Senior Show Capstone On Miami South Beach

art deco Digital Art graphic design miami Poster Design Retro south beach vector vintage wpa

Senior Capstone: South Beach Series

Artist Biography

Alice Wolf is an artist and graphic designer with a penchant for vintage art styles like Art Deco and Art Nouveau. She is known for her digital illustrations of historic buildings and landmarks of Oklahoma City and Miami Beach. Drawing inspiration from the Works Project Administration art style of the 1930’s and their National Parks Poster campaign, her subjects heavily consist of historic buildings, specifically Art Deco Architecture. Her goal is to travel the world and use her art to help preserve iconic sites and buildings. Alice earned her first Bachelors of Fine Arts from The University of Central Oklahoma with a major in Graphic Design. She’s also working on her second BFA specializing in Studio Art at Oklahoma City University. Her current mediums include screen printing, film photography, gouache painting, and digital illustration.

Artist Statement
In this Miami Beach Deco series, I showcase the mediums I’ve connected with through my art studies here at Oklahoma City University. These two mediums include film photography & screen printing. As a graphic designer, artist, and yoga instructor my mission is to have the audience experience a sense of calm and bring awareness to their lives through sharing my work with therapeutic intention. In this respect, I used calming pastel colors as chromotherapy, or color therapy, and introduced the element of sand to set a relaxing tone. I find grounding and also have an immense appreciation for Beach Deco Architecture which brought my focus to the
hotels of Miami Beach. To begin, the viewer will find the building in its original state through film photography. Next, the image is digitally illustrated with the use of shapes and lines through the use of layers. I then emphasize the use of layers by simplifying them into a screen printing format on a square shape cloth. Finally, I introduce the square back into a cube shape filled with sand; this mock up is a miniature installation piece that represents the building in both an abstract manner and its simplest form. This series reflects that life can be complicated, but by cultivating stillness we can enjoy the things we take for granted. In this case, it’s the beauty of the historic Art Deco buildings of Miami Beach.

Components

Part I: Poster designed on Adobe Illustrator

A. The Carlyle

This hotel was built in 1939 and it remains as a landmark amongst the many Art Deco architectural buildings that shape Miami today. The architects responsible for this iconic building were Kiehnel and Elliott. The hotel is much used in the world of film making, as well as television programming and photo shoots.

B. The Palace Bar

In 1988, Steve Palsar launched the original Palace at 1200 Ocean Drive. This is now a premier LGBTQ+ bar and restaurant in Miami. For more than three decades they have been serving up amazing cocktails at the bar, extraordinary dining experiences, and fabulous nightly drag shows.

C. Beacon South Beach Hotel

The Beacon Hotel, at 720 Ocean Drive, was built in 1937 by Henry O. Nelson. Around 1946 Mildred & Isadore Shichtman purchased the hotel and soon after they added the 22 rooms on the wing and the courtyard to the existing five-story structure.

D. Hotel Breakwater South Beach

The Breakwater hotel was built in 1939 and remains one of Miami's most iconic Art Deco buildings. The hotel was designed by Anton Skislewicz, and also represents the Streamline Moderne style that was popular during the time it was built.

E. Avalon Hotel Miami

Miami Beach has the largest concentration of Art Deco architecture in the country, and the Avalon Hotel is among one of the most celebrated, with a storied history dating to its construction in 1941.

The hotel was designed by world-renowned architect Albert Anis (1889-1964), who embraced the Art Deco style and tropical surroundings of Miami Beach, creating several landmark structures in the area including Mantell Plaza, Clevelander Hotel, Majestic Hotel, Waldorf Hotel and Temple Emanuel.