Art of Black Miami

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Mark Delmont

Giants of the Fields 2023, photographed by Melody Timothee

It's rigged, I told you, photographed by Melody Timothee

by Mark Delmont

Mark Delmont, born in 1990 to Jamaican and Haitian parents, is a dynamic multidisciplinary artist known for his innovative mixed-media creations. Hailing from the vibrant heart of Miami Gardens, more formally recognized as Carol City, Mark's artistic journey has been shaped by his diverse cultural heritage and rich life experiences.

From a young age, Mark found solace in the world of music and film, where he felt seen and heard. These mediums, ranging from the evocative sounds of Outkast, Curtis Mayfield, Kendrick Lamar, to thought-provoking films like "Equilibrium," "Boyz n the Hood," "Memento," and epic sagas like "Lord of the Rings," became his companions in exploring the complexities of identity, blackness, and masculinity. Through these art forms, he discovered an escape from forced archetypes in a world that often felt antagonistic. Art provided an opportunity for otherworldly uniqueness.

Mark's artistic journey was further enriched by his father, a mechanical contractor and fabricator. Their backyard wasn't your typical playground; it was a treasure trove of tools, hydraulics, pumps, motors, steel pipes, and electrical components. While it may have posed hazards for most kids, it was an intriguing playground for Mark. He'd take things apart to understand how they worked, quietly observe his father, and occasionally break things out of sheer curiosity. As a teenager, he began working alongside his father, learning the intricacies of the trade. Yet, Mark chose to channel this mechanical expertise into the arts, transforming warehouses into performance venues, working on construction, stages, lighting, and sound equipment.

Around the age of 25, Mark decided to take a profound leap into the world of art. He became a self-taught artist, weaving together his experiences, influences, and skills into creations that are a testament to his mastery of construction. His works encompass dramatic portraiture and expansive imagery of black iconography, utilizing paints, construction materials, and fabrics meticulously set on wooden frames.

Mark Delmont's art is more than a mere creative expression; it is a reflection of a lifelong quest for self-discovery and an exploration of the intricate layers that define us. Through his art, he invites us to join him on this journey, where construction, deconstruction, and rebirth coexist, creating a space where belonging and uniqueness thrive.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Links: markdelmont, harpofoundation, miaminewtimes, miamitimesonline

@artlovetrap

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Kandy G. Lopez

Lamenting Luis
by Kandy G. Lopez

Kandy G Lopez was born in New Jersey and moved with her family to Florida. She received her BFA and BS from the University of South Florida, concentrating in Painting and in Marketing and Management. She received her MFA with a concentration in Painting from Florida Atlantic University in 2014. She has taught at Florida Atlantic University, Daytona State College, and is now teaching as an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Media and Arts at the Halmos College of Art & Sciences at NOVA Southeastern University.

As an Afro-Caribbean visual artist, Lopez is eager to be challenged materialistically and metaphorically when representing marginalized individuals that inspire and move her. Her works are created out of the necessity to learn something new about her people and culture. Lopez is interested in developing a nostalgic dialogue between the artwork and the viewer. If she’s not learning from her materials and how it affects the message, it's not worth creating.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Producer: P.S. Social | Sound Design/Editing: Raymel Casamayor
Links: kandyglopez, american-craft spring 2024, voyagemia, hyperallergic
@kandyglopez

More of Kandy's work:

Sukii & Spinelli

 

 

 

 

 

Marley & Luis Green

           

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Marjaries Marmolejos

Untitled, airbrush on sheetmetal
By: Marjaries Marmolejos

Born in Dominican Republic, Marjaries Marmolejos has lived in the United States since he was eight years old. The hip hop influence in his work comes from growing up in the South Bronx as a child and loving hip hop culture. He considers his art a direct line to the minds of the working class, what he calls “the voice of the people.” Though Marmolejos received some traditional training at a young age, he has mostly taught himself by studying independently and observing the world around him.

Marmolejos thinks of his art as a form of cultural currency. He readily shifts gears, giving equal value and attention to custom painting a pair of Nikes, airbrushing a T-shirt, and creating a commercial mural. A professional artist for more than 10 years, he has worked in Wynwood, Allapattah, and Liberty City. His art is raw and highly calculated, figurative and abstract—his media ranging from oils on canvas to airbrush on car hoods, murals that wrap around buildings, and room-sized immersive installations. Marmolejos is devout and dedicated in his practice, motivated by his vision to express the love, fears, and challenges that everyday people experience in the world today.

