2021-2022 Locust Projects Annual Highlights

Annual Highlights September 2021 - August 2022

Locust Projects is an arts incubator producing and presenting exhibitions, programs and projects. Our mission is to…

CREATE opportunities for visual artists at all career stages INVITE risk taking and experimentation ACTIVATE conversations around new art and ideas ADVOCATE for artists and creative practices 2

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Exhibitions

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Next Generation

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Artist Resources

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Activating Conversations on New Art and Ideas

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Getting Social and Seen

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Fundraisers and Friendraisers

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Supporters

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570 applicants

exhibitions

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public programs

Miami artists

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15 artists

non-Miami based artists

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EXHIBITIONS Supporting local, national and international artists at all career stages, Locust Projects is the only Miami organization dedicated to producing and presenting ambitious and experimental site-specific installations by local, national and international artists.

We are distinct in supporting artists in creating large-scale installations and providing them with curatorial guidance, artist fees, production budgets, and two to ten week residencies.

We foster connections to Miami’s arts community and the public through free public programs and free admission. Locust Projects has presented more than 186 commissioned projects by over 438 local, national and international artists.

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Jessica Segall: Reverse Alchemy on the Gold Coast September 10 November 4, 2021

WATCH NOW! Behind the Scenes with the Artist

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“Locust gave me the time and support to work on large, experimental projects, and actually turn them into physical work on a large scale” — Jessica Segall

Lewis Colburn: A Fountain for a Dark Future September 10 November 4, 2021

WATCH NOW! Behind the Scenes with the Artist

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“Locust Projects is a place that says ‘We want you to do something new, something that’s never existed before’...

The uniqueness of this place, combined with the support and resources mean you can really take a big step.”

— Lewis Colburn

“The work shares a laundry list of problems, including workers being replaced by automation, and water rising around places that people live because of climate shifts.

But there’s irony and humor, too.”

— Michelle Solomon, Miami Herald

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CLOSING PROGRAM A virtual Roundtable with Lewis Colburn and Leah Sandler, gently guided and grounded in our local context by Miami-based artist misael soto.

Using Lewis Colburn’s exhibition as a point of departure, this roundtable explored Italian Futurism, imagined utopias, disruptive events, automation, authoritarianism, sea level rise, Silicon Valley, speculative fiction, Sci-Fi, and more. By using the sculptural forms of the past to interrogate the conditions of the present, we may find our way toward possible futures.

Watch the full roundtable here and read Leah Sandler’s blog post related to the program “Fragments on Future Anxiety, Velocity, and the Modernist Myth of Progress” here.

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Loni Johnson: Remnants September 10 November 4, 2021

WATCH NOW! Behind the Scenes with the Artist

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“Miami-based artist Loni Johnson’s site-specific installation at Locust Projects is the culmination of a decades-long exploration of relational inquiries that imagine and visualize alternative geographies for communities of color. Johnson’s multidisciplinary social and studio art practices converge to underscore the need to develop holistic, plural and socially responsive art-making processes.”

— Anita Sharma, read her blog post “Ritual, Performance, & Care in the Altar-Making Practices of Loni Johnson” here.

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ALTAR-MAKING WORKSHOPS What We Hold Sacred As part of her exhibition, Johnson invited guests to bring meaningful objects—such as photographs, memorabilia, crystals, jewelry, and more—and build small altars as offerings to their ancestors.

Participants were guided to contemplate how we claim, navigate, and hold space; how ancestral and historical memory informs where, when, and how we occupy spaces; and how we carry and honor our ancestors in the spaces we move through. The altars were unified into a larger piece and installed as a collaborative work.

“There’s no coincidence that I’m showing at a space like Locust, because they understand the importance of community and the importance of accessibility to art.” — Loni Johnson 16

WATCH NOW: Loni Johnson’s welcoming space and palpable generosity of spirit sparked a transformative response from visitors who felt deeply connected to, and impacted by the project. We see this powerfully reflected in a performance responding to the exhibition by dancer Iman Clark.

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Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib: Field Companion November 20, 2021 February 5, 2022

WATCH NOW! Behind the Scenes with the Artists

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Photo by Julianna Foster

“We really wanted Field Companion to create an environment within the gallery to think about community, relationships between neighbors, between even unrelated elements within a single community.” ­ — Matthew Suib 19

“Locust Projects, a highly regarded nonprofit alternative art space, reliably hosts some of Miami Art Week’s most interesting offerings.

