Miami Visual Artist Studios

Alette Simmons-Jiménez

“I grew up like a nomad and felt uncomfortable staying anywhere too long. My very eclectic life made for very eclectic work.” Alette Simmons-Jiménez

Artist Studio:
345 NE 80th Street, No.236
Miami, FL 33138
Accessibility:
ADA Compliant
Free Street Parking

Born in Madison, Wisconsin – Lives and works in Miami, Florida

Perez Art Museum PAMM
Pérez Art Museum Miami

For questions, commissions or inquiries: hello(at)alettesimmonsjimenez(dot)com

Through my multimedia interdisciplinary practice, I explore the intricate relationship between nature, society, and the self. Works navigate current environmental concerns, borrowing form and imagery from both microscopic and panoramic views of the world and our universe.

My practice encompasses mixed-media collage, immersive installations, suspended sculptural forms, poetry, and video. The works I am presenting today can be described as constructed landscapes, blending playful and ominous visual imagery to convey a past, present, or future vision of life on Earth. The work exhibits layers of assembly, overlap, and erasure, blurring the division between image, object, and viewer.  My goal is to immerse viewers in a seductive experience that encourages a greater connection to our planet and a better understanding of our place in it.

Reflecting on my own ethnicity, subjects in my work appear as hybrid forms. Whether I’m working with the human body, animals, clouds, or trees, they are a marriage of contrasting parts. Form and image reference unsettled landscapes, embracing connections and contradictions,  expressing the fertile possibilities existing in-between.

BIO:

Alette Simmons-Jiménez is an American artist and cultural organizer, currently based in Miami.  Simmons-Jiménez explores landscape art, interpreting the human/nature connection.  Her work navigates current climatic concerns pushing at times into supernatural vistas of what a future Earth might portray through a rigorous, multifarious, art practice.  Her work combines mixed-media painting and collage, poetry, text, sculptural assemblage, installation, and video.  

Simmons-Jiménez received a BFA from Newcomb College in New Orleans, began her studio practice in the Dominican Republic and is now based in Miami.  She has exhibited extensively in museums, galleries, and media festivals internationally and has collaborated with designers and architects to install large-scale commissions in public and private spaces.  She has had solo exhibits at the Museum of Arts & Sciences (MOAS), Daytona Beach, the MOMA Santo Domingo, Palm Beach ICA Media Room with curator Michael Rush, Inter-American Development Bank Washington D.C. with curator Susana Leval, ArtCenter South Florida, Frances Wolfson Gallery at Miami-Dade College.  Notable institutions exhibiting her work in group exhibits have been at the Chelsea Museum New York, The Mobile Museum of Art, the US Dept. of State Art in Embassies Program (Riyadh & Tegucigalpa), Casa de la Cultura-Valencia (Spain), Musée du Luxembourg, Boca Raton Museum of Art, the Appleton Museum, the Lowe Museum, MOCA N. Miami, the Frost Museum at FIU, the Gulf Coast Museum of Art, the Museum of Art Ft. Lauderdale, and others.

She is a recipient of a prestigious Knight Arts Challenge Grant, a Florida Fellowship Grant, a Florida Artists Enhancement Grant, a Miami-Dade Tourism Development Grant, a Miami-Dade Community Grant.  The artist has been designated as the first woman to exhibit video installation art in the Dominican Republic and in 1992 she was awarded the 1st Prize in Video at the XVIII Biennial in the Dominican Republic. She is listed among the creatives that helped forge the South Florida art community in the definitive books ‘Miami Contemporary Artists’ published in 2007, and ‘100+ Degrees In The Shade: A Survey of South Florida Art’ published in 2015.

In 2017, she was awarded a Grant from Oolite Arts (ArtCenter South Florida) and the Es Baluard Museum of Contemporary Art in Palma de Mallorca as a Visiting Artist.  In 2019, she was invited to Essaouira, Morocco to participate at Résidence D’Artiste Ifitry, an isolated experimental workspace created to inspire and connect artists from around the world to the unique surroundings and to each other.  The artist is currently at work on upcoming solo exhibition at the Miami International Airport CameraWorks Gallery, and an immersive installation for the Florida Biennial held at the Hollywood, Florida, Arts & Cultural Center. 

