LOCUST ART BUILDERS 2023 FINAL REPORT

Summer Art Intensive Sessions: June 20-July 21, 2023

LAB exhibition on view: July 22-August 5, 2023

LOCUST ART BUILDERS 2023

Starting June 20, 2023, 20 teens from 9 schools across the greater Miami area met for the 13th year of Locust Art Builders Summer Art Intensive. The talented and ambitious group of aspiring young artists had the unique opportunity and challenge of recycling and repurposing materials from the exhibition by Rafael Domenech that inaugurated our new home in Little River.

Held for the first time in our new space, this year’s LAB was led by Co-Directors and Lead Mentor Artists, Loni Johnson and Chire Regans. In-person sessions took place Tuesday through Friday June 20July 21 from 10am-2pm.

The Lead Mentors provided students with daily lessons, activities and challenges, as well as presentations and hands-on workshops with Miami-based practicing artists and arts administrators including: Susie K. Taylor, Victoria Ravelo, Eddie Brown, Thom Wheeler Castillo, Nicole Combeau, Tom Virgin, Laura Novoa and Locust’s Executive Director Lorie Mertes, and Chief Preparator and Facilities Operations Manager, Tom Mickelson.

During the five weeks students learned respectful debate as they developed a theme for their show in collaboration with their peers, experimented with multiple types of tools and media to support their vision, and received feedback during weekly skills-building workshops and the annual Mentor Meet + Greet Brunch.

The students’ ideas came to life as they collaboratively built an immersive installation they titledStronger on the Other Side, which opened with a reception for more than 200 of their family and friends and the public on July 22, 2023.

The 2023 LAB students at the Opening Reception for Stronger on the Other Side

STUDENT PRE-ASSESSMENT SURVEY

Pre-assessment surveys were administered during the first week of the program to gauge the students’ experience with artmaking, skills, interests, personality traits, and their expectations about LAB and what they hoped to achieve, enabling us to adjust the program to meet each student’s individual needs. This year’s surveys showed students had an overwhelming passion to collaborate and work on projects in groups as well as professional artists, expanding their imagination and creative thinking, exploring new mediums, learning about careers in the art world, and making new work.

STUDENT PRE-ASSESSMENT SURVEY QUOTES

“I hope to explore new mediums and branch out from what I usually work with, to learn how to work on a big art exhibition as a team, and to make friends.”

“I hope to expand my art style and technique, and I hope to experience life in other artist’s shoes and understand how and why they do and paint what they do and paint.”

“I hope to get a new perspective on art from other people, because everybody does art differently and experiences it differently.”

“I hope to learn how to collaborate with people and how to expand my art to transform spaces”

“I’m hoping to become more passionate and knowledgeable with my practice!”

“I’d love to learn to work with more mediums and get to know different artists.”

“I hope to experience a lot of group work and work with other creatives.”

2023 LAB FOCUS AND STUDENT RESOURCES

Locust Projects strives to keep the LAB experience intimate so that the Lead Mentor Artists can focus on each student’s individual needs, interests, and tailoring their creative growth.

Each year staff and LAB Co-Directors consider survey responses and feedback from the previous year’s LAB program in developing curriculum as the needs of students is ever evolving in an ever-changing world. The 2022 post-program surveys continue to emphasize the impact of the opportunity to meet and work with students representing different backgrounds, perspectives, schools, grades, experience levels, artistic styles, preferred mediums, and more as well as the process of working together collaboratively to realize their collective vision.

With this in mind, the Co-directors structured the first weeks of the program to focus on getting to know one another, setting collective values for their experience, establishing positive communication skills and respectful debate. With a supportive environment established, we see students with more experience or access to professional art training work with students whose skills were less developed, learn from each other, encourage each other, challenge each other, and ultimately create and build something original together.

This year’s LAB program included students from:

• Coral Reef Senior High

• Design and Architecture Senior High

• Downtown Doral Charter Upper School

• Dr. Michael Krop Senior High School

• Miami Arts Charter School

• Palmer Trinity School

• Ransom Everglades High School

• Southwest Miami Senior High School

• Terra Environmental Research Institute

Locust Projects seeks to make the LAB experience equitably accessible to all students by offering access to art supplies and travel stipends.