This year, Philadelphia-based artists Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib have created an immersive film installation of Field Companion, a film loosely inspired by the forests of the New Jersey Pine Barrens but filmed in a terrarium in the artists’ studio. ” — artnet news

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CLOSING PROGRAM FOREST BATHING An opportunity to open up your senses, relax, and step into the surreal microcosmic environment of Field Companion. Guests enjoyed an intimate electronic performance at Locust Projects by Maitejosune Urrechaga and Tony Kapel (Pocket Of Lollipops) with Daniel Clapp (Nightly Closures).

Ever-expanding with branching layers of various frequencies and audio loops, the performance responds to the thread-like patterns of mycelium, forming aural connections amongst the musicians and with the audience.

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A landscape longed for — the garden as disturbance: Andrea Bowers Sandi Haber Fifield David Hartt Jim Hodges Ebony G. Patterson Onajide Shabaka Ema Ri Cristina Lei Rodriguez Guest curated by Adler Guerrier and Laura Novoa November 20, 2021 February 5, 2022

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a landscape longed for: the garden as disturbance was selected as an Artforum editor's pick for essential “Must-See Shows” worldwide

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The Depths: Isabelle Carbonell Sofía Gallisá Muriente Miguel Hilari Colectivo Los Ingrávidos Sindhu Thirumalaisamy Guest curated by Beatriz Santiago Muñoz

Film Still from Sofía Gallisá Muriente’s film Assimilate and Destroy

November 20, 2021 February 5, 2022

Film Still from Sindhu Thirumalaisamy’s, The Lake and The Lake

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Film Still from Isabelle Carbonell’s, The Blessed Assurance

Film Still from Colectivo Los Ingrávidos, Coyolxauhqui

“Toxic Lake, Salt On Film, Moon Goddess Through Violence, through desert cactus, a mine and the photographs of those who labored them. This series unfolds through relations of material and sensorial experience, they arise from an inseparability of what we think of as "place" from historical events or the deep time of geology from a multi-perspectival experimental film language.” — Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, guest curator Film Still from Miguel Hilari’s, Bocamina

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Sonic Insurgency Research Group (SIRG): If the Source was Open (Megamix) February 18 - April 9, 2022

WATCH NOW! Behind the Scenes with the Artists

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“There is an integrated absorption that invites you, the viewer/listener, to envision, slow down, and spend time with the piece.

Stepping onto the platform creates a physical meeting point where listening can take place. It’s a strategy for occupying the room, focusing on the audience, and positioning the listener. It is the listener’s responsibility to be present and activate it.”

— Shanieya Harris, Artburst

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PUBLIC PROGRAMS Reading the Air with Fereshteh Toosi An in-person listening and dialogue session with Miami-based artist Fereshteh Toosi activating the exhibition’s central sculptural platform.

Conversation on Sound and Power with Jillian Hernandez and Fredo Rivera SIRG joined scholars Jillian Hernandez and Fredo Rivera in a conversation about the critical issues most pressing to them with a focus on the aesthetics of excess, displacement, art, sound, power, and culture within the artworld and the “oceanic borderlands” more broadly, to use Rivera’s term. Watch it here

CLOSING PROGRAM A Higher Power hosted by poet-in-residence Arsimmer McCoy In collaboration with SIRG, Arsimmer McCoy choreographed a live performance, audio, & visual homage to Miami’s sovereign storyteller Will “Da Real One’’ Bell (1964-2011) mentor to young writers and owner of The Literary Cafe and Poetry Lounge in North Miami.

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Poet-in-residence Arsimmer McCoy Arsimmer McCoy’s large photo mural visible along the windows on North Miami Avenue was presented as part of an initiative to invite local artists and organizations to activate Locust Projects’ Mobile Storefront Studio.

The image is a still from a film by McCoy created in collaboration with filmmaker Terence Price II and an excerpt from a poem written by McCoy and artist Reginald O’Neal: My child, built from crabgrass and concrete.

You are constructed of things that cannot die. so I won’t let you. from You can Always Come Home, 2021

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Leila Weefur: PLAY†PREY February 18 - April 9, 2022

WATCH NOW! Behind the Scenes with the Artist

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“My experience working with Locust Projects has been one of the best. It’s rare that an institution really gives you the kind of freedom and budget while being an emerging artist and I think it’s very valuable to have this experience as an artist.” — Leila Weefur

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“The voiceover is a child’s inner thoughts. Rarely do we hear/see/ understand the inner world of children, especially as they are trying to understand themselves and their relation to the constructed world around them. I wanted this to be the guiding voice, to place everyone in the mind of their child selves and experiences.” — Leila Weefur 36

CLOSING PROGRAM A testimony by artist Najja Moon activating Leila Weefur’s exhibition PLAY†PREY, captured by filmmaker Juan Luis Matos — followed by a conversation between Najja and Leila on the affinities between their work, on Instagram Live.

