Awards, Fellowships from Several Organizations Go to Miami-Dade County based recipients

Bo Ty and Liz Ferrer, known as LIZN’BOW received the Knight Foundations Knight Arts + Tech Awards, which awards $50,000. (Photo courtesy of the artists)

Miami-Dade County is well represented in the recent announcement of awards and fellowships from several organizations.

The Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA) selected Miami-based writer and researcher Lauren Baccus as one of its 2026 Research Fellows.

Baccus writes about arts education, contemporary art, and Caribbean visual culture with a focus on identity, memory and belonging in the Caribbean and its diasporas.

Her proposal “Intimate Archives and Black Feminist Memory” examines how Caribbean women photographers use images of family and everyday life to preserve personal histories often erased by official history.

WOPHA’s fellowship supports two writers researching women and nonbinary voices in photography. Fellows receive funding to produce a scholarly essay, along with mentorship and publication opportunities.

The South Florida Cultural Consortium (SFCC) awarded grants to 14 individual artists, including 10 based in Miami-Dade County.

The consortium is made up of the arts councils of Broward County, Martin County, Miami-Dade County, Monroe County and Palm Beach County.

The Miami-based winners include:

Mark Delmont, a multidisciplinary artist whose work incorporates wood, metal, steel, denim and leather elements.

Diana Larrea, a Peruvian documentary filmmaker, photographer and visual artist.

Amanda Linares, a Cuban-born multidisciplinary artist based at the Bakehouse Art Complex whose work is rooted in materials and responds to specific sites.

Rachelle Salnave, a Haitian American filmmaker and producer whose work focuses on the global Black experience.

Onajide Shabaka, an interdisciplinary artist, writer and curator focusing on geographic historical and historical themes of the African diaspora and Native American cultures.

Lauren Shapiro, a ceramic sculptor and installation artist whose studio is at the Bakehouse Art Complex and who creates site-specific artworks inspired by marine and botanical systems.

Nina Surel, a multidisciplinary artist whose ceramic pieces are inspired by rites of passage and themes of fertility. She is based at The 62 Collective in Liberty City.

Lisu Vega, a Venezuelan American fiber artist whose multidisciplinary work incorporates engraving, photography, sculpture, installation and fashion art.

Elliot and Erick Jiménez, Cuban American twin brothers and Miami natives whose photographs blur the line between photography and painting. The duo’s exhibition “Elliot and Erick Jiménez: El Monte” was recently shown at the Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM).

All the artists’ works are exhibited in a special exhibition at the Works by the grant recipients are on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami through Oct. 4, 2026.

The Knight Foundation Knight Arts + Tech Awards granted $50,000 to five artists. The grant supports artists working at the intersection of art and technology.

Among the recipients were Miami-based LIZN’BOW (Liz Ferrer and Bow Ty), a collaborative duo whose practice spans performance, video, music, immersive installation and new media using pop culture and social commentary.

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

‘Ceaseless Beauty’ A Full-Sensory Chamber Music Experience

Juraj Kojš at The Gates performance for Miami Light Project. The composer performs Wednesday, May 13 in a concert in Coconut Grove. (Photo by Linda Phelps)

Miami-based composer Juraj Kojš has a reputation for pushing musical boundaries with his use of electronics and multimedia.  Yet, for his upcoming concert, “Ceaseless Beauty,” he returns to his classical beginnings with original compositions for cello, piano, viola, and piano.

For Kojš, the concert is a deeply personal one, featuring works that explore memory, emotion, and Kojš’s Slovak identity. The music draws on textures inspired by Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt, and blends romantic influences with North American minimalism.  Kojš applies recurring melodic gestures that  create a meditative atmosphere for what he describes as “music that carries the residue of a 19th-century, suffering artist, deep in a forest.”

Kojš’s formal training in classical piano and composition at the Bratislava State Conservatory became the foundation of his work. Later on, while studying under the influential composer, Judith Shatin, founder of the Computer Music Center at the University of Virginia, and Stafania Serafin, at Florida International University,  he expanded into electronic media. Today Kojš is as much at home with the classical chamber music form as he is with a synthesizer and he embraces this plurality without hierarchy.

This concert will not only bridge these different musical structures, it will include new musical formats. Pieces from his album of the same name, “Ceaseless Beauty,” developed during an artist residency at the Deering Estate, return in a new, live context with an ensemble that features violinist Scott Flavin, violist Jodi Levitz, cellist Ross Harbaugh, and pianist Jacob Mason. Each musician brings a wealth of experience and talent to the stage.

Scott Flavin, a professor of violin and chamber music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, has a multi-faceted violin career as chamber musician, orchestral concertmaster and soloist. He is a member of the Bergonzi Piano Trio and PULSE Trio. He currently is concertmaster of the Symphony of the Americas, and was long-time concertmaster for Florida Grand Opera and Miami City Ballet.

