Deering Contemporary

DEERING CONTEMPORARY 2024
Interlocking Dimensions: Eco-Art

January 21 – March 24, 2024

The Deering Contemporary is the annual contemporary art exhibition that invites artists to explore themes related to the site from a variety of artistic disciplines and approaches. This year’s iteration focuses on Eco-Art and invites local artists to engage with the theme from an anthropological viewpoint. Traditionally, Eco-Art has occupied the minds of individuals who strive to expand consciousness about how to care for and preserve our planet’s limited resources. Historically, artists have shared their stance on how they feel individuals, politicians, and institutions, among other powerful entities, have argued over climate change as a threat and how art can hold the power to spread awareness on the issue. As individuals and communities have grown more environmentally conscious and aware of climate change, discussions about pollution and rising sea levels, for example, are integrated into artists’ narratives and addressed within all artistic disciplines.

Often, sculptural eco-art can come in the form of found art- with waste products being reused, recycled, or otherwise repurposed to create an environmentally friendly message. Elements such as plastic waste, discarded single-use or disposable items (sometimes called ephemera), non-biodegradable waste, or other associated items are commonly found among Eco-Art sculptures. The conceptual scope has also included human and nonhuman entities as part of our environment and the phenomenal world we perceive with our senses, and how we adapt and make sense of the world by ways of culture and through our narratives. Hence, the dimensionality of Eco-Art in this exhibition brings forth a variety of viewpoints of the natural world and the social environment as we understand it through our lived experiences, rituals, and habits.

According to social anthropologist Tim Ingold, the boundaries of Eco-Art transcend the connection between humans and their natural surroundings. Eco-Art is not just about environmentalism and sustainability but about reconnecting with the living world in a meaningful and emotionally satisfying way. The questions of what it means to be human (how we know, think, imagine, perceive, act, remember, learn, converse in language, live with others, organize ourselves into societies, relate to the environment, confront mortality, etc.); these questions can no longer be answered without acknowledging the importance of nonhuman beings in the lives of humans. Following up on this approach, the artists in Interlocking Dimensions: Eco-Art help us to reconnect and understand the relationships that constitute how we perceive, relate, and respond to the world. They have learned to reconfigure relationships in the context of Eco-Art as a sense of ethical belonging to the natural world. They seek to address these questions with deep involvement in observation, conversation, and participatory practice. In this way, their stance on Eco-Art and the message they hope to spread is that Eco-Art can also be seen as a powerful tool for self-discovery, coexistence, and placement in the world.

The works range from sculpture, installation, photography, film, performance, and painting and sprawl across the Estate’s grounds and in the Great Hall of the Stone House with special curated film screenings at the Deering Estate theater, workshops, and other programming during the exhibition.

Exhibiting artists include Susana Behar, Annie Blazejack, Andres Cabrera-Garcia, Giannina Dwin, Tony Fernandez, Jorge Gonzalez-Graupera, Jeanne Jaffe, Pangea Kali Virga, Geddes Levenson, Lili(ana), Laura Marsh, Briana Ortiz, Gretchen Scharnagl, Tory Scott, Barron Sherer and Meg Wallace.

Exhibit is on display from January 21 through March 24. The opening reception will be held on Sunday, January 21, 2024.

Sunday, January 21, 2024: Schedule of activities

Deering Contemporary: Schedule of activities

About exhibiting artists:
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, with focus on its relation to history, culture, storytelling and inclusion. In 2015, Susana received the Individual Artist Fellowship Award in the Folk and Traditional Arts by the Florida Department of State – Division of Cultural Affairs, and in 2020, Susana was Artist in Residence at the History Miami Museum. 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.

Geddes Levenson and Annie Blazejack both grew up in Miami, FL. They have been creating and showing work together for over a decade. In their paintings and installations, they explore the relationship between humans and ecosystems as climate change becomes increasingly inevitable. Blazejack received her MFA from The School of the Museum of Fine arts, Boston/ Tufts University, and Levenson received her MFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY. Notably, Blazejack and Levenson have installed solo shows at Lump Projects, Raleigh NC; Anchorlight, Raleigh, NC; The Carrack, Durham, NC; The Art and Culture Center, Hollywood, FL; Placeholder Gallery, Miami, FL; and The White Page Gallery, Minneapolis, MN. They have also shown at The National Liberty Museum, Philadelphia, PA; The Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh, NC; Locust Projects, Miami, FL; and Norte Maar Art Space, Brooklyn, NY.

