This story was originally published by Artburst Miami, South Florida's nonprofit source for arts journalism.
Fountainhead Arts is leaving the Morningside house that has defined its artist residency for 18 years. The move will, for the first time, separate studios from artists’ living quarters and give the organization twice the space of its previous location.
The Miami nonprofit runs a year-round residency program that brings three artists at a time from across the country and internationally to live and work in Miami for a month.
(Courtesy Fountainhead Arts)
An AI-assisted image shows an outdoor work area at Fountainhead’s new space. AI was used to change the building’s paint color and decorative elements; the structure and spaces remain unchanged.
The new property is located in what Fountainhead Arts founder and executive director Kathryn Mikesell described as “a tucked-away spot just west of Midtown and just north of Wynwood.” She did not want to disclose the exact address because, she said, the space is still being prepared for its public debut.
Mikesell sees the expansion as a way to do more than improve the residency: It will allow Fountainhead to develop residencies for curators and arts writers, revive a program that connected Miami artists with one another and expand its public programming.
“Fountainhead is all about connections – connections between the artists, the artists and the community, but it’s also about connecting with Miami and people in the community,” she said.
At roughly 4,000 square feet, the new location is about twice the size of Fountainhead’s 2,000-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom residence in Miami’s Morningside neighborhood. It includes a two-story 1950s duplex and a separate one-story building.
(Courtesy Fountainhead Arts)
The Morningside home has hosted The Fountainhead Arts residency for the past 18 years.
“The big difference is that the artist studios are private and located steps from the home where they’ll be living,” Mikesell said. “Their living space will be separate from their studios and connected by a beautiful courtyard.”
At the Morningside house, artists have lived and worked in the same space.
“We’re still keeping the home aspect of it, because that’s a very important part of Fountainhead,” Mikesell said. “A home is welcoming, and that’s one of the most important aspects to Fountainhead – it will be welcoming to all.”
Fountainhead will take over the new location in September but continue operating its residency at the Morningside home through the end of the year. Mikesell said the organization did not want to disrupt the experience of artists who had been selected and were expecting to live and work at the longtime residency.
Mikesell expects the new space to be introduced during Miami Art Week in December and officially start operations there in January. The Morningside home will be sold.
The ground floor of the two-story residence has four bedrooms and three bathrooms. A separate two-bedroom apartment upstairs initially will allow Fountainhead alumni to return to Miami for visits.
(Courtesy Fountainhead Arts)
Fountainhead Arts founder and executive director Kathryn Mikesell at an open house at the Morningside residence.
The second building will contain private studios for the three visiting artists who participate in each residency cycle. Once Fountainhead has settled into the new location, Mikesell also plans to launch residencies for curators and arts writers.
Fountainhead will rent the property for what Mikesell expects to be five to 10 years, using that time to test new programs and determine what the organization needs before eventually buying or building a permanent home.
Fountainhead is now in fundraising mode for the move, including the cost of rent, renovations and furnishings.
“We want to grow, but I’m very conservative in my approach to growth,” Mikesell said. “I think it’s very important to try things first, kind of work out the kinks, see what works, see what doesn’t work, reevaluate and then move forward.”
The move comes as Fountainhead is changing how it selects artists for its residency. For 2027, the organization has replaced its limited open call with a full nomination process. Artists will be nominated by a group of curators hand-selected by Fountainhead, along with alumni artists from the program.
“We have curators spread around the world, so that will ensure that we are truly reaching globally for the artists that we are bringing to Fountainhead,” Mikesell said.
Fountainhead’s leadership team will make the final selections in October.
What won’t change is the residency’s makeup: only three artists will participate in each cycle. Mikesell said the small group is central to a program in which artists who often have never met live together and become immersed in Miami’s arts community.
The move also will allow Fountainhead to revive MEET, a pre-pandemic program that brought Miami artists together over a meal with no formal agenda. Mikesell said connections made through the gatherings led artists to find roommates, studio space and collaborators, and sometimes even life partners.
The program ended during the pandemic and did not return, in part because of the cost of hosting it in restaurants. With its own courtyard and gathering spaces, Fountainhead expects to bring it back next year.
The new location also will allow for more public programs, including artist-led dinners and talks, while continuing the monthly Open Houses that invite the public into the residency.
Its earlier footprint also included a complex in Little Haiti with about 30 artist studios that Fountainhead operated for nearly 15 years before the property was sold.
Mikesell said the cost of Miami real estate makes recreating that studio complex unrealistic now. With the new space, Mikesell said Fountainhead’s focus will remain on building relationships: among visiting and Miami artists, and with the curators, writers, collectors and institutions that can bring their work to a broader audience.
The new location came about through one of those relationships. Alex Degwitz, the son of arts leader and collector Milagros Maldonado and a close friend of Mikesell’s, knew she had begun looking for a new home for Fountainhead and told her he might have the right place. Maldonado owns the property, according to Mikesell.
Mikesell and the Fountainhead team visited and immediately saw its potential.
“Relationships are everything,” Mikesell said. “If you can create an environment that fosters that, it can be a game changer.”
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