Jodi Levitz is an internationally acclaimed violist, renowned for her advocacy of contemporary viola repertoire and her dynamic career as both performer and educator. A former principal violist and soloist with I Solisti Veneti, she is currently Professor of Viola at the Frost School of Music and Artistic Director of the Stamps Ensembles.

Ross Harbaugh is professor of cello at the Frost School of Music and a member of the Bergonzi String Quartet with a distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. He is also a founding member of the New World Quartet and winner of the Naumburg Prize.

Jacob Mason is an American pianist known for his virtuosic technique and adventurous repertoire, gained early recognition with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and the New World Symphony. A graduate of the Frost School of Music and the Hochschule für Musik Basel, he is co-founder of the ensemble Ex-Sentia.

Kojš designed the performance to provide a full sensory experience for audiences.  He has enlisted transdisciplinary artist, Dimitry Saïd Chamy, to create video works based on footage captured in his native, mountainous, Liptov region, by Kojš’s sister, Mariana Kojšová.  Additionally, each piece of music will be accompanied by Kojš’s original poetry that echoes his Slovakian homeland.

WHAT:  “Ceaseless Beauty”

WHERE: St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church  2750 McFarlane Road, Coconut Grove

WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 13

COST: $10 at  www.eventbrite.com

INFORMATION: kojs.net/

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com

Wade Tullier’s Deceptive Simplicity at Primary

Little Haiti Book Festival Continues Its Evolution of Representation

Jean-Marie Willer Denis, known as Jean Mapou in the Haitian community, co-founded the Little Haiti Book Festival in 2012 with Sosyete Koukouy to create a platform for Haitian writers to present and sell their books. This year’s festival is Sunday, May 3. (Photo courtesy of Little Haiti Book Festival)

South Florida is home to about 130,000 people born in Haiti and nearly 300,000 of Haitian descent. But just being visible in Miami doesn’t guarantee understanding.

That’s where the Little Haiti Book Festival comes in.

Now in its 14th year, the Little Haiti Book Festival on Sunday, May 3, has grown from a small gathering of about a dozen authors into an established cultural event in South Florida. It attracts between 2,000 and 5,000 attendees each year, according to the organizers.

The book fair, which this year  is a partnership of Miami Book Fair and Sosyete Koukouy (literally Fireflies Society), a nearly 60-year-old multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Haitian culture, language, and traditions.

The book fair provides a platform for the Haitian community to express its identity through art, literature, oral tradition, music, and education, rather than through outside stories focused on crisis.

We were very intentional about creating a space that feels both grounding and expansive,” says Michele Jessica (“M.J. Fievre”) Logan, coordinator of ReadCaribbean and a Miami Book Fair representative at the festival.

“Grounding, in the sense that people can come and feel seen, connected, and rooted in culture. Expansive, in that we are also creating opportunities to reshape the narrative, to move beyond crisis-driven representations and highlight history, creativity, resilience, and intellectual contributions.”

While Haitian culture is highly present – Haitian Creole is Florida’ third most spoken language, Logan points out that the visibility coexists with misunderstanding.

“. . . Especially  when the community is discussed mainly through immigration policy, TPS, crisis, or hardship instead of its intellectual, artistic, and historical contributions,” she says

Jean-Marie Willer Denis, known throughout the Haitian community as Jean Mapou, understands this dynamic well. He founded Libreri Mapou, the Little Haiti bookstore he opened in 1990, and is also one of the festival’s founders.

His story is simple. He watched readership decline in the Haitian community and wondered why writers kept producing books. The answer he found changed his perspective. “Authors do not mind continuing to produce books despite the decline in readership,” Mapou says. “They feel they have something inside them that they need to share with the public, whether in science, poetry, literature, or other fields. They believe they have a story to tell, either from their own lives or their surroundings.”

That’s when Mapou says he came up with the idea of a book festival to help authors promote and sell their work.

He looked to the Miami Book Fair, which he had attended since its early days, as a model for what he wanted his festival to be like.

What started in 2012 as a small gathering with more music and arts and crafts than book signings has grown into a full-day cultural event with discussion panels, children’s programming, culinary tents, fashion presentations, and, this year, an expanded outdoor space called Lakou, next to the Cultural Complex.

This year, 80 writers have already signed up to participate, with more expected, and topics that reflect a forward-moving landscape.

“We even have a book on Artificial Intelligence by a young Haitian author, along with a panel discussion on the topic,” Mapou notes. “The world evolves, and so do writers.”