Watch the testimony here, and the conversation here.

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ART ON THE MOVE The 181: THE ABSOLUTE VALUE OF INFINITY ON ITS SIDE (O DISSIPATION) February 18 - April 9, 2022

WATCH NOW! Behind the Scenes with the Artists

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“Art on the Move is different each time. It could be art that is seen on a bus or the side of a building.

This time around with the 181 collective there was a great deal of trust and freedom. They started with a carpet, the rug cutter, and the ladder. Each day they gradually began to add to it. You never know what you will see when you arrive.” — Lorie Mertes, Executive Director at Locust Projects

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PUBLIC PROGRAMS During their residency at Locust Projects, the 181 collective members created a series of activations of circumstantial compositions considering time-based obstruction, including: the ancient Mud Lake Canal, Reserve-Capacity wave maneuvers, attempts to spot the endangered snail kite, shadow-telling trails from Mabel Cody, and other anomalous successions. Joined by artists Cose Cosmiche (Milan), Emile Milgrim (Miami), Rat Bastard (Miami) and various passers-by for various happenings over the course of their time in Miami.

Check out the 181’s Art on the Move adventures, activations, various zoom transmissions, and collaborations during their residency in our CLOSERLOOK blog.

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“We’re under this program or title of “Art on the Move,” which I think is very appealing to us, the fact that we get out and our work really is so site-specific, we take such influence from where we are, as opposed to constructing something super choreographed and repeating that in an institutional space, we love the freedom that this afforded.” — Tom Hughes

Jia-Jen Lin: Treading on Thin Ice April 22 - June 18, 2022

WATCH NOW! Behind the Scenes with the Artist

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“I’m interested in using the environment to reflect our current conditions. I feel, especially in these past years, the social violence, and every kind of change in the social system, has a big impact on how we portray our daily life…” — Jia-Jen Lin

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R. Eric McMaster: Drift April 22 - June 18, 2022

WATCH NOW! Behind the Scenes with the Artist

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“Knowing the adventurous nature of Locust, I knew that we could try slating the walls, work with musicians from the area and do something that’s going to really alter the space. What’s super encouraging about showing with Locust is how supportive they were in this process, but also thinking about how everything that I’ve learned from this is going to help me grow into the next project.” — R. Eric McMaster

CLOSING PROGRAM Performance accompanying R. Eric McMaster’s exhibition, Miami-local musicians, Lee Fearon and Akio Gamma played a 12-minute duet influenced by the score from Drift. However, the score, originally composed for the project by Danny Clay, has been reworked to effectively play in reverse. The revised composition will have the musicians sonically come together in its progression rather than drifting apart.

The musicians played on custom-built, conjoined violins created by the artist.

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R. Eric McMaster, Film Still from Drift

“A film on the ocean, one might think, could reasonably be filmed in any part of the world.

Can someone truly tell the difference between the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean when there is only water? But McMaster divines importance in the specific part of the ocean where he films his work. To him, each part of the ocean has the same individuality as different human beings.” — Celeste Viana, Locust Projects Intern, read her blog post “The Depth of a Vision: A Closer Look at Drift

by R. Eric McMaster” here.

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The Sea was walking the earth with a heavy heel: Ursula Biemann Atul Bhalla Tania Candiani Shezad Dawood Miguel Sbastida Guest Curated by Ombretta Agró Andruff

Still from Ursula Biemann’s Acoustic Ocean

April 22 - June 18, 2022

Still from Atul Bhalla’s Dvaipayana

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Still from Tania Candiani’s Sireny

Still from Miguel Sbastida’s High Tide

"I am honored and thrilled to bring the works of this exciting international group of artists to Locust Projects. I hope that viewers will be mesmerized by their sheer beauty, and touched by the powerful message behind each one of them." — Ombretta Agró Andruff, guest curator, read her CLOSER LOOK blog post here.

Still from Shezad Dawood’s Leviathan Cycle

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LAB MFA: Current Occurrences: Indranil Choudhury Tara Aliya Kesavan July 23 - August 13, 2022

WATCH NOW! Behind the Scenes with the Artists

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“Locust Projects LAB MFA program is such a special opportunity for emerging artists. To be able to come into the space at any time, to have the time to try out ideas and sometimes fail and then start over, that was essential in a work like this that’s all about experiencing the physical environment.”

— Indranil Choudhury

NEXT GENERATION Now in its 12th year, Locust Art Builders: Summer Art Intensive for Teens, aka LAB, is a unique four-week pre-college program for high school students with an interest in art, design, and exploring creative careers.

