By Rachel Galvin

On Saturday, Dec. 20, members of the Deerfield Kiwanis Club and Woman’s Club got together to give back to the community. Academic advisors from local schools gave a list of names of families who came to pick up food, laundry detergent, toys and more. Each child got a gift. 

By Rachel Galvin

As in every year, the Chabad of North Broward Beaches held several Chanukah events. This year, however, was a little different. There was no big house party and the other events included everyone wearing masks and included food items that could be safely packaged, like doughnuts and Chanukah gelt. There was still the usual menorah lighting and activities for the kids. They kicked off the holiday with an event in front of their temple in Lighthouse Point and ended with a usual beach celebration in Deerfield Beach. Chanukah began Dec. 10 and ended Dec. 18. To find out more about Chabad of North Broward Beaches, visit http://www.jewishlhp.com.

Last Night of Chanukah– Near Wyndham Resort

Photos by Rachel Galvin

Photos of First Night — by synagogue

Photos by Carol Porter

Photos by Judi Stanich

Deerfield residents expressed themselves artistically on Dec. 5 in a special class held at The Butler Cultural Center (across the street from Butler House). The class was instructed by local artist Gabriela Gamperl and was held outdoors and socially distanced. Participants created works in the mode of famous artist Jackson Pollock, who was an artists known for his abstract expressionism.

To find out what other events are happening at The Butler Cultural Center or the Butler House, keep an eye on the Deerfield Beach Historical Society website (www.deerfieldhistoricalsociety.org) or on their Facebook page.

Do’s & Don’ts

Dear Community Members,

Staying Safe During the Holiday

The holiday season is upon us and I want to encourage everyone to please stay safe. Broward County continues to work closely with the Florida Department of Health during this pandemic. The County receives and reviews daily state and regional criteria/indicators that provides administration with the ability to assess how our community is doing. Broward County is trending slightly higher in the number of positive cases in our area the past couple of weeks. You can see the latest daily COVID-19 update of key statistical indicators (updated daily) by clicking below.

https://www.broward.org/CoronaVirus/Documents/Aggregate-Dashboard-Latest.pdf

As these holidays continue, I encourage you to follow the guidelines provided by the Florida Department of Health. I believe if we can continue following these guidelines, we will certainly see a reduction in cases as we did before the fall season.

CARES Act Funding Requests Update

As you may remember, Broward County received about $340 million to assist our community during this pandemic. These funds must be used for COVID related issues and they must be spent by the end of this year. The County managed two very successful programs, the Rental Assistance Program and the Small Businesses and Non-Profit Assistance Program. Additionally, the County worked with several municipalities on similar programs and provided funds for the municipalities’ needs as well.

Several outstanding projects have also moved forward to make sure these funds are spent before the end of the year, specifically for the neediest. Broward County executed an agreement with Broward County Public Schools for $3.2 million to cover the cost of school nurses and $1 million for meals of parents of students in need. 2-1-1 Broward also entered into an agreement to add additional staff to the call center given the influx of calls for services and support during the pandemic. Feeding South Florida received funding to cover two months of expenses for their general feeding program and Legal Aid received funding to provide representation for residents who have been evicted due to economic challenges this year.

Broward County Administration and staff are ensuring federal guidelines are being followed for the use of these funds and that we assist all residents and businesses that are hurting during the pandemic.

Coastal Link Update

Broward County is taking proactive steps by maintaining an ongoing dialogue with several stakeholders to ensure we are moving forward with the Coastal Link project in the best interest of the residents in Broward County. Most recently, Miami-Dade County moved forward with their communications with Brightline and has directed staff to work on finalizing a Track Access Agreement, among other things. As Miami-Dade begins its process to bring a Coastal Link into their community, our administration is also working diligently to ensure that we get all stakeholders on board and allocate adequate funding for the entire rail corridor from south border to the north border of Broward County. I am excited to be a part of this process, which will assist residents on the east side of our County with their commute. Stay tuned for more.

Joint Government Center Update

Broward County and the City of Fort Lauderdale are moving forward with a

Joint Government Center

Joint County/City Government Center Building in Downtown Fort Lauderdale. In October, the Unified Direct Procurement Authority (UDPA), which is a combination of County and City Commissioners, held a joint meeting and approved the Design Criteria Package for the project. Both groups also heard presentations from staff regarding the different procurement options that are available as we continue with this project. On December 15, 2020, the UDPA directed staff to develop a solicitation under the Public Private Partnership (P3) statute based on the Design Criteria Package previously approved.

For more information on the project please visit Joint Government Center Campus​.

Year in Review (2020 Edition)

As customary at the end of every year, I always like to look back and reflect on the many activities and events that I was able support. Of course, due to the pandemic, many events were postponed or canceled but we were able to enjoy many virtual meetings and other events while social distancing.