But Mapou is open about his anxiety for this year’s festival. “I’m concerned that immigration issues, the economy, and global conflicts may affect attendance,” he says. “Some people go out less now due to immigration worries, whether they are fully documented or not.”

The festival’s programming emphasizes culture, ideas, and exchange, particularly through discussion panels. Those panels are important, Mapou says, because “it is necessary to provide activities that engage people throughout the day,” and “the topics we discuss are relevant to the community, and people need to hear about them.”

Last year, panelists discussed immigration issues and gentrification in Little Haiti. This year, they will focus on Haiti’s contributions to world history, on Haitian proverbs as a living philosophical tradition, on entrepreneurship, and artificial intelligence.

A discussion called “Haiti’s Historical Contributions in the Making of America and the World” will challenge mainstream narratives by emphasizing Haiti’s vital role in global history. This includes Haitian soldiers who fought in the American Revolutionary War in Savannah, Georgia, and the impact of the Haitian Revolution in prompting Napoleon to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States, effectively doubling the young nation’s size.

The panel “Pawòl Granmoun” (Words of the Wise), organized in collaboration with the Haitian Creole Academy, will bring together scholars and community voices to examine Haitian proverbs as philosophy, ethics, and practical wisdom. Among the speakers at the panel are Rosilia François Corneille, president of the Haitian Creole Academy, and Mingolove Romain, host of one of the few Haitian poetry podcasts in Miami called “Tout est Poésie” (Everything is Poetry).

“Oral tradition is foundational to Haitian culture,” Logan says. “It carries history, philosophy, humor, and collective memory in ways that written text alone cannot. A book festival should reflect that full spectrum.”

That scope also inspires participating writers. Marie Ketsia Theodore-Pharel, author of the bilingual children’s book “I’ll Make Tea, Eritaj grann,” writes for both children and adults. She sees the festival as a vital support for Haitian literary culture. “The Little Haiti Book Festival gives me a loudspeaker to express my little immigrant voice and cut through the fog of negativity that surrounds my culture and identity,” she says. “I use it to say, we (Haitians) are here; we matter.”

Annick Duvivier, a Haitian multidisciplinary visual artist who will read her book “James and Marie Become Friends” in the Children’s Alley during the Storytime session, turned to children’s literature inspired by her daughter’s questions about Haiti. “I realized how precious it is to preserve and share the joyful memories, traditions, and language of Haitian culture,” Duvivier says, “because if they aren’t passed down, they are lost.” Her book, written in both English and Haitian Creole, follows two children, a Black Haitian girl and a white American boy, as they navigate friendship across cultural differences.

Marie Ketsia Theodore-Pharel and Annick Duvivier will join Liliane Nérette Louis in the Children’s Alley to read stories to children, reinforcing the festival’s emphasis on programming for young people and families.

“If we are not actively creating pathways for young people to see themselves as storytellers, then we are not sustaining the culture. This year’s youth programming is designed to engage and empower,” Logan explains. Young participants will experience storytelling through rhythm and drumming while taking part in hands-on activities meant to inspire curiosity, self-expression, and a love of reading. Free books for children will be distributed throughout the day.

The festival also reflects a broader understanding of storytelling across different disciplines. This year’s introduction of the Land & Sea Discovery Lab, developed with Frost Science and HistoryMiami, brings science into the cultural framework. “The inclusion of science shows our belief that learning is interconnected,” Logan says. “It connects science to story and place to identity.”

A marketplace featuring local vendors and a session on Haitian entrepreneurship with Phelicia Dell and Delphine Nephtalie Dauphin highlight the link between cultural expression and business growth. “Cultural expression and economic empowerment are deeply connected,” Logan states. “The festival creates a culturally specific space where Haitian and Caribbean creativity is treated as economic value.”

As the festival continues to grow, its main purpose remains. It aims to create a space where Haitian voices are heard, where culture is not reduced to crisis, and where community stories are reclaimed. “We are still committed to writers and readers, but we are equally focused on honoring the full range of how culture is expressed, shared, and passed on,” Logan concludes.

WHAT: Little Haiti Book Festival

WHERE: Little Haiti Cultural Complex, 212 NE 59th Terrace, Miami

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, May 3 (in-person), and Sunday, May 17 (online) 

COST: Free 

INFORMATION: (305) 757-9922 or Little Haiti Book Festival

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com

Across Miami, Poetry Finds New Ways to Be Seen and Heard This April

O, Miami’s 15th annual Poetry Festival returns with more than 50 projects, bringing poetry into everyday spaces. Alongside it, events like Piano Slam give young writers a powerful stage to share deeply personal stories. (Photo courtesy of O, Miami)

In April, poetry in South Florida does not stay confined to books or stages. It shows up across the region, sometimes planned, sometimes encountered unexpectedly, in places where people are already moving through their day.

