BAKEHOUSE ART COMPLEX X MAGELLAN HOUSING: WYNWOOD WORKS
Rendering of Nicole Salcedo’s Blooming Worlds for Wywood Works. Courtesy of the artist.
BAKEHOUSE ART COMPLEX AND MAGELLAN HOUSING ANNOUNCE THE SELECTION OF ARTIST NICOLE SALCEDO FOR PUBLIC ART COMMISSION
Miami, FL – April 15, 2024 – Bakehouse Art Complex and Magellan Housing, LLC, are pleased to announce the selection of Bakehouse artist Nicole Salcedo for a public art commission for the Wynwood Works, a 120 unit affordable housing development located at 2035 North Miami Avenue. In 2019, as part of a competitive bidding process run by the OMNI CRA, Magellan Housing approached Bakehouse Art Complex with the opportunity to curate the selection of its public art, should they be the successful bidder for the redevelopment of the site. Magellan is excited to support an organization like Bakehouse, with a rich history of working in Wynwood and serving Miami-based artists since 1986. Bakehouse has a reputation for attracting, supporting, and developing local talent. The relationship allows Magellan to reinvest resources into the local arts economy while ensuring the curatorial integrity of the public art selection process.
Working in collaboration with Magellan, Bakehouse developed criteria and sent an RFP to its community of 100 artists. The organization invited noted architectural writer and critic, Beth Dunlop; artist, curator, and Bakehouse board member, Edouard Duval-Carrié; and artist, art activist, author, public art consultant and curator, César Trasobares, to serve as jurors of the two-tiered competitive process.
Eighteen Bakehouse artists responded to the initial solicitation and six proposals were short-listed. The jurors provided critical feedback to the semi-finalists: Alain Castoriano, Philip Lique, Christina Pettersson, Sandra Ramos, Nicole Salcedo, and Gabriela Gamboa and Tonya Vegas (submitted jointly), who integrated these recommendations into their final presentations. The semi-finalists will have their work exhibited both at Bakehouse and in the lobby of the new housing project. After a rigorous and thoughtful process, Salcedo’s work, Blooming Worlds, was recommended by the jury and unanimously approved by the City of Miami’s Art in Public Places Committee during a public hearing on February 12, 2024.
“We were impressed with the thoughtfulness of all the semi-finalists, which made this a very difficult decision! The four figures in Salcedo’s work are dynamic and full of energy – and somehow also full of possibility. They are a real testament to the potential public art has for lifting our spirits. This work expresses optimism and joy in a world where we sometimes have too little of either!” commented the jurors.
Since its inception in 1986, Bakehouse Art Complex has provided emerging and mid-career artists with the opportunity to explore and develop their artistic endeavors through affordable studios, creative and professional development opportunities, and access to fabrication spaces. Bakehouse encourages its community of artists to work, make, discover, learn, and share their practices and work with each other and the broader community.
Bakehouse, now positioned for its next stage of development, is in the process of renovating the structure of the former bakery building, thanks to a grant directed by City of Miami Chairwoman/City Commissioner Christine King, from her district’s allocation of American Rescue Program funds. Concurrently, the organization is finalizing plans to add affordable and workforce housing and new cultural spaces to its 2.3-acre campus. In doing so, it will play an even more critical role in the collective efforts to build a strong and sustainable ecosystem in Miami, one in which artists and the arts can thrive. Bakehouse’s aim is to propel and sustain creativity, foster collaboration and community, and elevate Miami and its artists, locally, nationally, and globally, through its programmatic offerings and partnerships, such as the one with Magellan Housing.
“We were so delighted when Magellan’s principal, Nick Inamdar, approached us in 2019 about the potential to partner with them to curate and select an artist for the public art component of their proposed housing development. We are so appreciative of their belief in the organization and the talent of our community of artists,” commented Bakehouse Executive Director Cathy Leff. “We are proud to be part of this very visible and important project and to demonstrate the many ways Bakehouse can lend its curatorial expertise to developers and other public projects and, in doing so, elevate its artists and create a stronger local arts economy.”
