Art Lovers Forum Podcast

There are so many extraordinary stories to the life of Miami gallerist Mindy Solomon that I just don’t know where to begin this introduction to Art Lovers Forum. She says you can pretty much follow her life by the ceramics she’s collected over the years and the ones she exhibits in her gallery. Most of them tell a story that parallels her life.
I keep thinking of the one where Mindy basically closes down her art career in St. Petersburg, FL because she felt the city of Miami would give her a broader and more sophisticated audience for the paintings, sculptures, ceramics and newly discovered artists she wanted to introduce. It took a solid three years for her husband to leave his medical practice in St. Petersburg and establish a new one in Miami, get her four children to move closer to her, become a leading force in the Miami community, and make Miami a serious art town. 
Today, Mindy is considered one of the most respected gallerists in the business because she has introduced new worlds of art to everyone who knows her. The exposure has had a positive impact on our lives. Every time I see her petite presence come walking towards me I think of what she has accomplished and why more women don’t do the same thing. I hope the following podcast of Art Lovers Forum is an inspiration to everyone of any age.

Leon Ford is an author and activist who wants to open a non-profit art gallery in Pittsburgh that showcases powerful works but also serves as a hub for community connection and dialogue. Leon has real life experience to make this happen. When he was 19 years old in 2012, Leon was shot five times by a Pittsburgh police officer as he was racially profiled during a case of mistaken identity. He has been paralyzed ever since. 
He is a man of his word. He wrote a book about what happened to him called “An Unspeakable Hope” which was published by Simon & Schuster. In it he explains how he faced these new truths and discovered the power of forgiveness and letting go of his hatred. He explains how his harrowing experience inspired his lifelong commitment to social activism. 
Now he hopes to have a Gallery space that emphasizes that art is more than an industry—it’s a medium for healing, storytelling, and social impact. Leon grew up in Pittsburgh and has been an art collector and advisor in the community for years. He is also the founder of The Hear Foundation, the first and only nonprofit in Pittsburgh dedicated to collaborating with community leaders, Police, and residents to create a safe, thriving community for all. 

I met Graham Wilson, the founder of Swivel Gallery in New York City, for the first time a few weeks ago at the Material Art Fair in Mexico City. I have been hearing positive news about the four year old gallery from a few art collectors recently and got curious how Graham functions in such a competitive market as New York.
I think once you hear his interview in Art Lovers Forum you will get a life lesson we all seem to forget especially in these turbulent times. Graham just does his own thing. While he does visit other nearby galleries to see what they are featuring, he sticks to his own premise of introducing artists from around the world to give collectors an opportunity to see new trends. He also exhibits forward thinking local artists who dare to explore and experiment.
When we walked into his Material booth we felt like we entered a different world from everyone else who was exhibiting art. Swivel had three dimensional work by artist Amy Bravo that made you stop, stare and wonder.  Her collaged canvases feature irregular forms where she combines graphite drawings with painterly techniques. These drawings evolve into paintings, embroidery, and assemblage sculptures.
We just had to buy one. My husband Eliot and I like abstract expressionism art that expresses our desire to move into new worlds. We love living an alternative lifestyle. Our bodies are in their senior years but our minds are young, curious and open to new thinking. We kind of expressed that to Graham and he then directed us to a piece that we never would have picked on our own. It startled us a bit but we took a step back, stared at it for a while and then knew it symbolized all the risks we have ever taken.
Graham said he loves not being a typical gallerist that lets visitors navigate exhibits on their own. He enjoys giving opinions, making comments and getting feedback from collectors. We felt he instantly because a good friend. We are counting on him to let us know the most pressing themes of today, creating a platform for a global conversation and confrontation.
Graham’s early career in the art world was marked by a diverse range of roles that laid the foundation for his future endeavors as a gallerist. After moving to New York from Louisville, Kentucky, at the age of 19, he began working as an art handler for Hauser & Wirth. He also pursued his passion for art by creating his own pieces. His innovative approach involved shredding failed canvases, soaking the remnants in mineral spirits and paint stripper, and then weaving and wrapping these fragments into textured tableaux. This unique technique garnered attention, leading to a pop-up show in Brooklyn that sold out, establishing him as an emerging artist. However, his years working in a gallery and helping to establish a wide range of successful artists, made him realize that was his first love.