Organized by O, Miami, the annual Poetry Festival returns for its 15th year with more than 50 projects spread across Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

“We aim to reach everybody in Miami during April with a poem,” said Melody Santiago Cummings, the organization’s executive director. “We bring poetry to where people are.”

That approach has defined O, Miami since its founding in 2011, expanding where poetry belongs and how people come across it. Instead of asking audiences to seek it out, the festival places poems into everyday life — on sidewalks, inside buses, across walls and storefronts, or in moments that catch someone by surprise.

For Caroline Cabrera, a poet and writer who serves as O, Miami’s artistic director, that shift changes not just where poetry appears, but how it connects.

“Poetry becomes a living thing,” she said, “a way for people to connect.”

“When people stumble upon a poem, they get to experience it without all those barriers,” Cabrera said. “A lot of people think they don’t understand poetry. But when they encounter it unexpectedly, they can just engage with the language.”

“I’m always surprised by how willing people are to be vulnerable when they’re invited to write,” she added. “That’s the part that stays with me.”

Some of that work now extends into other formats. One of this year’s projects, “Read By Miami,” in collaboration with the drian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation, brings poetry to film, pairing local poets with locations across Miami-Dade County.

“’Read By Miami’ is a series of films showcasing poets and poems rooted in Miami,” said Yaddyra Peralta, O, Miami’s director of civic publishing.

“Film is the right format because you get to see and hear the people behind the words,” she said.

For Cuban American filmmaker Eric Felipe-Barkin, the city itself becomes part of the work.

“Miami-Dade is the thread that ties everything together,” he said. “It becomes a character in every film.”

But poetry in April is not limited to O, Miami’s programming. Across the city, other stages and platforms take on that same impulse — to give voice to personal stories and shared experiences.

For 15-year-old Kaleb Duarte, a finalist in this year’s Piano Slam exploring the theme “Searching for Home,” the poem begins in Spanish, with a memory of scarcity.

“I am a boy who lived en la pobreza / sin electricidad ni agua,” he writes.

An eighth grader at South Miami Middle School, Kaleb recently immigrated from Cuba. His poem moves between Spanish and English, tracing the distance between where he began and where he is now.

“The most important part for me was being away from my father for so many years and wanting to be with him again,” he said. “But it was also very hard to leave the place where I grew up.”

Later in the poem, the tone shifts.

“Mi vida cambió … thankful for the beauty, the opportunity to have a new home.”

For Kaleb, writing the poem was only part of the process.

“It’s been complicated,” he said. “I’ve been practicing every day. Writing it is one thing, but performing it in front of people is different.”

The challenge is not just the words, but how to carry them.

“The hardest part is the expressions,” he said. “I’m not someone who shows a lot of emotion. I’m more shy.”

His coach, John Acevedo, sees that hesitation as part of the work.

“I told him, don’t just read the poem — tell them what you went through,” Acevedo said.

When he first heard Kaleb’s poem, it was the reality behind it that stood out.

“You don’t hear many middle schoolers talk about living without electricity or water,” he said. “That’s something even a lot of adults here wouldn’t understand.”

“For him, getting clean water meant waiting for the rain,” Acevedo added.

Helping students translate that kind of experience into performance starts with something simple.

“The first thing I do is build a connection,” he said. “I don’t start with the poem. I start with why they wrote it.”

From there, the focus shifts to intention.

“I ask them: who are you telling this story to?” he said. “Because if you believe it, the audience will believe it.”

Kaleb wrote his poem with someone specific in mind.

“When he told me he wrote it for his father, that changed everything,” Acevedo said. “Now it’s not just words — it’s something he needs to say.”

Kaleb is one of the finalists in this year’s Piano Slam, returning Saturday, April 18, to the Adrienne Arsht Center.

Presented by Dranoff 2 Piano Fusion, the event brings together spoken word and live music, pairing young poets with professional musicians in a performance that blends classical, jazz and contemporary sounds.

This year’s theme, “Searching for Home,” invites students to explore identity, belonging and memory, inspired by the creative journey of Cuban American poet Richard Blanco, a presidential inaugural poet.

Since its launch in 2007, Piano Slam has given middle and high school students across Miami-Dade County a space to develop their writing and bring it to the stage.

“Piano Slam is an outlet,” Acevedo said. “It gives a voice to students who might not have one anywhere else.”

“A lot of these kids feel like nobody listens to them,” he added. “This gives them someone who will.”

Finalists, selected from more than 700 students, will perform after weeks of rehearsals, competing for prizes of up to $1,000.

Kaleb did not expect to be one of them.

“I never thought I would be here,” he said. “This is a unique experience.”

Across its different forms — film, performance, installation and everyday encounters — poetry in Miami continues to take shape in ways that reflect the city itself: layered, personal and constantly evolving.