LAB TOTE BAG

Each student received a LAB tote bag filled with supplies, including:

• Jerry’s Artarama art supplies for exploring their creativity and completing art challenges

• Special edition t-shirt designed by local artist Jen Clay

• Moleskine sketchbooks

TRAVEL STIPENDS

• With parental schedule conflicts, the cost of gas, lack of mass transit options across county, and ride-share being prohibitive to participation for some students, all students have access to receive travel stipends to offset the cost transportation to and from LAB and home.

• More than 35% of the students requested travel stipends citing issues with their parents not being able to drive them and gas costs being prohibitive for attendance.

2023 CO-DIRECTORS AND LEAD ARTIST MENTORS

Loni Johnson (Winner of the 2021 Ellies Social Justice Award) is a multi-disciplinary visual artist born and raised in Miami, FL. As an artist, educator, mother and activist, Ms. Johnson understands that as artists, there is a cyclical obligation to give back and nurture our communities with her creative gift and it must be utilized to better our world. Through movement and ritual, the artist creates healing spaces for Black women and explores how ancestral and historical memory informs how, when and where we enter and claim spaces. Ms. Johnson graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from SUNY at Purchase College School of Art and Design.

Chire Regans (Winner of the 2020 Ellies Social Justice Award), also known as VantaBlack, was born in Saint Louis, Missouri and relocated to Miami with her family in the late 1980s. A graduate of Florida A&M University, Regans has dedicated her artistic practice and her life to community advocacy and activism. Regans serves on the Miami-Dade Community Relations Board’s Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Committee and works as a teaching artist at PAMM.

WORKSHOPS AND GUEST SPEAKERS

Artists, curators, and other arts professionals led workshops, offering mentorship by sharing personal experiences in their creative professions and exposing the students to new mediums and processes.

Speakers and workshops during the 2023 LAB program included:

• Victoria Ravelo, and 2021 Locust exhibiting artist

• Tom Mickelson, Locust Projects Chief Preparator and Facilities Operations Manager

• Nicole Combeau, Portrait photographer and arts educator

• Eddie Brown, actor, Yale School of Drama alum, and YoungArts promoter

• Laura Novoa, Assistant Director of Programs + Community Engagement at Bakehouse Art Complex

• Tom Virgin, Independent printmaker and 2016 Locust Projects Wavemaker Grantee

• Jen Clay, Current Locust Projects artist in residence and 2023 Locust exhibiting artist

• Lorie Mertes, Locust Projects Executive Director

FIELD TRIP

Students participated in an optional field trip to the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) where both of the Co-Directors have served as Teaching Artists giving students exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the inner workings of Miami’s major museum.

During their daylong field trip, which was a first visit to the museum for many, students met with various museum staff and learned about their roles and career path. They also participated in an interactive guided tour of the current exhibitions and collective art making activity/dialogue.

2023 LAB INTERNS

This year’s LAB interns included past LAB students and rising seniors who brought distinct interests and skills to support the LAB Co-Directors.

Daniela Pearson, a 2022 LAB student, supported day to day activities as well as installation prep.

Juliette Castaneda, a rising senior at the Maritime and Science Technology Academy, was responsible for the production of this year’s student-produced LAB video.

Mila Angeletti, also a rising senior at the Maritime and Science Technology Academy, worked closely with Juliette, documenting the interns’ experience making of the LAB video in a blog post and interview.

2023 LAB IN THE CLOSER LOOK BLOG

Juliette and Mila collaborated on a post in our Closer Look Blog that explores the process of interning for LAB and the creation of the LAB video. For the video, the interns staged testimonials from each of the students asking how they liked the program and how they think they grew from it.

In the post they interview each other on their experience with LAB and their perspective on the students’ growth.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL POST

“The exhibition really reflects the students’ hard work and persistence. Every student in the program dedicated a lot to the creation of the exhibition. The exhibition is a collection of their ideas united in one space. Not to mention, the theme is clear and poignant throughout the course of the art space rendering the message impactful and lasting on the audience.”

- Juliette Castaneda

LAB MENTOR MEET + GREET

JULY 18, 2023

LAB’s annual Mentor Breakfast welcomed practicing artists, teachers, creative professionals, and other LAB supporters.

The students each introduced themselves, answered questions about their work in-progress, shared their experiences with the program and how they have built new relationships. With the Meet + Greet happening during the crucial final install week, they were also able to talk through ideas, get tips on execution, and problem solve with the mentors.

The event provided a special opportunity for the students to network and learn more about arts careers while gaining confidence and becoming more comfortable speaking about their work and presenting it to the public.

