Vizcaya is a work of art, and it’s home to an art event called In YOUnison. We’re gonna see how it lets guests get their creativity on and be one with the community.

Summer 2022 is about to get artsy. At Vizcaya, guests can take part in interactive workshops hosted by local artists.

Rebecca Peterson: “In YOUnison is the 2022 installation of Vizcaya’s annual participatory public art program. We commission a bunch of artists to come and envision a work here at Vizcaya, and then we invite the community in to work with those artists.”

This year, you could work alongside three different artists and learn some new skills.

Rebecca Peterson: “The whole point, really, is to give people time to be together and be creative, and that’s what you can expect at the workshops.”

One of the artists is local fashion designer Pangea Kalivirga, whose pieces are all made of recycled material.

Pangea Kalivirga: “Everything that I make is out of things that were donated to me by different community members. I cut it up, and I turn it into completely new things.”

No two pieces are alike, and some can even be rented out for special occasions.

Pangea Kalivirga: “Through having the rental program, it allows people who may not be able to afford the designs, or perhaps know that they will only wear it once, to appreciate and really live in a garment, and then return it for somebody else to use it.”

Renting isn’t just easy on your wallet, it’s great for the environment, too. But if you want to keep something forever, you can get a custom order.

Pangea Kalivirga: “Some of the styles I do have available for custom order, and that’s a really intimate and special process. Sometimes people will say, ‘I really like this design but, obviously, I’d like it in my measurements and perhaps in this color.'”

By the end of the workshop, you’ll know how to spice up your wardrobe on a budget.

Pangea Kalivirga: “At the workshops, we’ll be doing a variety of different things. We have a few workshops that are embellishment workshops, and it fosters a deeper connection with the clothes you already own.”

The In YOUnison workshops are all about collaborating, so you’re going be learning from one master.

Pangea Kalivirga: “Arsimer and I will be doing these joint workshops where people will write poetry with Arsimer and write it on fabric, which I will then patch work into these 20- to 30-foot-long gowns.”

The best part? You’d have a hand in the whole performance, and take away a few new skills, too.