents a Cuban colonial window to the area.
Brickell Metromover Station
"Reaching for Miami Skies"
Hand-formed -and painted ceramic tiles 1994
Artist: Connie Lloveras, Miami, Florida
Connie Lloveras's ceramic mosaic within the Brickell Station's coffered ceiling is designed to produce a patchwork quilt effect. People representing Miami's multicultural community imprinted their handprints directly into the raw clay tile. The hand images, while individually unique and diverse, become universal, illustrating the broader community of mankind. "Reaching for Miami Skies" is intended to evoke a feeling of unity in viewers. It implies "the sky is the limit," and that there is no end to what can be achieved with peace and solidarity among people in Miami.
Home | Privacy Statement | Disclaimer | About Us | ADA Notice | Phone Directory | Contact Us© 2013 Miami-Dade County. All rights reserved.
You are now leaving the official website of Miami-Dade County government. Please be aware that when you exit this site, you are no longer protected by our privacy or security policies. Miami-Dade County is not responsible for the content provided on linked sites. The provision of links to these external sites does not constitute an endorsement.
Please click 'OK' to be sent to the new site, or Click 'Cancel' to go back.