Capital Rotunda Artist
Miami artist Xavier Cortada
Miami artist Xavier Cortada has exhibited his work in museums, galleries and cultural venues across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Antarctica—and locally at the Miami Art Museum, the Bass Museum of Art, the Miami Science Museum and the Historical Museum of Southern Florida.
Upcoming group shows include the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in Colorado (2007), the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway (2007), the BOZAR Center for Fine Arts in Brussells, Belgium (2007), and the Ministry of Culture in Monaco (2008).
Cortada has created art for the White House, the World Bank, the Florida Supreme Court, and the Museum of Florida History. In his hometown, Cortada’s commissioned work hangs in City Hall, County Hall, the Miami Children’s Museum, and the facade of the Juvenile Courthouse.
Cortada has worked with groups across the world to produce numerous large-scale murals and community art projects, including: eco-art installations on Miami Beach, International AIDS Conference murals in Switzerland and South Africa, peace murals in Northern Ireland and Cyprus, and child welfare murals in Panama and Bolivia.
In 2007, as a recipient of the National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, he created site-specific installations at the South Pole. In June 2008, Cortada will travel to the North Pole to install some of these pieces there.
Cortada holds three degrees from the University of Miami – a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Public Administration and Juris Doctor. The Cuban-American artist’s work and writings are preserved in the Xavier Cortada Collection of the University of Miami Libraries Cuban Heritage Collection. He has been honored in the Congressional Record and with Xavier Cortada Day Proclamations by the City of Miami, Miami Beach, and Miami-Dade County.
Cortada has received numerous awards for his volunteer work, including the prestigious Millennium International Volunteer Award from the U.S. Department of State/USA Today (for his work in Spain, Portugal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Mauritius, Kenya Tanzania, Colombia, Bolivia, Honduras and Guatemala) and the Florida International Volunteer Corps 1999 Outstanding Achievement Award (for his work in Costa Rica and Panama). In February 2000, Cortada was invited by the Holy See to participate in the Vatican’s Jubilee Day for Artists and met Pope John Paul II. In 2006, the artist received the National Champion for Children Award from the Child Welfare League of America.