Artwork by Morel Doucet, Giannina Coppiano Dwin, Cheryl Maeder, Lizzy Taber, Anastasia Samoylova, and Dorothy Sutton.
September 29th – October 31st, 2020
Part of RISE Climate & Art Weekend 2020 | October 1st – 4th 2020
RISE Outdoor was a group exhibition showcasing artists whose work draws attention to the persistent changes in nature, and humanity’s inevitable connection to it. Both symbolically or literally, and through varying mediums, the included artists reflected on the effects of climate change and its tangible results such as rising tides, polluted waterways, coastal flooding, and displaced local communities. Each artist’s statement and biography is included and encouraged to be reviewed to understand the differences in representation of this important topic.
The first exhibition of it’s kind at the Arts Warehouse and as the name implies, RISE Outdoor existed entirely outdoors throughout the Delray Beach downtown area. Consisting of ten freestanding prints by six artists, the goal was to bring art to safe spaces outdoors during COVID-19 restrictions, to activate new areas in the Delray Beach downtown/Delray Beach CRA District, and to ultimately speak on climate change and its personal/worldwide effects through visual art.
As a part of RISE Climate & Art Weekend, each October, in conjunction with the seasonal King Tides, The City of Delray Beach and the Office of Sustainability organize a climate education outreach event to raise awareness about the impacts of climate changes and the need to proactively adapt. The weekend invites organizations from around the city to be involved and programs include: artist talks, art exhibitions, virtual panels, environmental activities, etc. As a coastal city within a larger coastal area, Delray Beach hopes to share the realities of the climate crisis, rising tides, and ultimately how it can directly affect us and the local neighborhoods in the future.
Arts Warehouse is pleased to bring this outdoor exhibition to life with the generous support from the Delray Beach CRA, the Delray Beach Office of Sustainability, and Erin Deady P.A.
Morel Doucet
White Noise, Let the choir sing a magnified silence (25 Affirmation), Slipped Cast Porcelain, Hand Build & Altered Forms (Photograph), 2017
Exonerated – A drink and a sonnet to the last Barrier Reef, Porcelain Ceramic with Cast Altered Form (Photograph), 2017
Artist Statement:
Doucet’s work explores the cultural disparity of self-realization, assimilation, and transnational identity as a Haitian immigrant. Using direct or implied human figures, he explores narratives of vulnerability, isolation, and alienation within various cultures across the globe. Through intensive detailed labor, Doucet’s work mimics the current state of Black fragility, he employs ceramics, illustrations, and prints to examine the realities of climate-gentrification, migration, and displacement within the Black diaspora communities. In addressing these issues, he merges his Afro-Caribbean culture with flora and fauna and draws from the concerns of the collective consciousness.
The included works are from Morel’s series White Noise: When Raindrops Whisper and Moonlight Screams in Silence addresses the biggest ecological disaster that is happening in Miami – issues such as climate change, sea water rise, climate gentrification and how Black and Brown spaces that sit on higher elevation levels are being encroached on by developers. The porcelain works combine the textures, and surfaces of the flora and fauna the artist found throughout Florida. More on that series, here.
Artist Biography:
Morel Doucet (b. 1990) is a Miami-based multidisciplinary artist and arts educator that hails from Haiti. He employs ceramics, illustrations, and prints to examine the realities of climate-gentrification, migration, and displacement within the Black diaspora communities. Through a contemporary reconfiguration of the black experience, his work catalogs a powerful record of environmental decay at the intersection of economic inequity, the commodification of industry, personal labor, and race.
Doucet Emmy-nominated work has been featured and reviewed in numerous publications, including Vogue Mexico, Oxford University Press, Hyperallergic, Hypebeast, Biscayne Times, and Indulge Magazine. Doucet has exhibited both in the US and aboard, including a solo show at the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, Miami, FL; National Council on Education for Ceramic Arts, Pittsburgh, PA; American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA; Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami; Flaten Art Museum, St. Olaf College, São Tomé et Príncipe, Haitian Heritage Museum, Miami, FL; Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL, and the Havanna Biennial.
moreldoucet.com
Giannina Coppiano Dwin
Marea, Salt installation (Photograph), 2019
Artist’s Statement:
There is indisputable evidence that we are having anthropogenic climate changes not only seen from extreme weather patterns and climate caused events around the world such as rising sea levels, record temperatures and retreating glaciers, but top scientists in an overwhelming majority have confirmed, backed by academic and scientific studies that most of the warming is attributable to human activities.