Early in her career, the artist’s practice extended to professional collaborations dedicated to community building.  From 2004-2011, she founded and directed the artist-run collective Artformz Alternative with the goal to stimulate closer connections between artists and the public.  From 2013-2016, Simmons-Jiménez served on the BOD of ArtTable, Inc in New York and held the positions of Florida Chapter Chair and Programming Director.  Since 2018 she has hosted and produced Art & Company Podcast, a document of the growing South Florida art scene.

EDUCATION

BFA – Newcomb Memorial College, Tulane University, New Orleans – Studio Art: Painting/Sculpture

WORKSHOPS / RESIDENCIES

2019    Ifitry Residence D’Artistes, Maroc Premium Foundation, Invitational Residency, Essaouira, Morocco
2017    Les Clíniques, Exchange/Residency ACSF & Es Baluard Museum, Palma de Mallorca
2017    Oolite Arts (ArtCenter South FL) Eco-Aesthetics, Workshop/Blanca de la Torre (Spain), Miami
2014    Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art, Master Painting Workshop/Julian Schnabel, Ft Lauderdale
2010    Whale & Star, Painting Theory Intensive/Enrique Martinez Celaya, Miami
2009    Creative Capital, NY, Advanced PDP, Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs, Miami
2008    The Studios Of Key West, Resident Artist, invitational, Key West

SELECTED SOLO SHOWS

2022    Wherever We Land…, Art in Public Places, MIAmi (Moving Image) @Miami International Airport
            A Crack in the Moon MOAS, Museum of Arts & Sciences, Daytona Beach
2020    Mono No Aware S|223 Miami Design District, director Tiffany Chestler, Miami
2018    Blue Fades To Brown Fades To Violet Oolite Arts (ArtCenter South FL) Walgreens Project, Miami Beach
2015    Shimmer  The Metropolitan, curators: Dania Rodriguez, Ernesto Cuesta, Miami
2010    3  Artformz, (with Randy Burman, Rosario Bond) Miami
            A Terrible Beauty  Artformz, (with Sibel Kocabasi) Miami
2008    Up, Down, Backward & Forward  The Studios of Key West, Key West
2007    Hanging By A Wire  Artformz Alternative, Design District, Miami
2006    Flux & Flow  Artformz Alternative, Design District, Miami
2004    New Installations  Artformz Alternative, Design District, Miami
2001    Walk-In #5  Frances Wolfson Gallery, Miami-Dade College, curator: Conrad Hamather, Miami
2000    Stop/Motion  Gallery/Inter-American Development Bank, curator: Susana Leval, Washington, D.C.
            Alette Simmons-Jimenez  Miami-Dade Cultural Resources Gallery, curator: Patricia Risso, Miami
            Order & Chaos  La Sinfonia de Bellas Artes, Key West
1999    The Figure: More Than You Have Ever Seen  Creative Resource, Birmingham, MI
            Worlds: Past & Present  The Americas Collection, Coral Gables
1997    Obras Reciente  Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep.
1996    Painting and Sculpture  The Americas Collection, Coral Gables
1991    Recent Work  Coral Snake Gallery, Miami Beach
1986    Alette Simmons-Jimenez  Museo de las Casas Reales, Santo Domingo, D.R.