“Writing is a way for me to let things out,” Kaleb said. “It helps me say things I don’t feel comfortable telling other people.”

Don’t Miss O, Miami Festival Highlights

Poetry Readings Across South Florida: Featuring local writers alongside nationally recognized poets including P. Scott Cunningham, Cecily Parks and Gabrielle Calvocoressi. Various dates and locations. Free.

“Read By Miami” Film Series Premiere: A series of short films showcasing Miami poets, pairing poetry with locations across the county. Wednesday, April 16, The Bass Museum, 2100 Collins Ave., Miami Beach. Free.

Paws in the Park: A dog-friendly event with performances, activations and a screening of “Best in Show.” Sunday, April 26, Miami Beach. Free.

ZipOdes Finale: A closing celebration of Miami’s homegrown poetic form, presented with WLRN. Wednesday, April 29, Vizcaya Museum & Gardens, 3251 S Miami Ave., Miami.

 

WHAT: O, Miami Poetry Festival (15th Anniversary)
WHEN: Through Thursday, April 30. For a complete program guide, visit omiami.org
WHERE: Various locations across Miami-Dade County and Broward
COST: Many events are free; some ticketed events vary
INFORMATION: omiami.org

WHAT: Piano Slam 2026
Young poets perform original work alongside live piano in a music-poetry mashup inspired by the theme “Searching for Home.”
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday, April 18.
WHERE: Adrienne Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami.
COST: Free (passes required).
INFORMATION: arshtcenter.org

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

At Locust Projects, Ema Ri’s ‘This Too Shall Pass’ Is a Meditative Journey

Locust Projects presents the first major large-scale solo show by Miami-based artist Ema Ri, “This Too Shall Pass, ” through Saturday, April 4. (Photo by Pedro Wazzan, courtesy of Locust Projects)

At Locust Projects, Ema Ri’s “This Too Shall Pass” unfolds as a quiet yet expansive meditation on the relationship between the body, spirit, and the natural world. On view through Saturday, April 4, the exhibition marks the Miami-based artist’s most ambitious project to date, transforming the gallery into an immersive environment that invites reflection rather than spectacle.

Upon entering the space, there is a noticeable shift in tempo. The outside world recedes, giving way to a contemplative atmosphere where sound, light, and material work together to slow perception. The exhibition does not demand attention; it gently holds it, encouraging a more inward way of seeing.

At the center of the installation is a sweeping, curved wall — a monumental surface that feels both architectural and organic. Its pale, textured expanse carries traces of the artist’s hand, creating a subtle interplay between gesture and landscape. Depending on the light, the surface seems to shift, at times appearing almost luminous, at others dissolving into shadow. Across from it, a darker counterpart pulses with a raw, tactile energy, suggesting a duality that runs throughout the exhibition: light and dark, presence and absence, the visible and the unseen.

This dialogue between opposing forces is not presented as conflict, but as balance. Ri’s work resists binaries, instead offering a fluid continuum where transformation is constant. The title itself — “This Too Shall Pass” — functions less as a statement than as a rhythm, echoing through the space as both a reminder and a release.

Video projections further expand this sense of movement. Mirrored imagery of sky, foliage, and water creates shifting, almost kaleidoscope patterns that blur the boundary between the natural and the digital. These visuals do not document nature so much as reinterpret it, suggesting a deeper, more internal landscape. The effect is immersive without being overwhelming, drawing the viewer into a state of quiet observation.

Sound plays an equally important role. Subtle and atmospheric, it weaves through the installation like an unseen current, guiding the experience without dictating it. There are moments where the sound feels almost like breath — a reminder of the body’s presence within the space. Together, these elements create an environment that is felt as much as seen.

Throughout the exhibition, Ri incorporates materials that carry a strong connection to place. Resin-encased flowers, textured surfaces, and stone-like forms evoke the natural world while also suggesting preservation and transformation. These elements appear suspended between states — organic yet altered, fragile yet enduring. They serve as quiet markers of time, holding traces of life even as they point to its impermanence.

The work’s physicality is particularly striking. Ri’s process is evident in the surfaces themselves — scratched, layered, built up, and worn down. There is a sense of the body moving through the work, leaving behind gestures that feel both deliberate and instinctive. This emphasis on process creates an intimacy that contrasts with the scale of the installation.

Benches carved from oolitic limestone are placed within the space, inviting stillness and rest. and remain. This gesture is significant. In a cultural landscape that often prioritizes speed and consumption, “This Too Shall Pass” asks for stillness. It creates the conditions for contemplation, allowing the work to unfold gradually rather than all at once.