LAB promotes contemporary art and project-based learning as a means to encourage creativity, critical analysis, and problem solving, while building communication skills. LAB extends Locust Projects’ nearly 25-year commitment as an incubator of new art and ideas, by supporting experimentation and innovation in artistic practice with the next generation of South Florida artists.

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This year’s diverse group of 28 students from 13 Miami-Dade County high schools were selected through an online open call process for the opportunity to learn from Lead Artist Mentor Loni Johnson and other professional artists in a dynamic on-site program and build an art exhibition in Miami’s longest running alternative art space from scratch. Each year’s exhibition evolves as a unique and timely reflection of the current issues and ideas impacting youth today.

Special thanks to Guest Artist Mentors Chire Regans/ VantaBlack and Monica Lopez de Victoria, founding LAB Artistic Director. Thanks also to workshop presenters: Katie Christie-Bereng, Eddie Brown, Nicole Combeau, Carolina Cueva, and John English.

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“In LAB I've learned how to make prints, how to do book-binding, but I think mostly I’ve learned how to communicate with other artists and how to work with each other and compromise on your ideas, so that we can make something together.”

— 2022 LAB Student

The 2022 Locust Art Builders Exhibition: Garden of Candor For the 2022 LAB students their exhibition, Garden of Candor, “is the ultimate peace, enlightenment, and acceptance gained through selfactualization reached after a long, arduous, and oftentimes traumatic experience.”

WATCH NOW! Behind the Scenes with the LAB students

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INTERNSHIPS As part of Locust Projects’ commitment to support and mentor the next generation of artists, we extend paid opportunities to high-school and college-level interns to support our exhibition programs. Interns are given project assignments during their time at Locust.

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“Locust gave me insight on what it means to create a space catering specifically to the artists and allowing them to wholeheartedly further expand on ideas.” — Destiny Moore, 2022 summer intern.

Read her interview on creating the LAB documentary videos, on our CLOSER LOOK blog.

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ARTIST RESOURCES Locust Projects supports Miami-based artists with a number of resources helping to support and sustain their creative careers including incubator grants and professional development opportunities.

WAVEMAKER GRANTS - WaveMaker incubator grants has awarded more than $510,000 to 102 of Miami’s visionary artists over the last six years supporting new, publicly accessible projects in non-traditional spaces across Miami-Dade. As a national regranting program of the Warhol Foundation, WaveMaker grants have provided seed funding for several of Miami’s artist-run initiatives and projects.

LEGALARTLINK - Artists of all disciplines can empower and expand their careers with support from LegalARTLink’s pro bono legal services and professional development resources including online webinars.

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WAVEMAKER GRANTEES WaveMaker grantees receive up to $6,000 each in three categories: New Work / Projects, Long-Haul Projects, and Research & Development + Implementation. In the spirit of Locust Projects’ artist-driven mission, WaveMakers experiment and take risks, creating innovative work that is shared with the public in unconventional spaces.

After a dynamic selection process among 105 applicants, the Cycle 9 WaveMakers are: Trae DeLellis & Juan Barquin, Pamela Largaespada, Phil Lique, Julian Montalvo & Fredo Rivera, Terence Price II, Roscoè B. Thické III, Loni Johnson, Monica Uszerowicz, Liz Ferrer & Bow Ty, A.G., Monica Sorelle, and Ema Ri. The 2022 WaveMakers were selected

by Chire Regans (VantaBlack), Summer Jade Leavitt, and Michael Linares Vazquez.

WaveMaker Grants are made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ Regional Regranting Program, a network of 32 partner organizations across the country.

Learn more about the 2022 WaveMakers here.

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SPLASH PARTY Locust Projects’ Splash! Party at Soho Beach House celebrated this year’s WaveMaker incubator grantees! Guests were welcomed to the poolside tropical Beach Bar with delicious, spicy and sweet cocktails artistically crafted by Soho Beach House’s talented bartenders using CHAWAR, a raw agave spirit from the mountains of Ecuador, sponsored by Andean Agave and past WaveMaker grantee, Evan Marcus.

A curated Splash! playlist by Miami’s own celebrity DJ Kumi set the convivial mood.

WaveMaker grantees and the first fifty lucky guests received the coveted 2022 limited edition WaveMaker SPLASH! towel designed by artists and WaveMaker grantees LIZN”BOW.

