Rocking Chair Sessions

Amanda Sanfilippo Long would like to acknowledge the following correction: towards the end, she mentions the “High Line” as an exciting upcoming project coming up for Miami-Dade County, she meant to refer to the project as Miami’s “Underline”, which is a similar project to New York’s High Line, both projects designed by James Corner Field Operations. www.theunderline.org

Amanda Sanfilippo Long is the Curator & Artist Manager of Art in Public Places, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs. One of the first public art programs in the country (est. 1973), 1.5% of public land construction costs are allocated for the purchase or commission of artworks. With over 700 works of art in the collection, the program has gained international recognition. Amanda is the Director of the South Florida Cultural Consortium, and the Executive Director and Chief Curator of Fringe Projects. Amanda initiated and directed Art in Public Places’ co-presentation of the Creative Time Summit Miami, 2018. Amanda has held positions at Locust Projects, Miami, FL; Creative Time, New York, NY; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; and the BCA Center, Burlington, VT. She holds an MA in Contemporary Art History, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London; BA in Art History, University of Vermont.

https://miamidadepublicart.org/

http://www.fringeprojectsmiami.com/

Jose Luis Garcia is a Photo-Based Artist, who lives and works in Miami, FL. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Art from New World School of the Arts/University of Florida and his Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art from Florida International University. He has exhibited locally in venues such as the Patricia and Philip Frost Art Museum, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Coral Gables Museum, O Cinema Wynwood in partnership with ArtCenter/South Florida, Bakehouse Art Complex, Laundromat Art Space and Turn-Based Press.

http://www.avantgarci.com/about

Natalya Kochak was born in New York and has since spent time in many different places, from Alabama to Chicago, Berlin to Beijing. She graduated with her BFA and MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and now resides in Miami. Natalya is currently a professor at Miami International University in the visual arts department. She was an artist-in-residence in 2018- 2019 with ProjectArt, teaching displaced teenagers and students from underserved school districts twice a week at the Model City branch of the Miami-Dade Public Library System. Recently, she finished doing a mural for the non- profit Raw Project that places artists in under served schools across the United States to brighten the walls and promote student engagement.

Franky Cruz (b. 1984, Dominican Republic) received his BFA from the New World School of the Arts, Miami, in 2011. He has participated in residencies at HomeBase Project, Berlin, and the Airie Residency at the Everglades National Park, FL, where he explores conservation issues as part of his interdisciplinary practice. Most recently, Cruz completed a residency at Elsewhere in Greensboro, NC. His work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at Miami galleries and spaces including Spinello Projects (2016 & 2014), Dorsch Gallery (2015), and Primary Projects (2011), among others. Cruz currently lives and works in Miami, FL.

https://www.instagram.com/toolooselautrec

Yanira Collado lives/works in Miami FL. Education, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Collado was awarded first place in the 2013 South Florida Biennial at the Art and Cultural Center/Hollywood, Hollywood, FL and was a recipient of The Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, 2018. Group shows include, 10 – A Decade at Dimensions Variable, Fragment at Emerson Dorsch Gallery, Miami, FL, FL, Penumbras: sacred geometries at Project Row Houses, Houston, TX 2019.

http://yaniracollado.net/

Oscar Rieveling is a conceptual artist based in Miami, Florida. His works address questions drawing upon his Mexican heritage and investigation of ritual, folk tradition, and colonial legacy. In parallel with his artistic practice, he serves as Education Manager for The Wolfsonian-FIU. He completed his BA studies in the History of Art and French at Cornell University.

https://www.instagram.com/oscar.iii

Colombian-born, Miami-raised, Mateo is a photo-based artist. Growing up amongst a predominantly Latin culture, observing the striking humanistic similarities within the city serve as a muse to create work that emphasizes the beauty found within life. Being drawn to the peculiar exploration of the human experience, Mateo uses the camera as a tool to navigate through conversations that develop through organic interactions between people and the environment. Focusing on the premise that process is more important than product, the main drive of the artist rests within establishing a relationship with his subjects so that they, through dialogue unravel a guarded trust and thus illuminate their true essence.

https://www.mateosernazapata.com/

Rhea Leonard (b. 1991) born and raised in South Florida, is an African American artist that utilizes drawing, printmaking and sculpture within her art practice. She explores topics highlighting the Black body and how society affects Black psychology through her detailed, and poignant figurative works. She received her MFA from Florida International University and her BFA from University of Florida through New World School of the Arts College. Her work has been on display at Red Bridge Studios, The African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, The Art and Culture Center of Hollywood as well as with Art Africa Miami and RAW PopUp. She has also been a participating artist in the Contemporary Art Program LAB with Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. As a 2018 recipient of the Betty Laird Perry Award, her work is part of The Betty Laird Perry Emerging Artist Collection at the Patricia & Philip Frost Art Museum. She is currently a resident of The Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami, Florida.

https://cargocollective.com/rlart

My passion for Fiber Art started at a very young age. Creating with wool was only natural in my native country of Uruguay, where the number of sheep far exceeds the number of inhabitants. My beginnings were in tapestry and knitting. Quilting, free style embroidery, yarn bombing and fiber installations followed my ever-evolving fiber path. After graduating with a B.A. in Law in Montevideo, Uruguay and moving to the United States, I saw a chance to pursue my passion for art and creating. I attended Parsons School of Design in NYC, so that I could fulfill my creative side. I am now a 2020 candidate for MFA in Visual Arts from Miami International University of Art and Design.

https://evelynpolitzer.com/

Nicole Maynard-Sahar is an artist-in-residence at the Bakehouse Art Complex in the Wynwood Arts District of Miami. She most recently participated in the official studio tour of Art Basel Miami, Smash and Grab at Locust Projects, La Pinta Art Fair, Between the Legible and the Opaque: Approaches to an Ideal in Place curated by Adler Guerrier (on view through March 31, 2020), and New Work at the Bakehouse Art Complex curated by Justin Long. She earned awards at the University of Pennsylvania for painting and color theory. Originally from Boston, Maynard-Sahar relocated to Miami in June 2017.

https://maynardsahar.com/