Laura Marsh (b.1982 Binghamton, NY) lives and works in Miami, FL. She received her MFA from Yale University School of Art [Sculpture (2009)] and a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art [Painting (2006)]. Marsh is a textile artist who incorporates text about contemporary social and class issues. Her primary materials are fabric combined with that statements quoting well-known labor leaders, feminist icons, and her own poetic musings. Selected solos include “Unsolicited Advice,” HUB-Robeson Galleries, Penn State University, Pennsylvania (2023), “Knots Hold Intentionality,” DotFiftyone Gallery (2022), “Entwined,” Deering Estate (2020), “New Havens”, Locust Projects, Maimi, Florida (2018). Marsh has exhibited nationally at venues including The Whitney Museum of American Art (2016), Printed Matter (2023), Jane Lombard Gallery (2021), Locust Projects (2018), and Bernice Steinbaum Gallery (2023). Marsh is in the collections of Francie Bishop Good and David Horvitz, Victoria J. Rogers, Dennis and Debra Scholl, and Mindy and Michael Solomon. She has been an artist in residence at Oolite Arts, Miami Beach, Mana Contemporary, Miami and New Jersey, and Siena Art Institute, Siena, Italy. Marsh is represented by Dot Fiftyone Gallery in Miami.

Giannina Dwin has been the recipient of several grants and awards including the prestigious South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship among many other sponsorships. Her work has been included in national and international exhibitions as part of solo and group shows. Some of her solo installations include the Cornell Museum in Delray Beach; P/81 Gallery in Allapatah, Miami; Fundación Valdes-Salas in Asturias, Spain; the contemporary wing of the Museo Municipal de Guayaquil, Ecuador; Illegal Gallery, Florence, Italy. Selected group shows include venues such as Bref Art and Design, Paris France, Ca’Doro Gallery, Chelsea, New York; Spinello Projects, Miami, Fl.; Miami Design District Pop Up; ArtHill, Gallery, London, UK., and many more. She has completed public art sculptures for Broward County Cultural Council at the City of West Palm Beach among others. Dwin Is a multidisciplinary artist, she works on installations, sculpture, ceramics, photography, and performance.

Tony Fernandez began undergraduate work at the University of Florida, where he received the BA in Liberal Arts. While at UF, he studied two semesters with Jerry N. Uelsmann, a gifted teacher and photographer who enlightened him to the Art of Photography. Later, under the guidance of Aaron Siskind, he completed the MFA in Photography at the Institute of Design in Chicago. His interest in teaching took him to East Lansing, Michigan, where he completed the Ph.D. in Education at Michigan State University. His career as an educator spans four decades, having taught at the elementary, secondary, and college level. He began the Photography program at the New World School of the Arts in Miami, where he is still an adjunct instructor of Photography and Cinematography. His photographs are in the George Eastman House and The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Jorge Gonzalez-Graupera is an Emmy® Award winning director, director of photography, and editor. He has collaborated extensively with non-profits, museums, and institutions of higher learning, documenting their impactful initiatives. As a director, Jorge has spearheaded diverse projects, delivering exceptional content for esteemed organizations such as The Deering Estate, Florida International University, CMXNR, NPR, The Bass Museum, O, Miami, and numerous others. His film “John William Balilly: In Situ at the Deering Estate” has been awarded two 2023 Emmy awards for “Long Form Content” and “Best Audio”.

Jeanne Jaffe is a multidisciplinary artist working in sculpture, stop motion animation, video, and drawing who recently moved to Florida. She is Professor Emeritus at University of the Arts in Philadelphia and has been a visiting artist at Xian Academy of Fine Arts in China. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Grant for the installation “Elegy for Tesla”, a Gottlieb Foundation grant for sculptural excellence, PA Council on the Arts grant, among many others. Her work inspired by an interest in language, literature, history, and psychology. It explores how identity is shaped from early childhood onward by the influences of stories, histories, cultural narratives, and the value systems embedded in them.

Pangea Kali Virga was born and raised in New York and lives and works in Miami, Florida. Social responsibility is pivotal to her art, as she attempts to communicate urgent, difficult messages in beautiful and fun ways through narrative layered fiber art works, murals, and collages, dramatic experiential art and performance, free and public sustainable art and skills workshops, and other collaborative projects with public and private community and arts institutions. Pangea has dedicated herself to helping transform the art and fashion industry to be a more sustainable and equitable one, creating art and wearables out of upcycled materials using zero waste practices, supporting her belief in the power of clothing as storyteller, cultural marker, and political catalyst. Outside of her core practice, Kali Virga is a sustainability advocate and lecturer, educator and mentor to many members of the public including emerging student artists of all ages. She has found great comfort and liberation through art, fashion, and nature and the work she creates is made in hopes of extending those experiences to the viewer and wearer.

Lili(ana) is an interdisciplinary / multimedia artist. Her work explores different territories and scales: from intimate works that evoke encounters with the invisible to interactive installations that address social concerns. Her constant search for inner understanding through external expression has led her to investigate different formats and media. Lives and works in South Florida since 1997. She received two Broward County Artist Support Grants (2022 & 2023) and the inaugural Artist-in-Residence in C.B. Smith Park, Pembroke Pines, Florida (2022). She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions around the world.

