MOCA To Present South Florida Cultural Consortium Exhibition

The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (MOCA) is pleased to launch the fall season with the 2019 South Florida Cultural Consortium Exhibition. On view Sept. 5. to Oct. 20, 2019, this exhibition is made possible in cooperation with Miami-Dade County's Department of Cultural Affairs. MOCA has enlisted Amy Galpin, chief curator of the Frost Art Museum, to curate this dynamic exhibition which presents works by artists exclusively from South Florida who live and work in Broward, Martin-Monroe, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade counties.

The exhibition reception will be held on Thursday, Sept. 12, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Admission is $10 for the general public and free for MOCA members and North Miami residents.

The South Florida Cultural Consortium (SFCC) is the largest government-sponsored grant program in the U.S. for artists living in Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Palm Beach and Martin Counties. Hundreds of artists apply each year. This year's exhibition will showcase 13 artists including: Nellie Appleby, Felecia Carlisle, Domingo Castillo, Jennifer Clay, Katrina Miller, Reginald O'Neal, Edison Peñafiel, Sebastian Ruiz, Jamilah Sabur, Vivien Segel, Misael Soto, Amber Tutwiler and Agustina Woodgate.

Exhibiting artist, Jamilah Sabur, who is from Miami and most recently had a solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, CA, makes work informed by time and incorporates rich layers of meaning in her multidisciplinary practice. Sabur will present both recent and new work in the exhibition.

Miami-based artist, Reginald O'Neal, will present paintings inspired by his own experiences and family life from growing up in Overtown. Although his work is personal in nature, his paintings resonate with larger universal issues pertaining to trauma, violence, and incarceration.

Fort Lauderdale-based artist Edison Peñafiel, the 2019 recipient of the Florida Prize from the Orlando Museum of Art, creates large-scale installations that address displacement and forced migration. Peñafiel's "Land Escape," makes its Miami debut in the exhibition. It was recently created during a residency in Corsicana, Texas.

"It was a great privilege to work with the selected artists to determine what work would create a dynamic, complex, and varied exhibition," said curator Amy Galpin. "This exhibition brings together some of the region's most innovative and accomplished artists, and I am grateful to work with the talented team at MOCA to conceptualize this exhibition."

This exhibition celebrates the originality and potential of these 13 South Florida artists, who continue to pave the way as expressive leaders of their generation. These artists are not grouped by theme or approach, but instead they are selected because of the rigor for which they approach their work and the excellence they routinely demonstrate in their respective practices. Several of these artists embrace abstract art, deeply rooted in conceptualism and objects informed by identity and the political present. The artists use traditional techniques including painting, sculpture and video among other media.

"It is an honor to showcase the diverse cultural works of artists who are from our own South Florida region," said MOCA Executive Director Chana Budgazad Sheldon. "By making contemporary art created by regional artists accessible to diverse audiences - especially underserved populations, we are sharing the various outlooks of South Florida artists."

This program was made possible with the generous support of the North Miami Mayor and Council and the City of North Miami, the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.

The South Florida Cultural Consortium is funded in part with support from The National Endowment of the Arts, The Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council, the Boards of County Commissioners of Broward, Miami-Dade, Martin and Monroe Counties, and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County.

The South Florida Cultural Consortium is a regional initiative in support of the arts governed by an Interlocal Agreement among the counties of Broward, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach. The Consortium's members are the local arts agencies of these five counties, including the Broward County Cultural Division, the Arts Council of Martin County, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Keys Council of the Arts, and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County. The Consortium works to foster cooperation across the South Florida region to help develop and promote the work of cultural organizations and artists and the audiences that they serve. Its programs and services range from the Visual and Media Artists Program to regional arts education and cultural tourism cooperative ventures. The South Florida Cultural Consortium is one of the most successful regional arts alliances in the nation, demonstrating that by sharing resources and best practices, the arts can thrive across a burgeoning five-county area.

For more information, visit miamidadepublicart.org/#fellowship.

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