2026 Oolite Arts residents
Oolite Arts is pleased to welcome 13 exceptional artists to the Oolite Arts Studio
Residency Program. Over the course of their residency, these artists will expand
their practices, push creative boundaries, and contribute meaningfully to the
cultural life of our community. We look forward to sharing updates as the
residents settle into their studios and begin their work.
They are (from top right)
Diego Gabaldon, Returning Studio Resident
Diego Gabaldon is a Miami-based artist and designer with a BFA from Tufts University and a BA from the University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins. Influenced by the sporting culture of bodybuilding, organized sport, and biology, Gabaldon explores the intersections between the psychology of competition, hypermasculinity, and the obsession with physical transformation. His work has been exhibited both domestically and internationally, including shows at Laundromat Art Space, Central Saint Martins, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and the National YoungArts Foundation.
Website: https://threatappraisal.pro/
Gonzalo Hernandez, New Studio Resident
Gonzalo Hernandez was born in Lima, Peru (1991) and lives and works in Miami, Florida. He received his MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Upcoming exhibitions include a group exhibition This is America (tentative title), curated by Maritza Lacayo at the Pérez Art Museum in Miami. Recent solo exhibitions include presentations at David Castillo Gallery, Miami; Kates-Ferri Projects, New York; SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah; ICPNA, Lima and Vigil Gonzales, Buenos Aires and Cusco. His work has been featured in international exhibitions such as the II Bienal Textil (Santiago, Chile), the AIM Biennial (Miami), and group exhibitions at Mindy Solomon Gallery (Miami), LVL3 (Chicago), Laney Contemporary (Savannah) and Charlotte Street Foundation (Kansas City), among others. His work is included in major public and private collections, including the Pérez Art Museum, Miami; ICPNA, Lima; the Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah; El Espacio 23, Miami; among others. Hernández’s work has been reviewed in ARTnews, Hyperallergic, Cultured Magazine, Artpapers, Artnet, Burnaway, and numerous others.
Website: https://www.gonzalo-hernandez.com/
Sepideh Kalani, Returning Studio Resident
Sepideh Kalani, a Persian artist who immigrated to the United States in 2021, received her B.F.A. from the University of Guilan, Iran, in 2015, supported by a tuition waiver scholarship. She went on to earn her M.F.A. in Fine Arts from the University of Miami in 2024 with a full scholarship. Her curiosity about the intersection of art and science led her to study Neuroscience in 2016–2017. Since 2015, she has been self-taught in ceramics and glazing, continuously expanding her expertise. Alongside her artistic practice, Sepideh has mastered traditional skills rooted in Persian culture, including ancient glazing techniques, miniature painting, character design, woodcraft, carpentry, plaster molding, and pottery. Her work has been exhibited in prominent museums and galleries, and her pieces are held in collections in both Iran and the United States. Now based in the United States, Sepideh creates sculptures that serve as storytellers, drawing from her experiences as an Iranian woman navigating religious, political, and gender transitions. Her work bridges cultural heritage and contemporary expression, weaving narratives that resonate across borders.
Website: https://www.behance.net/BLUE_SEPIDEH
Shayla Marshall, New Studio Resident
Shayla Marshall (b. 1999, Miami, FL) is a contemporary mixed-media artist now based in between Miami and London, whose work uses world-building techniques to imagine new histories and futures, ones not prewritten for her. Raised in Miami’s culturally rich and predominantly Black neighborhoods, her upbringing informs a celebration of identity and place. At 18 she moved to California, where living outside the familiarity of home exposed her to the broader complexities of being Black in environments not always safe or affirming.
Now a full-time artist, Marshall holds her MA in Contemporary Art Practice from the Royal College of Art, the world’s leading university for art & design according to the latest rankings. Her practice pulls disparate moments in time into layered, immersive worlds where storytelling is the foundation, inviting viewers to dwell in the flamboyance and depth of narratives often overlooked. Her work has been shown in institutions such as the Saatchi Gallery (London) and Greenspace Miami (2025). She has completed multiple residencies including at the Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami, and is a recipient of the Miami‐Dade County Artist Grant.
