One of the most eye-catching things that you will forever remember are the Miami Beach art deco lifeguard stands. Speaking of the beach, the thunder from the F16s, B52s and dozens of other jets will be flying over our heads Memorial Day weekend at the Air & Sea Show. If you have Sciatica problems, Stretch Zone is the place for you. And there’s an exciting exhibition of the artist María Sol Escobar at The Pérez Art Museum Miami. Enjoy the long weekend.

Miami Beach Art Deco Lifeguard Stands 

One of the most eye-catching things that you will forever remember about Miami Beach are the 36 iconic lifeguard stands that are proudly on display for seven miles from the southern tip of Miami Beach to the northern end of 87th Street. You can’t miss them because they are so colorful and unique looking. Each one has a striking design with color schemes in bright pinks, oranges, blues, greens, and purples. They are considered landmarks, and even have cult status as large-scale beachside objects. I feel like they are definitely pieces of art that can be compared to museum sculptures. You can be sure you will use the lifeguard stations, designed by William Lane Architects, as backgrounds for your selfies or group shots. They have a 260 sq ft footprint, they all sit about eight feet above ground and feature an overhang of around four feet that provides much-needed shade for the users. The timber structures are topped by a contoured standing-seam aluminum roof. This can easily roll and bend to provide unique profiles, adding to the character of each tower.

Each lifeguard station comes equipped with buoys, first-aid kits, chairs, traffic cones, cleaning supplies, and colored flags. Red means high hazard and purple stands for marine pests. By the way, the lifeguard stands are often captured in magazine editorials and advertisements as well as movie plots. Once you spot them, you will get as excited as seeing a real-life celebrity. They are all considered Hollywood stars.

Hyundai Air & Sea Show

The first time I saw an Air & Sea Show in Miami Beach a few years ago I thought I was going to faint. The thunder from the F16s, B52s and dozens of other jets flying over our heads Memorial Day weekend, May 28th, and 29th, was enough to scare the daylights out of this city girl. We never saw anything like this in Manhattan. I have to admit Miami Beach is the ideal place for the Hyundai Air & Sea Show. We are all about the big ocean, lots of sand, sun and sky everywhere. We won’t know where to look first. The ocean activities have parachute teams jumps, special ops demonstrations, and Jet Skis and Cigarette boats speeding over the water. The entire festival is a tribute to those who gave their lives in defense of our country.

The excitement starts both days at 12:45 p.m., when the aerial parade tears over the Miami Beach shore with F-16 Fighting Falcons, F-18 Rhinos, F-35 Lightning IIs and a bevy of other warbirds. The promotional material for the event says “Attendees will also be treated to team demonstrations from the U.S. Army’s Black Daggers and Golden Knights, as well as parachute demos from the British Red Devils and U.S. Navy Leapfrogs. Highly skilled soldiers will drop out of the sky in perfect formation and land right on the sand in a special Landing Zone inside the viewing area. On Saturday, May 28, the  Music Explosion starts at 5:30 p.m. with performances from the U.S. Army’s As You Were Band and the U.S. Air Force’s Max Impact Band. Then a brilliant fireworks display and pyro-parachute show from the Golden Knights caps off the night. Click here for more info.

Get Stretched

It’s been there for over a year, but I finally learned that one of the many “Stretch Zones” that are all over the country, is just a few blocks from where I live in Miami Beach. We went there last week and I made Eliot try it first. I took the photos. If you have Sciatica problems, this is the place for you.

Eliot signed up already and I will too because I’m the one sitting at a computer all day. We do use the treadmill in our condo, but we all need a good stretch to see how flexible we are as we grow older. Watch the videos I made to learn more.

Their website explains, “Thanks to the modern sedentary lifestyle many of us are living, most people start losing flexibility at an average rate of 1% a year. Strains and micro-stresses on your muscles compounded over time can glue them together. This “glue,” or scar tissue, tightens the surrounding tissue and restrains how you’re able to move. Over time, the snowballing loss of flexibility ages you.  “Stretch Zone’s isolation of individual muscles within a muscle group breaks up the glue, unwrapping the strangle hold on your posture and valuable energy. Proper stretching slows down the aging process. You can even feel younger by improving posture, circulation, and pain-free full range of motion.” GET THE DETAILS.

Maria Sol Escobar at The Pérez Art Museum

The Pérez Art Museum Miami, like a few others before it, is finally giving artist María Sol Escobar (better known as Marisol) the recognition, she deserves. She was very much part of the 1960’s art pop movement. While she drew thousands to her gallery exhibits and received tons of positive press over the years, she was not revered like the “New York Five”: Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Tom Wesselmann, James Rosenquist, and Claes Oldenburg. Women artists were treated in that regard. PAMM is finally paying tribute to this exciting artist who had created the most outrageous and fun sculptures. You must see this in person

PAMM does a great job comparing Marisol to Warhol. They explore both of their rises to success in a parallel formation. They look at their artistic personas, their savvy navigation of gallery relationships and the blossoming of their early artistic practices from 1960 to 1968. The exhibition features key loans of Marisol’s work from major global collections, along with iconic works and rarely seen films and archival materials from The Warhol’s collection.

Born in Paris to Venezuelan parents, Marisol (María Sol Escobar) held a central position in the New York art scene and American Pop movement. By situating her work in dialogue with Warhol’s, this exhibition seeks to reclaim the importance of her practice; reframe the strength, originality, and daring nature of her work; and reconsider her as one of the leading figures of the Pop era.

PAMM SAYs, “As the first publication to explore the relationship between Marisol and Warhol, the exhibition catalogue includes contributions by Jessica Beck, Jeffrey Deitch, Angie Cruz, Eleanor Friedberger and Franklin Sirmans. Reviews and gallery records attest to her enormous popularity in the 1960s, but the history of her impact on the Pop movement is insufficient. “This catalogue fills this void with texts that situate Marisol’s work within the art historical record, reveal the influence of her work and star power on Warhol, provide personal accounts of her impact in New York and honor her unwavering commitment to her singular vision. Created from extensive research of reviews, articles and archival documents, the catalogue also features a timeline of shared events and overlap in Marisol and Warhol early careers from 1949 to 1968.” GET THE DETAILS.