MIAMI BEACH, FL.- Aqua Art Miami announces its 7th consecutive installment during Art Basel Week in Miami this December. After last year’s successful return to its original location in South Beach and this year’s surge of interest in art fairs around the country, the fair’s organizers are looking forward to an even stronger event in 2011. With expanded arts programming and the collective exchange of ideas by 45 exhibiting galleries, Aqua 2011 will surely live up to what many in the arts community refer to as “the best hotel art fair in the world.”

Based in Seattle, Aqua Art Miami has a distinctly West Coast character, set off by the balmy indoor/outdoor atmosphere of its abode at the Aqua Hotel. Over the years, producing partners Jaq Chartier and Dirk Park have continued seeking out vibrant and noteworthy programs in their region, as well as in the greater USA and abroad, with a particular interest in supporting young dealers and galleries with strong emerging and early-mid career artists.

This curatorial commitment is complemented by the unique art fair setting of a classic South Beach hotel with spacious exhibition rooms that open onto a breezy, intimate courtyard. The surroundings have become a favorite gathering spot not only for relaxation during the busy Art Basel Week, but also as a place to exchange and disseminate new contemporary art ideas. And with its close proximity to the main Art Basel fair, Aqua Art Miami has consistently been ranked among the top satellite art events by collectors, artists, curators, critics and the art loving public alike.

This year, visitors to Aqua 2011 will be able to view and/or participate in a uniquely comprehensive arts programming. Some of the special projects and installations will feature a partnership of New Mexico Arts and the Urban Paradise Guild (UPG) of South Florida. Through their TIME Exchange Program, artist Will Wilson from Navajo Nation will guide over 60 local art students to create an art installation at the Fairchild Botanical Gardens in South Florida and at Aqua Art Miami using Australian Pine, a plant “invading” native habitat all over South Florida, including the Everglades. In addition, Montreal gallery Pierre-François Ouellette will feature a special collaboration of artist Adad Hannah with Oscar-winning filmmaker Denys Arcand, originally initiated by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts for the opening of their new Canadian Pavilion. The show will encompass photography and video in an installation inspired by the early XXth Century Viennese play by Arthur Schnitzler entitled La Ronde.

Aqua’s hotel lobby and popular courtyard areas will also feature unique sculptures and installations, including pieces by Saya Moriyasu, Folly (Vizcaya), 2011, exploring issues of colliding cultures and time, as well as work by Jessica Drenk, who will be discussing her two installations, Cerebellum and Bibliophylum, at an artist’s talk on Saturday, December 3rd, 11:30am - 12:00pm.

Throughout its tenure, Aqua Art Miami has been a great supporter of not-for-profit arts organizations. This year is no exception, with the fair initiating its first annual Museum Day on December 1st. In an effort to promote membership sign-ups and public support of local art museums, the fair will grant free entry to museum members for the day, from 11am - 8pm. Participating art institutions include the Frost Art Museum, Lowe Art Museum, Miami Art Museum, MOCA North Miami and The Wolfsonian.

In addtion, the fair curates a number of not-for-profit educational institutions and art collectives as part of its roster of exhibitors. Aqua 2011 visitors will experience the return of Seattle’s SOIL Gallery and Toronto’s Blunt Collective, as well as the debut of Chicago’s What It Is Projects, all bringing some alternative points of view to the fair. This dynamic will be complemented by the exceptional work of graduating students at New York’s School of Visual Arts, and the introduction of the MFA program at Georgia State University’s Ernest G. Welch School of Art + Design.

Aqua Art Miami is also thrilled to welcome back many of its veteran art dealers, including Gallery 339, Gregory Lind, Eleanor Harwood, Eli Ridgway, Lawrimore Project, Narwhal, Pentimenti, Steve Turner, Traywick Contemporary, Triple Base, Valerie McKenzie and Walter Maciel; as well as first-time Aqua exhibitors RHV Fine Art from Brooklyn, Porter Contemporary and Like The Spice Gallery from New York, Prole Drift and SEASON from Seattle, Froelick Gallery from Portland and Whitespace from Atlanta, among others.