One of the most vulnerable places in the nation being affected by climate change is Florida. We are at the top of the list. In the counties that make up coastal South Florida, salt water is already pushing through our porous bedrock affecting water supplies, tropical storms clog rivers and canals making it harder to drain into the ocean. Millions of people in our area are at danger of the grave effects of sea level rise now and in the very near future.
Artist Biography
Giannina Dwin has been the recipient of several grants and awards including the prestigious South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship for Visual and Media Artists and the Women in the Visual Arts Award. She has also received many other sponsorships and grants including ones to conduct research in Spain and Brazil. She lives and works in South Florida.
Her work has been included in national and international exhibitions as part of solo and group shows. Some of her more notable exhibitions include solo installations at the Cornell Museum in Delray Beach; Fordistas Gallery in Wyndwood, Miami; Fundación Valdes-Salas in Asturias, Spain; Far Gallery in Ft. Lauderdale; Project Space in The Art and Culture Center in Hollywood, Florida; the contemporary wing of the Museo Municipal de Guayaquil, Ecuador; Ornare-Miami as a collateral event during Art Basel; the Coral Springs Museum of Art, Coral Springs; Illegal Gallery, Florence, Italy.
Selected group shows include venues such as Spinello Projects at Brickell City Center during Art Basel 2019; ArtHill, Gallery, London, UK; International Museum of Art and Science, McAllen, TX.; University Galleries Boca Raton at Florida Atlantic University; Box Gallery, West Palm Beach; Whitespace at the Mordes Collection; Duncan Gallery, St. Petersburg; Armory Art Center, Palm Beach; Cornell Museum, Delray Beach; Casa De Espanha, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
She has completed a public art sculpture commissioned by the Broward County Cultural Council and the Broward County Main Library in Ft. Lauderdale. She is currently working on the design of a Public Art Work for the City of West Palm Beach. Some of her past public works include an outdoor sculpture for the Cultural Loop at Pineapple Grove in Delray Beach and an Office Depot commission to design and execute in bronze the Visionary Women Award. Dwin has also curated several exhibitions such Polyopia at Arts Warehouse in Delray Beach, Fl., Contemporary Ceramics and Textiles at the Coral Springs Museum, Corporal at the Schmidt Galleries, and Fabricated at FC Gallery. Dwin works on installations, sculpture, ceramics, photography, and performance.
gianninadwin.com
Cheryl Maeder
Submerge I, Photograph, 2017
Submerge V, Photograph, 2017
Artist’s Statement:
The Submerge Series explores the relationship human beings have with the environment. The human body contains 70% of water fluids and the oceans waters cover more than 70% of the Earth itself. Water represents our connectedness to the Earth and to each other. Submerge is the courage and willingness to take the leap into the depths of the Waters of the Soul.
Artist’s Biography:
Cheryl Maeder is a Fine Art Photographer and Video Installation Artist.
The core of her work has always been about “connection”; the innate connection to the self, each other and to all other life forms on this planet.
Cheryl studied photography at the Zurich University of the Arts. After 8 years in Switzerland, she returned to US and opened her photography studio in San Francisco where she photographed international advertising and fashion campaigns. Her work was the inspiration for the Dove Campaign on Real Beauty, Real Women, which transformed the way women are viewed in the global media today. In 2005, Maeder relocated her studio to Miami area and deeply immersed herself into fine art photography and video installations. Her work is in permanent museum collections-Frost Museum, Miami & Coral Springs Museum of Art and exhibited internationally-the Louvre Museum, Paris & Museum of Contemporary Art Rome, in traveling Public Art Group Exhibition, curated thesis on Water, Climate Change & Communities
maederphotography.com
Dorothy Janel Sutton
Untitled, Photograph, 2020
Untitled, Photograph, 2020
Artist’s Statement: Human x Nature Series
Human x Nature is read as human by nature. This series began at the beginning of the year but during the Covid-19 quarantine it truly came to life. It explores the inner connectedness humans have to the natural world and how it can affect our mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.
Being in lockdown quarantined without any interaction, the life outside my window became my escape and then it became my mission.
The series can be seen as a metaphor by equating the environment to human needs. Such as recognizing when you care for your environment, by keeping the littering low and cleaning the neighborhood, you are naturally caring for yourself and those around you. In the same manner, when harm is brought to the environment by excessive emissions it can harm you as well.