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LEGALARTLINK At Locust Projects we believe artists are essential to society and are driven by a mission to provide access to opportunities and resources that nurture, sustain, and empower creative careers. LegalARTLink at Locust Projects protects the livelihoods, businesses, and art works of Miami-based creatives of all artistic disciplines through access to pro bono legal services and education. Since it was founded in 2003, it has assisted hundreds of visual artists, writers, composers, dancers, designers, choreographers, filmmakers, and multidisciplinary artists, among others.

Artists working in any discipline receive referrals to pro-bono attorneys, one-on-one legal counseling, and invitations to professional development workshops on a broad range of legal issues including copyright, trademark, establishing LLCs, contracts, family and business law, immigration, real estate, taxes, and more.

On the eve of the 20th anniversary of LegalARTLink, Locust Projects is thrilled to receive a $30,000 Community Grant from The Miami Foundation to expand organizational capacity and awareness of LegalARTLink resources among Miami’s creative community. With the support of The Miami Foundation in 2022-2023, Locust Projects will support Miami’s artistic community with equitable and free access to the legal resources and education they need from LegalARTLink to ensure the protection, growth and sustainability of the work they do that makes Miami a better place to live.

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On Friday, June 17 we welcomed The Asian Pacific American Bar Association of South Florida (APABA) for a special cocktail reception benefiting the Meenu Sasser Family Scholarship. Allyn Ginns Ayers, Director of Locust Projects’ LegalARTLink, is also APABA’s current president.

Attorneys from firms across Miami were able to see the exhibitions on view and meet artist Jia-Jen Lin who gave a private tour of her exhibition Treading on Thin Ice. 67

ACTIVATING CONVERSATIONS ON NEW ART AND IDEAS In line with Locust Projects’ vision that art and artists are essential to society, we inspire curiosity in new art and the exchange of new ideas through free public programs and partnerships with local artists and peer organizations, allowing us to go beyond the walls of Locust Projects and reach a wider audience. This year’s partnerships included: Talks Miami with Oolite Arts, Common Field Online Convening, Bookleggers Library, Antonia Wright x UNTITLED Art Fair, Intro to Crypto for Creatives course with Tam Gryn, and 5 x 8 Miami: Roundtable on Mass Incarceration with Art at a Time Like This and the Bakehouse Art Complex.

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TALKS MIAMI Talks provides direct access to the top curators and ideas driving contemporary art today, through a year-long series of conversations presented by Locust Projects and Oolite Arts.

Since launching the partnership in 2018, we’ve invited 28 arts leaders to Miami to talk about their curatorial vision and practice, the art and artists that have shaped their careers, and how they support the work of artists whether in museums or nontraditional spaces. Each also visits the studios of local artists, providing feedback and visibility that can build a bridge between artists working in Miami and the international cultural community.

Photo by Rana Young

WATCH NOW! All Talks are available online at Talks.Miami

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Photo by HRDWRKR

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2021-2022 SEASON Lauren Haynes | Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University Dr. Lynne Cooke | Senior Curator for Special Projects in Modern Art at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC Photo by Iglesias Cooke

hoto Courtesy of Amada Cruz

Photo Courtesy of Lars Nittve

Lars Nittve | Founding Director of Tate Modern in London and former Director at M+ museum for visual culture of West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong Diana Nawi | Independent curator and Co-Artistic Director of Prospect.5 Amada Cruz | Director and CEO of Seattle Art Museum Humberto Moro | Deputy Director of Program at Dia Art Foundation

Photo by Ernesto Solara

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COMMON FIELD PANEL In Mother Artist, a virtual panel in partnership with Common Field Online Convening, conceived and moderated by former Programs Manager Monica Peña, Miami-based artists Arsimmer McCoy, Loni Johnson, and Coralina Rodriguez Meyer discussed their art practices, their commitments to caregiving, and how integrating care into cultural work can lead us all towards a more nourishing, tender, and sustainable future. The artists engaged session participants through passionate and compassionate discussion, experience-based skill sharing, and artist-created participatory activities.

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Arsimmer McCoy is a collaborative storyteller with deep roots in her Miami Gardens (formerly Carol City) community.

Loni Johnson creates healing spaces for Black women, investigating how she claims space and how our ancestral memory informs the ways we move through space.

Coralina Rodriguez Meyer translates structural violence into heirlooms to restore civic agency.

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BOOKLEGGERS Bookleggers Library took over our Mobile Storefront Studio from November 2021 through August 2022 with a curated selection of books related to each of our current exhibitions.

Bookleggers Library is a nonprofit mobile library that expands access to free books as a way of building community.

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Antonia Wright: And so with ends comes beginnings at UNTITLED Art Fair Locust Projects presented And so with ends comes beginnings, a video by Miami-based artist Antonia Wright, at UNTITLED ART FAIR viewable on a floating video screen at Lummus Park Beach.

