Fine art is popping up in venues you may not expect it to - like fully curated shows at bars, cafes, and other places dubbed mixed-use venues.
Orlando freelance curator Heidi Kneizl works largely with these mixed-use venues, like Falcon Bar, Li’l Indies and Eola View. Her newest art show called “Off the Grid” will grace the walls at the Falcon this month
Kneizl said it’s time to shine a light on fine art installations that pop up where you don’t expect them, adding that she became a freelance art exhibit curator to fill a community need that she, as an artist, noticed first-hand.
“I just wasn't super into the art shows that were happening,” she said, referencing the comparatively small selection of more traditional art galleries. “So I just started putting some on and having a lot of group shows, and it turned into some places wanting me to actually curate at their spaces.”
There’s a bit of an upstart, punk-rock ethos to these art exhibits and venues, Kneizl said, but she hopes that art lovers don’t let outdated expectations limit the possibility for new fine art experiences.
“There are so many gems that can be seen in things like these local arts showings, where they can obviously see that the venue cares about the art, has the appropriate lighting for it, fixates on making sure that everything looks really good for these opening nights and stuff, so it’s not the spaces being not appropriate for them, it’s more like people having an idea of what it should look like. And I think art can be anywhere.” Said Kneizl, adding that even a warehouse can be an art gallery with proper lighting and care.
The theme of this “Off the Grid” exhibit is that no 90-degree angles are allowed in the art pieces on display. Kneizl likes to set fun challenges for artists when she chooses her themes.
“I try to keep the themes open, to where our artists can not have to try too hard to come up with something that they might not be interested in,” she explained. “So I like to leave it a little loose - sometimes the theme is just like a specific color, like ‘Pantone Color of the Year,’ and you just have to include that color in the show.”
So, what theme is next?
“The ‘Recycled’ show,” said Kneizl. “Your work just requires you to have a recycled element to your piece, whether it's like a recycled canvas or a recycled frame, or maybe the whole piece is like ‘found object’ and created out of, you know, recycled materials. As long as I can keep it open, I think it keeps people interested.”
