The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery in Pembroke Pines presents ‘Hyphenated Encounters’ & ‘Discord and Serenity’ Opening September 17th

 

The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery in Pembroke Pines presents two new exhibition projects opening September 17, 2026: Hyphenated Encounters, a collaborative presentation with Deering Estate featuring the work of Cuban American artist Lilian Garcia-Roig, and Discord and Serenity, curated by RemiJin Camping and featuring works by Barry University MFA students Joy Johnson and Bruna Marcon Weber. Hyphenated Encounters brings together two interconnected curatorial projects—Lilian Garcia-Roig: A Practice of Place, curated by Sophie Bonet, Chief Curator of The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery, and Deering Estate Residency: Lilian Garcia-Roig, Site, and the Labor of Belonging, curated by Liliam Dominguez, Head Curator of Deering Estate. Together, these presentations offer audiences an expansive exploration of place, identity, memory, perception, and the complex inner and outer worlds explored through contemporary art.

Art lovers and aficionados are cordially invited to enjoy the Opening Reception for these new exhibitions on Thursday, September 17th from 6 – 9pm at The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery for an evening of art, conversation, and exploration. Light refreshments will be served, and the event is free and open to the public. The Frank is located at 601 City Center Way in Pembroke Pines, Florida 33025. Opening that evening, Hyphenated Encounters brings together two interconnected curatorial projects presented in collaboration with Deering Estate, while Discord and Serenity will be presented separately in The Frank Third Space. Together, these exhibitions offer audiences an opportunity to explore questions of place, identity, memory, perception, emotion, and the complex relationship between what is seen and what remains hidden.

Image Courtesy of Deering Estate. Photo: Jorge Gonzalez Graupera

Hyphenated Encounters: A Practice of Place

Spanning more than three decades of artistic practice, Lilian Garcia-Roig: A Practice of Place brings together a selection of paintings and mixed-media works by Cuban American artist Lilian Garcia-Roig. The exhibition traces the evolution of her sustained engagement with landscape, revealing how close observation, material experimentation, and lived experience have shaped a practice rooted in place. From the subtropical environments of South Florida to the limestone valleys of Cuba, Garcia-Roig’s work invites viewers to experience landscape as something inhabited rather than simply observed.

Lilian Garcia-Roig, Palm Strangler, 2024. Oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in. Courtesy of the artist.

A recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, Garcia-Roig is recognized as one of the leading voices in contemporary landscape painting. Together, the works on view offer a compelling survey of an artistic practice that continues to evolve while remaining deeply connected to the environments that inspire it. Curated by Sophie Bonet, Chief Curator, The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery. Hyphenated Encounters will be on view at The Frank in the Main Gallery from September 17, 2026, through January 17, 2027. Admission is free and open to the public Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to 5pm.

Lilian Garcia-Roig, Fluid Perception: Banyan as Metaphor, 2022. Oil on canvas, 168 x 240 in. Courtesy of the artist.

Deering Estate Residency: Lilian Garcia-Roig, Site, and the Labor of Belonging

Part of the Deering Estate AT program, this exhibition features Lilian Garcia-Roig, who is widely recognized as an on-site painter, though the term only begins to describe her practice. Rather than painting a landscape from a distance, Garcia-Roig paints directly with it, treating each location as a living field of negotiation between memory, perception, and presence. Over time, the tropical landscape has become essential to her visual language. Florida’s banyans, mangroves, sabal palms, and strangler figs offer a natural vocabulary that speaks to her Cuban heritage, one built on entanglement rather than hierarchy, and on lateral growth and survival rather than singular dominance.

Lilian Garcia-Roig, Hyphenated Nature: Two Rocks of Geographic Significance to Me (Skykomish River in WA & El Morro in Havana Harbor), 2020. Oil on canvas (left) & Acrylic with Cuban dirt pigment on canvas (right), 36 x 70 in. Courtesy of the artist.

During her 2024 residency at the Deering Estate, Garcia-Roig immersed herself in the property’s own tangled terrain, working directly on-site. The resulting body of work reflects a sustained, site-specific engagement, continuing her long practice of letting the landscape shape the painting rather than the other way around. Complementing Garcia-Roig’s work, an exclusive short film created by fellow Artist-in-Residence Jorge Gonzalez Graupera deepens the viewer’s connection to these themes. Curated by Liliam Dominguez, Head Curator, Deering Estate.

