UM artist’s work looks at other artists who died young

Artist Mariah Hausman, has always found Club 27 to be intriguing. This “club” is a group of young influential artists who met their untimely end at age 27. Hausman was so intrigued by Club 27 in fact, she decided to create an entire exhibit around them.

When she was getting her master’s degree in fine art at the University of Miami, she began to study "the 27s".

"One of the most interesting things to me about the 27s," Hausman says, "is the positive and lasting influence of some of these people on society. These are musicians who continue to inspire. Perhaps, the 27s are more like figureheads or cornerstones than they are flames, which burn brightly but eventually fade."

So for seven years, Hausman, who lives in Cutler Ridge, worked on art pieces inspired by this group. One of the largest pieces, “I Am Stranger: Dawn’s Highway,” features Jim Morrison of The Doors. And in the summer of 2011, when Amy Winehouse became the newest member of the club, Hausman used her passing as motivation to bring all her Club 27 art pieces together.

On May 18, her exhibition debuted at the Falls Art District, a small community of artists and businesses who maintain studios in the area and hold a Second Friday Art Walk.

After her show she says, "I will showcase my work at University of Miami in the fall at a faculty show." Hausman is a full-time lecturer for the Department of Art and Art History at UM. She teaches electronic media and graphic design classes in a studio setting, and advises undergraduates and alumni on job placement.

Hausman says that now she may get back to another medium. "For the last seven years or so [I’ve worked in] mostly mixed media, found object sculptures and shadowboxes that I paint on and add to. I am never far from my Mac and my Adobe programs. I was a graphic designer for 18 years. If I had to choose just one art supply, it would be clay. Clay, for me, is the most therapeutic art medium. I think it is magical the way it can be sculpted into almost anything, and that it has a cycle of life that circles from wet to dry."

Club 27: "Lit" will be on display until Friday at Pyramid Studios, 8890 SW 129th Terrace. For a viewing appointment, call 305-302-8712 or 786-543-1455.
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