The Deering Estate at Cutler Welcomes Their 2014-2015 Artists in Residence
(MIAMI, September 12, 2014) — The Deering Estate at Cutler seeks to continue Charles Deering’s legacy of art patronage by supporting emerging and mid-career artists who work in a multitude of disciplines and media. The prestigious and competitive Artist in Residence Program is a direct extension of this legacy and acts as wonderful incubator for creative ideas, unique experiences, and collaborative opportunities that engage the public.
We are pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s residency opportunities. Studio Residencies are housed in our Artist Village Buildings – the Carriage House and the Power House and were awarded to Visual Artists Gerry Stecca, Magnus Sodamin, Luis Lazo, Elaine R. Defibaugh, and Literary Artists Vanessa Garcia and Nicole Hospital-Medina. Project Residencies consist of specific interactions with the Estate and its resources and was awarded to Visual Artist Michael Gellatly, Composer Juraj Kojs, and Performing and Educational groups, Lost Girls Theatre Company, Tandem Theatre Project, Inc., TheatreSouth Atlanta, Inc., Greater Miami Youth Symphony (GMYS), and the Deering Estate Chamber Ensemble.
2014-2015 ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE
Gerry Stecca - Painting and Sculpture in Studio 4 – West side of Carriage House
August 2013 through May 2015
Artist in Residence Gerry Stecca, based in Miami since 1988, has been inspired by his lifelong interest in the sciences as well a range of collaborative experiences with multiple creative industries His current work, enriched by his emersion in the natural landscape of the Deering Estate, seeks to consolidate his two main interests of sculptural installation and painting. This second phase of his residency has offered him an opportunity to explore this intersection while creating site inspired works.
Stecca's work can be found in numerous permanent collections including the University of Maine Museum of Art, the Fort Smith Museum of Art in Arkansas, and The Port Angeles Fine Arts Center in Washington State. His work and video interviews have been featured in HGTV' Color Splash, Miami's DECO DRIVE and most recently on ART LOFT (WPBT2) as well in print publications.
Magnus Sodamin– Painting and Installation, Studio 5 – East side of Power House
August 2014 through July 2015
Artist in Residence Magnus Sodamin was born in New York, New York and received a BFA from New World School of the Arts in Miami. His work is described as invoking Galactic imagery by utilizing lush abstract surfaces, inspirations that he gains from his countless hours in nature. His project proposal, Illuminations, which will include his large scale paintings and projections, seeks to create a collaborative experience between painting, performance, light and sound. Sodamin’s work has been featured in group exhibitions in Lillehammer, Norway and throughout Miami. He is represented by Primary Projects, a multidisciplinary project space in downtown Miami.
Luis Lazo - Photography in Studio 6 – West Side of Carriage House
July 2014 throughDecember 2014
Artist in Residence Luis Lazo was born in Chile and lived in England and France before relocating to Miami. He studied photography at the Bournville School of art and holds a degree in Visual Communication from the University of Wolverhampton, UK. His residency project includes the incorporation of site specific installations, text, and artists collaborations to his normal practice. He looks forward to creating this new body of work as a direct response to the unique sense of time and place within the walls and grounds of the Deering Estate.
In addition to an extensive portfolio of professional still and portrait photography in international publications, his work is held in many public and private collections such as Girls Club Fort Lauderdale, FL, and Robert Fontaine in Miami, FL. He is represented by Dina Mitrani Gallery in Miami.
Elaine Defibaugh - Painting in Studio 6 – West Side of Carriage House
January 2015 through July 2015
Artist in Residence Elaine Defibaugh grew up in Western Pennsylvania and received a BFA from East Texas State University and an MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Drawn to the foliage, trees and ocean, in 2010, she began living in Miami part of the year maintaining a studio at Fountainhead Studios. Defibaugh’s work explores the juxtaposition of the urban and the natural through painting. She often uses fluorescent paint then illuminates the paintings under both black light and natural light in order to contrast the differences between cityscape and landscape and to suggest alternate realities.
In addition to several solo shows in South Florida, Gallery ID, Art & Culture Center of Hollywood, Pyramid Studio Gallery, she is the recipient of two Pollock Krasner Grants, 2011 and 2013, Constance Saltonstall Foundation Grant, 2008, and several SOS grants from the Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester. Her work is in the collections of Whitney Gallery at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Suny Brockport College, Kathryn & Dan Mikesell, Butler Institute of American Art, the Memorial Art Gallery, The University of Wisconsin, Pensacola State College, Jewish Homes Foundation, RIT, and various private collections.