Photo by Ballyhoo Media

UNTITLED VIPS had the opportunity to meet the artist on their patio where she was signing copies of her limited edition print related to the project.

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Photo by Ballyhoo Media

Shot when the artist was 9 months pregnant, the video is a metaphor for the dualities of ecstasy and anxiety of living in a paradise for ground-zero sea-level rise. First, one sees a pregnant body floating above the surface as it slowly sinks below the water level. Then tower cranes emerge in the frame. These ubiquitous instruments on the South Florida urban landscape are the first objects erected on any construction site. Without a proper sustainability plan the city is being hastily developed, yet the stomach is a buoyant shelter; its round, soft shape suggests a place of safety in contrast to the rigidity of the machinery.

Still from Antonia Wright’s And so with ends comes beginnings

Intro to Crypto for Creatives: A New Renaissance with Tam Gryn In this class created by Tam Gryn, Director of Fine Arts at rally.io and head Curator at SHOWFIELDS, students learned about what has led us to the Digitalization Movement, what are the practical implications for art, culture, fashion, business, finance, gaming, and beyond.

With a focus on the creative community, they connected the dots between our time spent on social media; the pandemic and 2 years of zoom; discussed Bitcoin, Crypto Punks, glorified JPGs and all the myths you have heard within the historical context of art as it reflects our lives.

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“The reason why I created this course is because as an art curator, I’m very interested in how art intersects with other industries because artists are the moral compass of society, they bring their values to new industries and in return they should learn to monetize in new and exciting and creative ways.” — Tam Gryn WATCH NOW: Hear more about the course in this video with Tam Gryn and Locust Projects’ former Director of Development, Charity Von Guinness.

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5 x 8 Miami: Roundtable on Mass Incarceration In partnership with Art at a Time Like This and the Bakehouse Art Complex, we co-presented a roundtable addressing art, activism and mass incarceration with MacArthur Fellow Desmond Meade of Florida RRC, Vivian Azalia of Dream Defenders and artists Reginald O’Neal, Chire Regan/VantaBlack and Sherrill Roland discussed creativity, activism and the criminal justice system.

Moderated by Art at a Time Like This co-founder Barbara Pollack and organized in conjunction with the ATLT project, 8x5 featuring billboards across Miami addressing the un-Justice System.

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GETTING SOCIAL 15.7k followers 6.7k followers 140 subscribers 2.6k followers

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GETTING SEEN

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GRATITUDE In 2021-2022, Locust Projects received its eighth Art Works Grant from NEA; we were among the first grantees — and the only Florida grantee — of the newly launched Ruth Foundation for the Arts, a new grantmaker dedicated to meeting the evolving needs and lived experiences of artists, communities, and arts organizations; and we were among the 106 Miami-based nonprofits to receive a Miami Foundation 2022 Community Grant.

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FUNDRAISERS AND FRIENDRAISERS Building on our vision to provide contemporary visual artists the freedom to experiment with new ideas by creating a culture of “yes,” Locust Projects offers many opportunities to support our exhibitions and programming in impactful and direct ways.

Locust Projects relies on funding from annual fundraisers such as Spring Fling, Smash and Grab, and Annual Benefit dinners, as well as from support from donors to the Incubator Annual Fund, members and individual donors. We were thrilled in February 2022 to be back in person for the first time since 2019 for our Annual Benefit Dinner.

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INFINITY ANNUAL BENEFIT DINNER Honoring the Knight Foundation’s transformative impact on the arts in Miami and celebrating internationally renowned food and art pioneer Antoni Miralda at the Rubell Museum East Wing.

The INFINITY Annual Benefit Dinner was an unforgettable art and culinary experience commemorating the Knight Foundation – their transformative impact on the arts in Miami and specifically, their support of experimental art and ideas at Locust Projects – and celebrating iconic food and art pioneer, Antoni Miralda, an artist with longstanding ties to Miami.

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EVENT CO-CHAIRS: Richard and Susan Arregui, Debra Scholl, and Munisha Underhill.

“With our distinct mission to support the creation of cutting-edge new work by local, national, and international artists at all career stages, there’s no more fitting artist for Locust Projects to honor than Miralda, an internationallyrenowned experimental artist for more than sixty-years who has made Miami their part-time base since 1982. Guests enjoyed a taste of Miralda’s vision in a unique, immersive dining experience envisioned by the artist. At its center, was the concept of infinity—in both the shape of the table and in the convivial exchange around it. Each guest was an essential ingredient, seasoning our joyful time together.” — Lorie Mertes

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GIVE MIAMI DAY 2021 Locust Projects received vital support to keep our mission in motion through our core programs, making history by raising over $60,000 from 80 donors and finishing in 5th place overall on the visual arts organizations leaderboard!

