This Art Basel 2021, Oolite Arts presented a group exhibition featuring 10 renowned artists from Miami, New York and Chicago interacting with its gallery and investigating the concept of space and its various forms. Schedule your visit HERE.
Installation shot of Common Space by Pedro Wazzan
Common Space, which runs from Oct. 20, 2021 – Jan. 23, 2022, has transformed Oolite Arts’ gallery into its own work of art. Common Space features works by Bethany Collins, Rafael Domenech, GeoVanna Gonzalez, Diego Gutierrez,Paloma Izquierdo, Ernesto Oroza, Sarah Sze, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Rafael Vargas Bernard and Tomas Vu.
Installation shot of Common Space by Pedro Wazzan
Common Space features ten international artists from New York, Chicago and Miami that dismantle and re-envision social space as a site of artistic production. Architecture, cartography, and language emerge as subjects and methods to respond to the distribution of space as well as the production of identity, meaning, and power therein. Breaking with the notion of a gallery as a static presentation, the exhibition bridges the gallery with studios and common rooms at Oolite Arts and integrates residency and visiting artist cultures. Site-specific installations and activations throughout the duration of the exhibition will provide prompts for viewer participation and engagement.Vu.
Five Miami-based artists created portraits of hospital workers for new exhibit, launching on World Gratitude Day on Sept. 21
Oolite Arts, in partnership with Mount Sinai Medical Center, is launching On The Frontline, an art exhibition featuring work by five Miami-based artists that pays tribute to the hospital's healthcare heroes. The exhibition's opening coincides with World Gratitude Day today, Sept. 21 and it features 22" x 30" portraits of 30 hospital staff members. The portraits will be on display through Feb. 12, 2022 in the lobby of Mount Sinai Medical Center's Skolnick Surgical Tower, although not currently open to the public due to COVID-19 restrictions.
"We wanted to find a way to express our sincere gratitude to the healthcare workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic and felt that art would help serve this purpose," said Dennis Scholl, President & CEO of Oolite Arts. "Through our ongoing partnership with Mount Sinai Medical Center, we are honored to be able to cast a spotlight on a number of our community's heroes. This exhibit will hopefully bring great pride to the medical center's medical staff, employees, patients and visitors – many of whom may recognize workers as coming to their rescue during difficult times."
For this special exhibit, Oolite Arts commissioned artists Stephen Arboite, Morel Doucet, Mark Fleuridor, William Osorio and Chire Regans (VantaBlack) to create six portraits each of select Mount Sinai Medical Center employees, ranging from nurses to custodial staff. The artists started this project in spring and produced the portraits in their preferred style and medium, based and inspired by photographs and interviews conducted with the staff. Some of the featured employees include: Georgia-born veteran patient care technician Deborah Johnson; registered nurse Miriam Carlson, originally from Nicaragua; Juan Rojas, team leader of environmental services; Ana Roberts, an administrative specialist who grew up in Miami Beach; Haitian-born Djennie Blaise, housekeeping; and security lead officer Tony Cobb, among others.
On The Frontline, art exhibition
"This project has a special meaning to me because I come from a family of servants to the community," said Regans. "My younger brother is an Iraq War Veteran; my older brother is a Fire Rescue Sergeant; and my mother was a retired nurse up until the onset of the pandemic. In the midst of the pandemic, she decided to return to nursing, and currently works as a school nurse. We all serve our community in some way and it's important to me to continue to do so through my work as an artist. We've all seen first-hand that those who we rely on the most are those who are putting themselves at risk every day to keep us safe. I consider the work I created for this project a thank you to those who act selflessly every day."
"The most rewarding part of working here [Mount Sinai Medical Center] is taking care of the patients, making them feel better, and making an impact on their lives and their families," said Rosemonde Pierre, a nurse manager who has worked for Mount Sinai for 10 years. "I am grateful to be part of this project because this time has been very rough for everyone."
Stephen Arboite is a multidisciplinary artist of Haitian descent who was born and raised in New York City and now resides in Miami, Florida. Arboite's work considers beauty outside of classical aesthetic paradigms and places an emphasis on spiritual transformation and evolution of human consciousness.
Morel Doucet is a Miami-based multidisciplinary artist and arts educator. His work portrays a contemporary depiction of the Black experience, cataloging a powerful record of environmental decay at the intersection of economic inequity, the commodification of industry, personal labor and race.
Mark Fleuridor is a Haitian American artist born and raised in Miami, Florida. Fleuridor explores his own personal history within his background and familial experiences. These topics are explored through mediums such as painting, performance, quilting and collage.
William Osorio is a Miami-based artist who was born in Cuba in 1989. His artistic practice consists of a game of concealment and revelation of the subject in an attempt to analyze human behavior. The human figure as a pictorial element becomes an unavoidable reference.