Marc Wehby needs no introduction to people who love to collect art. He and his wife Susie Kravetz, both owners of Kravetz/Wehby in NYC for the last 26 years, have been major influencers in the purchasing of art for both new and experienced collectors.
In fact, Marc told me that many older collectors are now focusing on emerging artists because they like the work being produced. He said that folks with extensive collections feel they have enough pedigree paintings and are now anxious to freshen up what they own with what’s hot today. 
I was first introduced to Marc years ago long before we recently got friendly. Our art mentor, Richard Ekstract, used to talk about Marc and Susie all the time because he bought art from them. He used to say that he trusted their taste and experience. I remember these words, “They love art so it reflects in their gallery.” 
The one action point that really blew me away was when Marc asked if he could visit our home to see our collection. No other gallerist ever asked to do that. Some might think that was a ploy to sell us more art. I asked Marc about that. He said he has been visiting the homes of collectors since the very beginning of opening a gallery. “I learn a lot about what collectors want the minute I step in to their homes.” I had the nerve to ask him what impression he got after walked into mine. Not a second went by when he said, “In your face, loud, and daring.” I loved it. That’s us. 

Welcome to Art Lovers Forum.  I am very excited about this interview with Moiz Zilberman. This is the first time I am talking to a gallerist who owns galleries in three countries. In fact, he has multiple galleries in each city. He is certainly experiencing the art world on a grand scale.
 
Moiz’s galleries are in Istanbul, Berlin and Miami. He feels the Magic City is the perfect place to promote conceptual art. He’s not saying that other markets are not ripe for new ideas, he is just emphasizing that Miami has one of the biggest contemporary audiences on earth.  
 
“Everything is relatively new in Miami, the condos, the shopping areas, the clubs, the restaurants, the art galleries and most of all the age of residents, young. You can tell what the environment is like by the museums. Most of the art work exhibited is contemporary no matter what artists and country they are featuring.”
 
Moiz is very passionate about conceptual art and that is one of the main reasons he is a gallerist in three countries, which may grow in the next few years. His major desire is to introduce artists from Europe and the Middle East to the United States and South America. Vice versa as well. Having galleries in strategic locations gives him the ability to make the proper introductions.
 
That’s one of the reasons why Moiz opened the Zilberman Gallery in the Design District. The area is one of the most exclusive and exciting neighborhoods in Miami. It’s a perfect fit. Most of the folks who visit the Design District want the highest form of fashion and design. Moiz is ready to meet that desire with his alternative artists.
 
Zilberman is celebrating its 15th year, representing 29 international artists from Turkey to Mexico, Hong Kong to Colombia, and Germany. With the addition of the new Miami location, it now has a total of six galleries in three cities: Istanbul, Berlin, and Miami, making it an international hub for contemporary art.
 

I’m grateful that Yiwei Lu agreed to be interviewed by Art Lovers Forum during this difficult time in Los Angeles. Her galleries are in Venice Beach and Wuhan, China. 
We officially met during the Art Fairs in Miami last month.   Miami friends of mine, Emily and Chris Campbell, bought art from Yiwei more than a year ago and they now have a close relationship.
I wanted to hear what it was like being an art dealer in Los Angeles during the recent horrific wildfires.  I knew Yiwei would talk from the heart. While she plans to forge forward, she is taking a little time for herself to absorb the destruction of her adopted town.   
To date, the fires have killed at least 27 people, destroyed more than 12,000 structures and charred more than 60 square miles. You have to be very strong to stay upbeat when so many folks around her are suffering from tremendous losses. While art isn’t the number one item on your wish list when everything you own is gone, it certainly can bring great joy to those who find paintings, sculptures, assemblages, etc., therapeutic.  Yiwei wants to support the community through this rebuild era.
Yiwei opened her gallery in Venice Beach in 2019. One of her clients is actor Billy Zane who she says is also a terrific artist as well. She loves living in Los Angeles and says despite many of the challenges ahead, most folks plan to stay. Part of her mission is to bring joy into the lives of people who are in limbo now.  She will work to discover and promote unique and underrepresented voices, fostering cross-cultural understanding through art with the mission of integrating art into everyday life. 
Yiwei will continue to be highly active in the art fair circuit, participating in notable fairs such as Photofairs New York, Intersect Palm Springs, San Francisco Art Fair, Future Fair New York, Spring Break Los Angeles, and Beijing Dangdai Art Fair. The gallery is also set to attend Intersect Aspen, Art 021 Shanghai, and Untitled Miami. Additionally, Yiwei Gallery collaborates with nonprofit art organizations and art festivals globally, including Casa Reigs in Italy and the Shenyang International Localized Art Festival.