SELECTED GROUP SHOWS

Art & Cultural Center, The Florida Biennial, The Rain Room, immersive experience, curator: Ylva Rouse, Hollywood, FL
HARTvest Project, Los Colores de Miami, sponsor: Consulate General & Cultural Institute of Mexico, Pinecrest Gardens, FL
Showfields, “Somewhere a Place” in the Inaugural Event, Immersive Art Experiences, Miami Beach 
Sagamore Art Hotel, “Rises & Falls” in “Everyone Has a Story to Tell”,  Art Week installations, Miami Beach
Arts Warehouse, “Suspended Spiral” participatory work in “Luminous” by C3 Curators Collective, Delray Beach
hARTvest Projects, “Home Sweet Home” women artist’s and the pandemic quarantine, curator: Carola Bravo, Miami
The Annex, “RCS 51-75 Exhibit” sponsors: Spinello Projects & The Fordistas, curated by BaBa Collective
Art & Cultural Center, “PLUSH” curator: Laura Marsh, Hollywood, FL
Prospect Park Alliance 150 Years, “Connective Project” Prospect Park, Brooklyn
DVCAI, 400 S. Point Gallery, Summer Show” curator: Rosie Gordon-Wallace, Miami Beach
Bailey Contemporary, “Re:Produce” curator: Lisa Rockford, Pompano Beach
Deering Estate, “Festival of the Arts: Intersections” curators: Kim Yantis & Ralph Provisero, Miami
Ritter Art Gallery, Florida Atlantic University, “Dirt” curator: Onajide Shabaka, Boca Raton
Center for Book Arts, “Sweat Broadsheet Collaboration” Curator: Alexander Campos, New York
Art in Embassies Program, US Dept. of State, “Ambassador’s Residence Exhibit” curator: Imtiaz Hafiz, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
“100+ Degrees in the Shade” A Survey of South Florida Artists, various venues, Miami
FAU, Ritter Gallery, “Dirt: Yuta Suelo Udongo Tè” curator: Onajide Shabaka, Boca Raton
The Cornell Museum, “Artistically Speaking” Delray Beach
The Frost Museum, “Aesthetics & Values” FIU, Miami
MDC Museum of Art & Design, “Sweat Broadsheet Project” poets/visual arts, Miami
319 Scholes, “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Human Being” Bushwick, Brooklyn
(E)merge Art Fair, vetted artist platform, Washington, DC
Brenda Taylor Gallery, “Group Show” Chelsea, New York
The Studios of Key West Sculpture Garden, “Understory” curator: Anja Marais, Key West
The Mordes Collection, “Outside the Box” curator: Sibel Kocabasi, W. Palm Beach
Miami Design District, “Artist Invites Artist, Common Ground” Spain/USA, Miami
Carrie Secrist Gallery, “Holes” curator: Stevie Greco, Chicago
Pulse Fair Miami, “Small Wonderz (Art) Salon” Art Center South Florida, Wynwood, Miami
Wynwood Art Fair, “Small Wonderz (Art) Salon” Art Center South Florida, Miami Beach
Verge Art Fair, “Small Wonderz (Art) Salon” Miami Beach
Casa de la Cultura, “ArtistaInvitaArtista”, Spain/USA, Valencia, Spain
Appleton Art Museum, “Florida Installation Art” curator: Sean Miller, Ocala
Art Shanghai, Latin American Pavilion, curator: Milagros Bello, Shanghai
Art Aqua, Art Basel Week, Wynwood, Miami
ArteAmericas, Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach
Artformz, “The Making of Giants” Giants in the City Project, Miami
Bayfront Park, “Giants in the City” Artformz, Art Basel Week, Miami
Armory Art Center, “The Edge” curator: Bonnie Clearwater, W. Palm Beach
Florida International University, Green Library Gallery, “Aesthetics & Values 2008” Miami
Hardcore Contemporary Art, “Objecthood” curator: Milagros Bello, Miami
Art Miami, Convention Center, Miami Beach
Art & Cultural Center, “New Art As Universal Language” Hollywood, FL
Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California
Circa 06, Puerto Rico Convention Center, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Art Miami, Convention Center, Galeria Art Nouveau, Miami Beach
Artformz Alternative, “It’s So Unfair” Art Basel Week, Miami
Edge Zones, “Beyond All That” Wynwood Arts District, Miami
Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, “Visions” West Palm Beach
J Wayne Stark Galleries, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
National Assoc. of Women Artists, “114th Annual Exhibition” New York
Renaissance Center, “4th Annual Regional Art Exhibit” Dickson, TN
Banana Factory, “113th Annual Exhibition” NAWA, Bethlehem, PA
Gulf Coast Museum, “Florida Fellowships 1998-99” curator: Ken Rollins, Largo
US State Dept. Art in Embassies, Ambassadorial Residence, Honduras
Mobile Museum of Art, “Triennial S.E. Exhibit” juror: James Rondeau, Mobile
Museum of Art, “Hortt 40” juror: Thelma Golden, Fort Lauderdale
Society of the Four Arts, “55th National Exhibit” juror: Kevin Consey, Palm Beach
Museo de Arte Moderno, “XVIII Bienal of Visual Arts” Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Musee du Luxembourg, “Les 3 Ameriques A Paris” Paris, France

