NORTH ADAMS, MA (April 13, 2023) — This month, 10 Miami-based visual artists are trading in the beaches for New England spring to spend five weeks in The Studios at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA as part of Oolite Arts’ Home + Away travel residency program. The initiative, which launched in 2019, provides career-advancing opportunities to artists in some of the country’s most prestigious artist residencies.

The diverse group of Miami-based artists work across various mediums including filmmaking, photography, digital media, painting, and more. They are: Amanda Linares, Becca McCharen-Tran, Charles Humes, Jr., Edison Peñafiel, Joshua Jean-Baptiste, Friday, Monica Lopez de Victoria, Roscoé B. Thicke, III, Rosa Naday Garmendia, and Thomas Bils.
The public will get a chance to view their work at a culminating celebration and Open Studios event April 27.
“With thoughtful programming in an ideal setting, these artists have a fantastic opportunity to further their artistic practice,” said Dennis Scholl, Oolite Arts’ president & CEO. “We hope North Adams will get to know these artists from one of our country’s most exciting visual arts communities.”

A jury of independent curators selected the group of artists who have taken over the studio space of the sprawling Massachusetts museum. Through this enriching residency, artists will take over the Studios at MASS MoCA and meet with curators who will provide feedback on their work.

“There’s no place like MASS MoCA for artists to gain inspiration and form community with other creatives,” said Blair Benjamin, Director of the Studios at MASS MoCA. “We’re thrilled to bring a big dose of Miami energy to North Adams.”
Oolite Arts’ Home + Away program provides additional travel residency opportunities for local artists at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., Anderson Ranch in Snowmass, Colo. and at Artpace San Antonio in Texas. Oolite Arts provides artists with stipends and covers tuition and travel expenses.

Since its inception in 1984, Oolite Arts, one of Miami’s largest visual artist support organizations, has offered residencies to artists at its current home on Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road. The Home + Away program builds on this mission with prestigious national residencies, providing Miami-based artists with exposure to new people, ideas and connections that can propel their career.

For more information about the Home + Away program, visit https://oolitearts.org/homeandaway.

About Oolite Arts
Oolite Arts strives to empower South Florida-based artists and enrich communities. Established in 1984, Oolite’s mission is to support artists and advance the knowledge and practice of contemporary visual arts. Oolite Arts creates opportunities for experimentation and innovation and encourages the exchange of ideas across diverse cultures through residencies, exhibitions, public programs, education and outreach. Exhibitions and programs at Oolite Arts are made possible with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council; the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; the City of Miami Beach, Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council; the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Jorge M. Perez Family Foundation at the Miami Foundation; the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation; and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
For more information, visit oolitearts.org. Follow @oolitearts on social media.

About MASS MoCA

MASS MoCA is one of the world’s liveliest centers for making and enjoying today’s most evocative art. With vast galleries and a stunning collection of indoor and outdoor performing arts venues, MASS MoCA is able to embrace all forms of art: music, sculpture, dance, film, painting, photography, theater, and new, boundary-crossing works of art that defy easy classification. Much of the work we show in our light-filled spaces, on our technically sophisticated stages, and within our lovely network of late 19th-century courtyards is made here during extended fabrication and rehearsal residencies that bring hundreds of the world’s most brilliant and innovative artists to North Adams all year round. For more information about MASS MoCA, visit www.massmoca.org, and follow @massmoca on social media.