In 2019, the name was changed to Oolite Arts. Potter-turned-artists’ advocate Ellie Schneiderman bought empty storefronts on Lincoln Road and in 1983 founded South Florida Art Center, which became ArtCenter/SouthFlorida. an artist could tell me, once they’d be juried in by a panel, how many feet they could afford.”
and that allowed me to figure four bucks a square foot. She received it after going to the Miami Beach City Commission with her idea of starting an urban artists’ colony. “I applied for a grant,” the artist explained. In a taped recording released as a tribute to Schneiderman, who died on April 18, 2020, at the age of 80, the arts pioneer recalled starting the center, which would create lasting change on Lincoln Road, sparking careers and camaraderie among artists, along with a resurgence of the area itself. Her idea was to provide low-cost art studios and exhibition spaces. The visionary artist founded the South Florida Art Center on Lincoln Road in 1983, after persuading the Miami Beach Commission to take her up on an offer to buy three properties on the thoroughfare with grant money. In the annals of Miami’s visual arts community, Schneiderman’s legacy is deservedly put on a pedestal.
The clay pot is on a pedestal, conjuring a dual meaning. A piece of pottery by the late Ellie Schneiderman sits in the center of the gallery at Oolite Arts on Lincoln Road for its summer exhibition, “It Was Always About You.