Briana Ortiz is a working artist born and raised in Miami, Florida. She graduated from Miami Dade College with an Associate Degree in Visual arts with an emphasis on ceramics and sculpture. Briana graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual arts degree from the University of Florida at New World School of the Arts in Downtown Miami. Her work transforms discarded materials into organic forms. The focus of her sculptures shifts between the environment and the personal investigation of place and identity. Drawing connections to the environment and cultural identity. Briana has received the GSELS (Global Sustainability and Earth Literacy) scholar award form Miami Dade College for her efforts and emphasis on environmental issues.

Tori Scott is a multidisciplinary artist based in Miami, Florida. Scott received her BFA in Studio Art from Florida International University in 2020 and is pursuing her MA in Museum Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Upon completing his studies at FIU, Scott was honored with the Betty Laird Perry Purchase Award from the Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum for her work, “Etherline Kendrick.” Scott’s creative journey is guided by a profound commitment to exploring and preserving culture, experiences, and memories. With her work, she strives to delve into the depths of collective histories, celebrating the richness and resilience of the Black community while shedding light on the struggles, joys, and unique stories that shape identity.
Scott employs painting, digital photography, and installations as vehicles to communicate the intricacies and complexities of the Black experience. Her work becomes a channel through which the intangible heritage of the past and present can be conveyed for future endeavors. In 2021, Scott participated in an Art Education and Social Impact Residency with ProjectArt Miami, where she led weekly after-school art classes for elementary and middle school students. Her teachings comprised art history, group activities, and mixed media art. As of 2023, Scott has presented work in several group exhibitions, including “An Elegy to Rosewood,” commemorating the 100th year since the tragic massacre at the Frost Art Museum; the G-Ma, Mama, and Nana exhibition at the FIU MBUS gallery in honor of Women’s History Month; and the Yiayia, Nana, Abuela, and Grandmother exhibition at the Tunnel Projects gallery, and “Banned” showcased at the Lowe Art Museum.

Barron Sherer is a time-based media artist with a background in moving image archival practices focusing on altering and repurposing archived films and videos in cinematic, para-cinematic, and gallery installation contexts. Artistic processes in social media and digital platforms help Barron create source material and documentation for temporary and experiential installations. His films and videos have been screened locally, nationally, and internationally. His practice has led to awards, commissions, fellowships, and residencies including a 2020 Oolite Arts Ellies Creators Award, and in 2017, a South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship.

Meg Wallace, a native of South Florida, is a multidisciplinary artist known for her dynamic and emotionally charged works. Her art explores the relationship between social and environmental ecosystems. Influenced by the chaos and beauty of life and her travels around the world, Wallace’s art invites viewers to contemplate the interconnectedness of their own experiences.
Over the past decade, Wallace has exhibited her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the “Mother Mangrove” series at the Stone House Museum in 2020 and the Palmetto Bay Government Center Art in Public Places exhibit from 2021-22′. In 2023, she was awarded the Professional Development award by the Florida Department of State Division of Arts & Culture and the MIA grant by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor, and the Board of County Commissioners.

Andres Cabrera-Garcia is a Cuban-born artist who has lived and worked in Cuba, Spain, and the United States. Currently, Cabrera-Garcia lives and works in Miami, Florida. Cabrera-Garcia’s work explores identity, place, and belonging as it relates to the genre of landscape, the process of oil painting, and the materiality of the painting medium. Landscapes in their native beauty, their transformation from natural to urban, and their steering away from pristine states are recurrent themes in his work. Exhibitions within this theme include the solo shows “Circumscribed Landscapes” at Deering Estate in Miami, Florida, “Krome Avenue: Paintings by Andres Cabrera” (2019) at Coral Gables Museum in Coral Gables, Florida and the group show “Outside of Cuba, contemporary art in Switzerland” (2018) at Jardins Du Vullierens, Switzerland. Cabrera-Garcia won 3rd place in the 8th Edition of the Paint-me Miami competition (2019) at Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami, Florida and is a 2023-2025 studio-based Artist-in Residence at the Deering Estate.

Gretchen Scharnagl is an American artist from Connecticut who came to Florida as a child. Her work includes two-dimensional works, the ephemeral, semi-performative, and installation, with a commitment to the environment through eco-materialism and bricoleur practices. Her interest adheres to theories of garbology, recycling, and cannibalizing with fidelity to time and place. Solo exhibitions in South Florida include “Earth 2019” at Miami Beach Urban Studios and “Migration” at Deering Estate’s Stone House in 2019.

The Deering Estate maintains the legacy of Charles Deering of supporting artists and creative innovation through its vigorous residency and exhibition program. The Deering Spring Contemporary has always been a platform for artists to explore the site and illustrate different facets of the history of the site and its surroundings.

Cultural Arts Programming at the Deering Estate is made possible with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, and The Deering Estate Foundation, Inc.

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