Artist-in-Residence Archive Project (AIR Archive)

Three images split to show a man in a grey zip-up jacket and grey hat, with grey hair and a close-shaven gray beard, another man in a large-brimmed straw hat and button-up cover shirt with paint on it and a goatee, and a woman with black hair, brown glasses, and brown jacket. These are previous and current Artists-in-Residence of Deering Estate.

The Artist-in-Residence Archive Project (AIR Archive) preserves and showcases the work of Deering Estate’s Artist-in-Residence (AIR), continuing Charles Deering’s legacy as an artist and arts patron. This project documents the creative journeys of past and present AIRs, celebrating their contributions and the residency’s impact.

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Jorge Gonzalez Graupera, an AIR himself, captures these stories through a compelling short film series highlighting the artists’ processes and their influence on South Florida’s cultural landscape.

Learn more about the Deering Estate’s Artists-in-Residence by viewing the short films on the Deering Estate’s YouTube Channel.

AIR Gustavo Matamoros on PBS Art Loft

What if the most powerful art isn’t something you see — but something you hear? As part of The Deering Estate’s Artist Residency Program, sound artist Gustavo Matamoros invites us into a world shaped not by images, but by vibration, memory, and time. From childhood afternoons spent exploring the mysterious sounds between radio stations to creating large-scale installations — Gustavo’s work transforms the way we understand the world around us. “Sound is magic,” he says. “It doesn’t exist in a still image. Sound is about events.” Through the residency, 14 artists will share their creative journeys and studio spaces with the public — building a powerful, symbiotic relationship between artist and community.
 

Art Loft is an Emmy® award-winning 30-minute program, curating and showcasing the best of South Florida’s diverse art scene through thoughtful storytelling. Working together with local makers and partner PBS stations around the country, Art Loft brings you the best of what’s happening in your back yard, as well as around the country.

Watch the full episode of Art Loft here.

Featured AIR Archive Videos

Gretchen Scharnagl grew up in South Florida, beginning her archiving of nature and environmental practice in her mid-forties. She graduated with an MFA from Florida International University, where she still teaches classes in the Architecture Department, Art and Art History Department, and Honors College.

“I use refuse and residue from my past bouts of consuming and upcycle the discards of others and found natural material. My art archives nature, suburban back yards, ecosystems, South Florida including Deering Estate, and our home – Earth. Experiential and research based, my practice includes reading Green Ideas by Penguin, Kinship from The Center for Humans and Nature, and Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet. I consult scientists, whose guidance supports the scientific literacy of my art. Currently playing with palimpsest-based collage, concrete poetry, scribbling, tracing, installation, and mark-making. The understanding that the environment is inseparable from human equity, I now shift toward social/environmental issues within my practice. I use the language of the humanities, poetry, poetic thought, or visual poetry. I measure success in the dialogue my work inspires. A scientist visiting my studio said, ‘You have me looking at things I’ve never looked at.’”

Susana Behar is a Miami-based singer with a distinct Jewish, Cuban, and Venezuelan heritage. Her main interest is in the diversity of traditional music and its dynamic character, focusing on its relation to history, culture, storytelling, and inclusion. In 2015, Susana received the Individual Artist Fellowship Award in the Folk and Traditional Arts from the Florida Department of State – Division of Cultural Affairs. In 2020, she was an Artist-in-Residence at History Miami Museum and has been a resident at Deering Estate since 2023. She has recorded three albums and performed in projects, festivals, and concerts across North and South America, Israel, and Japan, collaborating with musicians from diverse backgrounds and musical traditions.