(WATCH: An Interview With Ema Ri)

The exhibition also reflects Ri’s ongoing exploration of cycles — of life, death, and renewal. These themes are not presented in a literal or didactic way but are embedded within the material and spatial experience. Rather than being told what to think; space is given to feel, to remember, and to consider a personal relationship to these cycles.

There is a spiritual dimension to the work, though it remains open-ended. Instead of referencing specific traditions, Ri engages with a broader sense of the unseen forces that shape experience but remain difficult to articulate. This openness allows the work to resonate across different perspectives, inviting multiple interpretations.

Importantly, the exhibition maintains a sense of restraint. Despite its scale, it avoids excess. Each element feels intentional, contributing to a cohesive whole that is both immersive and grounded. The balance between visual impact and emotional subtlety is what gives the exhibition its strength.

“This Too Shall Pass” is notable as a Knight Digital Commission, highlighting Locust Projects’ ongoing support for experimental, large-scale work. The exhibition reflects that mission and gives artists space to explore new territory in their practice while remaining connected to personal inquiry.

What lingers after leaving the exhibition is not a single image, but a state of mind. The work does not resolve; it continues. A quiet resonance remains, reflecting the transient nature of experience and the interconnectedness of all things.

In a time often defined by urgency and noise, “This Too Shall Pass” offers something different — a space to pause, to breathe, and to reflect. It is a deeply considered exhibition that does not seek to overwhelm, but to hold space for transformation, however subtle it may be.

WHAT: Ema Ri, “This Too Shall Pass”

WHERE:  Locust Projects, 297 NE 67th St., Miami

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday or by appointment. Closed Sundays and Mondays. Through Saturday, April 4, 2026.

COST: Free

INFORMATION: (305) 576-8570 or locustprojects.org.

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com

Art Review: Layering, Repetition, and Process, Salvatore La Rosa at Fredric Snitzer Gallery

At left, “Untitled, 2025,” oil and mixed media collage on canvas over wood structure, and on wall, “Untitled, 1990,” oil on linen, are part of the exhibition “Salvator La Rosa: “Durational Works” at Fredric Snitzer Gallery. (Photo by Philip Karp)

Now at Fredric Snitzer Gallery, there’s a rare exhibition of work by reclusive Miami-based artist Salvatore La Rosa (b. 1941, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).  The title of the show, “Durational Works,” indicates the pieces have developed over quite some time, even decades.

They are worked and reworked until all the elements sing in harmony, in the unwritten score artists all have, creating a palimpsest of energy, and the traces of the artist’s hand in dialogic interaction with the object itself. In the context of Miami, a city often defined by novelty and spectacle, La Rosa’s practice occupies a markedly different position. His work advances slowly and deliberately, sometimes over the course of decades.  The process resembles a kind of personal alchemy—an unwritten recipe shaped by the influence of Joseph Cornell, Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jackson Pollock—his four horsemen.

Where much of the cultural energy of the city celebrates immediacy and visibility, La Rosa’s work is indifferent to such pressures. Each painting contains abstract fields of energy. His surface-wide marks are quick and kinetic, and the geometric forms are slow, acting as anchors. He operates between poles: yin/yang, masculine/feminine, black/white. In mixing black and white, his works sit in a middle gray, like the gray of cement buildings, creating a neutral field of color. The surface drawing reads like the traces of layered urban graffiti, unreadable but evidence of the hands of humanity.

Repetition plays a central role for La Rosa. Forms recur across the exhibition: snakelike lines, triangles, circles, and squares interplay with dense networks of pencil marks and brushwork. Loose squiggles drift across the surface with a casual rhythm that at times feels almost doodle-like, a product of the subconscious. These gestures possess the patterned quality of habitual movement, the kind that emerges when the mind loosens its grip and the hand begins to operate through repetition and memory.

La Rosa’s process specifically involves the role of the subconscious, important in the development of Abstraction. From the 1930s onward, artists frequently sought ways to bypass conscious control, developing strategies such as automatism to access deeper psychic structures. The Surrealists drew on the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud as well as Carl Jung, who described the psyche as layered between conscious awareness and a deeper unconscious terrain. La Rosa’s paintings inhabit this territory, constructed in a state that moves between focus and release, where gestures stem from a place disconnected from ordinary language.

Lines and fragments sometimes align with the boundaries of the support, producing a frieze-like rhythm across the surface. Small, collaged geometric shapes are punctuations, creating moments of visual density and color shifts that anchor the surrounding gestures. La Rosa cuts these fragments from earlier works and reincorporates them into new compositions, furthering the significance of the show’s title, “Durational Works.” For La Rosa there is a recycling within the studio, where no mark is ever entirely discarded, it instead becomes part of a larger evolving field.

