Art Basel Miami Beach is open to the public for three days, December 4 through 6, at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The exhibit Bal Harbour Village is installing in the Waterfront Park lobby this year is expected to stay up for about two months, and the artist lives in the village.
Over four years, Bal Harbour's Art Week installations have changed from a single piece aimed at fair-week traffic into something closer to a resident season. In 2026, the village's 80th year, that change is easiest to see in where the work hangs, who made it and how long it stays.
Two Approvals, One Vote Each
On September 15, 2026, the Village Council approved both Miami Art Week exhibits by unanimous 5–0 voice votes. Neither drew public comment. Recreation, Arts & Culture Director Sylvia Flores presented the two items together. She told the Council the exhibits would also complement the Village's 80th anniversary celebration.
The two pieces are very different:
- Sheila Elias, eye-Pad series, lobby of the Bal Harbour Waterfront Park. Four works from a resident artist, shown indoors as a small gallery.
- JJ Hammond, new commission, 102 Street Beach Access Path. An outdoor installation made for that walkway, with its title still being finalized through the commissioning process.
The Village Manager's memo described the pair as "an indoor presentation highlighting the innovative digital work of a Bal Harbour resident artist, and an original outdoor commission created specifically for one of the Village's most distinctive pedestrian gateways." One exhibit honors a neighbor and the other is built for a path residents walk to the beach. The rest of the program follows from those two choices.
Finger-Painted on an iPad, Printed Large
Elias's eye-Pad works begin on a tablet. According to the memo, she enlarges abstract forms and paints directly on the iPad with her finger, and the results are then produced as highly detailed large-format prints. The four pieces planned for the lobby are:
- Winged Wisdom, 2013
- Worshippers, 2012
- Osiris's Heart, 2012
- Strange Deities, 2013
The lobby layout is meant to create "a colorful and contemporary gallery experience within the community center." In the Council presentation, Flores said Elias also works in painting, photography and sculpture. She added that Elias would not charge an exhibition fee, that the opening was expected around the start of Miami Art Week, and that the works would stay up for roughly two months. The Village's only costs are in-kind. Staff will bring the works from the artist's local studio and hang them under her guidance.
If the exhibit opens at the start of Art Week, a two-month run would carry it through the holidays and into the first weeks of the new year. Most visitors who come for Art Week will have left by then.
The venue matters too. The Waterfront Park at 18 Bal Bay Drive opened in December 2023, which makes this its third Art Week. It is also where the Village held its residents-only 80th Anniversary Celebration on November 1.
Toy Arches on the 102 Street Path
The second piece goes to the 102 Street Beach Access Path, where the program began. Flores described JJ Hammond as a contemporary mixed-media artist whose work explores childhood, nostalgia, memory and the digital world. The memo says her practice turns everyday objects such as repurposed toys, wood, screens, light and found materials into immersive works. They are meant to invite viewers to "reconnect with memory and consider the relationship between formative experiences and contemporary life."
The proposal shown to the Council has four parts:
- Arches built from repurposed toys
- Sculptures
- Decorative stars along the pathway posts
- A mural
The design has to respond to "the unique setting and pedestrian experience of the Beach Access Path," with the title and final design still to be settled through the commissioning process. The memo lists a budget of $7,500 covering materials, fabrication, installation, removal and the artist fee, drawn from the Resort Tax Fund's special events and activations account. At the meeting, Flores said she would keep negotiating toward a previously discussed price of $6,500. The Resort Tax Committee supported both proposals.
Four Years, Two Sites, One Direction
The Village began its Miami Art Week installations in 2023 with one piece on the 102 Street path. It added the Waterfront Park as a second site in 2024.
| Year | 102 Street Beach Access Path and Waterfront Park installations |
|---|---|
| 2023 | The Power of Words, Tania Esponda Aja |
| 2024 | Dreaming in Color, Andreina Ron Pedrique; The Art of Letters, Igal Fedida |
| 2025 | The Hidden Pearl, Ana Bonamico; Aspire to Inspire, Tania EA |
| 2026 | eye-Pad series, Sheila Elias; new commission, JJ Hammond |
Before 2023, the Village's public art ran on a separate track, the Art in Public Spaces program. Past exhibits included Americana and Levittown House in 2013, The Barefoot Mailman in 2014 and Robert Chambers' Rotorelief in 2018. In 2021 the Council also approved an annual partnership with Opera Gallery for art and sculpture throughout the village.
This year one of the two slots goes to a resident, in the community center, as part of the anniversary year. The memo's conclusion says the Village is pairing "a resident-focused cultural showcase with an original site-specific commission." Both halves of that phrase point toward residents.
The Anniversary Year Around It
Art Week arrives near the end of a year the Village has branded "Bal Harbour at 80," with the tagline "A Legacy in Motion." The residents-only celebration at the Waterfront Park on November 1 was the main event. As World Red Eye reported, the evening included a historical exhibition covering the village's eight decades, an original historical film, and a commemorative proclamation from Miami-Dade Commissioner Micky Steinberg.
Two other anniversary projects follow the same theme of recording the village's own people. Portraits of Bal Harbour asked residents to nominate neighbors whose stories might appear in a future Village newsletter. The Village also scheduled a Founders Circle rededication for November 5. The program included a renewed monument, recognition of Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar, and a time capsule meant to be opened in 2046. The Council approved adding Rabbi Lipskar's name to the Founders Circle plaque at the same September 15 meeting that approved the two art exhibits.
An 80th year that began with a history film and a time capsule now ends with a resident artist in the community center.
How the Season Lines Up
Here is the order of the coming weeks, based on the dates that have been published:
- Around the start of Miami Art Week: Sheila Elias's eye-Pad series is expected to open in the Waterfront Park lobby for about two months. JJ Hammond's commission is planned for the 102 Street path.
- December 2 and 3: Art Basel Miami Beach holds its invitation-only days at the Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Center Drive.
- December 4 through 6: The fair's public days run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- December 17 through January 17, 2027: Opera Gallery Bal Harbour presents Feng Xiao-Min, Compositions.
The fair takes up a long weekend. The Opera Gallery show opens eleven days after it closes. If the Elias works open on schedule, they will still be in the Waterfront Park lobby when that show opens. The Council approved both exhibits in its September 15 agenda, and the meeting minutes record the expected timing.
Allen Davoudpour has lived in Surfside since 2014 and follows Bal Harbour's public calendar alongside its buildings. If you'd like to talk about the residences closest to the Waterfront Park and the 102 Street path, or about owning a home where the walk to the beach passes this year's commission, The Davoudpour Team would be glad to help. Schedule a Consultation.
