Four Decades Of Oolite Artists Come Together For "It Was Always About You..."
The clay pot is on a pedestal, which conveys a double meaning.
In the annals of Miami's visual arts community, Schneiderman's legacy is deservedly elevated to a pedestal. The visionary artist founded the Art Center of South Florida on Lincoln Road in 1983 after convincing the Miami Beach Commission to accept an offer to buy three properties on the street with financial assistance. His idea was to provide low-cost art studios and exhibition spaces.
In a statement honoring Schneiderman, who died on April 18, 2020 at the age of 80, the industry pioneer recalled the opening of a center on Lincoln Road that will launch lasting change, careers and friendships. Among the artists, including the renaissance of the area.
"I asked for a scholarship," explained the artist. He succeeded after approaching the Miami Beach City Commission with the idea of creating an urban artists' colony. The city agreed to $62,000, he said, "and that allowed me to estimate four dollars a square foot ... the artist told me when he assessed how many feet the group could afford."
"It's Always Been About You..." runs on Wednesday, July 12th and ends on Sunday, September 17th. It features more than 40 artists who have collaborated with Miami Beach's Olight Arts over four decades. "It made sense to put Eli at the center of the exhibit," said Laura Guerrero, program coordinator for Olite Arts, which has organized a group exhibit since 2017 with the nonprofit's president and CEO, Dennis Scholl. “When I contacted the various artists we asked to be on the show, I was very impressed with the strong community that Ellie has built. It was evident that it was something close not only to his heart, but to everyone around him.
For Scholl, "It was always about you..." is bittersweet nostalgia. This will be the last exhibition he will curate at Olyt Arts - he will leave at the end of the summer to focus on his art. To practice
"His catchphrase has always been 'help artists help themselves,' so when Laura and I started talking about this show, we agreed almost immediately that it all started with Eli and that it would be important to honor his memory," Scholl said.
ArtCenter/South Florida, which became ArtCenter/South Florida, sold its iconic building at 800 Lincoln Road for $88 million in 2014, and the proceeds from the sale have continued to grow the organization. Then, in 2019, it was announced that the center would finally move to Miami's Little River neighborhood, where a new $30 million, 26,850-square-foot campus was under construction to house ArtCenter/South Florida Ooliet Arts. She continues to host an artist-in-residence and develop art programs at 924 Lincoln Rd.
Guerrero says, “This show is about art, community and intimacy. It is aimed at analyzing the relationships that artists have had during their evolution, the relationships that have arisen between the arts and the impact that Oolite has had on them and on their careers.
Louise Gispert, one of the "Siempre fue sobre ti..." artists, owned a studio in the South Florida Arts Center for several years in the 1990s.
“At that time, the art scene in Miami was not as big as it is now. There weren't many places where young artists could hang out and do something. We were a group of 20-year-olds. There were artists like William Cordova and John Espinosa who did more,” said Gispert, who Scholl said was one of the artists he initially considered for the group exhibition.
“Some, like Lewis, have had wonderful creative careers. I wanted this exhibition to be the work of people who meant a lot to Olit and who also admired Olit," says Scholl.
When he called Gispert to ask if he would be at the group session, Scholl said he had a special request. "I asked him to borrow one of my favorites." Hispert said yes.
In 2001, Gispert began documenting Chong's iconic Miami girls in his photo series Cheerleaders, which received widespread critical acclaim and transformed Chong's images into high art. His 2002 digital video Watching the Blocks , part of a series of works based on Miami culture, will be shown at Olin. A Miami girl in a crop top plays an alarm in a green room, like it's techno.
When Gispert thinks about the art scene in Miami today compared to what it was in the Art Center studios, he says: “It's night and day. You have not found a place for the exhibition. There was no gallery or collector wanted.' Frances Trombley, another artist featured in It's Always Been About You, spent a year at Ollie in 2019. Then, in 2022, Trombley received an Olite Arts Home + Away Grant to participate in a five-week residency at ArtPac in San Antonio, which changed his work and family life.
"I was able to take my daughter (Penelope) and my husband (artist Liden Rodriguez-Casanova). It's a rare opportunity to be with my family and have my daughter with me," said Trombley. "As a mother, it would be difficult for me to leave the role of watchdog for a month. Ribereria understood my needs. This is exactly the mindset we need, bringing artists together where they are. organizations that are".
Trombley received the Eli Creator Award for Olliet Arts (named after its creator Schneiderman) for his large-scale work that explores textiles and their relationship to paint. The work being shown in the summer exhibition is one of the smaller works created as part of the award.
"He's been very supportive of my practice for a long time," says Trombley.
In 2009, he co-founded the Miami-based alternative art space, Variable Dimensions, with Rodriguez-Casanova, and says his time with Ollie influenced his approach to work.
"In them we see a far-sighted social institution. We have a lot of influence and they definitely inspire us," he says.
The name of the exhibition speaks of the Trombley Oolite. As Scholl explains, he wanted to give the show a name that would distinguish the group's show from everything that happens in the organization. And that's why Oolite has put artists at the center of its mission from day one.
"It's always about being with them," Scholl said. "It's always been about the artists and it always has been."
In addition to Trombley and Gispert, Michael Loveland, John Sanchez, Alette Simmons-Jiménez, Regina Zestro, William Osorio, Jamie Gershen, Baron Scherer, Amanda Bradley, Carlos Betancourt, Gonzalo Fuenmayor, Pablo Cantricani, Laura Marsh, Vicki E. EKIN. . , Tom Virgin, Cheer Reagans, Ahol Smells Like Glue, Roshka B. Tick III, James Herring, Christina Patterson, Emma Rea, T. Eliot Manso, Lou Ann Kolodny, Marielle Plazier, Cara Despain, Diana Eusebio, Jane Clay, Kelly Bridges , Germany Burns, Rose Marie Cromwell, Juan Luis Matas, Beatriz Montevaro, Gavin Perry, Thomas Bills, Rafael Domenech, Mark Cowen, Matthew Forehand, Ernesto Arosa, Carolina Sardi, Agustin Woodgate, Kristen Thiel, Michael Vasquez, Robert Thiele and Reginal Neal .
- Michelle F. Solomon, ArtburstMiami.com
"He's always by your side." Wednesday, July 12 through Wednesday, September 17 at Oolite Arts, 924 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach; 305-674-8278; www.oolitearts.org. Entry is free. Every day from noon to 5:00 p.m
