Studio Vizcaya: The Fruit We Bear | A FREE Light Sculpture Workshop

This summer, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens invites you to build something luminous. Join acclaimed multidisciplinary artist Shawna Moulton for “Studio Vizcaya: The Fruit We Bear” — a FREE, hands-on series of community workshops where your creativity will help shape large-scale illuminated fruit sculptures that will light up Vizcaya’s historic grounds on the night of July 25th.

No art experience needed. Just bring yourself and your creativity.

The Fruit We Bear is a participatory, community-driven light sculpture project rooted in collective growth, emotional wellness, and shared values. Together, participants will build giant papier-mâché fruit sculptures — oranges, grapefruit, mangoes, avocados, bananas, papaya, lychee, and carambola (star fruit) — each one a glowing symbol of a core human value:

Love, joy, peace, patience, hope, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-love, and goodness.

Just as fruit grows through care, time, and cultivation, these values grow within individuals and communities when nurtured together. This project makes that invisible truth visible — and radiant.

The technique is papier-mâché: layers of paper strips applied over a sculptural armature, dried and transformed into something sturdy, paintable, and ultimately luminous. It’s approachable, tactile, and deeply satisfying — accessible to participants of all ages and skill levels.

• FREE and open to everyone. No art experience required — just curiosity and a willingness to create alongside your community.

• Make your mark. Your handmade paper, reflections, and contributions are woven into the sculpture itself — part of the finished work.

• See your work come alive. Every sculpture you help build will be displayed in a breathtaking light-filled installation at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens on the evening of July 25th.

• Be part of a living tradition. Studio Vizcaya’s community light sculpture program has drawn hundreds of makers and delighted thousands of visitors over the years. This summer’s edition is the most ambitious yet.

• More than art. These workshops are a living metaphor — a reminder that the values sustaining our communities, like the fruit on a tree, grow only when tended together.

Location: Vizcaya Village Garage, 3250 S Miami Ave, Miami, FL 33129

Located across the street from the main entrance of Vizcaya, on the west side of South Miami Avenue.

Tickets: FREE — registration is required to secure your spot.

Ages: All ages welcome. Participants under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

Culminating Performance: The sculptures created in these workshops will be displayed at Vizcaya Late: The Fruit We Bear on the evening of Saturday, July 25th — a separate ticketed event at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. We encourage all workshop participants to attend.

About Shawna Moulton:

Shawna Moulton is a multi-disciplinary artist and art educator based in South Florida. She was born in Freeport, Bahamas, raised in Kingston, Jamaica, and then migrated to the United States. At an early age, she discovered the magic of art-making, manifesting works of drawings, paintings, sculptures, and paper-making. In 2015 she graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts with a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts.

Her art journey has taken her to the Awagami Factory in Tokushima, Japan, where she learned traditional Japanese paper making. She has several years of experience working in museum education departments such as the Museum of Contemporary Art (North Miami), the Norton Museum of Art, the Young At Art Museum, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts Museum. Her role has been engaging the public community with conversations around art, teaching art techniques, and designing art curriculums.

Moulton has been in residence at the Bakehouse Arts Complex (2022) and is presently a member of the Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator. As Shawna continues to work on her creative practice, she is active as an independent teaching artist around South Florida.

The artworks she creates reflect her search for identity through her heritage as an immigrant in America, with deep connections to the Caribbean rooted in the richness of the African Diaspora. She believes that diverse stories are essential to creating a more just world for people to be seen and represented, and this is something she is deeply committed to manifesting through her art. Her work includes life-size paper-casting figures, illustrations on handmade paper, and watercolor paintings reflecting her journey into motherhood.

About Studio Vizcaya

Studio Vizcaya is a commission program that provides artists with the creative challenge to develop original, site-specific work in response to a historic site situated in the public realm. Studio Vizcaya was inspired by the dynamic, creative spirit that characterized Vizcaya’s inception one hundred years ago, and it preserves Vizcaya owner James Deering’s tradition as a patron of the arts. Additionally, Studio Vizcaya embeds Vizcaya’s commitment to shared community experiences through a process of co-creation.

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