LAB (LOCUST ARTS BUILDERS)
Participating artists: Matthew Alvarez, TERRA Environmental Research Institute; Tony Bernardo, New World School of the Arts; Ezekiel Binns, Miami Edison Senior High; Isabella Bru, Miami Arts Charter School; Catherine Camargo, New World School of the Arts; Joseph Canizales, Design and Architecture Senior High; Juan Cardona, Design and Architecture Senior High; Andres Cazalis Hudec, New World School of the Arts; Jennifer Dupotey, New World School of the Arts; Kelly Eriksen, Palmer Trinity School; Glenn Espinosa, G. Holmes Braddock Senior High; Valeria Fernandez, Dr. Michael Krop Senior High; Nicole Giraldo, Design and Architecture Senior High; Anastasia Khlioustov, Dr. Michael Krop Senior High; Tommy Maharlika, North Miami Beach Senior High; Max Mayoral, Miami Beach Senior High; Theo Rodino, TERRA Environmental Research Institute; Nicolas Stapel, TERRA Environmental Research Institute; Niki Stebbins, Design and Architecture Senior High; Andrea Tabora, Ransom Everglades School
Locust Projects presents the 6th year of LAB (Locust Arts Builders). This year, twenty South Florida high school students from eleven high schools across the county were selected from an open call to create a collaborative exhibition at Locust Projects in Miami’s Design District.
Under the direction of Miami-based contemporary visual artists Monica Lopez de Victoria (of the TM Sisters) and Clifton Childree, students are given the opportunity to create a collaborative exhibition at Locust Projects and manage all aspects of the show’s production during a multi-week summer intensive. Students also visit art institutions on guided field trips and interact with invited members of the local art community at Locust Projects.
The LAB program extends Locust Projects’ longstanding commitment to experimentation and innovation in artistic practice to the next generation of South Florida artists. LAB promotes contemporary art and project-based learning as a means to encourage creativity, critical analysis, and problem solving, while also helping participants to develop their communication skills. This unique initiative allows young artists to learn the practical aspects and experience the excitement of creating a public exhibition in collaboration with their peers.
The LAB exhibition project culminates with an opening reception where students’ parents, teachers, and friends are invited to celebrate and mingle with Miami’s art community.
PROJECT ROOM: LAB MFA / CHRISTINA MESITI: PORT
Locust Projects is excited to welcome California-based MFA student Christina Mesiti who has been selected to produce her project Port for the LAB MFA exhibition in the Project Room. Mesiti will develop her work utilizing the visually disorienting patterns found within the interiors of security envelopes. She intends to explore the architectural potential of this material, which was designed to secure sensitive content circulated through the mail. Mesiti is studying for her MFA at Claremont Graduate University in California, and received her BFA in Painting from Arizona State University. This is the first year that Locust Projects has held a national open call for the LAB MFA program, and we are thrilled to have received proposals from students attending a broad range of schools across the United States.