Bruna Marcon Weber

Discord and Serenity

Discord and Serenity brings together the work of Joy Johnson and Bruna Marcon Weber, two Barry University MFA students whose analog photographic practices explore the complex interior worlds that exist beneath the surface of everyday life. Working through staged environments, personal objects, domestic spaces, and analog processes, Johnson and Marcon Weber consider how emotions and desires are internalized, concealed, and ultimately expressed. Their photographs transform familiar spaces and objects into sites of psychological inquiry, revealing the tensions between what is visible and what remains hidden, between composure and release, and between the identities we inhabit publicly and the experiences we carry within. In What Can the Space in a Room Hold?, Johnson approaches the subconscious as an interior space—one populated by objects, memories, associations, and aspects of the self that may be revealed or kept behind a closed door. Through personal objects and environments, her photographs invite viewers to consider what their own internal spaces might contain.

Joy Johnson

Marcon Weber’s Rare Opportunities to Be Alone turns toward the domestic sphere, examining suppressed anger, emotional restraint, and the often-unseen pressures associated with caregiving, family life, and reproductive and domestic labor. Using staged color photographs made on 120 film, she reimagines familiar rooms and household objects as expressions of emotions that are ordinarily contained. Together, the two bodies of work create a dialogue between discord and serenity, asking what happens when private emotions enter visible space—and what photography can reveal about the parts of ourselves that are difficult to articulate. Curated by RemiJin Camping. Discord and Serenity will be presented in The Frank Third Space from September 17, 2026, through January 17, 2027. Admission is free and open to the public Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to 5pm.

The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery

The community can learn more about the City of Pembroke Pines’ latest Events by subscribing to Pembroke Pines Media on YouTube, to NewsFlash, a twice a month digital newsletter at www.ppines.com/Newsflash, by reading the city’s digital newspaper City Connect and website via www.ppines.com, checking the city’s digital signage, or by visiting the City’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cityofpembrokepines, and @cityofppines for Twitter and Instagram. Residents with Comcast can view Pembroke Pines Media programming on Channel 78.

For more information visit www.thefrankgallery.org
Follow The Frank Gallery on Instagram @thefrankpembrokepines

The Frank Art Gallery in Pembroke Pines presents a conversation with Edison Peñafiel

 

Wednesday, February 18th from 6 – 8pm join The Frank Art Gallery in Pembroke Pines for an insightful conversation with artist Edison Peñafiel, learn more about his process and practice. Moderated by The Frank’s Chief Curator, Sophie Bonet, this free discussion will explore themes of memory, migration, and transitions. Registration is not required; light refreshments will be provided. 

This Event is Free & Open to The Public | RSVP HERE. All are Welcome!

Guests can explore Edison Peñafiel’s current exhibition at The Frank, ‘Me pongo el sol al hombro y el mundo es amarillo‘ (I Carry the Sun on My Shoulder and the World Turns Yellow), a large-scale installation on view at The Frank, January 29th through April 11th, 2026.

In Edison Peñafiel’s Me pongo el sol al hombro y el mundo es amarillo (I Carry the Sun on My Shoulder and the World Turns Yellow), the exhibition features a large-scale installation composed of suspended painted curtains that shape the gallery into a space of movement, pause, and shifting perspective. As visitors walk through the work, scenes unfold gradually—figures resting, departing, and lingering in moments of transition. Rather than offering a single point of view, the installation encourages viewers to slow down, wander, and experience the work through their own movement. Color, scale, and material create a rhythmic environment that invites reflection on presence, memory, and the experience of carrying forward. *Made possible with support from the Broward County Cultural Division.

Me pongo el sol al hombro y el mundo es amarillo, 2026. The Frank in Pembroke Pines.

Must-See Exhibitions at The Frank Gallery in Pembroke Pines! Guests will experience a compelling exploration of memory, perception, and the vanishing horizons of South Florida.

 

The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery in Pembroke Pines presents two new art exhibitions running from March 13 – June 7, 2025. ‘Adventum Floridana: Witnessing the Layers of a Vanishing Horizon’, a solo exhibition by Andrés Cabrera-Garcia curated by Sophie Bonet, examining the fragile beauty of South Florida’s landscapes in a state of flux, offering viewers an opportunity to engage with the region’s shifting horizons through Cabrera-Garcia’s compelling works. And ‘Of Seeing and Being’, featuring works by Deering Estate Artists-in-Residence Giannina Dwin and Tony Fernandez, who explore themes of presence, absence, and the interplay between the visible and hidden. Curated by Liliam Dominguez, Head Curator and Museum and Collections Manager at Deering Estate.

