Marina Sachs: Future Feedback

January 28 - February 14. opening reception January 28, 2022, 6pm - 8pm.

MARINA SACHS (@marina2mp3) is a multimedia artist and organizer currently living and working in Florida. Through sculpture, installation, and participatory performances, Marina approach addiction from non-medical angles. Their 35mm photography practice is simultaneously about the finite and final; the unsettling attempt to make a moment that's always already over, last forever. As a sober addict and alcoholic, much of their lived experience and art practice intersect in this struggle to suspend time, make moments last forever, and the pain that comes with the delusion that anything -- even a photograph -- is sufficient at making anything permanent.

Their MFA thesis research examines addiction through frameworks of science fiction and intersectional feminism. Tethered to their art practice is their ongoing talkshow, SOBER BABY, which airs weekly on IGTV and Spotify.

Emmanuel Manu Opoku

February 18 - April 4. opening reception February 18, 2022, 6pm - 8pm.

Emmanuel Manu Opoku was born in Kumasi, Ghana. He received his MFA from the University of Florida and his BFA from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. He is currently a resident artist and a curator at 4most gallery in Gainesville, Florida. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Florida, School of Art and Art History. 

“The artworks explore the role of the assemblage in contemporary art and in a global context whereby memories are transformed into a continuous experience of forms with everyday materials. I navigate issues of commodity by weaving and joining materials with references of geographical, cultural, psychological, and material space of both Ghana and US. The collection of the found objects I repurpose demonstrates a unique logic born out of my understanding of value, history, space, and materiality. With the sense of humor incorporated in my practice, the artworks I create tends to make viewers active in an exhibition space instead of being passive, by allowing them to read their own meanings into familiar materials that have been transformed.”

Alfred Phillips

April 8 - May 16. opening reception April 8, 2022, 6pm - 8pm.

Alfred Phillips is a Gainesville, Florida- based artist who specializes in acrylic painting. Educated at Louisville, Kentucky’s Art Center School, with a four-year studio arts degree, Phillips had a long, successful career in commercial art that included stints at ad agencies, then at his own graphics design firm. In 2003 he closed the firm and took up art full time when he relocated to Fort Lauderdale, earning multiple awards, and making sales on national and international levels. He relocated to Gainesville in 2013.

 “Because I always paint realistically but never to the point of photorealism, I call my work ‘contemporary realism’, and it often has a narrative theme. I will sometimes incorporate almost abstract-like areas, with drips and splatters, and shapes and angles, even in my most detailed paintings. Then I might focus extreme detail in certain areas of the canvas to draw the eye and bring the viewer closer to the painting.”

Women Artists Group: Moving Forward II

May 20 - June 27. opening reception May 20, 2022, 6pm - 8pm.

Five artists express diverse interpretations of a changing world in both natural and abstract forms. Beatrice Athanas, Marianna Ross, Bonnie Shapiro, Debbie B. Smith, and Lillian Verkins have been meeting since 2015 to encourage individual professional growth, share art opportunities, and provide feedback on their artistic endeavors.

Caroline Land

July 1 - August 15. opening reception July 1, 2022, 6pm - 8pm.

Born and raised in the NYC metropolitan area I was exposed to the creative process at an early age. As I moved from concrete to nature, I developed a persistent emotional attachment to it and believe that it is the most authentic experience one can have.

I am fascinated by the intricate designs created within the small space of one’s vision. The lines, forms, colors, and textures in the natural elements motivate my work. I reach deep within myself to express an image that will touch the viewer as it has me or cause the viewer to look more closely at the wonders that surround us. 

I use various methods to create my paintings.  Some are textural surfaces which I create, then paint over. Others are collages or mixed media pieces which I create using handmade, dyed, embellished papers, natural fibers, and acrylic paint.

Karlene McConnell: Hinterland

August 19 - September 26. opening reception August 19, 2022, 6pm - 8pm.

Karlene McConnell received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art Education from the University of Central Florida in 1983. She is a former special education Art teacher and Museum Curator. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows from New England to the Miami art fairs. Her art is included in several corporate and private collections including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NY and the permanent Lemerand Collection at Daytona State College, FL. 

Karlene explores memories and perceptions of the natural world through her colorful, gestural paintings.  She uses shapes and lines to mimic organic forms found in nature, playing with positive and negative space and layers of paint to build up a sense of atmosphere on a flat plane. Her work is also fueled by bursts of color.  While not true to life, her palette creates a conversation between cool and warm tones and serves to energize her compositions.

This series of landscapes is greatly inspired by several years of living by and hiking and kayaking through the hinterlands of the central Florida intracoastal waterways.

Elena Øhlander

September 30 - November 14. opening reception September 30, 2022, 6pm - 8pm.

Elena Øhlander (b. 1988) is a visual artist working in the medium of Mixed Media Illustrationand Mural-making, currently working and residing in Jacksonville, Florida. She attained her BFA in Photography from The Art Institute in 2014, exhibiting her work at national galleries and museums.

Her focus is in illustration that explores identity, gender issues, space, individuality and pop culture. Her main influences are Taiyo Matsumoto, Hayao Miyazaki, Yayoi Kusama, and Yoshitomo Nara.

“My work focuses on the subtleties of the human condition and conceptually explores identity, individuality, and gender issues through creative visual narrative. I utilize a contrived scenario, characterization of my own likeness, intentional use of semiotics, and the psychology of color to build my vernacular.”

“Hyphenated-American identity is a theme explored within the bodies of work as a comparative cultural lens that focuses on asian diaspora awareness and unification. The protagonist in my work takes viewers on a journey into my imagination through gesture, expression, and environment to reveal the many facets of my inner life.”

“My goal is to inspire the viewer to breakdown stereotypes and to look beyond the boundaries of their culture and identity for introspection. Rather than emphasizing what separates us as individuals - I hope to inspire understanding, mindfulness and connection in what unifies us to society at large.”