Florida Now

Florida NOW is an exhibition of contemporary fine craft by artists from across Florida, highlighting work in traditional materials approached with fresh vision and urgency. Curated by Holly Hanessian, recently retired Head of Ceramics at Florida State University and a nationally respected artist and educator, the exhibition reflects the breadth and vitality of craft practice taking place throughout the state today.

Presented as part of Florida CraftArt’s 75th Anniversary, Florida NOW is one of two major exhibitions the organization is producing to mark this milestone year. Together, these exhibitions represent Florida’s contribution to Handwork 2026, a national initiative that uses craft as a lens to explore history, tradition, and contemporary practice in celebration of the United States’ Semiquincentennial.

By bringing together artists from diverse regions of the state, Florida NOW offers a focused snapshot of what craft in Florida looks like today—bold, skillful, and deeply connected to place, process, and lived experience.

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿: Kathryn Howd and Edward Rucks
𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘀: Anderson Bucklew Foundation and Laura & Matt Bryant

Participating artists include: Wendy Bruce, Largo, fiber; Cheryl Dunnigan, Naples, jewelry; Marty Fielding, Tallahassee, clay; Dominique Labauvie, Tampa, metal; Jillian Mayer, Miami, glass; Milton Mizell, Miami, wood; Charles Parkhill, Tampa, wood; Evelyn Politzer, Miami, fiber; Lauren Shapiro, Miami, clay; Rob Stern, Dania Beach, glass.

For a deeper look at the ideas behind the exhibition, read this essay written by co-curator Holly Hanessian:

Florida NOW serves as a visual zeitgeist, capturing the vital pulse of contemporary practice through the lens of craft. The artists selected for this exhibition operate within the traditional lineages of their chosen media—clay, wood, small and large metal, fiber, and glass.  In their hands, craft is not merely a category, but a place of active discourse, that has both material finesse, but also objects that are challenged, amplified, and blur the lines that once strictly partitioned craft and the “handmade object” from fine art.

While the broader culture has recently “rediscovered” the handmade—evidenced by the democratization of pottery through community studios and high-profile celebrity hobbyism—the reality for the professional artist is far more complex. The integration of traditional craft into the “blue-chip” art market remains a fraught transition, often functioning as a systemic catch-22. Artists who emerge from high-end conceptual university programs often work to navigate the hierarchies of elite galleries through curated connections and ambitious drive. Conversely, those who follow dedicated material paths—through craft schools, community-based studios, and apprenticeships—may enter a system where the market value lags behind technical mastery, and where passion can outweigh institutional validation. A functional object frequently struggles to be valued for the staggering labor it demands, whereas an object conceived purely for conceptual inquiry can see its value soar, even when utilizing identical materials. Florida NOW, supported by Florida CraftArt, situates itself at this uncomfortable and glorious intersection, celebrating material expertise alongside rigorous contemporary thought.

The artists involved have synthesized ancestral techniques with digital and industrial technologies in ways that would have been inconceivable seventy-five years ago. Wendy Bruce’s artwork exemplifies this spirit of innovation, stitching intersecting black lines onto water-soluble materials to create collaged narratives that speak to resilience and personal strength. In a similar vein of conceptual commentary, Jillian Mayer utilizes glass as a playful observation on utility and the absurdity of our daily routines, while Lauren Shapiro’s “Spectral Nature” offers a bold vision of the medium’s future. In Shapiro’s work, a lushly glazed ceramic base mimicking the architectural textures of coral supports a glass orb encasing a flickering digital image—a bridge between ecological research and the digital frontier.

This mastery of material as a narrative tool extends into the transformative works of Milton Mizell, who employs wood marquetry—a technique rooted in antiquity—to create monumental portraits that demand witness. These faces connect the viewer to the Black experience through a complex mosaic of realism, utilizing organic grain and natural veneers to construct identities that are as structurally layered as they are narratively profound. To witness Dominique Labauvie in his studio, is to see this same level of intensity translated into poetic force. His forged metal sculptures act as “line drawings” in three-dimensional space, marrying hand-worked metal with wood salvaged from the aftermath of Florida hurricanes to reflect the volatile perspectives of life within a shifting coastal landscape.

The artists in Florida NOW are united by a singular drive to use materials in a complex and challenging way. With profound dexterity, they finesse intricate conceptual inquiries into innovative physical forms. For the observer, the result is an exhibition that is as aesthetically resonant as it is intellectually satisfying—a testament to the enduring, evolving power of the handmade object.

Holly Hanessian, Emeritus
Professor of Art
Florida State University