Dispatches from Anderson Ranch: Four Bakehouse Artists on What They Learned
From February through March 2020, Bakehouse artists Thomas Bils, Rhea Leonard, Nicole Salcedo, and Lauren Shapiro were selected to participate in the Anderson Ranch Arts Center Residency through Oolite Arts’ Home + Away Program.
Moderated by Bakehouse Curatorial + Public Programs Associate, Laura Novoa, the four artists share their experiences during the five-week residency program, the work they created, and how their practice has developed since their return.
To join the webinar, please access the following link.
Please ensure that you have ZOOM capabilities before the conversation.
About the artists
Thomas Bils was born in Melbourne, Florida and moved to Miami to study painting at New World School of the Arts where he received his BFA in 2017. His paintings are a result of his interests over epistemology of memory and the ontology of its subjects, using his adolescence in central Florida as the base position of introspection.
Born and raised in South Florida, African American artist Rhea Leonard utilizes drawing, printmaking, and sculpture to explore topics highlighting the Black body and how society affects Black psychology. She received her MFA from Florida International University and her BFA from University of Florida through New World School of the Arts College.
Nicole Salcedo is a Cuban-American interdisciplinary artist born, raised, and based in Miami, FL. Nicole earned her BFA from the School of Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied drawing, fibers, performance, and object design. Using meditative marks to create dense patterns, Nicole weaves between micro and macro lines, opening up rhythmic pathways that offer a deeper connection to the energies that flow throughout the universe.
Lauren Shapiro earned an M.F.A. in Ceramics from the University of Miami and is a visual arts faculty member at several institutions in South Florida. Her work integrates textures from tropical plant life with geometric forms to create ecologically driven sculptures and installations. She has developed cross-disciplinary projects that draw from scientific research and utilize the textures of endangered ecosystems to build sculptures and façades in clay that interface with architecture.