Bex McCharen, Returning Studio Resident
Bex McCharen (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist, fashion designer and founder of the inclusive fashion label Chromat. Their work, filtered through the mediums of quilting, textile art, fashion, photography and social practice, creatively reimagines sustainable futures, climate optimism and queer joy. McCharen was awarded the Smithsonian National Design Award in 2021, recognized by Forbes 30 under 30 “People Who Are Reinventing the World” and was honored in the OUT 100 as one of the LGBTQ’s communities’ brightest voices. Their work has been profiled in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue and Elle. Collaborations include Beyoncé, Intel, Disney, Reebok, MAC and MIT. They gave a TED Talk on inclusive design, and have facilitated design and art workshops at Pérez Art Museum Miami, Lotus House women’s shelter, the Miami Workers Center, the Alliance for LGBTQ Youth and are currently an artist in residence at the Miami Cancer Institute.
Website: bexwater.com
Lucía Morales, New Studio Resident
Lucía Morales is a Miami based artist and educator, from Perú. Her childhood home and cultural heritage have shaped and influenced her artistic practice. Maintaining a strong connection to her roots, she has danced Peruvian and Andean folklore since childhood. Her artistic practice is concerned with how migration and immigration challenge notions of identity. Morales uses textiles, paintings, video, and installation to create figurative works that speak to her current experience as well as the transformative moments of her past. As her work grows in scale and scope, her intention is to make community visible by including the stories and histories of others and by taking up and creating spaces to be shared with others.
Morales obtained her MFA from Florida International University in 2025 and holds a Master’s of Art Education and a Bachelor’s of Landscape Architecture from Florida International University. Morales has been involved with dance as an assistant instructor and performer with Sumaj Tusuy Dance since 2003. She has been an Art Educator for many years with Broward and Miami-Dade public schools, and with various local cultural institutions. In 2024, Morales presented her work at The Quechua Alliance’s Annual gathering in Chicago, IL and at Kuyayky STARTLabs in Jauja, Perú, both organizations focus on the importance of Quechua language and Andean traditions. In 2025 Morales was selected for the Oolite Arts Home+Away Residency at MASS MoCA, the MOAD MDC Artist Residency at MDC Kendall, Bakehouse Art Complex Associate Artist Residency, and a Wavemakers grant from Locust Art Projects.
Website: https://luciamoralesart.com/
Genesis Moreno, New Studio Resident
Genesis Moreno (b. 1991, Illinois) is a Miami-based textile artist who turns quilting into a language of vulnerability and self-expression. Working through a feminist lens, she stitches together themes of trauma, mental health, and obsessive care, transforming familiar fabrics into charged objects. Her quilts resist being seen only as comfort or ornament; instead, they ask the viewer to sit with discomfort, memory, and emotion.
Genesis received a Bachelors of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2017 on a Merit Scholarship. Her recent exhibitions include “That Which Frightens Us” at Primary Projects in Miami, FL, “Thinking Matter” at Ear Ear Projects in Munich, Germany, and “Everything Ends Eventually” at Latchkey Gallery in New York City. She has also participated in the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild Residency in Woodstock, NY.
Website: https://www.genesismoreno.com/
Ana Mosquera, Returning Studio Resident
Ana Mosquera (b. 1983, Caracas, Venezuela) is a media artist based in Miami. She received her MFA in Sculpture from Tyler School of Art and Architecture in 2020 and a BArch from Universidad Central de Venezuela in 2015. Through interactive installations and digital storytelling, her work engages with technology to explore how it shapes systems and reveals underlying social structures. Her most recent exhibitions include Carnet to Go at Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo, Montevideo (2023); Tierras Raras (solo) at Sala Mendoza, Caracas (2022); Familiar Distance at Edge Zones, Miami (2021); and ¿Por qué Islas? (solo) at Licencia de Reconocimiento, Tenerife (2021). In 2021, she received the Honorable Mention Carmen Cordovez Crespo by HFFA at the 16th edition of the Mendoza Awards in Venezuela. She was also awarded the 2016 National Prize for Young Artists by the Museum of Contemporary Art Zulia, Venezuela.
Website: https://www.anamosquera.com/
Sheherazade Thenard, Returning Studio Resident
Sheherazade Thénard is an award winning and driven artist, curator and educator based in Miami. Their work reclaims the layered histories of my family’s assimilation from Martinique to the U.S., blending Afro-Caribbean symbolism, Black feminist media, and my experience as a Black queer artist in the South. Through vibrant yet dark palettes, she transforms autobiographical memories into reimagined geographies, creating textured, luminous spaces that evoke belonging, protection, and ancestral connection. As an educator and curator, they are deeply committed to the history of arts and how shared narratives shape community understanding and connection.
