Amazing Art - Petah Coyne: How Much a Heart Can Hold (Miami, Through 3/14)

The Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami proudly presents Petah Coyne: How Much A Heart Can Hold, featuring more than a dozen expansive mixed-media sculptures spanning decades of work by one of America’s most celebrated contemporary sculptors.

Pulsing at the heart of this museum show is Coyne’s fascination with female identity, and her deep reverence for under-recognized women writers and historical figures, including Zelda Fitzgerald, Joan Didion, Zora Neale Hurston, Jane Austen, and more.

The exhibition focuses on the ways her artistic process is inspired by women’s creativity — especially her use of seductive materials to create towering sculptures that bring the viewer in, while confronting the barriers women face.

These extraordinary landscapes of physical forms are on view through March 14. The sprawling installations and tactile meditations honor the creative power of women through artistic transformation.

Several works are on tour for the first time, and some have never been shown in museums.

She is best known for the elaborate physicalities of her large-scale hanging sculptures and monumental floor installations, laborious and time-intensive to create.

The New York-based artist has been chosen for more than 45 solo museum shows throughout her career. In 2024, Coyne received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Sculpture Center.

Her national honors include awards from the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, three awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, two International Association of Art Critics Awards, and more.

Her work is held in the permanent collections of several leading institutions, including: the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and many others.

Read more about the artist at www.petahcoyne.org.

Founded in 1950, the Lowe Art Museum is home to nearly 19,000 works of art that, collectively, represent 5,000 years of human creativity from around the globe.

Its extensive permanent collection galleries are complemented by a robust schedule of temporary exhibitions and engaging public programs throughout the year.

Located on the University of Miami campus (1301 Stanford Drive), the Lowe is open Wed., Thurs., Fri., and Sat., 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. The museum also has after-hour events and virtual programs and a dedicated YouTube channel where prior programs and lectures are archived.

General admission is free. Additionally, the Lowe is a member of the North American Reciprocal Museum Association, the Southeastern Reciprocal Membership Program, the College and University Art Museums Reciprocal Program, and is a Blue Star Museum. For more information visit lowe.miami.edu or call 305-284-3535.

About the University of Miami
The University of Miami’s mission is to educate and nurture students, to create knowledge, and to provide service to our community and beyond. Committed to excellence and proud of our diversity of our University family, we strive to develop future leaders of our nation and the world.