Magellan’s housing development is located on a significant and highly trafficked thoroughfare with a rich history that dates back to the 19th century. Today, North Miami Avenue remains an essential artery, contributing to the city's diverse and thriving urban landscape, surrounded by commerce, entertainment, and cultural activities.
Detail of four panels of Blooming Worlds by Nicole Salcedo. Courtesy of the artist.
Blooming Worlds, which will occupy the building’s west facade, comprises four panels portraying vibrant and dynamic figures set against a backdrop of stylized plants. These colorful figures are central to the work, leaping and reaching for new heights, symbolizing the movement upwards of a diverse and dynamic community. The design also integrates a lush and vibrant plant pattern throughout, signifying growth, renewal, and the flourishing working-class community that will once again have the opportunity to live and participate in the neighborhood through the Wynwood Works project. To create an engaging and visually appealing facade that stands out against the building's backdrop, Salcedo employed a color palette that merges warm and cool tones, a combination of colors that is symbolic of the coexistence of Wynwood's past and present:
“This artwork will stand as a testament to the enduring spirit of Wynwood's residents and its vibrant, ever-evolving community, serving as an inspiring reminder of the neighborhood's history and its promising future. Blooming Worlds will be a visual manifestation of the resilience that defines the soul of Wynwood,” said Salcedo.
Details about the public art installation, including location and unveiling date, will be announced in the coming months. For updates and more information, please visit bacfl.org.
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About Bakehouse Art Complex
Bakehouse Art Complex is a non-profit arts organization that stands at the heart of South Florida's bustling arts scene in Wynwood Norte, where it has been a beacon of creativity for nearly four decades. Founded in 1985 by artists and for artists in a former industrial Art Deco-era bakery, Bakehouse provides studio residencies, infrastructure, and community to enable the highest level of artistic creativity, development, and collaboration for promising talent. Bakehouse provides partially to fully subsidized work spaces to over 100 local artists, deriving from a rich diversity of backgrounds and working in a broad range of media–painting, sculpture, printmaking, metal and woodworking, photography, digital/interactive media, performance art, even history–that share their practices and work with each other and the broader community.
Over the past five years, Bakehouse has taken the initial steps to lay the groundwork to transform the organization, physically and programmatically, to create paths for sustainability and growth among the Miami creative community. Building on the founders’ vision to ensure affordability for Miami artists, the organization is planning to add affordable housing for artists, along with new cultural and community spaces. Bakehouse seeks to play an important role in the collective efforts to build a more robust and sustainable ecosystem in Miami where artists and the arts can thrive.
Bakehouse Art Complex is free and open to the public every day from 12 - 5 pm. For more information, access: bacfl.org.
About Magellan Housing, LLC and Wynwood Works
Miami based Magellan Housing is quickly emerging as a national leader in affordable, workforce, and senior multifamily communities. A Magellan Housing development is more than just affordable for its residents - It is as beautiful and safe as any modern rental housing complex and is always an asset to the community where it is located. Whether designed as a high rise, mid-rise or garden style apartment complex, a Magellan Housing community complements its neighborhood and is a place anyone can be proud to call home.
Wynwood Works will be a twelve-story, multi-family affordable housing development, with 120 apartments geared to a range of household AMIs (area median income) and complemented by ground-floor commercial space, five levels of enclosed parking, and a mix of amenity spaces including a gym, business center, and community room, to support the future residents of the building. The development is a collaboration between Magellan Housing and Haslem Housing Ventures, founded by the Miami Heat’s Udonis Haslem.
About Nicole Salcedo
Nicole Salcedo is a Cuban-American multi-disciplinary artist based in Miami, Florida. She works in sculpture, fibers, performance and film, with a foundational practice in drawing and pattern design. Using repetitive marks to create patterns and webs of energy within her work, Salcedo’s drawings open up pathways that offer a deeper understanding of consciousness and the various connections between our bodies and the environment. Salcedo’s influences include botany, fractals, the physics of electromagnetic energy, and her animistic spiritual practice. By delving into her personal experiences and cultural heritage, Salcedo creates art that speaks to universal themes of identity, transformation, and interconnectedness. Salcedo’s work draws us closer to the mystery of existence and invites us to embrace the beauty and complexity of the world around us.