Pangea Kali Virga, Returning Studio Resident
Pangea Kali Virga, born and raised in New York, now lives and works in Miami. Her art is deeply rooted in social responsibility and environmentalism, as she seeks to convey urgent and complex messages in ways that are both beautiful and engaging. Through layered fiber artworks, dramatic experiential art and performances, free public sustainable art and skills workshops, and collaborative projects with public and private institutions, she brings these themes to life.
Kali Virga is committed to transforming the art and fashion industries into more sustainable and equitable spaces. She creates art and wearable pieces from upcycled materials and natural elements using zero-waste practices, reflecting her belief in the power of art and clothing as storytellers, cultural markers, and political catalysts.
Beyond her artistic practice, Kali Virga is a sustainability advocate, lecturer, arts event producer, and educator, sharing her expertise with hundreds of student artists of all ages.
Nadia Wolff, New Studio Resident
Nadia Wolff is a Haitian-american artist, designer, writer; and U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Wolff’s work–which ranges from installation, textiles, performance, printmaking, film, and poetic interventions– contemplates queer/Black/Caribbean aesthetics, history, and embodiment through a lens of intimacy.
Their first solo show took place at Bay Parc in downtown Miami through a residency in collaboration with AIMCO and The National YoungArts Foundation. Wolff was also an artist in residence at Queer.Archive.Work in Providence, Rhode Island. Wolff has also exhibited at Franklin Street Works; Prizm Art Fair during Miami Art Week; the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts; the RISD Museum; Ori Art Gallery; the Rubell Family Collection; the National YoungArts Foundation; and the John F. Kennedy Center.
Website: https://nadiawolff.cargo.site/
Ricardo E. Zulueta, Returning Studio Resident
Ricardo E. Zulueta is an interdisciplinary artist and scholar born in Havana, Cuba and based in Miami. Zulueta holds a Ph.D. in Cinema and Media Studies and an MFA in Visual Art from the University of Miami and has served as a Helbein Scholar at New York University. His practice functions across a genealogy of mediums including video, digital imaging, photography, software, mixed-media, painting, sculpture, performance, and installation.
From early analogy large-scale photo-performance stills to more recent immersive multi-media installations, his work consistently explores the intersectionality of mediated expressions of gender, sexuality, behavior, and identity within socio-political landscapes. Through research and praxis, Zulueta examines how technology and media shape, interrogate, and subvert normative notions of identity through experimental modes of storytelling. His projects manifest a vernacular of idiosyncratic codes and symbols of disidentification often informed by film and media studies, art history, queer theory, and cultural studies.
Zulueta is a recipient of the Art Matters Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, South Florida Cultural Consortium Artist Fellowship, Cintas Foundation Artist Fellowship, Miami Individual Artist Grant, and Oolite Arts’ Ellies Creator Award. His work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Museo Alejandro Otero, Caracas; Steirischer Herbst, Graz; Dazibao Contemporary Art Center, Montreal; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Western Front, Vancouver; Artists Space, New York; El Museo del Barrio, New York; International Center for Photography, New York; White Columns, New York, Grey Art Museum at New York University, New York, Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; Exit Art, New York; Fotofest Biennial, Houston, and Creative Time Summit at Perez Art Museum Miami.
Website:https://www.ricardo-zulueta.com/
José Delgado Zúñiga, Returning Studio Resident
José Delgado Zuñiga (b. Ventura, CA) is an artist whose work engages history, autobiographical narrative, and community memory. Drawing from lived experience and the cultural memory of the Latin American diaspora, his practice emerges at the intersection of sound, memory, and image, creating visual narratives that echo the storytelling power of corridos.
Delgado Zuñiga earned an MFA in Painting from Columbia University and a BFA from Otis College of Art and Design. Notable exhibitions include Central Sounds, (Luhring Augustine, New York City 2022), IN THE KNOW, SHOW (GreenFamily Art Foundation, 2024), CUSP (Marquez Art Projects, 2023), and Fire Figure Fantasy (ICA Miami, 2022) He is a recipient of the Rema Hort Mann Emerging Artist Grant and the Robert Gamblin Fellowship, and has participated in the Bronx Museum’s Artist in the Marketplace program. His work is in the collections of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Marquez Art Projects; The Herbert and Lenore Schorr Collection; and the Hessel Bard Museum of Art. He lives and works in Miami.
Website: https://www.studiozuniga.com/
924 Lincoln Rd., Suite 205
Miami Beach, FL 33139
