Opening Night Reception: Sat, March 28, 2026 | 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Exhibition Dates: March 28 – May 16, 2026
Special Gallery Hours Wed-Sat, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM or by Appt.
Special Event: Squeeze April 15, 2026
Free Admission
Object/Subject: The Body, Space, and Acts of Transformation is a SPAACES exhibition developed through ongoing conversations with artist LaMichael Leonard Jr. and inspired by his Movement Research Residency and movement work BLUR.
On view from March 28 to May 16, 2026, the exhibition brings together artists LaMichael Leonard Jr., Laine Nixon, Yosnier Miranda, Rose Marjanneke Williamson, Matt Hollis, alongside a live poetic performance by Whit the Poet at 7:00 PM.
Presented through a multidisciplinary selection of works in traditional media, video, sound, installation, and performance, the exhibition centers not only the body but also material objects, representations, and constructed illusions as sites through which space is negotiated and meaning is produced.
The varied multidisciplinary artworks in Object/Subject invites viewers to reconsider how space is not something passively inhabited, but something actively generated, shaped, and transformed. It highlights how the creative act—whether expressed through traditional media, time-based works, performance, or sound—becomes a powerful tool for reclaiming agency, challenging imposed narratives, and imagining new possibilities for community, connection, and transformation.
LaMichael Leonard Jr. is an internationally recognized dance artist and Booker High alum. He returns to Sarasota from The Lido Cabaret in Paris, France, where he was a principal dancer and Master of Ceremonies, after a nine-year tenure with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and a soloist career with The Martha Graham Dance Company in New York City. LaMichael holds a BFA from New World School of the Arts and is currently an artist-in-residence at the Ringling Museum, developing movement research on identity, embodiment, and generative spatial practices.
Yosnier Miranda is a 22-year-old digital illustrator based in Tampa, Florida, whose ethereal, symbol-rich artworks explore themes of growth, healing, and self-reflection. Known for their pastel gradients, bold outlines, and compositions inspired by stained glass and tarot cards, Yosnier has built a distinctive visual language that resonates deeply with a Gen Z audience. They have garnered over 30,000 followers on Twitter and have collaborated with artists like Normani and SZA, who helped amplify Yosnier’s work to a global audience. Their art practice serves as a personal and therapeutic process, transforming intimate narratives into universally relatable imagery. Currently thriving within the digital art community and NFT space, Yosnier aspires to one day expand into physical art forms while continuing to grow their presence in the digital realm.
Laine Nixon is a visual artist based in Sarasota, FL. She earned a BFA in painting from the University of South Florida and a BS in mathematics from the University of Tennessee. She has participated in numerous exhibitions, including solo exhibitions at Gallery 221@HCC and Alfstad& Contemporary. Nixon’s work was published in Studio Visit Magazine, Vol 29, and is in the collections of RBC Wealth Management, SRQ Media, and Hillsborough Community College. Development of her work has been supported by the 2016/17 John Ringling Towers Fund fellowship and a residency at the Hermitage Artist Retreat as well as Halo Arts Project fellowship awards in 2021 and 2022. She maintains her studio at SPAACES and is an active member of this burgeoning community of artists.
Rose Marjanneke Williamson reconstructs their fragmented childhood. Using themselves as the subject, Rose recollects memories of adverse adolescent experiences, which requires a process rooted in the ongoing documentation of the self.
Revisiting the past, their studio practice involves archiving moments in time through methods such as note-taking and poetry, collecting flashbacks through drawings, and rediscovering found personal photographs. The techniques Rose utilizes within the works concurrently mends and inflicts damage. Sewing, punctures and repairs simultaneously and a similar act is mirrored through weaving, where the work is physically torn and woven back together. However, the violent destructive nature of paper-making takes their worn clothing and beats it into individual fibers, destroying them into an unrecognizable pulp, presenting us with a new transformed surface.
Matt Hollis creates abstract/organic, soft sculpture and large scale installations in eye-popping colors and oddly-appealing textures. He has shown work and created installations in galleries all around the Washington D.C area as well as Los Angeles, California where he attended graduate school. He earned a BA in Studio Art from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2003. After living and working in his fantastical jungle of a studio in the historic 52 O Street Studios in Washington DC for over 13 years, he relocated to California to earn his MFA at Otis College of Art & Design, graduating with an Academic Excellence award in 2019. Matt now lives in Sarasota where he is eagerly getting involved with the local art community and has added ceramics to the many media he employs in his practice.
Whit the Poet is an award-winning, traveling spoken-word artist recognized by national poetry platforms such as Black Rhyme, Southern Fried, and Women of the World, and has been featured on national television networks including BET and AFROTV. With over a decade in the poetry world, Whit has no plans of slowing down. She is the author of three self-published books, each sharing short stories through the art of poetry, and is also a stage-play writer who blends poetry with drama and theatrical performance. Beyond the stage, Whit holds a BA in Childcare Education and has worked in the education field for more than 16 years. She brings her passion for poetry into the classroom, introducing students to a wide range of poetic and spoken-word forms. Writing and performing are at the heart of her work, and that creative fire continues to burn strong.
