Episode 28 - Brook Dorsch

Welcome To Art Lovers Forum.  Brook Dorsch, the founder of the Emerson Dorsch Gallery in Miami, was at his home in Asheville, North Carolina when Hurricane Helene stormed through the beloved city known  as an art colony, a healing resort and a home to notable luminaries, statesmen and bohemians. 

In this episode of Art Lovers Forum, Brook describes the force of the hurricane, the destruction, and the fast action efforts to save his house. With him at the time was of his wife and business partner Tyler, their young daughters and coincidentally their gallery director, Ibett Yanez del Castillo, who was visiting on that day with her family. 

Everyone pitched in to place buckets where water was pouring in after hundred year old trees fell on their house. Together they limited the damage and when the rain stopped they ran out to help neighbors. That’s the way it has been ever since. Brook says Asheville has shown its true colors. Everyday the citizens of the city are devoting time to get everyone back home and rebuild their businesses. So many of the arts and crafts work have been destroyed forever. You cry when you hear him describe what happened to the art community.

One statement Brook made that is very important to convey in writing as well as to hear from him is …. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has been doing exceptional work in Asheville with both finances and people on the ground. Any news information to the contrary is just not true. FEMA is working side by side with Asheville, a city Brook says will be in full swing a few months from now. Yes, there will always be residents that need help. The community will continue to support  each other.   

Brook founded Dorsch Gallery in 1991, in his walk-up apartment just east of Coral Gables. At the time, the Miami art scene was concentrated in Coral Gables; Brook noticed a need for a venue for the contemporary artists living in Miami. From 1991-2007, he built the program from his small 900 square foot apartment until December of 1999 he purchased a 7000 square foot warehouse in Wynwood becoming the one of the first commercial galleries to open in the neighborhood. Brook ran the gallery alone with help from the artists and interns and his mother while also working a full-time job in the Satellite Communications industry.

Brook’s Gallery grew and changed along with the Miami art scene and his own experience of the art world. When he moved the gallery to Wynwood in 2000, the neighborhood was still very raw. Brook curated a number of shows in the abandoned crack house next door to the warehouse. At the same time,

Martin Z. Margulies had just purchased his warehouse in the neighborhood, the Rubell Family Collection was open only by invitation, and Locust Projects was still an artist-run alternative space one block away. From 2000-2014, Brook Gallery witnessed a boom of art spaces in the area. For his role as one of the founding members and president of the Wynwood Arts District, Brook has been lauded as the pioneer. 

In 2017 the Gallery moved again to its current location in the Little Haiti neighborhood in what was the Porto Prince market.  The new location has a rooftop patio that has been used for small concerts and events. In the first years of the gallery, Dorsch showcased work by mainly local emerging artists; building a strong local following, a number of the exhibitions were reviewed in Art in America and other national publications. Many shows had a co-op spirit, and some were like happenings. Dorsch also showed established figures, including Robert Miller and Arnold Mesches. Dorsch hosted concerts and music events.

Brook’s reputation for trailblazing an art district and for paving the way for young artists has made him the man to consult about questions concerning the Miami art scene. The Gallery, now called Emerson Dorsch, carries on the spirit of Dorsch Gallery’s early days by fostering long-term relationships with artists, with events and with hospitality and, always, ambitious shows. In 2023 he and his wife founded the Metcalf Creek Holler, a 68 Acre mountain Artist Residency in the Mountains of Western North Carolina. metcalfcreekholler.org