Best New Public Art: WestArt District

Photo by Rob Bartlett

WestArt District

1011 W. Central Blvd., westartdistrict.com

Layered with paint ranging from graffiti tags to huge, intensely colored murals, West Central Boulevard's collection of warehouses a block from Orlando City Stadium is where you'll find the WestArt District – just look for local artist Lemus' iconic portrait of Damian Marley. Hosting tailgate parties, a kids' sports camp, a garden and painting lessons, the space is already integral to its Parramore community, and it's still evolving thanks to promoter Harrison Rai. Miami's warehouse district, Wynwood, became that town's art zone a few years ago, and we think the WestArt District might be the seed of a similar hotspot here. (See our cover story on the WestArt District here.)

Arts and Culture: Orlando's best comedians, film fests, museums and more

Best Young Artist Putting Orlando on the Map: Dana Hargrove

image courtesy artist

Dana Hargrove shoots some of her work hanging at OMA

danahargrove.com

Dana Hargrove's Scottish roots transplanted quickly to Central Florida, but she still says "Orlgh-lannndo" with a delightful Edinburgh burr. Exhibiting around the country and recently back from an artist's residency in Iceland, Hargrove's crisply colored cairns were selected for this year's Florida Prize in Contemporary Art show at the Orlando Museum of Art. Ancient Scottish rockpiles inspire Hargrove's contemporary notions of urbanity, social ties and globalism, and that's not just clarty blether, laddie. (Read our interview with the artist here.)

Best Performance Art as Group Catharsis: Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz's Pietà, March 21, 2017

Photo by Bernard Wilchusky / UCF

wandaraimundi-ortiz.com

Back in March, UCF professor Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz stopped time and carved out a space to collectively mourn the ongoing loss of young people of color to bias crimes with her 90-minute endurance performance Pietà. Reflecting the maternal gesture of the work's sculptural namesake, Raimundi-Ortiz cradled 33 volunteer participants with infectious tenderness and vulnerability as DJ Stereo 77 queued quintessential R&B, Afrobeat, jazz and soul truncated by the sounds of sirens. Pews in the Knowles Memorial Chapel were filled with witnesses to the raw pain of grief and to the artist's resilience. Our hearts are full knowing that she went on to perform Pietà at the National Portrait Gallery just two months later. (See our article on Pietà here.)