By: Zoe Rastegar

THE ART COGNOSCENTI

“You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at the picture for a second and think of it all your life.” Joan Miró

María Gabriela Mizes is a multitalented, multicultural, and multilingual visual art Au Courant cognoscente whose sphere and scope of work encompasses several major areas of art management, collection, inventory, and art advisory for home and corporate design. Additionally, she specializes in organizing and launching exhibitions and traveling with art loans in the United States and abroad. In essence, she is the embodiment of promoting art and artists not only within the community of the Washington metropolitan area but also on a national and international scale.

Mizes was born and educated in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is grateful to her parents who provided her with the opportunity to travel and visit museums both in Europe and the United States.

She began her career studying at Sotheby’s, London, for two years. She then pursued a degree in art history at the University of Buenos Aires, but she later transferred to Columbia University in New York, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. Mizes completed museum studies at the Instituto Argentino de Museología in Argentina and is a member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the Association of Registrars and Collections Specialists (ARCS), Art Table, Latinas 4 Latinas and CEDA Washington as well as an advisor for the Washington Sculptors Group.

Mizes’ mission is to promote artists’ works within a network of diverse artists, clients, and collectors internationally. Her education, skills and her fluency in English, Spanish, French and Italian have
been prized assets for becoming a maestra in the field of artistic works.

Mizes’ observant eyes and receptiveness for aesthetics, both traditional and contemporary, enables her to procure art from a variety of mediums such as painting, photography, sculpture and even artist books both for private collections or as investment.

One of Mizes’ expertise is collection development and management, which has several components. She creates records, policies, and procedures as well as keeps track of inventories and object locations and sales. Her accomplishments as an art registrar are quite impressive.

Among her most notable accomplishments is her work at Glenstone Museum. For 14 years, she was director of registration where she orchestrated the move of the museum’s post-World War II and contemporary art collection into a new building.

She has also worked with the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education in Maryland on the exhibition Santos: Substance and Soul, with the American Federation of Arts, and with MoMA in New York as assistant curator of the traveling exhibition Latin American Artists of the Twentieth Century in the United States and abroad, among many other institutions and private collections.

Gaby Mizes is an enthusiastic and dedicated art professional whose passion for art and artists is apparent in a career spanning more than 35 years,” Marion Kocot said.

Mizes is now the Principal at GABY MIZES FINE ART. As an art advisor, Mizes assesses her student’s needs based on criteria, such as subject, medium, budget, and value. She urges us to think about purchasing art as a present for special occasions like birthdays, graduations, wedding anniversaries—not just as an investment or part of a collection. “This way, people can always enjoy art and treasure it for the rest of their lives,” Mizes said.

As a curator, Gabriela organizes exhibitions, representing artists from the Washington metropolitan area as well as from Latin America, attracting new partnerships in mind. Her creativity always makes her shows a memorable experience. Her passion for curating and promoting artists is a constant delight with devotion and determination, which has resulted in her impressive accomplishments throughout the years.

A few examples of such efforts are the following: Connect 2018 Silent Art Auction & Benefit organized by the Latinas 4 Latinas in Washington, D.C. and in 2019 her curating and development of the collection of The Embassy of Argentina in Washington, D.C, and acting as Juror of Creative Expressions, exhibition organized by the Montgomery Art Association (MAA), Maryland.

Mizes has also served as Juror and Curator of Artina 2020: LIGHT: A Sculptural Solar Dance, organized by the Washington Sculptors Group at the Sandy Spring Museum, Maryland, and is planning a paintings’ exhibition for this Fall. When it comes to home and corporate design, Mizes has a selective approach.

“Your home should tell the story of who you are and be a collection of what you love,” Nate Berkus

Mizes’ combination of passion, skills, and professionalism fulfills a vision for quality and authenticity for any kind of setting from private homes to corporate offices, restaurants, hospitals, hotels, and more.