MIAMI BEACH, FLA.- For the past 20 years, luxury shoe brand Stuart Weitzman's Madison Avenue flagship store has showcased sculptural footwear by artists, designers and craftsmen from around the world. Organized by Jose Carlos Diaz, Curator of Exhibitions and Leilani Lynch, Curatorial Assistant of the Bass Museum of Art, Art & Sole features over 70 inventive examples of these fantasy shoes from the Jane Gershon Weitzman collection on view in the Bass Museum of Art's bassX gallery from March 8 through April 10, 2016, located in the Miami Beach Regional Library (227 22nd Street, Miami Beach).

These fantasy shoes are remarkable for their imaginative construction and elaborate adornment. Each delicate shoe is constructed from unexpected materials such as bronze, ceramic, wire, Plexiglas, or cardboard, as in the case of Robert Steele’s Corrugated Curves, VI. Other shoes are noteworthy for their surfaces, embellished with feathers, gems, fresh flowers and cake frosting. Joan Klimo, who worked in fabric and mixed media, transformed shoes into whimsical soft sculptures. No pair is alike and each one sparks the imagination.

Jane Gershon Weitzman, who was Executive Vice President of Stuart Weitzman and First Vice President of Stuart Weitzman Retail, invited hundreds of artists to make these shoes for their window displays, which later inspired her book Art & Sole. The exhibition Art & Sole is part of the museum’s bassX series of artist projects based in the Miami Beach Library during the museum’s yearlong renovation. bassX is organized by José Carlos Diaz, Bass Museum Curator of Exhibitions, and Leilani Lynch, Curatorial Assistant, and is generously funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.