FELLOWSHIPS / AWARDS / GRANTS

Artist Exchange Grant, ArtCenterSFL / Les Clíniques Es Baluard Museum, Palma de Mallorca/Miami Beach
Judges Choice Award, “Re-Produce” Bailey Arts Center, Pompano Beach
Mastermind Genius Awards “100 Creatives” Miami New Times, Miami
Knight Arts Challenge Grant, The Knight Foundation, Miami
Tourism Development Council Grant, Miami-Dade Div. Cultural Affairs, Miami
Community Grants Program Award, Miami-Dade Div. Cultural Affairs, Miami
Special Xurau Mozu Prize, Optica International Video Art Festival, Gijon, Spain
Artist Enhancement Grant, Florida Department of State, Div. Of Cultural Affairs, Tallahassee
April Z. Newhouse Memorial Award, National Association Of Women Artists, New York
Merit Award, Regional Art Exhibit, Renaissance Center of Visual Arts, Dickson, TN
Juried Feature In Southern Edition, New American Paintings
Best Of Show/Purchase Award-Triennial Exhibit, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
Individual Artist Fellowship Painting, Florida Dept. of State, Div. of Cultural Affairs, Tallahassee
Juried Feature In Southern Ed. & Publication Cover Photo, New American Paintings
Liquitex Artist Grant, Binney & Smith, Inc., Easton, PA
Honorable Mention, Individual Artist Fellowship, FL Dept. of State, Cultural Affairs, Tallahassee
1st Prize: Video, XVIII Bienal, Museo De Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo, D.R.

INSTALLATIONS / PARTICIPATORY PROJECTS

Oolite Arts, Walgreens Windows Projects, “Blue Fades To Brown Fades To Violet”,  Miami Beach
Artformz Alternative, “The Spill Gates”, Spill, audience collaborative, 250 community participants, Miami
Frost Art Museum, “Walk-In #88: Suspended Spiral”, Aesthetics & Values, participatory installation, Miami
Green Library Gallery at FIU, “Walk-In #5 Sound Garden”, Aesthetics & Values, immersive & participatory, Miami
Frances Wolfson Gallery Miami-Dade College, “Walk-In #5: Fiddle Dee Dee” community collaboration, participatory, Miami
Daniel Azoulay Gallery, Project Room, “The Pool: Flush”, immersive installation, Miami Design District, Miami
Museo de Arte Moderno, VIII Biennial, “Walk-In #6, A Couple of Days…”, immersive, participatory, Santo Domingo, D.R.
BayFront Park, Giants in the City, Art Basel satellite exhibit, public installations, Miami, FL
Miami-Dade Parks, Art Expressions: Outdoors Site Specific, “Rogue Wave” Matheson Hammock Park, Miami, FL
Appleton Museum Biennial: Florida Installation Art, “Scratch & Win” video installation, Ocala, FL
(E)merge Art Fair – Artist’s Platform, Babylon, kinetic installation, site-specific, Washington, DC

MEDIA ART / SCREENING VENUES

Espacio Enter “Festival International Creatividad, Innovación y Cultura Digital 2019” Canary Islands
MDC Museum of Art & Design, “Cortaditos Video Shorts, 6/6:Miami/Valencia” Miami
The Frost Art Museum, “The Drawing Project” sponsored online by FIU, Miami
Espacio Enter, “Screens: Miami” TEA, Tenerife, Canary Islands
Festival Miden, “Women at Work” Kalamata, Greece
Misterpink, “Screens: Pan American” curator: Damian Jorda, Valencia, Spain
Museum of Art, “Amid the Street Noise” Ft Lauderdale
O Cinema, “Monitoring Art” Miami
Espacio Iniciarte, “Natur(aln)e(ss) of Performance…” curator: Alanna Lockward, Seville
Cervantes Institute, “Optica Paris 08” Paris
Off Loop, Casa America, Loop 2008 Festival, Barcelona
Chelsea Art Museum, “Video Art in the Age of the Internet” New York
Medianoche: New Media Gallery, “Cort(H)Itos” East Harlem
Circa 06, “Cort(H)Itos” curator: Carmen Oquendo-Villar, San Juan
Moca, “Optic Nerve III & V” North Miami
Palm Beach ICA, Media Lounge, artist highlight, curator: Michael Rush, Lake Worth
Maryland Public Television, “Independent Eye” Owings Mills
Eyedrum Art/Music Gallery, “Panoptic Mind: Untitled” Atlanta
Arts Festival of Atlanta, Video Screening, Atlanta
Louisville Film and Video Festival, “Artswatch” Louisville
Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Centro Cultural Paraguay-Japones, III International Short Films Festival, Paraguay