Andrés Cabrera-Garcia

Cabrera-Garcia’s practice captures the tensions between nature and human intervention, translating ephemeral moments of light, texture, and urban transformation into dynamic visual narratives. His expressive brushstrokes evoke the sensory experience of South Florida—dense humidity, fading light, and the ever-present hum of development—immersing viewers in the visceral realities of a landscape in transition. Central to the exhibition is a monumental polyptych, a “Platonic Ridge,” embodying the fragmentation and cohesion of South Florida’s evolving terrain. Complemented by an array of found objects and construction debris, the gallery becomes an archaeological site, immersing visitors in the dual forces of destruction and renewal.

Andrés Cabrera-Garcia

Cabrera-Garcia’s practice captures the tensions between nature and human intervention, translating ephemeral moments of light, texture, and urban transformation into dynamic visual narratives. His expressive brushstrokes evoke the sensory experience of South Florida—dense humidity, fading light, and the ever-present hum of development—immersing viewers in the visceral realities of a landscape in transition. Central to the exhibition is a monumental polyptych, a “Platonic Ridge,” embodying the fragmentation and cohesion of South Florida’s evolving terrain. Complemented by an array of found objects and construction debris, the gallery becomes an archaeological site, immersing visitors in the dual forces of destruction and renewal.

Andrés Cabrera-Garcia

Curator Sophie Bonet approaches Adventum Floridana through the lens of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, emphasizing the active, embodied nature of perception. “This exhibition is not just about observing Cabrera-Garcia’s work,” Bonet explains. “It is about experiencing these landscapes as extensions of ourselves—an entanglement of memory, materiality, and transformation.” The result is an exhibition that challenges viewers to witness and reflect upon the tenuous beauty of South Florida’s environment and its precarious future. Cabrera-Garcia’s works are not merely representations but invitations to participate in the ongoing dialogue between nature and humanity.

Giannina Dwin (2025), Untitled, Salt Installation, dimensions variable

The Deering Estate, in collaboration with The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery, is proud to present Of Seeing and Being, an evocative exhibition featuring works by Deering Estate Artists-in-Residence Giannina Dwin and Tony Fernandez. curated by Liliam Dominguez, Head Curator and Museum and Collections Manager at Deering Estate. This exhibition is part of the Deering Estate at The Frank program, a partnership that brings Deering Estate Artists-in-Residence to new audiences by showcasing their work in dynamic, collaborative venues beyond the Estate.

Tony Fernandez (2024), Large Black Mangrove, pigment ink-print on aluminum printmount, 36″ x 54″

Of Seeing and Being delves into profound questions of presence, absence, and the interplay between the visible and the hidden. Drawing inspiration from Martin Heidegger’s concepts of Dasein (“Being there”) and Poiesis (the creative act of bringing forth Being), the exhibition offers a thought-provoking exploration of identity, temporality, and the human relationship with the environment. Giannina Dwin’s practice incorporates ephemeral materials such as salt to symbolize the delicate balance between durability and impermanence. Her sculptures, inspired by mangrove roots and seeds, and her depictions of the female form in ceramic works evoke themes of memory, transformation, and resistance.

Tony Fernandez’s photographic abstractions present a poetic and cinematic interpretation of the Deering Estate’s natural landscapes. His depictions of mangroves and banyan roots transcend mere documentation, blurring the line between the seen and unseen, and inviting viewers to engage deeply with their surroundings. Complementing the exhibition are two short films created by fellow Deering Estate Artist-in-Residence Jorge Gonzalez Graupera, offering a unique lens into the practices of Dwin and Fernandez.

‘Penumbra Brew Quartet‘, an exhibition featuring Studio 18 Art Complex resident artist Carlos Solorzano, where the canvas becomes a psychological theater—a liminal space where memory, culture, and the subconscious collide. This showcase of four airbrushed acrylic works—abstract yet evocative—stand as the surviving fragments of an intense creative process, remnants of an attempt to distill the ineffable. Here, the artist functions as both alchemist and medium, transforming a turbulent inner landscape into an atmospheric brew of earthy tones and spectral imagery. This exhibition is on view from March 13th through June 7th, 2025.