Links: Marjaries Marmolejos, Liberty Square Artists in Residence Program, African Heritage Cultural Arts Center

@miacustom

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Shawna Moulton

Me-mom-mini-2020
By: Shawna Moulton

Shawna Moulton is a multi-disciplinary artist and art educator based in South Florida. She was born in Freeport, Bahamas, raised in Kingston, Jamaica, and then migrated to the United States. Ever since she discovered the magic of art, she has been manifesting her creativity in drawings, paintings, sculptures, and papermaking.

In 2015, she graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. Her art journey has taken her to the Awagami Factory in Tokushima, Japan, where she learned traditional Japanese paper making. Through teaching and artmaking, she engages diverse communities in conversations around art and culture.

Her art reflects her search for identity through her heritage as an immigrant in America with deep connections to the Caribbean and the African Diaspora. Moulton’s current work includes life-size paper-casting figures, illustrations on handmade paper, and watercolor paintings reflecting her journey into motherhood.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Producer: Fresh Art International | Sound Design/Editing: Anamnesis Audio
Related Links: Shawna Moulton, Summer Open 2022, Bakehouse Art Complex, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

@shawnamoultonart

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Anthony Renelle Reed II

Our Family Tree
By: Anthony Renelle Reed II

Anthony Renelle Reed II, better known in the art community as 'Mojo,' is a professional contemporary artist based in Miami. His upbringing in St. Louis, Missouri, grounds his perspective on making art—inspiring him to bring uplifting awareness to his community through his paintings and murals. Reed graduated from Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) in 2015, earning a Bachelor Degree in Fine Art with an emphasis on Sequential Art. Since he moved to Miami in 2018, a series of residencies, commissions, and partnerships have supported his vibrant depictions of Black American culture. The artist established the nonprofit Healing with Hues, Inc., in 2021. The organization aims to create impactful visual narratives, mentor aspiring visual artists, and bring public fine art to underserved communities.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Producer: Fresh Art International | Sound Design/Editing: Anamnesis Audio
Related Links: Mojo, Gone Til September, Local Black artist hired for Wynwood murals
@gotthemojo

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Thom Wheeler Castillo

Arraiján 
By Thom Wheeler Castillo

Thom Wheeler Castillo lives and works in Miami. He graduated from Pacific Northwest College of Art with a degree in Intermedia. Interested in landscape, environmentalism, and ecosystems, he works from an interdisciplinary approach, entwining art history, earth science, Queer politics, and anthropology.

In Miami, he participated in the inaugural Commuter Biennial, supplanting advertisements on public buses with a series of handmade, editioned prints. Wheeler Castillo produces works through experimentation and partnership that nurture his studio practice. He and Emile Milgrim founded Archival Feedback to engage in various critical dialogues of the moment, approaching the environment as a field studio and producing sound works in a wide range of mediums. Since 2021, he's embarked on cultural missions throughout the Caribbean region, working with curator Rosie Gordon-Wallace and the Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator (DVCAI) to participate in international cultural exchanges. He is currently an Artist-In-Residence Studio Fellow with DVCAI and a 2023 recipient of DVCAI’s Catalyst award. He works throughout the region as an educator with institutions including Perez Art Museum Miami, O, Miami Poetry Festival, HistoryMiami, A.I.R.I.E. (Artist in Residence in the Everglades), Rubell Museum, and Miami Design District.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Producer: Fresh Art International | Sound Design/Editing: Anamnesis Audio

Special Audio
Sanibel Shoreline Shells, from Archival Feedback by Various Artists
Biscayne Bay Storm Drain, from Archival Feedback by Various Artists
11th St. Station Whistle, from Archival Feedback, Single by Emile Milgrim & T. Wheeler Castillo A Call to Bird, August 2018, from Archival Feedback

Links: Thom Wheeler Castillo, Archival Feedback, Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, Commuter Biennial, Wynwood Walking Tour with T. Wheeler Castillo

@twheelzzzzzzzzzz
@archivalfeedback

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Carl Juste

"Carl Juste's Haiti's Hope Leogane Haiti"
Photo By: @Carl-Philippe Juste / Iris Photocollective

Under the threat of persecution, Haitian-born Carl–Philippe Juste and his politically active family were forced to flee their homeland in 1965, eventually settling in Miami’s Haitian community. Since 1991, Juste has worked as a photojournalist for the Miami Herald. He has covered national and international stories for the Herald, including assignments in Haiti, Cuba, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