2021 HOA Meetings/Upcoming Events

I would like to extend my availability to all Homeowners Associations in District 4 for the upcoming year who are meeting virtually. If you and/or your association members will be hosting events this upcoming year, please reach out to my office to coordinate. I would love to provide all communities with updates on County related issues and of course assist you in any way I can.​

​

Lamar P. Fisher
Broward County Commissioner
District 4

Pre COVID-19 Events

Post COVID-19 Events

Listening to Denise Jordan, who leads the DB Council.

During their virtual Holiday Breakfast Reunion on Dec 15, the Deerfield Beach Council Chamber recognized and thanked Broward Health North healthcare heroes for their hard work and dedication on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis and for keeping communities safe and our patients healthy.

Deerfield Beach Mayor, Bill Ganz, along with other city officials, business and community leaders saluted Emergency Room and COVID-19 unit caregivers. Dr. Cesar Carralero, DO, ​Broward Health North Medical Director of Emergency Services also shared some healthy tips for staying safe during the holidays with council members. 

Broward Health North front line caregivers– true heroes!

Photos & Story by Rachel Galvin

On Saturday night, Dec. 12, a long line of hundreds of cars drove one after another through Oveta McKeithen Recreational Complex for the “Ice Cream Social,” a holiday event put on by the City of Deerfield Beach… with Broward Sheriff’s Office, the Kiwanis Club and the Historical Society among those participating. Each car received ice cream, candy, coloring books and other age appropriate books and toys for the kids. The “Grinch” and a “Robo Cop” looking character greeted kids too. RT5 performed “boy band” style on the stage. It even snowed! Commissioners Hudak, Drosky & Preston all were in attendance too… as well as a couple of Santa Clauses.

Key Clubbers volunteered to hand out ice cream.	RT5 performed on stage.	BSO & friends greet guests.

Santa Claire…	Commissioner Hudak, his wife and Santa?	Commissioner Hudak, his wife and Kiwanis Club, including Kiwanis West.
Who are those masked men? City Manager David Santucci & Commissioner Todd Drosky.	Commissioner Preston speaks.	Miss Hillsboro Beach hands out gifts.
Commissioners Hudak & Preston.	“Armed Deputy” & Grinch.	That’s a lot of candy, Mr. Sullivan!

“What this Earth Does Not Remember I and II”

By Rachel Galvin

As fragile as ice, ready to burn, touched by the elements, tethered together … the forms and lines intrinsic in artist Mira Lehr’s most recent collection is both deeply rooted in the natural world and inspired by transcendence. Entitled “Planetary Visions from Spaceship Earth,” her new exhibition now on display at Rosenbaum Contemporary, a fine art gallery in Boca Raton, until Jan. 16 captures a sense of urgency, of Earth’s vulnerability and symbiosis. Her considerable pieces take over the once blank walls filling them with a wash of color and shapes, as well as lines burned into the canvas and paper scorched at the edges.

“Perfect Flight”

Her “What this Earth Does Not Remember I and II” shows off a map, perhaps reminiscent of the Dymaxion map created by architect and futurist Buckminster Fuller, who she once worked with (more on that later). In the piece, the map shows burnt lines spiraling throughout topped with words, a poem talking about nature. To create the lines, fuses are affixed and lit. Also used is Japanese burnt paper, which is layered on the canvas. Both media are utilized in a lot of her pieces. The ever-present theme seems to bring about the idea of the world being on fire, so slowly burning, we don’t know we are being consumed… and, from afar, the interconnectedness of us all is obvious, as well as our ephemeral nature; the ticking time bomb keeps ticking and the need for change is all the more urgent. Her “Mystic Silence That Cannot Engage” uses deep reds and oranges, the quality looks a bit like a forest fire. Other pieces of hers have a cooler color palette reminiscent of the arctic, perhaps a reminder of the polar ice caps melting slowly…

“A Mystic Silence That Cannot Engage”

This reporter had a chance to talk with Lehr about her process and the unique media she employs. The concept of using gunpowder, she said, was inspired by an artist she saw at the Guggenheim using it once. It was her studio assistant who brought the idea of fuses to her attention. She works on canvas or a piece of board, in addition to making mobiles and other three-dimensional pieces. She says she utilizes Japanese paper ‘because it is strong but transparent. It doesn’t break apart. It is strong as steel but beautiful and fragile as paper.” She cuts some of the paper into pre-cut shapes in different colors and keeps them like a “vocabulary of collage shapes,” so when she needs them, she can reach in and pull them out to add to any new work. Then, she uses a torch or cigarette lighter to burn them. She also uses acrylic and other media in her works. She adds words using ink or charcoal.

