Student Biography
Daniela Canizares is a Sophomore at Florida International University, majoring in Psychology. She was born in Cuba but moved to Miami when she was 15 years old. After graduating, she is planning on becoming a School Counselor.
Miami’s own: Artist Zion Rozier
Who
Zion Rozier was born and raised in South Miami. His work is based on portraits of his family and close ones. He graduated from Robert Morgan Educational Center, in South Miami Heights under the performing arts magnet, and is currently attending Miami Dade College aspiring to graduate with an Associates in Criminal Justice, and combine both, arts and criminal sciences and become a forensic artist. He has had exhibitions in the Rubell Museum as well as the Miami International Airport. He is currently working on incorporating a clothing line into his artwork.
Why
I chose this volunteering opportunity to open more to something I had never tried before. Not knowing who I was, I never thought Mr. Rozier was going to let me work with him, which to my surprise, I could not have been more wrong. This opportunity does not relate to my major, but it is an interest of mine working with artists and being able to help them grow.
How
I have never worked with an artist this close, and due to COVID regulations, I thought I was never going to be able to do it. However, I like to get out of my comfort zone. He went to school with a friend of mine, and as I was telling her about my art class, she suggested I should work with him due to distance wise, how close we were from each other -which would have made it easier for us to work together, and because she thought he was a great person and artist (she was not wrong at all!). Right away I looked him up. I searched his website, I found the “contact me” session, and I wrote him an email, but I knew emails might sometimes take days to be opened by the person receiving them. So I decided to contact him by Instagram, to which he replied within 2 days, saying he would gladly work with me.
Where & what
The first day we met was on March 31st, 2021. This meeting took place through a video call because Mr. Rozier was not in Miami at the moment. On that first meeting, we met each other. He told me that as of right now he needed someone to criticize his ideas on the new clothing line and give him ideas for new projects. He told me that he would like to keep focusing on making art, however, he would like to expand his business to a clothing branch. His current audience focuses on teens, adults. He would like to expand his business to an older audience. After some talk and analysis, we got to the conclusion that to reach out to this group, he would need to include fewer designs in his clothing line. Like we both said, “sometimes less is more”. Keeping it simple could reach out to this group.
During this meeting, he sent me some pictures of the idea he had for the hats. We both decided to change the Velcro material in the back of the hats for metallic ones. Also, for his new collection, we came up with the idea to branch out to different materials and objects like bracelets or/and keychains.
Our second meeting took place on April 14, 2021 at Coral Reef Park. Here we discussed ideas for the upcoming seasons as well as some ideas for special holidays.
During this meeting, he gave me a keychain that he will be sending away on the packages as “goodies”.
Summary
Working with Zion Rozier was a fantastic experience. It worked that we lived relatively close to each other, so placing a meeting place and time was not a big issue. It did not work that with COVID being in a place he is not having any expositions as of the moment, which is what I would have liked working with him. Instead, he is focusing on expanding his brand to a clothing line.
When
Total Hours: 3.5h
Historic Homestead Town Hall Museum
Who
Historic Homestead Town Hall Museum is the original Town Hall for the city of Homestead. Built in 1917, right now it functions as a museum for the public.
Why
I have always been interested in Museums and history, and it catches my attention even more if it deals with local history. This is at large, one of the main reasons I decided to contact this museum. It does not relate to my major, but it is a big interest of mine.
How
I connected with this opportunity through Volunteer Match. I have a subscription to the website, I saw the opportunity and I emailed them right away.
Where & what
After a week of applying for the volunteer position, on April 3rd, 2021, Ms. Katherine Fleming reached out to me. She told me that as of the moment and because they were a small museum, they were doing all the volunteering online and that the only opportunities available were transcribing old documents. I had previously taken some cursive writing courses, so I had the requirements and I decided to take the opportunity. The next day, she sent me a copy of old documents for me to transcribe. It was really fun, at least for me, to get to know more about the way they used to live in 1917, and the way clubs and associations used to work. This set of documents related to giving members positions in the club and about a wedding coming up.
On April 10th, Ms. Fleming reached out to me with a different set of documents. This time, the sets related to financial activities and the dispute of Liberty City. This document was more difficult to read, especially when it was getting to the end of it. It seemed like since the meeting took place outside the regular settings, the person writing it was not comfortable when writing.
Summary
In general, I liked working with this Museum a lot. It worked that the opportunity was online. It did not work that this was the only available position. I would have liked to have the opportunity of going in person.
When
Total Hours: 7h
Total Project Hours: 10.5h
Citations
“Artist.” Zion Rozier, http://www.zionrozier.com/.
Historic Homestead Town Hall Museum, townhallmuseum.org/.
Miami in Miami 