Barbara Neijna is an artist who has created large-scale monumental sculpture, site-specific installations, landscape design, lighting, furniture, books, functional objects and photography that communicate issues concerning survival and the environment, beginnings, and endings. Her vision for art, both concrete and conceptual, is the interaction and involvement of her artwork with people and their surroundings. Her work celebrates the experience of being part of a larger community and her aesthetic intent visually establishes a renewed balance between the urban environment and nature. The primal essence of Neijna’s work relates to origins in natures, repetition, and beginnings.
Neijna’s art can be seen in public and private museum collections, gallery exhibitions and installations. In addition to sculpture and drawing, Neijna is a photographer using large format film cameras and digital equipment. The photographic images she creates are not only experienced in gallery exhibitions, but are also integrated into the structure of monumental projects. She has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States and Europe and has been commissioned to create more than 50 major public works of art during her prolific career. Some of these commissions include the General Services Administration – Strom Thurmond Federal Building in Columbia, South Carolina; the Redevelopment Authority for the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Broward County Judicial Complex for the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; the Marta Garnet Light Rail System in Atlanta, Georgia; numerous University and Corporate commissions and recently, a site specific work of art for Bal Harbour, Miami, Florida. In 2008, Neijna completed what has been considered the largest public work of art in modern time. She had the unique opportunity for an artist to create a massive work of art for Miami International Airport that integrates art with the architecture, addressing walls, floors, and curtain glass. The art contribution collectively reads as the essence of the space, giving the public an opportunity to experience a South Florida environment that is uniquely different from all other environments. Neijna has exhibited at the Miami Art Museum, Miami, Florida; the Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida Art Museum, Deland, Florida, Ambrosino Gallery, Miami, Florida; Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami, Florida; Musee du Pantheon National Hatien, Port au Prince, Haiti; Musee Cagnes Sur Mer, France; the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida., and the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, New York. Her work has been included in shows at the Aaron Berman Gallery, New York; Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; Brunnier Museum, Ames, Iowa; Ritter Art Gallery at Florida Atlantic University; and Gran Palais, Paris, France. Neijna’s installations, sculpture, drawing and photography are represented in major collections throughout the United States and Europe among them, the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Miami Art Museum, Columbus Ohio Museum of Art, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Brunnier Art Museum, Lowe Art Museum, Syracuse University Museum of Art and the Martin Z. Margulies Museum. Neijna is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently she received the prestigious International Award from the Art and Works Awards in conjunction with the World Architecture Festival for the best site-specific art in the working environment in the past three years. Additionally, Neijna has won the National Endowment for the Arts Award, the South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship, and the Tiffany Foundation Fellowship. Neijna has been written about extensively, particularly in Donald Kuspit’s many essays on Neijna’s work, including, “Neijna, A Concept of the Environment.” Her work is included in major art books and art publications by Virginia Mecklenberg, Peter Plagens, Richard Vine, Helen Kohen and Beth Dunlop.
Education | |
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1960 – 1961 | Academia di Belle Arte di Brera – Milan, Italy Graduate Program |
1959 | Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY BFA |
Fellowships and Awards | |
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1999 | South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship |
1975 | National Endowment for the Arts/Hillsborough County |
1959 – 1961 | Louis Comfort Tiffany Traveling Fellowship |
Teaching | |
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1968 – 1974 | Ft Lauderdale Museum of Art School of Art |
1962 – 1974 | New School of Fine Arts Miami, Florida |
1962 – 1968 | University of Miami, Department of Fine Arts, Sculpture |
Selected Exhibitions | |
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2010 | Boca Raton Museum of Art, Miami, Fl. “Neijna” |
2006 | Miami Art Museum, “Collections Exhibitions” |
2005 | Ambrosino Gallery, Art Basel, Miami, Fl. |
2003 | Locust Gallery, Miami, Florida |
2002 | Bijou Contemporain XXXIII International, Cagnes-Sur-Mer, France |
2002 | Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, N.Y. |
2000 | Sarasota Biennial, Sarasota, Fl. |
1999 | Ambrosino Gallery, Group Show – Miami, Fl. |
1999 | South Florida Cultural Consortium, Award Exhibition |
1998 | Gramercy Art Fair, Guadalajara, Mexico, Ambrosino Gallery |
1998 | Gramercy International, New York, NY. Ambrosino Gallery |
1998 | Art in Public Places, Exhibition, Metropolitan Dade County |
1998 | Public Art, Art International Exposition, Miami Beach Convention Center, Fl. |
1998 | Frederick Snitzer Gallery, Group Show, Miami, Fl. |
1996 | Miami Art Museum, Dreams and a Few Hidden Desires |