“Dance”

“I create every day,” she said. “My whole house is a studio. When I am not in the studio, I am conceptualizing, getting ideas. I draw ideas. When I make [the art], ideas are spinning in my head. I never pre-draw [the actual work]. Sometimes, what I end up with is different from what I started with. It is intuitive. It is a growing entity that makes you listen and watch, and be a partner with it.”

She said some pieces she can get finished within a week. With others, she struggles, ends up exhausted, puts them away and takes them out later and, in a flash, the answer will come to her and she will know what to do with it. Sometimes, the answer never comes and is never resolved.

A lot of her pieces in the new exhibition were done during the pandemic. Because it is a global crisis, her pieces are more about what is happening than where. She found that her pieces now are less analytical and more intuitive, and spiritual, as if inspired from another place.

After seeing her pieces, Lehr says she hopes that people will “walk away with a feeling of peacefulness, calm, poetry, seeing something in a new way … reaching their soul.” She adds, “My obvious wish is that they love the environment and care about it and hope to make it right again.”

She said she wants people to know, “I work sincerely. I am never influenced by what is hot. I work from spirit and what is honest.”

Mira Lehr Photo by Michael E. Fryd

More about the artist

Mira Lehr was born in New York, moved to Chicago and then moved to Miami at age 10, only to return to New York to go to boarding school and later attend Vassar college in Poughkeepsie, NY. She comes from a family with an artistic bent. Her father was a musician and her mother’s brother and cousin were fine artists.

“I always drew,” she said, “portraits of my friends… They would buy them for $1.”

Lehr added, “My parents didn’t encourage me. No art lessons. I did it on my own. I went to college. They did not have major in studio arts then. Studio art was not scholarly enough. I studied art history.” She pointed out that Linda Nochlin was one of her teachers, a feminist art historian who has had books written about her.

She continued, “When I got married, New York was the center of art abstract Expressionist movement. I was right there. I had to move back [to Florida] because of family matters. She was apprehensive about the move. From what she could see, there was no art scene down here. She explained, “Women artists were not recognized. They were thought of as dilettantes in the art world. Nobody paid attention.” She decided to work to change that and set up a co-op that would last 30 years and bring in women artists, classes, etc. This year marks the 60th anniversary of its founding.

Many ask her about her work with futurist, theorist, architect and more, Buckminster Fuller. When he did his “World Game” in 1960s, she applied to participate and was one of two artists who were among those who joined him in working on solutions to the world’s problems. She said, “I saw the ad in the Saturday Review. I had always admired him. He took me and I think 25 others. He did not want specialists. He wanted artists, philosophers, scientists… no one vested in one thing. We worked together one summer surrounded by his [Dymaxion] world map, his inventions and geometry. He inundated us with his talk and brilliance. It changed me. I came out having so much more respect for human beings and what they are capable of. I realized that with more effort, we could do more with less… and not relying on politics to make it happen.” She added, “It is a profound feeling. Man is meant to be a success on the planet.”

What solution did they find? “One of the big no-nos is the use of fossil fuels, polluting the air. It is going to be our downfall,” she said. “We searched for other sources of energy–tidal, solar, laser, etc.”She finds it interesting how now people are starting to utilize alternatives for energy now.

Mira’s pieces are large enough to cover the walls at the gallery. Her 3D mobile is also pictured.

“I anticipate if we get through the pandemic and local things that are happening, we will be much more efficient on the planet. There is an enormous amount of waste that goes on. I don’t think we will be back to where we could have been. But I do think we can stop [climate change] from progressing,” said Lehr.

When not creating, the artist spends time in her home in Miami Beach. She enjoys reading and is a science-buff. She is a widow and has four children, and seven grandchildren. “When I was 18, and during my marriage years, I spent time with my husband and children. I managed to have it all,” she said. Now, that her children are gone out of the house, Lehr said she can focus on herself again. “I feel like I am 18 again.” She also mentioned she has a new book coming out called “Arc of Nature, 2nd edition.”

Her new exhibition is at Rosenbaum Contemporary art gallery, located at 150 Yamato Road in Boca Raton until Jan. 16. Her collection is only one of the many pieces on display, which are constantly changing. They are open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can also tour the exhibition virtually by going to their website at www.rosenbaumcontemporary.com.

In the same building is RFA Decor, which has plenty of pieces to choose from for interior decorators and those seeking originals, prints and more. Many pieces can even be modified as needed to best fit a space (such as changing a color…or even adding something else to the painting). In addition, they sell mirrors and do framing. Find out more at www.rfadecor.com

 Find out more about Mira Lehr at  www.miralehr.com.