Vanessa Garcia - Literary Artist in Studio 1 – East side of Carriage House
July 2014 through May 2015
Artist in Residence Vanessa Garcia is a multi-media and cross-genre artist, writer, journalist, and playwright born in Miami Beach, FL. She earned her BA form Barnard College, Colombia University, and an MFA in Creative writing form the University of Miami and an MA from Univ. of California, Irvine. Garcia’s residency will consist of research about Charles Deering’s conservation of the ecosystems of the Estate expressed through poetry, hybrid text, and collaborative projects. Her Written Project My Cuban Routes, about ABC’s, American Born Cubans, is a book of creative non-fiction that combines memoir and personal narrative with literary journalism and historical context.
In addition to writing and reporting for various publications including The New York Times; The LA Times; The Miami Herald; HowlRound; Fourth Genre; and Narrative.ly, she is also a Huffington Post Blogger, and was one of four Literature Finalists, worldwide, in the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative. Her play, The Cuban Spring, will have its world premiere at New Theatre Miami in the fall of 2014.
Nicole Hospital-Medina - Literary Artist in Studio 1 – East side of Carriage House
June 2014 through May 2015
Artist in Residence Nicole Hospital-Medina earned her MFA at the University of Miami where she now instructs writing; she also instructs writing at Barry University. Her poems can be read in the anthology, Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence, as well as in CURA: A Journal of Art and Action, The Miami Herald, Linden Lane Magazine, Paper Nautilus, Blunderbuss Magazine, The Acentos Review and more.
Nicole, Floridian, surfer, sailor, teacher and environmentalist, ventures to write.
The Deering Estate, with its loyalty to natural Florida, harbors the intricacies of its histories, the foundation of its current societies. She explains, "As soon as I park at the Estate, I absorb the landscape, the history, the 'Florida' of it all. My thinking patterns change. My imagination becomes green, blue and mango. Hence, my composition thickens, and as I lay it down in a structure like the novel I’m working on or a new swampy poem, it, like a vine, overtakes my tone, setting, mood, material, imagination and character development." Born in the unique landscape of Florida, surrounded by the rich variances in its cultural history, Nicole intends to examine the intricacies of this humid, subtropical, near-paradise from the inside out, to lay them out tellingly on the pages of her literature. For more info. contact [email protected].
Michael Gellatly - Project Residency - Botanical Investigations
September 2013 through August 2015
Project Artist in Residence Michael Gellatly, originally from Connecticut, is a fine artist with extensive work experience in the field of illustration. We welcome him back this season to further explore the historic plant collections of John Kunkel Small and create works that reinterpret traditional botanical imagery. The eight unique ecosystems at the Estate will be the backdrop and inspiration for his new series of mixed media works.
Gellatly has held many teaching positions, teaching art to young Montessori students, college, nursing homes, and currently at the Arts4Learning Program (Miami) and Palmer Trinity. His residency experiences have included the Millay Art Colony, Austerlitz, NY (2010), The Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT (2011), and the Bakehouse, Wynwood, Miami (2013). He has been commissioned by Random House, illustrating a series of embellished maps for George R.R. Martin's (Game of Thrones author) soon to be released book, World of Ice and Fire.
Juraj Kojs - Composer in Residence
Composer in Residence Juraj Kojs had been working with the Deering Estate Chamber Ensemble for several seasons to present his unique compositions within the Living Artist Concert Series. Kojs is a Slovakian composer, performer, multimedia artist and producer permanently residing in the US. His creative and research work reaches to the areas of music at the threshold of hearing, action-based acoustic and electro acoustic music, concert music, dance music, interactive audio-visual performance, muscle-powered multimedia, music with everyday objects and toys and graphic notation.
Kojs holds a PhD in Composition and Computer Technologies from the University of Virginia, is a co-founder of Foundation for Emerging Technologies and Arts (FETA) and the ensemble SoflA: Sonorities of Interactive Acoustics. He organizes 12 Nights and Acoustica 21, concert series at the Harlod Golen Gallery in Miami, FL. He has held teaching appointments at Aalborg University in Copenhagen, Denmark, Yale University, University of Virginia, an Miami International University of Art and Design and is currently an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Music Theory and Composition at University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.
Lost Girls Theatre Company - Performing Artist in Residence Group
Artists in Residence Lost Girls Theatre Company, Co-Artistic Directors Andie Arthur and Katherine Siegel are on a mission to recreate a sense of wonder. Lost Girls Theatre focuses on highly visual storytelling that addresses modern concerns through the lens of classical themes and pop culture. They strive to bring the excitement of unique and original theatrical performances to audiences both young and young at heart.