Among the recurring forms, La Rosa uses the spiral. One of the oldest visual structures in human image making, the spiral appears across cultures long before writing or architecture. It mirrors natural phenomena such as shells, whirlpools, and hurricanes. Occasionally the works incorporate objects.

In one instance the artist has included a snail shell, echoing the spiral forms that appear throughout the paintings. Elsewhere a clean illustration of a screw taken from a mid-century hardware advertisement appears within a work. Nearby another painting includes a screw embedded in the surface, perhaps a small moment of dry humor.

Many of the works are modest in scale, small enough to be hand-held, with the exception of two larger paintings. These works contain expansive fields of gestural marks punctuated by spirals and elongated rectangular forms that recall the proportions of classroom rulers. Although the physical act of making remains understated, the title of the exhibition quietly foregrounds duration as the central condition of the work.

The artist does not rush toward resolution. Surfaces accumulate slowly through revisitation. Impasto passages remain beside fragile pencil lines. There is a directness in the approach as the work honors the behavior of its materials rather than forcing them into illusion.

La Rosa’s paintings and sculptures are less singular statements than fragments of a larger continuum of activity, of being. They rarely individuate themselves. Instead, they appear as moments within a broader sea of making that the artist inhabits. The works described as sculptures do not differ from the painting, not a separate oeuvre with different rules and procedures. Everything in this show is simultaneously related, all at once, in no particular pecking order, including the many drawings held in the flat files in the backroom and may be seen upon request with the help of the gallery staff.

Like Pollock’s paintings, La Rosa’s surfaces inhabit a dialogue between intention and improvisation. Each gesture provokes the next, producing the signature logic of an artist’s lifetime of work. each move, gesture or additon feels inevitable even if it resists explanation through its consistency.

“Durational Works” ultimately reveals a practice built through persistence, through the willingness to take the long road of creative journeys and enjoy it, the sight of the end irrelevant. As the paintings accumulate slowly, they relate in a different way to the life of the artist than those that aim towards production and climbing the mountain of success.

This is a lifestyle, a necessary activity to feel satisfied within oneself. The artist is joyfully consumed in the creative process, feeding himself on the delicacies of color, line, and shape the way another may enjoy a habitual evening cocktail. The quiet gallery setting allows these subtle fields of energy to emerge.

WHAT: “Salvatore La Rosa:  Durational Works”

WHERE: Fredric Snitzer Gallery, 1540 NE Miami Court, Miami

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Through Saturday, March 28

COST: Free

INFORMATION: 305-448-8976 or  www.snitzer.com

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com

Monthly Roundup: Grants For Artists

Artist grants are vital to the sustainability of Miami’s thriving cultural community. (Digital collage by Jean Blackwell Font)

Available Grants for Artists

 As a service, we provide a monthly listing of available grants to artists in the Miami-Dade County area, throughout South Florida and other grants available to area artists.

South Arts

South Arts State Fellowships: $5,000

The South Arts State Fellowship (state fellowship) is a state-specific prize awarded to artists whose work reflects the best of the visual arts in the South. A national jury will select one awardee per eligible state, based on artistic excellence that reflects and represents the region’s array of artistic expression. Each of the nine-state fellowship awardees will receive a $5,000 state fellowship. State fellowship recipients will be required to attend the awards ceremony in late summer 2026.

The State Fellowship winners will then compete for the two Southern Prizes of $25,000 and $10,000. The $25,000 Southern Prize will be awarded to the artist whose work demonstrates the highest artistic excellence, and a runner-up will be awarded a $10,000 Prize. Both Southern Prize recipients will also receive a two-week residency at The Hambidge Center in Rabun Gap, Ga. A separate national jury will convene to evaluate the body of work represented by the nine-state fellowship recipients and select the Prize winner and finalist. Winners of the Southern Prize will be announced at the awards ceremony.  State fellows for Visual Arts, including the Southern Prize winner and finalist, will have their work featured in a traveling exhibition that will tour throughout the region. All fellows are required to participate.

Application Deadline for the State Fellowships: March 18, 2026, 11:59 p.m.

Informational Webinar:  Watch here.

 The Aaron Copland Fund for Music

The General Support Program provides funding for organizations with a history of substantial commitment to contemporary American concert music, jazz, or both with plans to continue that commitment. Unrestricted grants through this program are available for performing ensembles, presenters, music service organizations, and record companies whose artistic excellence and impact encourages and improves public knowledge and appreciation of contemporary concert music and contemporary jazz by American composers. Although based in New York City, organizations throughout the U.S. are eligible to apply. Click here to apply.

Application Deadline: April 30, 2026, 11:59 p.m.