We were wowed by the spirit of generosity that blanketed Miami’s nonprofits during the 10th Anniversary of Give Miami Day to the tune of $33 million in support.

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WATCH NOW: this amazing video captures the heart of who we are and all we do at Locust Projects and what we strive to make happen every day — ART, made in honor of the 10th anniversary of Give Miami Day.

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POP-UP ART SALE Featuring commissioned editions and donated original works by past and upcoming exhibiting artists including an installation by We Are Nice’n Easy — consisting of an interactive, physical lounge space performing as a simulacrum of a swimming pool, which hosts a collection of pool float soft sculptures and their corresponding NFTs — recent photographic editions by Cristina Lei Rodriguez, Juana Valdes, Elizabeth Withstandley, and Antonia Wright, as well as prints by Gonzalo Fuenmayor, Adler Guerrier, Simón Vega, and more!

Proceeds from the Pop-Up Art Sale benefitted Locust Art Builders (LAB): Summer Art Intensive for Teens.

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2021-2022 SUPPORTERS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Debra Scholl, chair Munisha Underhill, vice chair Linda Adler Juan Alonso Richard Arregui Elizabeth Bailey Sunita Bhagwan Karen Boyer Westen Charles, founder Nicole Chipi Jillian Choi COOPER, founder Nick D’Annuzio John Devine Bette Ann Fialkov Dawn Adels Fine Debra Frank, secretary Lauren Gnazzo Diane Grob

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CORPORATIONS and FOUNDATIONS Adler Guerrier Raúl Guijarro De Pablo Brian Heller Paul Jacober Avra Jain Carlos R. Lago Steven Lanster, treasurer Doreen Lima John Joseph Lin Stewart Merkin Diane Moss Jaime Odabachian Amy Pollack Elizabeth Withstandley, founder Antonia Wright Paul Berg, emeritus Jorge A. Garcia, emeritus

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Oolite Arts Florida Department of State Hillsdale Fund Albert and Jane Nahmad Family Foundation VIA | Wagner Incubator Grant The Kirk Foundation Artis

IN-KIND

CHAWAR Cultured Dacra Drifter Cocktail Co. Gander & White Shipping Inc I’ve Been Framed Jacober Creative Kalexy Graphics and Signs Miami Design District Total Wine & More Tripping Animals Brewing Wet Heat Project WLRN Public Media Zachary Balber Photography

INCUBATOR FUND FOUNDING DONORS CHANGEMAKERS

Susan and Richard Arregui

EXHIBITIONS

ARTIST RESOURCES

NEXT GENERATION

Supporting Sponsors Anna Mora Juan and Clara Toro Paul Jacober Carol Damian Steven and Rochelle Lanster Stewart and Corinne Merkin

Supporting Sponsor Elizabeth Bailey Frank Destra and Alex Fluker Nicole Chipi Debra and Barry Frank

Friends Anna Mora Roman Tsunder

Lead Sponsor Diane and Robert Moss

Exhibitionists Linda Adler Sunita Bhagwan Karen Boyer Sydney Carpel John Devine Tyler Emerson Dorsch and Brook Dorsch Talenia Gajardo Avra Jain Malinda Krantz Doreen Lima Lorie Mertes Jaime Odabachian Nedra and Mark Oren Hal Phillips and Greg Kendall Amy and Richard Pollack Debra and Dennis Scholl Mindy Solomon Debi and Jeff Wechsler Miles Wilkin

Major Sponsor Diane and Werner Grob

Supporting Sponsor Juan Alonso

Friends Dawn Adels Fine Juan Alonso Bette Ann Fialkov Jill Ginsberg and David Kaplan Scott Hodes John Joseph Lin Charity Von Guinness and Timothy Buwalda Munisha Underhill

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ANNUAL BENEFIT DINNER SUPPORTERS MAJOR SPONSORS

Susan and Richard Arregui The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Diane and Alan Lieberman Craig Robins

SUPPORTING SPONSORS

Sarah Arison Paul Jacober and Mauricio del Valle Anna Mora Christianne Mora

FRIENDS

Theresa and Juan Alonso Marie Elena Angulo and Henry Zarb Elizabeth Bailey and Paul Kennedy Beauty Shop Miami Francine Birbragher Karen Boyer Rita Cabasés Mario Cader-Frech and Robert Wennett Ximena Caminos Marianne and John Devine Frank Destra and Alex Fluker Debra and Barry Frank Marvin Ross Friedman and Adrienne bon Haes René Gonzalez Diane and Werner Grob Kelley Johnson Teresa Kessler Jeff Krinsky 98

