Locust Projects is proud to present LAB (Locust Art Builders). Now in its eighth year, LAB brings together a diverse group of high school-aged aspiring artists from schools across Miami-Dade County for a four-week Summer Art Intensive for Teens where they learn to build an exhibition from scratch. 

Under the direction of Miami-based contemporary visual artists, Monica Lopez De Victoria (TM Sisters) and Francesco Lo Castro, LAB is a unique, hands-on opportunity that allows student artists to widen their perspectives, gain new skills, connect with their peers, and meet local artists, collectors and arts professionals from throughout South Florida. 

Students experiment in a range of media including sculpture, video, painting, animation, installation, and photography. In addition to art making, their days include respectful debate, skills lab, and group critique as they conceptualize their ideas behind the show. Students take the lead in writing their artist statements, designing print and digital materials, promoting via social media, meeting with the press and the public, budgeting their expenses, and coordinating their opening reception. 

The artist-led instruction at Locust Projects is complemented by guided field trips to local arts institutions and artist studios, as well as a series of talks by invited speakers from the Miami art community and a special Mentor Breakfast where students get to meet and greet artists, teachers, area arts professionals and other community arts mentors.

Each year’s exhibition evolves as a unique and timely reflection of the current issues and ideas impacting youth today. Titling their show, Just Another Day, the 2018 LAB students refer to how gun violence, school shootings, safety protocols and loss have become a commonplace experience for today’s youth. (Image: LAB Brainstorming Session) 

Participating Student Artists: Sebastian Alvarez, South Miami Senior High School; Nick Andrade, Miami Beach Senior High School; Judah Beckman, Miami Beach Senior High School; Angelina Casso, Design and Architecture Senior High School; Grace Castillo, Terra Environmental Research Institute; Mikaël Choukroun, Miami Beach Senior High School; Adriana Cover, Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School; Malena Del Pino, Design and Architecture Senior High School; Sarah Flores, South Miami Senior High School; Sarialis Gonzales, South Miami Senior High School; Lia Latty, Miami Beach Senior High School; Sarah Leiva, Design and Architecture Senior High School; Stefani Murillo, South Miami Senior High School; Sofia Porzio, Design and Architecture Senior High School; Kareena Rudra, Ransom Everglades Senior High School; Janiyia Toomer, New World School of the Arts; Elizabeth Paola Vargas, South Miami Senior High School; Michael Vega, Design and Architecture Senior High School. 

LAB extends Locust Projects’ longstanding commitment to experimentation and innovation in artistic practice to the next generation of South Florida artists. LAB is a unique initiative that promotes contemporary art as a tool of project-based learning, introducing young artists with an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the practical aspects and experiences of art and its potentials. 

LAB culminates with a public opening reception for the student-created exhibition, where students’ parents, teachers and friends are invited to celebrate alongside the students and Miami’s art community.

Locust Art Builders (LAB) is made possible through lead support from the Hillsdale Fund Inc. Additional LAB funding is provided by Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, Vhernier, and donors to the Team LAB Annual Education Fund.