There is a lot of buzz in the air about “creative economy” and the economic impact of artists and businesses that sell or market artistic talent in South Florida. There are many talented artists living in South Florida that have been making a steady impact in their community for decades. There is budding talent everywhere and seasoned professionals performing and teaching young and old alike while maintaining a Christian worldview of the arts, all while adding value to the community.
Linda Rogers Albritton
Linda Rogers Albritton is a dance instructor and performer. Linda co-founded “The Dancexchange” 30 years ago. Her professional career started at age 14 as a dancer on “The Rick Shaw Show” doing summer stock in Cleveland, Ohio. She worked later with Jimmy Durante and became Channel 10’s lead dancer and choreographer. Later, she worked with Frank Gorshin in Miami Beach where, for the next 18 years, she travelled to the Bahamas, Canada for Sonny and Cher (among other acts), Las Vegas ‘Hotel Revue’ with Jimmy Durante, and toured in Central and South America. Albritton trained with Dave Harris, Gus Giordano, Ron Daniels, Henry Le Tang and Beatrice Laverne, among others, but always returned to the Miami area. She has been teaching ballet, tap, jazz and acrobatics for over 40 years now and has received numerous awards for choreography and teaching. A member of the Professional Dance Teachers Association, Albritton received the 1995 Distinguished Teacher award awarded by the President of the United States. She currently teaches in Miami Dade and Broward counties at various locations. Most importantly, Albritton maintains her Christian faith while pushing the limits of her students’ abilities with exciting choreography and music and nurturing those that have gone into professional dance careers. Albritton can be reached at 786-390-4709 for more information on her classes.
Guido del Carpio
Another seasoned artist is painter Guido del Carpio. His paintings are influenced by his childhood in Peru and his travels to Mexico and India. His new series of canvas and wood works celebrate his love of God using strong and bold abstract imagery to comment on contemporary social issues. Del Carpio joined the Peruvian National School of Fine Arts as a young adult and received first place prize in the National Drawing Room in Mexico City. Eventually he became an illustrator in New York for a major Latin newspaper in the 80’s and came into contact with Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente and Chuck Close. In mid 2000, del Carpio moved to South Florida to be with his family. His newest artwork explores biblical themes, the striving nature of mankind, politics and war, human suffering and strife with a wide variety of styles – impressionism, comic illustrations, and abstract imagery. He is a colorful and fun person to be around and a loving father to his son who is also his agent. A recent work, “Return of the King,” is an interpretation of the return of Jesus Christ ‘riding out of the clouds’ and the glory of the Lord on that day. This work was featured at a 2012 fundraiser for Hope South Florida. Various prints of this inspiring piece are available for purchase. He is working on new series of works for potential shows in Art Basel Miami Beach and other exhibitions and is always looking for the right venue to display his art and raise support for Christian organizations and initiatives. Del Carpio can be reached through his manager at 954.805.9867.
Faithville
When it comes to music, South Florida has such a wide and deep well of Christian musical talent from which to draw. Recently, a 13-member gospel/funk group named Faithville released a double album called Welcome to Faithville. Faithville has such a heart to celebrate their God-given vocal and creative gifts. According to the group leader, Mozel, the most unique aspect of their vocal blend is that the sound is not traditional – more a ‘Parliament’ of Gospel music. Parliament Funkadelic was a musical group in the 1970s that was first to blend a variety of jazz, blues, soul and rock elements. All songs on this new release are original and produced in South Florida by MoFaith Music. A new campaign to unite gospel artists and their individual talents while unifying to help one another in music is a focus in 2013. Mozel has a degree in video and music production from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and credits his family for inspiration and support. If you are interested in contacting Mozel, email him at [email protected].
If there is an artist you know doing good work and celebrating the good news through their artistic talent, please email [email protected].
Grace Cafe and Galleries and the new Arts Center began in 2005 in Dania Beach and has many collaborators on and off-site at 75 N Federal Highway, Dania Beach, rear suite. You can visit the Gallery daily from 11AM – 6 PM or Studio nightly for dance, music or drama events as posted on GraceCafeAndGalleries.com or on our Facebook page of the same name or by calling 954.816.3324. Clare Vickery, the owner and founder, has been self employed in real estate and land planning and the arts since 1997 in South Florida.
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