Art aboard: New Carnival ship features alumnae’s work

For Vivian Macia ’93 and Jacqui Roch MS ’09, the most beautiful red is found in the rosette of a bromeliad, the richest, most luscious oranges and yellows in the skin of a South Florida mango.

Lifelong artists based in Miami, they are quintessential Renaissance women: wives, mothers, educators and artists devoted to achieving balance in their personal and professional lives.

Each has approached her multi-hyphenate life in different ways. Their paths, however, have led them to the same spot: the Magic, a Carnival cruise liner that made its maiden voyage across the Mediterranean early in May.

Both are among four artists commissioned last summer by the company to produce 74 original tableaux that bring the outdoors into the ship’s public spaces. Macia produced seven original oil paintings for the ship’s spa cabins and suites, while Roch created 16 original pastels for its standard cabins and suites. Their colorful and evocative work was inspired by the lushness of their communities and is displayed in more than 1,830 cabins on the ship.

They were first approached for the job by Christine Arnholt, Canival’s VP of onboard marketing.

“I knew Vivian because my daughter took private art classes with her. I’d been to her home and seen her work,” Arnholt said. “Her paintings are very colorful and just what we wanted to convey onboard the Magic.

“We also had been talking to other artists, so one day I asked Vivian if she knew of anyone who did similar work, tropical work, and she recommended Jacqui, who does very vibrant pastels that are in line with our brand. We’re very happy with both of them and thrilled to have their work in our ship.”

Carnival’s attention is the latest in a series of accomplishments for the FIU grads.

Steady as she goes

Roch is married to a retired Miami firefighter and mother to four boys ages 7-12. A fixture of the local art scene, she is a resident member of the celebrated Bakehouse Art Complex in the Wynwood Art District. Carnival’s recognition, she says, was an unexpected surprise and a welcome affirmation of her career.

“I’ve been painting forever,” she said, “and I wear so many hats in my life. After so long you think everybody in town has seen you, and then you have this entity like Carnival that had never seen the work. And when they do see it they love it. It all kind of worked out.”

For almost 15 years – “forever” as she puts it – the tropical realist’s career has been on the rise. Her paintings have been part of juried national exhibitions, and she has been invited to take part in more than 30 festivals. Two years ago, she was chosen as the poster artist for the Coconut Grove Arts Festival (the image made the cover of the Miami Herald’s Neighbor section). Most recently, she and artist Deborah Mitchell opened an exhibit titled “Return to Big Cypress,” a show inspired by research she did on a school field trip to the national preserve with her third-grader.

She credits her success to approaching art as a job and to working steadily at her craft.

“For me, when you love something so much – yes, a little bit has to be luck,” she said. “But you do have to be disciplined and treat it like work. Besides being good at what you do and learning everything you have to learn, you have to work at it. I drop off my kids at school and then come into my studio, which is like my office. I have to find opportunities and follow-up with people.

“If I just painted all day and waited for someone to show up I wouldn’t be able to do what I do,” she continued. “It’s work.”

Frost professor David Chang, the director of Art Education at FIU, witnessed Roch’s dedication first-hand when he taught her at the university. She enrolled in the art education master’s program after returning to Miami from New York, where she studied graphic design and worked for a textile firm. Painting had taken a backseat.

“I met Jacqui as an undergrad. She had torn jeans and different color hair,” he said. “Now she’s a mother and a wife and just so accomplished as an artist. She has been working so hard for so many years and winning awards left and right. I couldn’t be more proud of her.”

It actually was Chang who turned Roch on to pastels. She never put them down.

“I was finishing my master’s when I took a two-week pastels workshop, and I loved it,” she said. “I was dreading pastels because I have asthma and allergies and it just wasn’t what I wanted to do, but I was so hooked. I didn’t want to let that part go again.”

The rest is history. Roch’s pastels are photo-realistic captures of the flowers and the mangoes and the seashells she encounters during trips to local landmarks like Fairchild Tropical Garden or Big Cypress, where she is artist-in-residence. She captures in vivid colors the detail and richness of Florida’s landscape.

“Jacqui brings out what we all miss in a form,” said Chang. “Her work is not only realistic, it is spiritual. It imposes itself on anyone who views it.”

‘Quiet boldness’

Macia’s work is just as powerful.

Born in Miami to Cuban parents, she spent almost 10 years living in Venezuela before coming back home and heading to college. Although she always painted, like Roch, she initially pursued a degree not in art but in interior design.

“I first was at UM, but when I realized that I wanted to be an interior designer, they didn’t have that degree, so I transferred to the Art Institute, which is where I always wanted to go. My father was a little hesitant about that – he wanted me to go to FIU because we used to live close by FIU.”

Macia ended up receiving a degree in art education at FIU – looking back on it, she says, “my dad was right…I should’ve listened to him from the beginning, but things happen for a reason.”

Today, she is married to the director of USG Latin America, a building materials manufacturer, and mother to a 10-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son. She teaches art privately and part time at St. Agnes Academy on Key Biscayne, where she lives with her family.

“I think of myself as a teacher first. I’m certified K through 12. I enjoy sharing the history of art with my students,” she said. “I’ve always loved painting. My work reflects my life. I love the garden, the ocean…the key’s surrounding areas. I used to paint more B.C – before children.

“I was able to really concentrate on it, on painting in oil, which is something that I’ve always wanted to do, more back then, but I’m getting back on it and this Carnival commission came at the perfect time because my children are older.”

Chang has observed Macia’s career as well and is delighted that she is getting this type of exposure.

“It’s a beginning for Vivian,” he said. “I’m very proud of her because she had different priorities than Jacqui but is equally passionate about her work. She took a different path. She takes classes with me every year – Jacqui as well – and I am excited to see her become more active in her painting.

“Her brushwork sings. There’s a quiet boldness to her. I remember her registering direction in class even before I’d talked to her. She would just pick up on the critiques I’d give someone else and take the boldest risks on her canvas. I’m very happy she’s still painting and look forward to her future.”

The Magic will continue sailing the Mediterranean this summer taking residence at its home in Galveston, Texas, later in the season from where it will begin its regular Caribbean itinerary in the fall.