The community can learn more about the City of Pembroke Pines’ latest Events by subscribing to Pembroke Pines Media on YouTube, to NewsFlash, a twice a month digital newsletter at www.ppines.com/Newsflash, by reading the city’s digital newspaper City Connect and website via www.ppines.com, checking the city’s digital signage, or by visiting the City’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cityofpembrokepines, and @cityofppines for Twitter and Instagram. Residents with Comcast can view Pembroke Pines Media programming on Channel 78.

For more information visit www.thefrankgallery.org
Follow The Frank Gallery on Instagram @thefrankpembrokepines

Experience The Frank Gallery’s Winter Exhibition ‘Ebb & Flow: Exploring The Womanhood Continuum’

Ebb & Flow: Exploring the Womanhood Continuum is a dynamic exhibition running from November 21, 2024, to February 22, 2025, at The Frank C. Ortis Gallery in the City of Pembroke Pines. Curated by Sophie Bonet and Pamela Zee Lopez, the exhibition features nine artists exploring the fluid and evolving nature of womanhood. Through a variety of mediums, the artists engage with themes of memory, resilience, the body, and identity, challenging societal constructs of femininity while celebrating its transformative power.

The exhibition offers a space for reflection and empowerment, highlighting the complexities and diversity of feminine experiences across cultures and time. All ages are welcome to attend an Opening Reception on Thursday, November 21st from 6 – 9pm, which will feature free entry, live music, complimentary refreshments, and hors d’oeuvres at The Frank Gallery, located at 601 City Center Way in the City of Pembroke Pines, Florida 33025. This Event is Free & Open to the Public.

The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery is a two story art gallery named after Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank C. Ortis for his decades-long commitment to the cultural arts. Lovingly known as ‘The Frank,’ this contemporary art gallery showcases multidisciplinary inclusive exhibitions that foster connections, facilitate collaborations and initiate cultural change. The gallery’s exhibition and learning space serves as a site of convergence for artists, performers, thought leaders and community members.

Located on the first floor, The Frank’s spacious galleries reflect the works of regional, national and international artists in a robust exhibition program that changes throughout the year. The Frank features two additional exhibition spaces in the form of The Frank Aisles lobby gallery and the Third Space Gallery on the second floor. The Third Space connects to a sun-filled classroom designed to host workshops and lectures in support of social engagement and artistic innovation.

The community can learn more about the City of Pembroke Pines’ latest Events by subscribing to Pembroke Pines Media on YouTube, to NewsFlash, a twice a month digital newsletter at www.ppines.com/Newsflash, by reading the city’s digital newspaper City Connect and website via www.ppines.com, checking the city’s digital signage, or by visiting the City’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cityofpembrokepines, and @cityofppines for Twitter and Instagram. Residents with Comcast can view Pembroke Pines Media programming on Channel 78.

Public Art Call! #CallToArtists: City of Pembroke Pines Interactive Wall Public Art Project

Request for Artist Qualifications 
City of Pembroke Pines Interactive Wall Public Art Project 

Introduction: 

The City of Pembroke Pines is seeking an artist or artist team to design, fabricate, and install site-specific interactive artwork for attachment to an exterior wall at the Charles F. Dodge City Center. The artwork should be visually appealing and include an interactive component to actively engage the building's visitors. 

Submission Deadline: Thursday, April 18, 2024 

Budget: $15,000 The project budget is all inclusive, including but not limited to artist fees, consultants, fabrication, storage, transportation, installation, permits and insurance provisions. Shortlisted artists must submit a detailed budget list. 

Artwork Opportunity: The City of Pembroke Pines is interested in commissioning a dynamic exterior artwork that: 

• Creates a sense of place. 

• Creatively enhances the exterior wall. 

• Actively engages the visitors of the building. 

• Compliments the surrounding environment. 

Join us- Progress with Us (The City’s History) Though the City of Pembroke Pines is the 10th largest of Florida’s 400+ municipalities, its friendly small-town feel is why so many call it home. Pembroke Pines is conveniently located in southwest Broward County with easy accessibility to primary highways and interstates, key employment centers, entertainment venues, parks, golf courses, restaurants, and retail/commercial destinations. 

Named “one of the best cities to live in America,” Pembroke Pines is home to over 170,000 residents. Its 28 superior parks and lush landscaping throughout neighborhoods and public places enhance the City’s natural beauty and South Florida charm. The city was named "2014's Best City of Hispanic Entrepreneurs" by WalletHub and was ranked by Money Magazine as #32 in the top #50 "Best Places to Live 2014" as well as being the only Florida city on that list. 