Ellie Haydock George Lindemann Peter Menendez Ariel Penzer-Milgroom and Jeremy Milgroom Tony and Dora Molina Diane and Robert Moss Vivian Pfeiffer Hal Phillips and Greg Kendall Amy and Rich Pollack Faye and Jeffrey Roth Sydney and David Schaecter Debra and Dennis Scholl Candise and Justin Shanbron Clara Sredni Rosa Sugrañes Clara and Juan Toro Munisha Underhill Vhernier Jane Wooldridge

ADDITIONAL THANKS TO

Suzanne Delehanty, Cathy Leff, John and Lynne Richard and Valerie Ricordi

EVENT IN-KIND SPONSORS Jacober Creative Miami Herald | El Nuevo Herald Le Basque Rubell Museum CDR Maguire DJ Peoples Tito’s Handmade Vodka SoFlo Studios

LOCUST PROJECTS CURRENT STAFF

ABOUT LOCUST PROJECTS

Executive Director Lorie Mertes

Founded by artists for artists in 1998, Locust Projects is Miami’s longest running nonprofit alternative art space.

We produce, present, and nurture ambitious and experimental new art and the exchange of ideas through commissioned exhibitions and projects, artist residencies, summer art intensives for teens, and public programs on contemporary art and curatorial practice. As a leading incubator of new art and ideas, Locust Projects emphasizes boundary-pushing creative endeavors, risk-taking and experimentation by local, national and international artists. We invest in South Florida’s arts community by providing artists with project grants and empower creative careers by supporting the administrative work of being an artist through an onsite artist resource hub and access to pro bono legal services.

Donor Engagement Manager Mercede Hankins Gallery and Operations Coordinator Larissa Perez Communications Coordinator Sid Wolf LegalARTLink Director, PT Allyn Ginns Ayers Preparator and Project Manager, PT Tom Mickelson

TRANSITIONS Special thanks and recognition for the contributions of staff moving on to new adventures in 2021-2022: Jordyn Newsome, Clifton Childree, Alexandra Contreras, Monica Peña, Andrea Sofia R. Matos and Charity Von Guinness.

Annual Highlights Compiled and Designed by Alexandra Contreras.

All installation images by Zachary Balber Photography and all event images

by World Red Eye and Locust Projects staff, unless otherwise specified.

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Locust Projects 2021-2022 exhibitions and programming are made possible with support from: The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; The Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, The Children’s Trust; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; The National Endowment for the Arts Art Works Grant; Susan and Richard Arregui; Hillsdale Fund; the Albert and Jane Nahmad Family Foundation; VIA Art Fund | Wagner Foundation Incubator Grant; Diane and Robert Moss; Elizabeth Bailey; Cowles Charitable Trust; Diane and Werner Grob; Kirk Foundation; Diane and Alan Lieberman; Artis; and the Incubator Fund Supporting Sponsors and Friends.

Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib: Field Companion was co-commissioned by Locust Projects and Rowan University Art Gallery.

Music by Green-House, courtesy of Leaving Records.

A landscape longed for: the garden as disturbance was made possible with additional support from Gander & White.

Presented by Locust Projects in conjunction with UNTITLED. Antonia Wright: And so with ends comes beginnings is made possible with support from a WaveMaker grant from Locust Projects. WaveMaker Grants are made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ Regional Regranting Program, a network of 32 partner organizations across the country.

Jia-Jen Lin: Treading on Thin Ice premiered at Locust Projects and will continue its expedition in the Arctic Circle in Svalbard, Norway in 2022. The exhibition was commissioned

by Locust Projects, and supported, in part, by the National Culture and Arts Foundation of Taiwan and The Puffin Foundation.

R. Eric McMaster: Drift was commissioned by Locust Projects and supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary ArtsEmergency Grant. Composition by Danny Clay.

Performed by Benita Dzhurkova and João Da Fraga. Cinematography by Alex Markow. Audio Mixing by John Howell. Fabrication Assistants: Rachael Starbuck and Andy Forbes.

Special Thanks to Bill Haddad and Zen and Carrie Mayo.

2022 Locust Art Builders (LAB) was made possible through lead support from the Hillsdale Fund Inc. and the Albert and Jane Nahmad Family Foundation. Additional support provided by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, The Children’s Trust; The Kirk Foundation; Susan and Richard Arregui and the Incubator Annual Fund’s Friends of Next Generation.

3852 North Miami Avenue Miami, FL 33127 www.locustprojects.org 100