1995 | Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA, North Miami, Fl. Art + Architecture = |
1995 | Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA, North Miami, Fl. “Between Love and Riches” |
1995 | Snitzer Gallery, Coral Gables, Fl. Barbara Neijna-Installation |
1995 | Snitzer Gallery, Coral Gables, Fl. Gallery Artists |
1993 | Rubel Gallery, Miami Beach, Fl. |
1991 | Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art, Thriving in Change, 1949-1990 |
1991 | Florida International University, ArtPark |
1990 | Miami Dade Community College, South Campus, Twenty Five in Miami |
1990 | University Museum, University of Florida, Gainesville Fl. “Neijna” |
1986 | Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Ft. Lauderdale Fl. “Site Walk” Installation |
1985 | Musee du Pantheon National, Hatien, Port au Prince, Haiti, “Neijna et l’Environment” |
1985 | Gloria Luria Gallery, Bay Harbor Fl. “Neijna” |
1982 | Aaron Berman Gallery, New York, NY. “Women’s Art Miles Apart” |
1982 | Valencia Community College, East Campus, Orlando Fl. |
1980 | Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Fl. “Neijna” |
1989 | National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian “Across the Nation/ Fine Art in Public Buildings” |
1979 | Gran et Jeune d’ Augourd’hui, GranPalais, Paris, France |
Selected Commissions | |
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2008 | Concourse ‘J’ Miami International Airport, Miami Fl. |
2005 | Bal Harbour Plaza, Bal Harbour, Fl. |
2003 | Ice Condominium, Miami, Fl. |
1997 | Department of Communications, Tallahassee, Fl. |
1996 | Tamiami Airport Artpark, Environmental Park, Miami, Fl. |
1993 | Broward Judicial Complex, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. |
1991 | West Regional Courthouse, Pine Island Center, Plantation,Fl. |
1990 | Rhode Government Facility, Miami, Fl. |
1989 | General Development Corporation, Miami Fl. |
1988 | University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida Department of Nemotology-Etymology |
1986 | Department of Education, Tallahassee, Fl. |
1985 | Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Department, Garnet Station, Atlanta, GA |
1984 | Haskell Corporation, Jacksonville, Fl. |
1982 | Redevelopment Authority, Philadelphia, PA, Independence Place |
1981 | Central Business District Parking Facility Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. |
1979 | Heavy Equipment Authority, Miami, Fl. |
1978 | General Services Administration, Strom Thurmond Federal Building, Columbia SC. |
1977 | Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts, Miami Beach, Fl. |
1977 | Omni International Hotel, Miami, Fl. |
1976 | Palm Springs North Pool and Recreation Center, Palm Springs, Fl. |
1976 | City Hall of Miami Beach, Miami Beach, Fl. |
Selected Collections
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio
Brunnier Museum University of Iowa, Ames, Iowa
Smithsonian Institution, National Collection, Washington, DC
Boca Raton Museum and Art Center, Boca Raton, Fl.
Miami Art Museum of Dade County, Miami, Fl.
Fort Lauderdale Museum of the Arts, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.
Musee du Pantheon National Hatien, Port au Prince, Haiti
Miami Dade Community College, Miami, Fl.
Southeast Collection, Miami, Fl.
Syracuse University, Lowe Art Museum, Syracuse, NY
Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Fl.
Martin Z. Margulies, Miami, Fl.
Selected Bibliographies
Cultural Quarterly, Vol XIX Number : Broward County Board of Commissioners Publication
Sculpture Magazine, P. 51: Anne Barclay Morgan, Miami Supports Miami – 2001
Neijna Monograph “Site Walk” Ft. Lauderdale Museum of the Arts, George Bolge – 1986
Kalliope, Writers Collective Florida Community College, Jacksonville, Fl.
Art News, City Focus Miami-South Florida, Elisa Turner – 1996
Philadelphia Magazine, Getting Public Art off the Pedestal, Mary Kilroy – 1982
Florida Landscape Architecture, Vol.11/2: Artistic Collaborations, Julie Andeson -1990
“GSA Art and Architecture Selected Artworks” Eleanor Hartney, Susan Harrison – 1997- 2008
“Selections From the Collection” Miami Dade County Art in Public Places, Barbara Neijna
Home Miami, “Public by Definition, Personal by Nature” Heleln Kohen – 2007
Sculpture Magazine, Public Art of 2008 – November 2008
Nikki Style Magazine, November/December 2007
Florida Landscape Architecture, “Summer 1990 Artistic Collaboration” Anderson, Julie – 1990
Clearwater, Bonnie, “Reviews.” Art at Auction – January 1993
Sculpture Magazine “Commission, Barbara Neijna.” Oryx Press, March – April 1995
Art News, Contemporary American Women Sculptors, Phoenix, Arizona -1988
Edward, Ellen, “South Florida: “No Longer a Last Resort for Art.” – December 1979
Art in Public Places in the United States, Thomas Davenport
Bowling Green University Press, Bowling Green, Ohio -1975
“Art Looks for a Place in the Sun.” Kohen, Helen, Art News – February 1983
Kuspit, Donald B. “Barbara Neijna, Un Concept de l’ Environment”
Institut Haitian de La Culture et des Arts – November 1985
Art in America, ”Barbara Neijna at the Museum of Art” – March 1981
Florida November Catalogue, ”Neijna,” Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale -1980
”Barbara Neijna New Work: Interior Landscape “ Miami Art Museum – October 1995
Mecklenberg, Virginia, Across the Nation: Fine Art for Federal Building – 1972-1979
Art In America, “Report from Florida.” Plagens, Peter – November 1986
Exhibition Catalogue, Boca Museum of Art, “Art in the Environment.” Joyce Pomerantz
“The Place of Art in the World of Architecture.“ NY, Chelsea House, Thalaker, Donald W. -1980
Art Today, “Tracking Art in Atlanta: – 1990
“Year in Review: Public Art” Art in America -1989 – 1990
Video Production
“Foreverglades” 3’ Video Constantia Kontaxis/Ed Telavera – 2008
Documentary Film “Neijna 1998-2008” HD-55min, Constantia Kontaxis/Ed Telavera