Fresh Squeezed returns to the Morean Arts Center in downtown St. Petersburg May 11. It’s the third year for the popular show that offers emerging artists a highly visible opportunity to jump-start their careers.
“We had almost 200 entries this year, so choosing was difficult,” said Amanda Cooper, the Morean’s curator of exhibits. “The Morean staff had three or four meetings and it took about a month to select the seven artists for the show.”
Cooper said the call was broader this year, so it reached many more artists than the first two years of this evocative exhibit.
“We liked things with a message, more than just a pretty painting,” said Cooper. “And it was not required, but interesting if their art said something about our state and its issues.”
J. Leigh Garcia fulfilled those requirements. Originally from Dallas, Garcia focuses on printmaking and two-dimensional works. She currently teaches at Pensacola State College.
“As a biracial Latina, a seventh-generation Texan of European descent on my mom’s side and granddaughter of Mexican immigrants on my dad’s, the roots of my own ancestry shape my artistic practice,” said Garcia.
Her print titled “El Sueno del Americano” shows farmworkers encased in a shopping basket topped with strawberries. The colorful print creates a powerful image that calls attention to the migrant issue in our state.
“It shows how farmworkers feel trapped in that system,” said Garcia, explaining that her grandfather was a migrant worker in Texas. “He picked cotton in south Texas, and it was hard work, low pay, and the workers have no rights.”
The show looks at many disciplines. For example, Tenee’ Hart is an ‘unconventional’ fiber sculpture artist who examines feminist themes by delving into topics of beauty, anatomy, and the injustices of women. She currently teaches at Florida State where she earned her MFA, and credits her grandmother’s love of sewing as inspiration her work with fabrics..
“Hart’s sculpture, mixed-media pieces that involve fabric and sewing, focus on difficult feminist issues,” said Cooper. “Much of her work requires a moment to realize just what you’re looking at.”
If you’re a fan of painting, Ericka Sobrack offers a curious view of modern life through her large-scale images suggesting “suburban nightmares.” Her work focuses on the complexities we deal with daily, such as photo-realistic paintings of interstates and other unlikely spaces.
Sobrack, who originally hails from a small midwestern town in Minnesota, is completing her MFA at the University of Central Florida.
Local photographer Lance Rothstein, well-known in the area for his work as a photojournalist at the Tampa Bay Times, is excited to have his first show as an artist at Fresh Squeezed.
“This is my first real solo gallery show,” said Rothstein, who has participated in group shows in the past. And it will feature his “street art” of Polaroid photos he has taken, as well as videos and a display of nearly 100 cameras he’s collected.
Rothstein began working with Polaroid images in 2008, when the film was difficult to get. He took pictures of public places, then left the picture at the site, with his name and email address, and instructions for the finder to contact him.
“Till now, I’ve left 600 Polaroid photos in public places around the world in plastic bags with my email,” Rothstein said. He recently spent several years in Belgium, and traveled from Budapest to Scotland, leaving many surprise Polaroids along the way before returning to the States.
He also creates photo collage, using vintage cameras and expired film “to investigate the ephemeral and ethereal nature of being, and the relationships between existence and perception.”
“Each week during the exhibition I will leave at least five original Polaroid photographs within a three-block radius around the Morean,“ he said, adding he’ll put maps with hints to find the photos on his website, picturecrossing.com, which he’ll update when photos are found, along with notes sent from the finders.
The response to his project has been amazing, and Rothstein said he’s gotten a surprising number of emails from everywhere he’s left his Polaroids.
Two other photographers in the show are Anh Pham (Photography) and Alexa Velez (Photography and Film) who are both from Jacksonville.
Chad Steve completes the artistic lineup for the exhibition. Steve, a ceramic sculpture and artist, displays his ability to render ordinary objects as art with a pair of realistic ceramic badminton shuttlecocks. Steve, originally from Missoula, Montana, studied and taught in Hawaii prior to life on Florida’s east coast, where he is currently director of ceramics at the Lighthouse Art Center in Tequesta.
Fresh Squeezed, sponsored by the Gobioff foundation, is an annual showcase that focuses on promoting the careers of budding visual artists and gives the community opportunity to discover exciting new art in our region
“It’s one of my favorite shows,” said Cooper. “Sponsorship by the Gobioff Foundation allows us to do things we wouldn’t normally have funds for, and it helps emerging artists by taking away the intimidation that can occur with a solo show.”
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This article appears in May 9-16, 2019.