Lost Girls Theatre brings their project residency to life this season as they present script in hand readings of plays by emerging playwrights. Located in the new theatre at the Deering Estate at Cutler Visitor Center, made possible by a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation grant, this event is part of a series of innovative multidisciplinary Theatre Lab programming and residencies.
Tandem Theatre Project, Inc.- Youth Theatre Artists in Residence
July 2013 through July 2015
We welcome back Artist in Residence Group, Tandem Theatre Project, Inc. to the Deering Estate at Cutler to run their specialized Tandem Teens Program, Musical Theatre Productions, and Theatre Arts Summer Camps. TANDEM is a 501C(3) not-for-profit children’s theatre company and proud resident of Palmetto Bay, FL. Their mission is to provide quality theatre arts opportunities which will enhance creativity and build self-esteem in our young participants through classes, theatrical experiences, and productions. The Tandem Teens Program, designed for the advanced young musical theatre performer, age 13-18, is an audition based program focusing on enhancing skills in acting, singing and dancing. Summer 2015will represent the third summer of camp programming.
Creative and Artistic Directors Robin Barson and Jeannie Sensale met in 1999 and discovered a shared passion, not only for the theatre, but also for a style of teaching children and enriching cultural education through the Arts. For the past decade they shared a common goal, to open a unique Children’s Theatre Company in South Florida. Collectively, Ms. Barson and Ms. Sensale have spent 9 seasons running and teaching theatre camps and classes throughout South Florida including Theatre Arts Camp at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Actor’s Playhouse in Coral Gables, the Performance Project of Davie, Florida Grand Opera and Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center (SMDCAC). Public school theatre includes more than 7 years with the Miami Dade Public School System at Ammons Middle School.
TheatreSouth Atlanta, Inc.- Theatre Artists in Residence
October 2014 through October 2015
Artist in Residence Group TheatreSouth Atlanta, one of South Florida’s newest performing arts companies, is being led by 42 year theatre veteran, Founder/Artistic Director Herman LeVern Jones, MFA. In addition to 2013-2014 season productions at South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center, Florida International University’s Modisto Maidique Campus at the Graham Hall, the Phichol Williams Community Center in Homestead, Pinecrest Gardens, Miami Gardens Outdoor Festival, TheatreSouth provided complimentary performances for more than 1,600 Miami Dade County Public School students and 4,600 theater goers.
TheatreSouth will debut with February performances and workshops in honor of African-American History Month. With many of South Florida’s premier performers of all ages, cultures, and creeds, they will present the Broadway musical production "I Have A Dream" starring Broadway actor Jahi Kearse as international icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and produced/directed by Herman LeVern Jones.
Greater Miami Youth Symphony - Youth Performing Artists in Residence
June 2014 through June 2015
Youth Artist in Residence Group Greater Miami Youth Symphony (GMYS), founded in 1958 by composer and University of Miami professor Robert Strassberg, was created to provide independent and complementary programs to music education in Miami area schools. This legacy continues today with a county wide program of orchestra concerts, competitions, workshops, masterclasses, camps and music education programs under new Director Milton Ruben Laufer.
Working with Program Director Ms. Lakeisha Frith, we are pleased to continue this relationship and to present the GMYS Holiday Concert and Recital at the Deering Estate at Cutler on December 12, 2014. GMYS presents Saturday Music Education Classes at the Estate as well as a season of Master classes and Summer Camp in conjunction with support from the Miami Dade Department of Cultural Affairs and grants from the Children’s Trust.
Deering Estate Chamber Ensemble - Performing Artists in Residence
Deering Estate Chamber Ensemble is comprised of founding members: Jose R. Lopez, piano (Coordinator of Keyboard Studies, Florida International University), Ross Harbaugh, cello (University of Miami), and Laura Wilcox, viola. This ensemble came together out of a mutual respect for nature and the beautiful Deering Estate with a love to perform chamber music, work with living composers, and interact with history, nature and other art forms. Thanks to The Deering Estate Foundation, Inc. and Miami-Dade County Parks, the ensemble has been able to fulfill a unique partnership with The Deering Estate at Cutler. The ensemble is in their eighth season (2014-2015) and through a commitment to excellence in programming and education, the ensemble looks forward to presenting public master-classes and lectures for audiences of all ages.
About the Deering Estate at Cutler
The Deering Estate at Cutler, a Miami-Dade County Park, is located at 16701 SW 72 Avenue in Miami. This 444-acre natural and archeological preserve and historic site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and serves as a center for education, culture and recreation. Historic house tours are offered daily at 10:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. and are free with Estate admission. For more information on the Deering Estate's educational and cultural programs, please visit www.deeringestate.org.