LECTURES / ART TALKS

Guest Speaker: Les Cliníques, Es Baluard Museum, Palma de Mallorca, Spain 2017
Guest Speaker, French Arts Associates, Artist Breakfast Series #2 “Discovery”, Miami 2017
Panelist: Aesthetics & Values, Artist’s Discussion, Frost Museum of Art, FIU, Miami, FL 2015
Panel Moderator: ArtTable FL Breakfast Club, MOCA N. Miami, w/Horton, del Buono, Von Lates 2015
Panelist: “What’s Next for Wynwood” Simmons-Jimenez, Collins, Lombardi, Snitzer, Kohen, Coral Gables 2011
Keynote Speaker: “Nomadic Networks: Independent Spaces” Escola de Musica Godella, Valencia, Spain 2010
Guest Panelist: “Where is the Miami Art Scene” Simmons-Jimenez, Kohen, Minto, Coral Gables 2009
Guest Lecture: “Issues in Art Making” UM, for Professor Alfredo Triff, Philosophy Dept. Miami 2007
Guest Panelist: Art & Cultural Center, “New Art As Universal Language” Hollywood, FL 2006
Guest Panelist: Culture in the City, “Passion in Art: not just pretty pictures” Women’s Club, Coconut Grove 2006
Guest Panelist: Gulf Coast Museum of Art, Artists Roundtable, moderator: Ken Rollins, Largo 2000

DISTINCTIONS / EXPANDED PRACTICE

2017                Participation: Art Basel/Miami Beach: Studio Visits Program, Miami Art Fair Week, Miami FL
2016-Present   Podcast Founder/Director/Host: Art & Company Podcast, Miami
2013 – 2016    Board of Directors: ArtTable, Inc., New York, FL Chapter Chair, FL Program Chair
2015, ’16, ’17   Mentor: “One X One” Young Women in the Arts Mentorship Program, ArtTable Florida
2015                Creation/Development: “One X One” Young Women’s Mentorship Program, ArtTable FL, Miami
2013                Event Director, Art Basel /Miami Beach ArtTable Event: Studio Visits & PAMM Tour, Miami
2012.               Juror: Appleton Biennial: Florida Installation Art, Chief Curator: Ruth Grim, Ocala
2011-present   Director: Artformz Curatorial Projects, art project development, Miami,
2004-2011       Founder/Director: Artformz Alternative, artist run space, Miami
2010                Cert. of Appreciation: Miami-Dade Mayor and County Board of Commissioners, The City of Miami, Mayor Regalado, Miami
2010                Panel Creation: New Media in Art Making, Collins, Wischer, Sanchez-Calderon, Matamoros, Wright, Tschida, Miami
2009                Jury Panelist: PDP, Creative Capital Foundation, NY – Miami-Dade Cult. Affairs, Miami
2000                Grant Jury Panelist Appointment: Visual Arts, Florida Department of State, Tallahassee
1995                Juried Member: Art in Embassies Program, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C.
1980                Founding Member/Artist Educator, M.A.I. Mujeres Asociadas con la Industria, Dominican Republic

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Public Collections:
Mirabal Sisters Memorial Plaque, Place de la République Dominicaine, private commission for The City of Paris, France
21c Museum, The Foundation for Contemporary Art, Louisville, KY
Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
Jaffe Center for Book Arts at Florida Atlantic University, FL
Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo, D.R.
Museo de las Casas Reales, Santo Domingo, D.R.
The United States Embassy, Santo Domingo, D.R.
The Dominican-American Cultural Institute, Santo Domingo, D.R.

Corporate Collections:
Mastercard International Corporation, Miami, FL
Binney & Smith, Inc., Easton, PA
SunTrust Bank, Miami, FL
PanAmSat, Coral Gables, FL
Banco Popular, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Large-Scale Commissioned Works:
Hotel Lina, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Hotel Casa de Campo, La Romana, Dominican Republic
Hotel Montemar, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Private Collections:
The Alan & Vivien Hassenfeld Collection, Boston, MA
William Ramsay, Ramsay Fairs, LLC, London, UK
The Lewis-Sebring Family, Fisher Island, FL
Renee Rapaporte Private Collection, Chestnut Hill, MA
The Ortíz-Gurdian Collection, Manágua, Nicaragua

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