Location of Artwork: The interactive artwork will be located at The Charles F. Dodge City Center Pembroke Pines home to the City of Pembroke Pines City Hall, Commission Chambers, and the Frank Art Gallery.  

The wall overlooks a walkway / intimate patio area between The Frank Art Gallery and the City Commission Chambers. 

The overall wall size is 55 feet wide X 25 feet tall. The artwork should interact with a portion of the wall. 

Selection Criteria: This Request for Qualifications is open to professional artists, eighteen years of age or older, residing in Broward, Miami-Dade, or Palm Beach counties. Applicants should demonstrate through their submission materials that they have the skills and experience to successfully complete a public art project. Professional artists with strong experience in executing their ideas through to completion, meeting deadlines, and budgets are encouraged to apply. 

Selection Process: Shortlisted artists will be invited to develop preliminary conceptual design proposals. Each shortlisted artist will receive information about the project and have a minimum of one month to prepare a preliminary design proposal for review by the Artist Selection Panel. Shortlisted artists will be paid an honorarium of $500 for the proposal. 

Submission Requirements: Applications must be submitted to Susana Villegas, Cultural Arts Assistant, City of Pembroke Pines at svillegas@ppines.com 

1. Resume/CV 

2. Letter of interest – Limit 1 page Describe your interest in working on this project and the most relevant comparable projects from the last ten years. 

3. Existing public artwork images Submit a minimum of two (3) and up to five (5) relevant images of completed artworks or commissions from the last ten years. 

4. Image reference sheet Provide a description for each image submitted and include title, location, cost/budget, date completed, materials, dimensions, commissioning agency (if applicable) 

Experience the Opening Reception of “Ephemeral Construct” at The Frank on February 8th

 

A new exhibition called “Ephemeral Construct” is opening at the Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery from February 8, 2024, through May 18, 2024. All ages are welcome to attend an Opening Reception on Thursday, February 8th from 6 – 9pm at The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery, located at 601 City Center Way. This Event is Free & Open to the Public, RSVP here.

The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery in the City of Pembroke Pines presents Ephemeral Construct, a free exhibition weaving together art, ecology, and the fleeting nature of existence, bringing together the works of four South Florida Artists – Nathalie Alfonso, Sharon Lee Hart, Alejandra Abad, and Deborah Perlman. Each artist presents a unique perspective on the transient nature of our world, encouraging viewers to contemplate the ephemeral constructs of our physical and conceptual environments.

here will be a variety of artistic mediums to enjoy including sculptures, portraits, mixed media, animations, and more to explore for those in attendance. Free refreshments and hors d’oeuvres will be available. No Ticket is required. Admission and parking are free. For more information, please visit www.thefrankgallery.org.

The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery is a two story art gallery named after Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank C. Ortis for his decades-long commitment to the cultural arts. Lovingly known as ‘The Frank,’ this contemporary art gallery showcases multidisciplinary inclusive exhibitions that foster connections, facilitate collaborations and initiate cultural change. The gallery’s exhibition and learning space serves as a site of convergence for artists, performers, thought leaders and community members.

Located on the first floor, The Frank’s spacious galleries reflect the works of regional, national and international artists in a robust exhibition program that changes throughout the year. The Frank features two additional exhibition spaces in the form of The Frank Aisles lobby gallery and the Third Space Gallery on the second floor. The Third Space connects to a sun-filled classroom designed to host workshops and lectures in support of social engagement and artistic innovation.

The community can learn more about the City of Pembroke Pines’ latest Events by subscribing to Pembroke Pines Media on YouTube, to NewsFlash, a twice a month digital newsletter at www.ppines.com/Newsflash, by reading the city’s digital newspaper City Connect and website via www.ppines.com, checking the city’s digital signage, or by visiting the City’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cityofpembrokepines, and @cityofppines for Twitter and Instagram. Residents with Comcast can view Pembroke Pines Media programming on Channel 78.

Experience the 24th Annual ArtFest in the Pines

You are cordially invited to enjoy the 24th Annual ArtFest in the Pines on Saturday, November 5th through Sunday, November 6th from 10am – 5pm enjoy the 24th Annual ArtFest in the Pines at the Charles F. Dodge City Center, located at 601 City Center Way in the City of Pembroke Pines. The two-day art festival will feature a multitude of unique works of art in categories such as Jewelry, Drawing, Craft, Mixed Media, Digital Art, Painting (watercolor, oil, acrylic), Wood, Glass, Fine Handcrafts, Photography and Three-Dimensional Sculpture.