LAB 2023: STRONGER ON THE OTHER SIDE

ON VIEW JULY 22 - AUGUST 5, 2021

Each year’s LAB exhibition evolves as a unique and timely reflection of the current issues and ideas impacting the youth in each cohort. This year’s theme, Stronger on the Other Side, focused on overcoming the pressures young adults face from family, identity, and success.

STATEMENT FROM THE ARTISTS:

“We have the power to explore the pressures in our experiences through art. This power not only serves as a therapeutic outlet for expression, but it is also a platform from which individuals can directly challenge societal pressures or expectations. Our exhibition exposes how deeply the notion of conventionality is ingrained into our mentalities by showcasing the many ways we come face to face with pressures. Come and experience our transformative journey as we begin to embrace the challenges and emerge stronger on the other side.”

The 2023 LAB students during the last week of install at Locust Projects.

PROCESS + INSTALLATION

The students worked hard, even staying late during the last week of installation, to execute the three distinct areas of their exhibition. Although the students worked together on the concept of the installation, they broke up into teams to build out their three parts: family, identity, and success.

OPENING NIGHT

JULY 22, 2023

200 plus family and friends attended the opening reception for Stronger on the Other Side and watched the students receive their certificates for participation which many use in applications for college.

POST PROGRAM EVALUATION

Post-assessment surveys administered at the end of the program showed that students were challenged when having to compromise with their peers, but through collaboraive activities and the group exhibition they learned how to connect and embrace their differences. The LAB students also learned new artistic skills in the mediums of sculpture, graphite drawing, installation construction, paper mache, bookbinding, and performance art. Some of their favorite aspects of LAB include the guest speakers, the art workshops, exhibition preparation, and the whole collaborative nature of the intensive.

POST-PROGRAM EVALUATION QUOTES

“I really enjoyed the artist talks we got through out the program including the teachers. Really gave me a different perspective on people in our world and not just the artists we see.”

“I got to connect with so many different people here and make so many new friends. I’m not a very social person but this experience forced me out of that bubble and I am happy with the results of it.”

“While working with them I learned that everyone has there own style and there own ideas when it comes to art and no one person can be wrong about it. It’s changed my perspective a bit in realizing that I’m not behind I just work on my own level. Seeing the ideas each student came up with was something that amazed me the most. ”

“It’s been challenging as a lot of compromising is needed, on the other hand, my peers are always willing to lend a hand and provide meaningful critiques.”

“At first collaborating with fellow students was hard as I was not used to team work and felt like I could not express my views, however as I got to know them better I realized they offered help in fields I was not familiar with and a new perspective to every issue. Through this experience I realized I’d love to collaborate with fellow artists a lot more, creating different projects and exploring similar themes.”

“This experience will definitely stay with me, as well as the new friends and colleagues I met through it.”

GETTING SOCIAL

CONNECTING WITH OUR COMMUNITY

13 LAB-related Instagram posts had more than 15,000 impressions and were visible to over 17,000 followers.

13 LAB-related Facebook posts had over 2,500 impressions and were visible to over 6,500 followers.

Three eNewsletters highlighting the LAB program and one dedicated eNewsletter were sent to our database of 14,225 emails from local, national, and international visitors.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

After students complete the program, we offer opportunities for mentoring, internships, and letters of support and recommendation towards college and jobs. LAB alumni have gone on to attend top art schools, including Cooper Union, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Parsons School of Design, and Rhode Island School of Design. LAB Alumni stay connected to Locust Projects, often returning as interns, visitors, or artists, and are consistently forwarded opportunities and information specific to young artists.

Room to Rise, a multiyear Whitney Museum-led study of immersive art programs like LAB, documents the powerful effects these programs have on teens, including lasting engagement with arts and culture, significant personal and professional development, and increased leadership skills and civic engagement. We see this in action firsthand as we stay connected with LAB alumni.

2023 Locust Art Builders (LAB): Summer Art Intensive for Teens is made possible through lead support from:

The Albert and Jane Nahmad Family Foundation

The Hillsdale Fund Inc.

Additional Support Provided By:

• The Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor Board and County Commissioners, The Children’s Trust

• The Kirk Foundation

• Susan and Richard Arregui

• Incubator Annual Fund’s Friends of the Next Generation

Special thanks to MEP Florida, Moleskine, Craize Snacks, and Half Moon Empanadas