 
I just want to say that I love Carmin Kilpatrick’s artwork. She is only a freshman in college and yet she has mastered creating art that is filled with mystery, intrigue, secrets, fascination and new shapes and designs. I can stare at her work forever.
I have shown her work to a few experts who like what they see and are now waiting anxiously to see what she produces over the next few years. I am going to collect a few of her paintings now because I believe she is going to embrace new trends and opportunities in the future.When you listen to her podcast interview, you will hear she has the right, genuine attitude, interest and natural desire to make her mark in the art world.
Carmin feels that through her work, she can provoke thought, spark dialogue, and illuminate important personal and social issues. Her art delves into the intertwined concepts of truth, judgment, and change, exploring how they shape identity in a rapidly evolving world.
She was born in California but grew up in South Florida and attended the Arts Academy at North Broward Preparatory School for high school (as their first scholarship recipient). Carmin traveled to Italy and received a grant to spend 6 weeks in Wexford, Ireland, practicing art with a small group of students. Besides art, she loves fashion and creative direction—from mood boards, to styling, to photoshoots. Carmin hopes to work with fashion as another medium of art. She is currently a Studio Art BFA major at Florida State University.

  
When Liz Berman Sklaw ran the New York Marathon this past November she unequivocally felt like she was viewing a kaleidoscope of paintings in every borough she passed through.  “It may have been the diversity of the street crowds, or the change in architecture every few miles,” Liz said. She felt like she was in an art trance. The fact that she was totally focused on the beauty of the city, Liz found the energy needed to finish the race.
 
Liz started running a number of years ago because it enabled her to experience different worlds. Being on foot you get to see life from different perspectives and she felt it helped her become a better wife and mother by  broadening  her horizons. She doesn’t look at the world through one lens anymore. She is able to see and understand different perspectives.
 
Liz runs at home and when she travels. She gets more creative when she runs. Painters create on canvas; she creates when her feet hit the ground running. She also needs that time to help her come up with new ideas for her promotion business and fundraising for various charities. She gets more daring, more spiritual and definitely more fearless. It’s wonderful to become more liberated when you have to be so many things to so many people day.

 
When I found out that Laura Shabott, the artist, the lecturer, the actress, gave talks about the book, Ninth Street Women, I knew she had to do a second interview with me on Art Lovers Forum.  I wanted Laura to tell folks who are interested in art why the Ninth Street Women is so important. 
 
The book was published in 2018 and while it was a best seller there are still so many people who are interested in art who still haven’t read it. It’s about five women painters who elevated that status of women in the modern art world during the post WWII time period. Women artists were simply not taken seriously by art critics or historians. They focused most of their attention on male artists. 
 
Author Mary Gabriel explains, in Ninth Street Women, how Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler changed all that. It took Mary 20 years to write her book but, in the end, she told a remarkable and inspiring story about the power of art and the female artists who played a major role in shaping the postwar American art world.
 
Be sure to refer to episode 23 of Art Lovers Forum to learn more about Laura Shabott. She lives in Provincetown (PTown), which is three miles long yet regarded to be “America's Oldest Working Art Colony in the United States since 1850. There are now 60 art galleries, a major regional art museum, and many other organizations that provide opportunities for artists including residencies and educational programs.

 
Deborah Mitchell is a conservation artist. I met Deborah years ago when she took members of Fountainhead Arts on a hike through the muddy waters of the Everglades. It was an exhilarating experience.  Her interview on Art Lovers Forum is exactly that. She is going to take you away from your daily busy life, which is probably indoors, and tell you what’s happening on the outside. 
 
Deborah recently made a trip to Venice for a project called Waterscapes. I think you should watch the video first which documents her ARTSail Waterscapes Residency. The project uses art to deepen the understanding of climate changes which impacts The Venice Lagoon and Florida Wetlands. The Everglades in South Florida and the Lagoon in Venice are critical estuaries that provide essential services such as water purification and habitat for diverse species. Their preservation is vital for maintaining ecological balance, environmental health, and economic stability in their regions.
 
Here the video - https://youtu.be/jDnPZDQA58Y
 
Deborah resides in Miami Beach. Her passion for environmental exploration is deeply rooted in her certification as a Master Naturalist from the esteemed University of Florida. This educational background ignites her unquenchable thirst for knowledge and understanding of the natural world. Through immersive fieldwork experiences, Deborah gathers invaluable observations that serve as the catalyst for her creative process. Transitioning from photography, her primary medium, she skillfully transforms her captured moments into captivating collages, employing elements such as paint, fabric, and installations. The culmination of her experience-based approach breathes life into her evocative artistic creations. 
 
Visit her website to learn more - http://www.debmitchellart.com
 
Here are links that can help you increase awareness, both locally and beyond.
 
artsail
Institute of Marine Science (Venice, IT)
Archbold Biological Station
Friends of the Everglades
Big Cypress National Preserve
Fountainhead
Deborah Mitchell
Everglades NP
AERIE
inaturalist