Artist’s Sculpture a New Dawn for Doral

Micco a Gateway to the Everglades


Irene Sperber

Artist Michele Oka Doner has executed a number of installations in public places. Miami International Airport’s A Walk on the Beach comes to mind instantly. I cannot imagine how many footfalls have trod the mother of pearl and bronze inlaid terrazzo since the original installations (1995, 1999). A whiff of peace descends over me when scurrying along, immersed in the task at hand, yanking the mind back as to why I became a resident of this distinctive subtropical realm. I remember to be thankful as I float over (or does it feel like under) the watery celestial terrain sensitively conjured from our habitat and the nature based intellect of Miami native Oka Doner.

Artist Michele Oka Doner in front of “Micco” .

Doral is kicking it up a notch by investing in creating a town center for its meandering acreage born of a swamp turned country club (1962) for the privileged and golf prone winter cognoscenti. As a nod to Miami’s recent and highly visible success as art destination (thank you Art Basel), the Greater Miami’s business set has noted this important trend, consciously incorporating a sculpture or two by artists of note. Residents highly applaud the non-toxic direction washing over the landscape.

The Codina Partners (development group) were savvy enough to showcase Doral’s location with a Michele Oka Doner commissioned sculpture; re-introducing the natural habitat with it’s nearby Everglades to the west within the urban center. A more Coral Gables Miracle Mile feel is expected to emerge. I met with Oka Doner on the site of her recently installed Micco sculpture. I am an intrepid poker into corners of my environment, but I must admit I cringed a tad when the artist suggested we meet under the recently installed piece.

Doral? It’s out there somewhere, right? The suburban plains are not my usual haunts. I managed to arrive early at our destination, quickly identifying the Oka Doner addition in time to take a moment to peruse the domed new City Hall and it’s vista across from Micco in a circular 3 acre park.

Plenty of construction fence encased freshly plowed neighborhood blocks spoked out from the beginnings of an emerging Doral hub. Virtual tumbleweeds traversed the not yet pedestrian infested center. I sat on Oka Doner benches fashioned from the shape of gnarled wood logs under newly erected trees, acclimatizing to the vision of Doral’s future. The artist soon wafted onto the large grassy disc in her distinctively draped monochromatic garb; the appropriate foil to her looming concrete and steel edifice.

City of Doral’s “Micco” sculpture with new City Hall in background.

I asked where the shape found it’s form, meandering after her as she carefully examined new growth nestled among Micco’s crannies. “ I had this incredible piece of bark.” began Oka Doner. “It was so crunched up; only nature could give this compression from disease (the tree had died, hence the errant shape).” Plantings had been installed on Micco’s flanks a few weeks earlier. Oka Doner was pleased that the dwarf ficus atop was flourishing….placed to look like “a bird had dropped a seed”. “More things will attach”. The artist informed me. I learned about the snake cactus clinging to a side, princess of the night and passion flowers cascading from crevices. I wondered aloud how the business part of the bargain took to this organic shape amidst their hard edged sparkly planned vision.

During brain storming with Armando Codina of Codina Partners, the artist had suggested to the group: “Why should it be a suburb of Miami?It should be the entry to the Everglades.” “We presented ideas with historical background.” I was getting the drift here. Codina had a receptive visionary temperament.

Doral “ has no randomness and life has randomness,” explained the artist.

We also discussed how Doral had a heart but needed a soul…..careful additions such as the Miccosculpture and surrounds will aid in this transformation, bringing residents to the urban center with music festivals and events scheduled throughout the year. Micco is a Miccosukee word indicating a wise leader. “Every village has its Micco,” We “wanted this to be a go-to place.”

Taking the piece from naturally formed tree bark to a CAD design and back into an organically shaped structure was an interesting trajectory; or as Oka Doner put it, a “techno feat.” She embraces technology as a means to an end. “Technology doesn’t bother me,” Oka Doner wisely admitted. “ The take away is that technology is my friend.”

MIA’s “A Walk on the Beach”, Bronze embedded in Terrazzo with mother-of-pearl, by Michele Oka Doner.

Public commissioned pieces are only a part of the the artist’s mystique; furniture, jewelry, books and functional works abound for this Miami native. Her penchant for nature’s forms is obvious. I was taken with the deep observational quality she possessed, and appeared to inherit right out of the gate. As a child she already had a close interest and respect for this subject, never losing the warmth she had for Miami. Though many young adults yearn to break away from their homes for the great unknown, Oka Doner “ never pushed it away, even when I left.” Her feelings for this land are shown to us in each carefully created piece.

I leafed through a beautiful catalogue of her 2012 exhibition (Miami Biennale) called Exhaling Gnosis, an exhibit accentuating the intricate lacy patterning of our natural world inhabiting every visual moment. The modern fast existence does not encourage observation of these small miracles. . . Oka Doner slows it all down for us. She explained, “Nature is not a media, it’s a song. . . it doesn’t matter whether it’s wood, iron, silver or bronze.”

As we sat and talked on that recent warm winter afternoon, she mentioned many written passages evoking the wonder of the life around us: poet Wallace Stephens’ Nomad Exquisite: “As the immense dew of Florida brings forth the big finned palm and green vine angering for life”

She took from Martin Buber’s I and Thou, in that “Art has an intelligible voice to speak in a higher realm.” Later I found another Martin Buber quote that encapsulated my interview experience with Oka Doner:  “All real living is meeting.”

A normal hectic Monday became a thoughtful reverie of new ideas and possibilities.

Amongst Doral’s new projected luxury condominium towers, townhouses, apartments, office buildings, shops, restaurants, schools, park and government center, Micco will await, adding a touch of soul to a new wrapping.

Just the facts ma’am:

  • Michele Oka Doner is in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Cooper Hewitt and the Art Institute of Chicago as well as our own MiamiArt Museum, now Perez Art Museum Miami.
  • New Urbanism wonder and smart growth guru Elizabeth Plater Zyberk will utilize her award winning community planning skills to hone in on insuring Doral’s successful future.
  • Miami architects Charles Sieger and Jose Suarez of Sieger Suarez Architectural Partnership will be designing the two condo towers, (other projects include Apogee, the Murano at Portofino and Murano Grande in Miami Beach).
  • Doris and Alfred Kaskell built the Doral Hotel and Country Club in 1962 from the swamp. Dor-al is taken from the letters of their first names.