Humans have a special relationship rooted in the rhythmic nature of the planet and oceans. We are naturally drawn to the medicinal healing power of gardens, beaches and trails through its soundscapes and beauty. Our connection is inevitable and instinctive. It is by our human nature to seek out the things that provide relief especially during a worldwide pandemic. It is in our relationship with nature that it can supply our basic need to sustain life. Thus, we need the planet’s natural resources to help us recover mentally, physically and spiritually but our planet can only do that when it’s being protected and cared for by us.
Artist’s Biography:
Dorothy Janel Sutton is creative photographer. She was born in Delray Beach, Florida and attended Palm Beach State College and Florida Atlantic University; it is here she majored in Multimedia Studies with a concentration in Journalism and Photography. During her studies she developed a keen eye for capturing humanity shots with a journalistic approach.
Dorothy’s inspiration stems from elements of psychology, social issues, nature and personal experiences. Fusing all those elements together creates the narrative she tries to convey throughout numerous pieces.
Dorothy has been active as a photographer since 2014 for multiple businesses, such as Upward Bound, Information Television Network, American Heart Association and Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative. Most recently teaming up with Delray Beach based organization Northwest Southwest Neighborhood Alliance as a visual historian throughout the African American community. Her passion for photography has led her to be featured in many exhibitions at Florida Atlantic University, Ritter Arts Gallery, Arts Warehouse and Spady Cultural Heritage Museum.
shotsbydorothyjanel
Anastasia Samoylova
Hand, Photograph, 2017
Staircase at King Tide, Hollywood Florida, Photograph, 2020
Artist’s Statement
The included photographs are from FloodZone. FloodZone is an expansive photographic project reflecting and responding to the problem of rising sea levels. The project began in Miami in 2016, when I moved to the area, my first experience living in a tropical environment. It was the hottest summer on record. Through daily walks I began to realize how the city’s seductive tropical palette and quality of light concealed the growing dissonance between its booming real-estate market and the ocean’s encroachment on its shoreline. Ocean views are prized in the real-estate world, with little regard for building projects’ locations in high-risk flood zones. Investors seem to turn a blind eye to the reality that Miami is steadily slipping underwater. Miami Beach, in particular, is a striking case study: the artificial island boasts some of the most luxurious properties, but it is subject to regular flooding. Living in Miami is bittersweet: it looks and feels like a paradise, but the only secure roots belong to mangrove trees.
In 2020 she had her first solo museum exhibition of ongoing project FloodZone at USF Contemporary Art Museum. The book of the project was published by Steidl in 2019.
Artist’s Biography:
Anastasia Samoylova (b. 1984 in Moscow, lives in Miami) is an artist who moves between observational photography, studio practice and installation. By utilizing tools and strategies related to digital media and commercial photography, her work explores notions of environmentalism, consumerism and the picturesque.
anasamoylova.com
Lizzy Taber
Gradients; Rising Tides, Acrylic on Wood Panels (Photograph), 2019
Artist’s Statement:
Gradients is an installation of 10 paintings that visualize sea level rise specific to the location of Georgia’s coastline. Each painting represents a decade from 1930 to 2020. Studying the data from NOAA’s tidal gauge in Fort Pulaski, I wanted a visual representation of exactly how much and how quickly sea level is rising. The tidal gauge measures sea level every six minutes since 1935. The bright pink line symbolizes the measurements as the rainbow gradients represent land.
“As the paintings slowly become less saturated with time, I wanted to also visualize the loss of land, ecosystems and vibrancy our world is facing in the anthropocene.”
Artist’s Biography:
Lizzy Taber’s projects explore the relationships between art and science, with a current emphasis on marine ecology and seafloor mapping. Taber’s work has been shown at The Exploratorium, Bentley Gallery, Southern Graphics Conference International, the Sky Harbor Airport, and in other galleries across the United States. In 2018 she participated in an artist residency with Schmidt Ocean Institute where she worked with scientists using multi-sonar mapping methods and with whom she presented her work at the Ocean Exploration Conference at MIT Media Lab. In addition she has also attended artist residencies in Croatia, Iceland and Hawaii, and is collaborating with the University of Miami on the Rescue a Reef program focused on coral reef restoration. A native of South Florida, Lizzy holds an MFA from Arizona State University.