PORTALS | Miami Art Exhibition -12/9

Curated by Laura Marsh :
When one door closes, another opens: Pass through the gate and encounter a dialogue between artists of multiple generations who each respond to textiles and the outdoors to convey meaning and concepts.

Artists

Participating Artists: Anna Biondo, Mabelin Castellanos, Karen Schnell-Chisholm, Yanira Collado, Karelle Levy (Krelwear), Marcia Manconi, Laura Marsh, and Pangea Kali Virga.

From Oct 21: 5-7 (through March 1, appointment upon request).
The outdoors provide a feeling of passage that is hand-in-hand with how fabric and textiles are produced by incorporating local plants, natural and synthetic materials, water, and humanitarian messages. Portals is on the border of El Portal, originally the capital and sacred grounds of the Tequestas, now a bird sanctuary, and Little River, named after the river that runs along its northern edge and one of Miami’s arts districts. These are the two neighborhoods that the exhibition is in dialogue with. Portals is a nine-person exhibition, community initiative, and educational workshop series that is part of Threading the City, a Miami-wide celebration of the burgeoning world of textile arts organized with the Fiber Artist Association of Miami (FAMA).

When a city redefines a neighborhood, complex histories are recalled of those who previously inhabited the lands tangentially to the current financial goals of redevelopers. As we become more acquainted with Miami’s lush habitat and utilize plants as the source of our research along with upcycled materials, the Portals installation will be added onto and grow along with both native and non-native plants, the work or nine dedicated artists, and a growing number of participants who can also respond to the Weft community initiative installation, which is an invitation for you to touch materials and perform the most basic weave on site to further repurpose a former chain-link fence with curated materials.
Inspired by Womanhouse (1972), a humanist art installation and performance space in a house organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro in Los Angeles, which was the first public exhibition of art centered upon female empowerment, Artnezs is grounded in elevating artist educators and designers. For decades textile art has been mislabeled as “craft,” and connected to the domestic. With the resurgence of textiles and fiber in the current art market, it’s clear that the tides are changing. Yet, artists who have more than one practice continue to be overlooked by those pursuing one path. Many of our male artist colleagues incorporate textiles even before our labors reach the marketplace.
As artist Yanira Collado eloquently states, “Many artists who are educators need teaching experiences to inform the work and vice versa.” Collado’s work repurposes textiles, wood, and other imbedded materials to protect and engage the landscape.
At Artnezs, artists who have more than one skill are celebrated for being interdisciplinary. As a studio, educational space, and green exhibition, Portals seeks to expand the notion that artists are multifaceted rather than solitary figures.
We live in a time nationwide where artists are displaced from studios and live/work spaces every month as a result of rising rents and changes in ownership. Whether displacement is sudden or transparent, it takes a toll on one’s ability to practice or prepare for the next exhibition or program. Artnezs’s artist founder, Laura Marsh, has been displaced from three studios in two cities. After the last displacement in 2020, she vowed to herself to never place resources in a building unless it is her own and to produce a curated project with artists in mind. Portals is the first exhibition of Artnezs, and each included artist and FAMA member works with a combination of social textiles.
Artist Anna Biondo’s installation moves along the fence with frenetic energy, recalling the Henri Matisse cutouts from the 1940s. Veronica Buitron, artist and designer, will join us in November to teach us about natural dye bundling and eco-dye practices that inform us about the plants that we cohabitate with. Mabelin Castellanos’s quilts explore the environment of El Portal as a bird sanctuary. Karen Schnell-Chisholm’a installation combines synthetic and natural fibers with bird behaviors. The sculptures of Orly Kadosh and Marcia Manconi reference the female figure, and themes that arise involve passage and empty nesters syndrome. Laura Marsh’s banners and spheres contain social mottos and historical designs. Carmen Vicente’s rituals and altars connect us to land and rites of passage. Pangea Kali Virga’s tapestries and banners reference human’s relationship to land, personal solitude, and embodiment.