CORAL GABLES, FLA.- The Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami proudly presents “Petah Coyne: How Much A Heart Can Hold,” on view now through March 14, 2026. Several of these works are on tour for the first time. “Petah Coyne reminds what it is to be human — heart, body, mind, and soul,” says Dr. Jill Deupi, the Beaux Arts Director and Chief Curator of the Lowe Art Museum. “This remarkable exhibition invites us into a wonderland of physical forms whose manifold sources of inspiration are as broad as they are compelling. The viewer leaves the show feeling not only newly inspired, but also newly alive through her work,” adds Dr. Deupi. The exhibition highlights Coyne’s fascination with female identity and her deep reverence for underrecognized women writers and historical figures, and is organized into three thematic sections — “Women’s Work,” “Women Obscured and Transformed,” and “Women’s Relationships.”

“Petah Coyne: How Much A Heart Can Hold” was organized by the Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and curated by Amy Gilman, director of the Chazen. Featuring over a dozen expansive, mixed-media sculptures, this evocative exhibition spans decades of work by contemporary American sculptor Petah Coyne, offering a deeply intimate and tactile meditation on femininity, women’s complexity and creativity, and the power of artistic transformation.


Installation view of Petah Coyne’s “Untitled #1378 (Zelda Fitzgerald),” 1997-2013. Photo courtesy of Lowe Art Museum at University of Miami.

The exhibition takes its title from a quote by author Zelda Fitzgerald: “Nobody has ever measured, even the poets, how much a heart can hold.” Fittingly, Coyne’s monumental sculpture “Zelda” anchors the show. Constructed from an astonishing range of materials— including wax, silk flowers, hat pins, knitting needles, pearls, and horsehair—the nearly seven-foot-tall work explores Fitzgerald’s legacy, capturing both her brilliance and the professional constraints she endured. “This piece wasn’t planned,” Coyne recalls. “When I finished it and stepped back, I knew immediately — it was her.”

“Zelda” ignites the tactile senses, yet a transparent glass box stands between the viewer and the monochromatic work, representing a cage that is a metaphor for Zelda Fitzgerald’s life. Her accomplishments were thwarted by the time in which she lived and overshadowed by her marriage to F. Scott Fitzgerald. Many lines from her letters appear in her husband’s writings.


Installation view (photo courtesy of Lowe Art Museum at University of Miami)

Coyne often celebrates under-recognized female authors and Eastern literary figures. Her works showcase the authors and characters; dissect their complex stories; and examine how relationships, social constructs and self-image can shape how women — real and fictional — experience and navigate the world.

The artist admits that pre-planning is not a part of her artistic process. While other artists start with mockups and drawings, she allows her feelings to guide her work. Although she has her own ideas about her finished works, she wants viewers to experience her art in the same way she approaches creating it — with an open heart. “I hope they open up their hearts and just look at the pieces,” says Coyne. “It doesn’t matter what I feel about the work or what I made it for. If you just open yourself, you’ll feel something and that would be the most wonderful thing if they would do that.”


The artist Petah Coyne with her work “Untitled #720 (Eguchi's Ghost),” 1992-2007. Photo courtesy of the Lowe Art Museum at University of Miami.

Coyne’s work defies categorization, blending sculpture, assemblage, literature, and performance. Her distinctive materials — ranging from Venetian velvet to shredded Airstream trailers — are as varied and nuanced as the stories she tells. While her sculptures are meticulously constructed, Coyne embraces a process rooted in intuition and emotion, often crafting works without preliminary drawings or plans.

Coyne finds materials in various ways and tries to push them as far as she can. Over the years, they have ranged from the organic to the ephemeral including dead fish, mud, sticks, hay, black sand, satin ribbons and taxidermy.


The artist Petah Coyne with her work “Untitled #1379 (The Doctor’s Wife),” 1997-2018. Photo courtesy of the Lowe Art Museum at University of Miami.


Installation view of “Untitled #1379 (The Doctor’s Wife),” by Petah Coyne, 1997-2018. Photo courtesy of the Lowe Art Museum at University of Miami.

About the Artist

Petah Coyne (b. 1953, Oklahoma City) has been the subject of more than 30 solo museum exhibitions. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco), the Chazen, and many others.

Last year, Coyne received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Sculpture Center, and in November 2024 was honored by the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Additional awards include those from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, three from the National Endowment for the Arts, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, Asian Cultural Council, New York Foundation for the Arts, Anonymous Was A Woman, Augustus Saint-Gaudens Memorial Foundation, three from Artists Space, the Art Matters Award, two International Association of Art Critics Awards and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art Award in the Visual Arts.

About the Lowe Art Museum at University of Miami



Founded in 1950, the Lowe Art Museum (University of Miami) is home to nearly 19,500 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 new temporary exhibitions as well as engaging public programs throughout the year.

Located on the University of Miami Coral Gables campus (1301 Stanford Drive), the Lowe is open Wed., Thurs., Fri., and Sat., 10 AM to 4 PM. The museum also has after-hour events and virtual programs as well as a dedicated YouTube channel where prior programs are archived. For more information visit lowe.miami.edu or call 305-284-3535. General admission is FREE. Additionally, the Lowe is a member of North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) and a Blue Star Museum.

Generous support for this exhibition was provided by Stephen and Pamela Hootkin, and the Anonymous Fund. The Lowe Art Museum's presentation of this exhibition is made possible by Beaux Arts Miami; the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; the Funding Arts Network; Sponsored in part by the State of Florida through the Division of Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts; the City of Coral Gables; the Lowe Advisory Council; and Lowe Members.

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.