Locust Projects

Wavemaker Grants

The 2026 WaveMaker Grants are open for applications, supporting bold, experimental public art projects by Miami-Dade County artists. Since 2015, WaveMaker has awarded nearly $690,000 to 139 artists and collectives, launching more than 200 projects — from mariachi film festivals and community archives, to telenovelas, artist-designed beehives, and beyond. Click here for information.
Application Deadline. Wednesday, April 1, 11:39 p.m.

Sandrell Rivers Theater

Cultural Arts Partnership Residency (CAP@SRT Residency) managed by Fantasy Theatre Factory
The yearlong residency at Sandrell Rivers Theater in Liberty City is open to emerging and under-sourced performing arts groups in Miami-Dade County. It provides groups with  office space, rehearsal and performance space at the theater as well as hands-on production, marketing and publicity support. Additionally, groups will receive one-on-one mentoring sessions with Fantasy Theater Factory leadership through their Business of the Arts Session, helping them build capacity and visibility.
Applications are accepted throughout the year. Click here for info and to apply.

Art in Public Places

The South Florida Cultural Consortium Grant Program offers one of the largest regional, government-sponsored artists’ grants in the United States, awarding $15,000 and $7,500 grants to resident visual and media artists from the counties of Broward, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach. Since it was established in 1988, the Consortium has awarded over $4 million in grants to over 300 artists. In addition to receiving the grant, the artists take part in an exhibition hosted and organized by a visual arts institution in one of the five counties, and since 2019, artworks by Miami-Dade based artists are acquired for the Art in Public Places Collection.

Deadline: Monday, September 14, 2026, 11:59 p.m.

Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs

Miami Individual Artists (MIA) Grants Program

The Miami Individual Artists (MIA) Grants Program provides merit-based awards to early-career and mid-to advanced-career individual artists across all disciplines in Miami-Dade Countyto support their artistic development and practice. In recognition of the contributions of Miami-Dade’s outstanding artists to the fundamental vitality and creativity of the  cultural community, the MIA Grants Program encourages applications from professional artists with a recognized body of artwork, and who are deeply rooted in Miami’s cultural life. Up to $10,000 will be awarded to select artists.

Deadline: March 16, 2026, 11:59 p.m.

Artist Access Art Grant Program Summer Cycle

Funded by Miami-Dade County and offered in partnership with FUNDarte, the Artist Access Grant Program is designed to assist practicing, professional artists in any medium or discipline residing in Miami-Dade County pursue and secure artistic professional development opportunities.  Eligible professional development opportunities funded through this program include artist residencies, master classes, workshops and Applicants should review the Program Guidelines at https://www.miamidadearts.org/artist-access-art-grants-program prior to submitting their application.

Deadline: June 1, 2026, 11:59 p.m.

Tourist Development Grants Program
The quarterly program lends support to significant cultural/special events and television/film projects that promote Miami-Dade County as a tourist destination.

 FY 2025-2026 Fourth Quarter

Pre-Submission Workshop: March 11, 2026, 12:30 p.m.  RSVP

Courtesy Review Deadline: April 6, 2026, 11:59 p.m.

Application Deadline: April 13, 2026, 11:59 p.m.

ArtesMiami and Miami Film Festival
Miami Film Fund

Created to strengthen Miami’s growing film industry, the Miami Film Fund is designed to fuel projects in the stage of post-production, while spotlighting stories that reflect the city’s rich cultural fabric and global reach.  Sponsored by ArtesMiami and the Miami Film Festival.

In its first year, three grants of $5,000 each will be awarded across the following categories:

• Cuban-American Filmmaker ($5,000): Open to filmmakers from anywhere in the world creating films about Cuban-Americans (especially those in Miami), or Miami-based Cuban-American filmmakers working on any subject.
• Miami Filmmaker ($5,000): Awarded to local creators working on any topic.
• Miami-Filmed Production ($5,000): Awarded to non-Miami filmmakers who filmed more than 50% of their production in Miami.

Grant recipients will be selected by a panel of industry professionals and community leaders, with an emphasis on artistic merit, cultural impact, and meaningful ties to Miami.
Application Deadline: April 19, 2026, 11:59 p.m.

 

Additional Links

A listing of where to check periodically for available grants, workshops, resources, and application assistance.

Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs: https://miamidadearts.org/

Florida Division of Arts & Culture: dos.fl.gov/cultural/grants/grant-programs/specific-cultural-projects/

Knight Foundation: https://knightfoundation.org/

The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation: https://jmperezfamilyfoundation.org/grant-opportunities/

Green Space Miami: https://greenspacemiami.org/

AIRIE (Artists in Residence in Everglades): https://www.airie.org/

Funding Arts Network: https://fundingartsnetwork.org/home/grants/

Broward County Cultural Division: https://www.broward.org/Arts/Funding/Pages/artistsupport.aspx

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com