My dad was a lot of things. High school basketball center. Air Force navigator. Civil rights leader. Developer. Entrepreneur. Musician. Community advocate. Superhero. And of course, husband, brother, son, and father. A true Renaissance man.
As Jeremy Mikolajczak, executive director and chief curator of the MDC Museum & Galleries of Art + Design wrote so beautifully:
“Leonard Turkel was coined the ‘Father of Florida Condominiums' by The Miami Herald and is noted as the pioneer of the Florida condominium development boom. But behind the exterior of the successful entrepreneur, Leonard Turkel had a social conscience that proved much greater than that of the typical businessman.”
My dad, the Renaissance man, was also an artist. From Jeremy again:
“In addition to leaving behind a legacy for equal rights, proper inner-city housing, mobile health clinics, and midnight basketball for at-risk teenagers, Leonard Turkel was an artist who created hundreds of collages and assemblages that mirror his morals of social justice.”
My dad would visit libraries and photo archives to search for old black and white or sepia prints of mostly groups of people involved in his various interests – usually civil rights, community service, or music. Then he'd have the photos enlarged and mounted onto sheets of foam board. Next he'd hand tint the images, cut them out, and reassemble them in 3D assemblages that brought new attention and meaning to both the pictures and the subjects they presented.
Last January we hosted Following Your Own Sense of Justice – a retrospective of my father's artworks at the MDC Museum & Galleries. We were absolutely stunned by the outpouring of enthusiasm, appreciation, and love that we all enjoyed that night and across the weeks that the work hung on the gallery walls. What's more, once we saw the work displayed in the museum we realized just how meaningful and important Dad's work really is.
The other thing we discovered was just how many people were interested in owning a piece of Dad's work to enjoy in their own home or collection. The heartfelt requests were so overwhelming that we decided right then and there to figure out how to make that a possibility so that even more people could enjoy his vision and talents.
Thanks to Jeremy's help again, we've opened an online auction that will culminate in a gallery auction at the MDC Museum & Galleries of Art + Design on January 16, 2015. Of course, because this auction was created to honor Dad's life and work, the proceeds of the sale will go to establishing a scholarship in Leonard Turkel's name for deserving students who want to make our community – and their lives – better.
You can visit the online auction HERE and visit the work in person at the gallery at the Freedom Tower, 600 N.E. 2nd Avenue, Miami. Of course we hope you'll join us Friday night for the gallery show and auction of a true Renaissance man.
Click HERE for the auction. Click HERE for the save the date announcement. Click HERE for the evite.
As thanks to Jeremy Mikolajczak for all his assistance, let's hear from him again:
“Following Your Own Sense of Justice is a retrospective of Leonard Turkel's rarely seen artwork and a true testament to the legacy of a man that proved to be one of Miami's greatest mavericks of civic equality and community building. Auction proceeds will be used to provide scholarships for at-risk youth.”
Please join us.