Chire Regans (VantaBlack) believes that her role as an artist is to allow pertinent societal concerns to inform her practice and to amplify the voices of those she engages with through her work. Over the past decade, VantaBlack has become immersed in community advocacy and social narratives depicted without distortion, in a variety of mediums.
Rodrigues Widholm leads the strategic and artistic vision to promote new scholarship, equity and interdisciplinary teaching and learning in exhibitions, collections and programs at BAMPFA. Previously, Rodrigues Widholm was director and chief curator at DePaul Art Museum (2015-2020) and curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (1999-2015).
During the last 20 years, she has organized more than 100 solo and group exhibitions which have been presented at museums across the U.S., such as: DePaul Art Museum, MCA Chicago, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Pérez Art Museum Miami, among others.
This lecture will be streamed on both Oolite's and Locust Projects' Facebook* accounts.
*You do not need a Facebook account to watch the lecture.
Last week, Miami showed Oolite Arts just how deeply it has been affected by COVID-19, and also how generous it is.
"Just after launching a relief fund, additional donors came forward to support Miami's visual artists. As a result, the fund we seeded with $25,000 has grown to more than $100,000, with a substantial commitment from the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation, an increased gift from Oolite and additional contributions from our community.
Unfortunately, the need continues to grow. We are continuing to receive submissions for up to $500 to cover lost income, and are processing them as quickly as we can.
The fund is now accepting donations, so that we can help as many artists as possible." If you're able, you can donate now online at oolitearts.org/relieffund.
The Ellies celebrate the individual artists who are the backbone of Miami’s visual arts community. Artists have helped Miami become one of the most culturally vibrant cities in the United States. For longtime residents and first-time visitors alike, the visual arts are a central part of the Miami experience. Oolite Arts hopes this grant program, which is offering up to $500,000 this year, will be a game changer both for Miami's visual artists and our city, by providing working artists with the resources they need to do their best work. The Ellies are offered in three categories to support Miami-Dade working and emerging artists, art educators, and established, professionally accomplished artists. Applications open April 22, 2020. See link for awards categories, application rules and details:https://oolitearts.org/ellies/
“Starting today, visual artists who are residents of Miami-Dade County can apply for up to $500 to cover lost income...We are starting with $25,000 in seed funding, by repurposing funds saved from canceled Oolite Arts programming that we are now putting back into local artists and the economy. It’s offered on a rolling basis, so please urge your visual artist friends to apply early...We’re thankful that Oolite is in a position to be a resource to artists in this way during COVID-19.”
Also via Oolite Arts: "As the pandemic continues, we are also looking at other ways to support artists through virtual programming and grant opportunities this spring. The Block, our neighborhood short doc competition, is accepting applications now, and The Ellies, Miami’s visual arts awards, will open for submissions April 22, 2020.
The arts are essential to Miami, and so are our artists. We’re grateful to be able to offer this fund to help." See more and apply at oolitearts.org/relieffund
On Sunday, February 23rd at 11:30am enjoy a brunch and a film screening + Q&A of Queen of Hearts at 12:30pm at O Cinema South Beach. Co-presented by O Cinema and Oolite Arts, Art Films presents the best of films by and about artists paired with food & mimosas, followed by a post-film discussion. This edition will feature a screening of Queen of Hearts, an inspiring documentary about the life and work of visual artist Audrey Flack. Known as a trailblazer, Flack’s career evolved from abstract expressionism in the 1950’s to photorealism in the 1970’s. Now 88 years-old, she takes her work in a brand-new direction with her first solo show in years. Don’t miss a special post-film Q&A with the artist, co-director/producer Deborah Shaffer and Oolite’s CEO Dennis Scholl. Get Tickets here.
General Admission: $25 Oolite alumni, residents, members: $5 (email jrivas@oolitearts.org for promo code)
Enjoy the opening night of “It will never become quite familiar to you” at Oolite Arts on Wednesday, July 17th from 7-9pm. Guests will experience an Opening Reception + Artist Open Studios + Alumni Grant drawing. The reception will be held alongside artist open studios, a quarterly event where art lovers can meet the resident artists in their workspaces and learn about their practice. Light bites and drinks will be served. Curated by Angelica Arbelaez. About the Exhibition: Through an exploration of intimate spaces and histories, eight artists investigate life with dual-heritage––having an identity in two places, a complicated relationship to each, and a longing for familiarity to both. With identities rooted in the United States and the global south, the artists manifest the nuances of intersectional identity in a series of deeply personal works creating collective meaning through empathy. This event is FREE and Open to the Public, RSVP here.
Showcasing Artists:
Cristine Brache Amanda Bradley Jesse Chun Paloma Izquierdo Natalia Lassalle Morillo Michelle Lisa Polissaint Jamilah Sabur Agustina Woodgate