As part of his ongoing independent work, in 1998, Juste co-founded Iris Photo Collective (IPC). In 2016, he won a prestigious Knight Foundation Arts Challenge grant to complete Havana, Haiti: Two Cultures, One Community, a book and exhibit of photographs and essays about Cubans’ and Haitians’ lives and shared humanity. Juste opened IPC Art Space in 2019 to further engage the public with the arts. He won Oolite Arts' Creator Awards in 2019 and 2021.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Producer: Fresh Art International | Sound Design/Editing: Anamnesis Audio
Links: Carl Juste: Iris PhotoCollective, Miami Herald, Oolite Arts, Havana Haiti: Two Cultures, One Community
@ipcartspace

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Nate Dee

"Channeling Change"
By: Nate Dee

Born and raised in South Florida, Nathan Delinois (Nate Dee) recognizes numerous influences on his art, including his Haitian background and the use of color in Haitian art, as well as street art. The design quality of the Art Nouveau movement and the drama of Greek art from the Hellenistic period can be seen in his work. Additionally, he is inspired by the pop surrealists.

Dee earned Bachelor of Science (2003) and Master in Fine Arts (2008) degrees at Florida International University, Miami. His art has been featured in magazines such as Delve, Making Waves, WeMerge, DUO, and Miami New Times, where he was listed as one of 10 Miami Artists to Follow on Instagram. Miami New Times gave him an Honorable Mention in their 2013 Miami Masterminds awards. The artist shows his work in exhibitions across the United States and internationally. Mural commissions have taken him around the globe.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Producer: Fresh Art International | Sound Design/Editing: Anamnesis Audio
Related Links: Nate Dee, FestiGraffiti, Florida International University News
@miaminate

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Chire ”Vantablack” Regans

"Say Their Names"
by Chire "Vantablack" Regans

 

Chire “VantaBlack” Regans’ makes art at the intersection of social justice and storytelling. Her work responds to urgent societal concerns and functions as a critical platform to amplify the voices of the communities with whom she engages. Over the past decade, she has focused on community advocacy and depicting social narratives without distortion, in a variety of mediums. The birth of the Black Lives Matter movement triggered a sense of urgency in her practice, motivating her to broaden her work’s social accessibility and creative scale. In South Florida, Regans continues to marry her artistic practice with community-led activism, emphasizing the art of storytelling as a means of engaging with communities with radical empathy and transparency.

Regans was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, and relocated to Miami in the late 1980s. She studied at New World School of the Arts in the mid-90s, and graduated from Florida A&M University in 2005. The artist serves on the Miami Dade County Community Relations Board's Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Committee and was the Fall 2020 Artist-in-Residence with the Community Justice Project Miami. Chire has received critical recognition for her work in advancing social justice and racial equity. In 2020, she received The Ellies Social Justice Award from Oolite Arts and was recognized as the Best Visual Artist by the Miami New Times. In 2021, she was awarded a prize for her leadership and activism from The Miami Foundation’s Racial Equity Fund.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Producer: Fresh Art International | Sound Design/Editing: Anamnesis Audio
Special Audio Feature: Chire Regans, “Say Their Names,” 2021, courtesy of the artist
Related Links: Chire Regans, Oolite Arts Social Justice Award 2020, Say Their Names—A Public Art Memorial Project

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Loni Johnson

"Remnants"
by Loni Johnson

Loni Johnson is a multi-disciplinary visual artist born and raised in Miami. An artist, educator, mother, and activist, she honors the support she received as a young artist by giving back— nurturing her communities and bettering the world with her creativity.

Johnson’s practice focuses on transforming spaces and situations that have been historically inaccessible to black people and their communities. In 2021, at Locust Projects, Miami, Johnson presented Remnants, a healing space for black women designed to reconnect and reactivate ancestral memory. In the same year, Johnson co-founded Miami Melanated Arts, a collective of black artists centered on forging effective and impactful arts eco-systems in South Florida. Miami’s Oolite Arts recognized the importance of Johnson’s activism with The Ellies 2021 Social Justice Award. The artist will introduce Miami and her practice to Norway in a 2022 Heat Exchange residency organized through Bas Fisher Invitational.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Producer: Fresh Art International | Sound Design/Editing: Anamnesis Audio
Special Audio Feature: Juan L Martos, for Loni Johnson, “Crossroads” performance, 2021, courtesy of Loni Johnson
Related Links: @lonijae305, Locust Projects, Oolite Arts Social Justice Award, Bas Fisher Invitational Heat Exchange