LegalArt opened Miami’s first live/work artist residency incubator in the Downtown Arts and Entertainment District. Three artists and two collaboratives quickly made it home, and have been living and working in the space since. Now, we are starting our second year and have awarded the 2012 residency to five local visual, performing, literary, and multimedia artists who will participate in this innovative program.
The Miami artists – Patricia Hernandez, Jiae Hwang, Lucas Leyva, Jillian Mayer, and Pioneer Winter – will benefit from sharing affordable studio and living space with fellow artists, curators, and writers. In addition to the local artist incubator program, the LegalArt residency includes visiting artists, writers, and curators from around the world. Upcoming visiting residents include Trong Nguyen, Richard Hogland, Amy Von Harrington, Erik Smith, Simon Vega, Paula Urbano, and Hannes Bend. Each local artist will participate in a give-back project in order to assist LegalArt in its mission to empower artists.
The 2012 LegalArt Local Residents are:
Patricia Hernandez: a born collaborator and her work with the nomadic artist-run project space the end/SPRING BREAK is a natural manifestation of her prowess in mutually inclusive relationships. Patricia will be using Legal Art as a centered headquarter for producing dynamic programming for collaborations between artists and community members in the ultimate goal of stimulating dialogue and developing new modes of considering issues in contemporary art and culture within South Florida. Programming will include lectures, exhibitions, site-specific projects, educational workshops and more. For more information please visit htt://end-springbreak.com/.
Jiae Hwang: an interdisciplinary artist dealing in a broad spectrum of media from traditional drawings to video and multimedia installations who seeks to create new ways to engage with viewers. One upcoming project includes creating an e-book and e-readers to showcase artwork and writing for artists. In addition, she will include LegalArt in the project by helping to document LegalArt in e-book platform. Jiae will facilitate new media solution workshops for artists as well. http://www.jiaehwang.com
Lucas Leyva: a founder and current director of the Borscht Film Festival, Lucas seeks to create narratives that exist in the gritty magical reality of Miami and (re)defines his idiosyncratic generation of local first-generation Hispanic Americans, he also strives to establish and develop a local independent film community and an audience to support it. Lucas wil be writing and producing his first feature film while in residence. http://www.lucasleyva.com
Jillian Mayer: is inspired by the juxtaposition of artificial and the real. Using drawing, photography, video, installation, and performance she critiques the dissonance between her childhood optimism and the state of contemporary culture with an erudite playfulness. Jillian will be working on an internet show that will include local artists and art students in all levels of the production. http://www.jillianmayer.net
Pioneer Winter: the focus of his work resides in the intersecting properties of contemporary dance and theater to channel topics of social awareness through functional multimedia and film. A dancer and choreographer by training, he fuses movement to convey complex scenarios in ways that foster easy audience absorption. His projects find their niche in the portability of the messages and the way the themes discussed, maintain significance and identification within the current social climate. Pioneer will assist artists with professional skills such as grant writing, organization, marketing, and media relations. http://vimeo.com/pioneerwinter
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LEGALART SELECTS FIVE COMPELLING LOCAL ARTISTS FOR 2012 LIVE/WORK RESIDENCY INCUBATOR
MIAMI (November 14, 2011) Five local visual, performing, literary, and multimedia artists have been selected to participate in the second year of Miami’s first live/work artist residency incubator program, which opened last year in the Downtown Arts and Entertainment District.
The Miami artists – Patricia Hernandez, Jiae Hwang, Lucas Leyva, Jillian Mayer, and Pioneer Winter – will benefit from sharing affordable studio and living space with fellow artists. In addition to the local artist incubator residency, the LegalArt residency includes visiting artists, writers, and curators from around the world. A list of the local artists’ work and projects is below.
LegalArt’s Live/Work Residency Incubator Program, is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs.
“The residency is an incubator for these talented artists and we will provide the support, education, and contacts to take the artist to a new level in his or her career,” says Kathleen Carignan, LegalArt’s executive director. “In our first year, we saw new collaborations and innovative ideas that emerged when the artists lived and worked together. I can’t wait to see the new work and directions that evolve through this unique collaborative space.”
The highly competitive LegalArt Live/Work Residency is Miami’s first subsidized live/work, professional development, and community-building artists’ facility. Designed as an incubator, artists in residence live and work in private 600 square foot studios and have access to exhibition, lecture, legal counseling spaces and a comprehensive resource library (opening this year). The Residency brings together some of Miami’s most promising artists, along with national and international artists, writers, and curators; allowing them to collaborate in ways only a residential model can offer. Visiting curators and scholars will engage both with resident artists—by mentoring, leading critiques and exploring exhibition opportunities beyond Miami—and the public through lectures, readings, workshops and exhibitions.
“For these artists, and others across South Florida, The Residency will be a crucial space for guidance, resources and fostering new ideas,” said Dennis Scholl, Vice President/Arts for the Knight Foundation.
The 2012 LegalArt Local Residents are:
Patricia Hernandez: a collaborator in The End/SPRING BREAK a nomadic artist-run project committed to developing new modes of considering issues in contemporary art and culture within South Florida communities. In collaboration with artists and community members, the goal is to stimulate a dialogue that will enable one event to inform another in a manner that reflects the movement between the different methods of presenting ideas. Programming will include lectures, exhibitions, site-specific projects, publications, educational workshops, and more.
Jiae Hwang: an interdisciplinary artist dealing in a broad spectrum of media from traditional drawings to video and multimedia installations who seeks to create new ways to engage with viewers. One upcoming project includes creating an e-book and e-readers to showcase artwork and writing for artists. In addition, she will include LegalArt in the project by helping to document LegalArt in e-book platform. Jiae will assist artists with software training and project support for digital documentation, and image files conversion.
Lucas Leyva: a founder and current director of the Borscht Film Festival, Lucas seeks to create narratives that exist in the gritty magical reality of Miami and (re)defines his idiosyncratic generation of local first-generation Hispanic Americans, he also strives to establish and develop a local independent film community and an audience to support it. Lucas wil be writing and producing his first feature film while in residence.
Jillian Mayer: is inspired by the juxtaposition of artificial and the real. Using drawing, photography, video, installation, and performance she critiques the dissonance between her childhood optimism and the state of contemporary culture with an erudite playfulness. Jillian will be working on an internet show that will include local artists and art students in all levels of the production.
Pioneer Winter: The focus of his work has become the intersection of contemporary aesthetic and technique, in order to promote topics of social awareness. A dancer and choreographer by training, he fuses movement to convey complex scenarios in ways that foster easy absorption by the audience. Pioneer will assist artists with professional skills such as grant writing, organization, marketing, and media relations.
Pictures of the artists and their works are available on request.
About LegalArt
LegalArt empowers artists by providing affordable legal services, professional development, and the Live/Work Residency Incubator. SeminArt programs educate artists on wide-ranging subjects including strategic planning, marketing, winning art commissions, professional writing and public speaking. LegalLink, a legal assistance and education program partners with University of Miami Law School and local attorneys, and provides legal services on a pro bono, barter or reduced rate basis. LegalArt’s professional staff made up of attorneys, artists, and arts advocates offers training in copyright, trademark, incorporation, portfolio management, writing skills and maintains the LegalArt headquarters where South Florida artists are welcome to seek guidance, support, resources and a greater sense of community with their peers. For more information, visit www.legalartmiami.org.
MEDIA RELATIONS CONTACT: Dominique Breard, Program Coordinator, dominique@legalartmiami.org or 786.347.2360.
