The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery in Pembroke Pines opens its doors Thursday to what organizers describe as the most comprehensive exhibition of Cuban American artist Lilian Garcia-Roig's work ever presented, spanning more than three decades of her career. The show, titled Hyphenated Encounters, runs from September 17, 2026 through January 17, 2027, with an opening reception set for 6 to 9 p.m. on opening night.
According to the City of Pembroke Pines
, the exhibition offers South Florida audiences an opportunity to see Garcia-Roig's work in one place. The show is actually a two-part collaboration between Pembroke Pines and Miami-Dade County's Deering Estate, combining Lilian Garcia-Roig: A Practice of Place, curated by The Frank's Chief Curator Sophie Bonet, with Deering Estate Residency: Lilian Garcia-Roig, Site, and the Labor of Belonging, curated by Deering Estate Head Curator Liliam Dominguez, as reported by
Miami Art Scene
.
The survey pairs historical landscape paintings with newer, site-responsive pieces, plus a short film made by fellow Artist-in-Residence Jorge Gonzalez Graupera during Garcia-Roig's 2024 residency at Deering Estate, according to the City of Pembroke Pines. That residency work sits alongside decades-old canvases, giving visitors a chance to trace how her practice has evolved over time.
An Artist Who Paints With the Land Itself
Garcia-Roig has worked in plein air, using intense wet-on-wet techniques over the course of a day. Florida State University News reports that she has occasionally worked raw, handmade Cuban soil pigments into her paintings, physically embedding location and heritage into the work itself.
Her academic and artistic credentials underscore the scale of the retrospective. In 2021, Garcia-Roig was named a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow in Fine Arts, and in 2023 she received Florida State University's highest faculty honor when she was named a Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor. Her artistic output also includes the landscape installation Hyperbolic Nature: La Florida.
A Full Slate of Fall Programming at The Frank
The gallery's Third Space gallery will simultaneously debut Discord and Serenity, a photography exhibition curated by Barry University Assistant Professor RemiJin Camping featuring work by Barry University MFA students Joy Johnson and Bruna Marcon Weber.
The gallery has also lined up public programming beyond the opening night reception. A university student and faculty meet-and-greet with Garcia-Roig is scheduled for September 18, followed by a Frank Contemporaries panel discussion on September 19 featuring the artist alongside the exhibition's curators.
Free Admission Reflects the Gallery's Civic Roots
The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery is a gallery in Pembroke Pines. It was named for former Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank C. Ortis in recognition of his long-standing advocacy for local cultural arts, according to Quality Cities.
Admission to Hyphenated Encounters is free to the public, with regular hours Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout its four-month run. The gallery has hosted other municipal cultural programming this year, including art stations during Pembroke Pines' Hispanic Heritage Festival.
The exhibition's focus on identity and place is set against the local demographics. U.S. Census Bureau estimates show that Pembroke Pines has a population of 173,194 and that 50.0 percent of residents identify as Hispanic or Latino, a demographic backdrop for the city's free-to-attend retrospective.
