Plays Well With Others

Plays Well with Others is an exhibition of local and national artists who create work that engages with play and toys in interactive, mischievous and subversive ways. The exhibition will include 2D and 3D works of all media that both entertain and unsettle, and will be installed in the gallery space in an immersive installation. This fun and vibrant show will bring fresh voices to the southwest Florida arts scene and engage the community through (socially distant!) public programming.

Each of the Plays Well with Others artists expertly articulates broad concepts centered around play using media ranging from animation to inflatable sculpture to beading. Painter Whitney Hackett (Fort Myers, FL) and fiber artist LeBrie Rich (Portland, OR) explore familiar objects of Americana nostalgia, calling us to elevate the ordinary while critiquing mindless consumption. Evoking a favorite childhood toy, jeweler Breana Ferrara (Fitchburg, MA) explores the complexities of expectations around motherhood. Amelia Briggs’ (Nashville, TN) sculptures recall ambiguous toy forms that symbolize the building blocks of identity, while Alexander Martin’s (Peoria, IL) interactive dress-up sculpture allows viewers to play with the very constructs of identity. Asser Saint-Val (Miami, FL) seeks to activate the audience’s imagination through a giant inflatable sculpture based on the spiritual qualities of the brain pigment Neuromelanin. Two Florida Gulf Coast University grads, illustrator Chloe Lewis (New York, NY) and graphic artist Isabella Baquerizo (Naples, FL), take on a narrative approach: Lewis tells the story of a girl discovering the journey of life through play, and Baquerizo reimagines anonymous submissions from friends and strangers who told her the “strangest imaginary game they played as a child,” yielding amusing animations that remind us every child deserves to dream freely.

Exhibition Schedule:

Exhibits: September 11 through October 17, 2020

The Alliance for the Arts gallery and gift shop hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. or by appointment by contacting Ehren at [email protected]

Free, Virtual Opening Reception – September 11 • Dust off your black beret, have your cheese cubed and wine or bubbly water poured tall for this fun night of virtual art and interviews! Click here to watch the Virtual Opening Reception!

Live, Online Artists Talks – September 18, September 29 and October 5 • These behind-the-scenes looks offer unique insight into each artists’ inspiration, process and the context behind the work.

Click here to watch the Artist Talk with Amelia Briggs

Click here to watch the Artist Talk with Alexander Martin

Click here to watch the Curator Talk with Jessica Todd

This exhibition is generously funded through the City of Fort Myers Arts & Culture Grant program and curated by Jessica Todd. Click here to visit the exhibition website (will be posting updates and content there regularly).

Artists: Isabella Baquerizo (Bonita Springs, FL), Amelia Briggs (Nashville, TN), Breana Ferrara (Fitchburg, MA), Whitney Hackett (Fort Myers, FL), Chloe Lewis (New York, NY), Alexander Martin (Peoria, IL), LeBrie Rich (Portland, OR), and Asser Saint-Val (Miami, FL).

Curator: Jessica Todd is a curator, writer, and arts administrator living in Tampa, Florida. She is passionate about building the creative infrastructures that support artists, as well as studying and addressing issues of equity, access, and inclusion in the arts. Through her writing and curatorial work, she seeks to amplify the voices of artists who create work that is fresh, innovative, impactful, interdisciplinary, outside of the mainstream, and engaging new audiences. For nearly six years, before her recent move to Tampa, Jessica was the Residency Manager for the Rauschenberg Residency in Captiva, Florida, an interdisciplinary, international artists’ community serving over 75 artists per year. Jessica earned an MFA in Jewelry/Metals from Kent State University in 2014 and a BA in Art from Penn State University in 2008.

Logo design by Isabella Baquerizo

IMAGE GALLERY: