There is a strong possibility you have never encountered anyone quite like Stella Chrone. She is not only striking and intelligent, but has also lived a life shaped by experiences far outside the familiar paths most of us know. In this episode, you’ll hear the remarkable story of her journey—one defined by courage, discipline, and the determination to leave a highly insular upbringing and forge her own place in the world.

Today, Stella leads a more conventional life, yet her artistic practice remains anything but ordinary. Through her work, she invites us into a fascinating and unexpected realm, creating intricate glass bio-sculptures designed as living environments where ant colonies can thrive and evolve over decades. Her work challenges our perceptions, revealing ants as intelligent, highly organized, and even empathetic creatures. Stella guides us through this extraordinary intersection of art, science, and life.

Ants became both her collaborators and her mirror. Organisms capable of near-telepathic coordination without centralized control or hierarchy, they embody an alternative model of collective existence. Drawing on Rupert Sheldrake’s theory of morphic resonance, along with her own lived experience, Stella designs crystalline vessels whose internal geometries interact dynamically with their inhabitants. Over months and years, the colonies excavate these forms from within—transforming metaphor into biological reality.

Her recent works, including Sands of Time (2025), a four-foot hourglass reflecting irreversible ecological time, and Origin (2025), an organic vessel with winding pathways and viewing chambers, have already entered significant private collections in Miami.

Stella Chrone lives and works in Miami, Florida. Her next exhibition is at The Living Room gallery, Apr 12, 2026, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM.

We’re celebrating not one, but two extraordinary milestones by the brilliant multidisciplinary artist Randi Renate, whose work lives at the powerful intersection of art, biology, and ocean science.

First—her stunning outdoor sculpture, “Are We Psychic Coral-Polyps?”, has been selected for a major ecological exhibition at the Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY (the Hamptons) where it will be on view for two full years beginning May 2, 2026. This is not just an exhibition—it’s a statement about our planet, our oceans, and the future of environmental art.

Randi has also taken her practice beneath the surface—literally—by earning her Dive Master Certification with the Indo Ocean Project in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. This achievement transforms her work into something even more profound—allowing her to participate in scientific dives, coral restoration, and firsthand marine research that directly fuels her artistic vision.

A graduate of the Yale School of Art (MFA, Sculpture, 2020), Randi has built an impressive career with fellowships from leading institutions including Socrates Sculpture Park, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Fountainhead in Miami, and more. She is also a 2025 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow, with support from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Her public works—from “blue is the atmospheric refraction I see you through” at the Adirondack History Museum to her featured installation in Sink or Swim: Climate Futures—have positioned her as a leading voice in climate-driven contemporary art.

And her influence extends even further through her podcast, CORALESCENCE, where she brings listeners into intimate “studio visits” with scientists and researchers—exploring coral restoration, climate change, and the fragile ecosystems shaping our future.

Gallerist Bella De Almeida, founder and artistic director of The Living Room gallery, is redefining how art is experienced in Miami and its surrounding communities.

Through The Living Room concept, she positions art as a conversation space for creative exploration and cultural immersion. Bella curates intimate, multidisciplinary gatherings that bring together culinary arts, literature, music, dance, and visual art—creating dynamic environments where ideas and cultures intersect.

The Living Room gallery is uniquely situated in Bella’s beautifully landscaped backyard, designed to host outdoor performances and presentations. The setting encourages open dialogue, artistic expression, and cultural exchange. Guests are invited to ask questions, share perspectives, and engage with a wide range of artistic disciplines, including visual art, film, music, literature, and culinary experiences.

A Miami native of Brazilian and Nicaraguan heritage, Bella studied culture, art, and Mandarin at Duke University, where she developed a strong interest in cultural exchange and the role of art in shaping personal and collective understanding.

She began her career building artist communities across Miami, New York, Durham, and Shanghai—supporting artists in developing sustainable practices while also advising collectors privately. In this capacity, she guided collectors in acquiring works that resonate deeply with their personal narratives and values.

Bella later served as Assistant Curator and Sales Consultant at Galería La Cometa in Miami, where she worked closely with artists and collectors, contributed to exhibition development, and helped strengthen the gallery’s presence within the city’s collector community.

The Miami art world is getting a jolt of New York energy. There is a new collaboration between Pendentive Studio and Kates-Ferri Projects that will bring artists represented by the New York City gallery to Miami audiences.

The partnership kicks off Friday, March 13th with a group exhibition at Pendentive Studio (7615 Biscayne Blvd) featuring Lisu Vega and Juan Henriquez. Interior designer Phoebe O’Neill owns Pendentive Studio.

The 56th episode of Art Lovers Forum was very fortunate to secure an interview with Natalie Kates so we can hear how this partnership will work and learn more about Natalie and the gallery she created on the lower east side of Manhattan with her husband Professor Fabrizio Ferri.

Natalie is one of the most passionate gallerists I have ever spoken to. She has a spirit that allows her to move forward in a remarkable independent fashion. When Natalie believes in something she makes it work. She evaluates success by discovering, nurturing, and promoting emerging artists.

That’s why she is very excited about displaying artwork in Miami. Natalie wants to explore and experiment with exhibiting artwork in a room filled with highly designed furniture and accessories. “It will be interesting to see the reaction of collectors when they walk into a room that is not white and empty. We just may be onto something.”

Mike Shultis is an artist but you would be accurate if you called him a theatrical set designer, an architect, an antique dealer, an editor and a story teller. His paintings are three dimensional, better known as assemblages.

Mike likes to say his art productions are ancient story lines repeating itself to show the cycle of history. He edits the message.

There are not that many artists who create assemblages and I am happy to say that my husband and I are owners of one of Mike’s magnificent masterpieces. We bought it on an art trip to Detroit with Fountainhead Arts. We walked into the Library Street Collective, Detroit’s premiere art gallery, and spotted Mike’s work immediately. Gallerist Melanie Baer Schwartz was absolutely terrific explaining Mike’s work and all of the objects featured. Artist Alison Zuckerman curated the entire show so we knew Mike’s work was very special.

Mike’s new body of work can be seen right now at a very progressive NYC gallery, Morgan Presents—537 W 27 Street. www.morgan-presents.com

The exhibition, “Rome,” employs historical compositions as an armature for societal critique. Utilizing a range of source imagery, from classical mosaics to baroque painting, Mike draws a parallel between the hedonism, avarice and ultimate collapse of a storied Roman age and our own contemporary reality.

Mike (b. 1987, Albuquerque, NM) lives and works in Philadelphia, PA. He received his MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale School of Art and holds a BFA in Painting

from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Mike has had solo exhibitions at Morgan Presents, New York; Ashes/Ashes, New York; Diane Rosenstein, Los Angeles. His work has been included in group exhibitions at Library Street Collective, Detroit; Carl Kostyál, Stockholm; The Bronx Museum of the Arts; and Rizzuto Gallery, Palermo, Italy.

In just one podcast interview, Ombretta Agró Andruff, the founder and executive director of ARTSail Residency and Research, gave me a renewed interest in the ocean. Ombretta understood immediately why I wasn’t keeping up with all of the changes that are happening in the ocean that most definitely impact our climate. NYC does that to you.

Now that I look at the ocean every day in Miami Beach, I hope to help Ombretta with marketing.

Ombretta was born in Italy. She is a Miami Beach and Turin based freelance curator and ocean warrior. She brings more than 25 years of curatorial expertise with an international practice across non-profit institutions, commercial galleries, and art advisory pursuits with private clients.

Since her move to the US in 1998 she has curated solo and group shows in Europe, the US and Asia collaborating with museums, art festivals, commercial galleries and art fairs, as well as the 2006 Winter Olympic Games.

Ombretta is an avid swimmer, diver and kiteboarder.

The minute I met Grace Hopkins at the Berta Walker Gallery in Provincetown, MA, I knew I wanted to interview her for Art Lovers Forum. She is deeply involved in the art world, and I felt she could teach me so much. I was so right.

For most of the year, Grace is the director of the Berta Walker Gallery, one of the most respected in PTown. She loves working for Berta who has a strong understanding of art, and the business of art, after working for the Whitney Museum, Marisa del Re, and Graham Modern Galleries.

Grace is an artist who creates very unique art by using photography to create square abstract images. Grace details how she manages to produce work that focuses on objects that often go unnoticed. She really has an amazing story.

Grace is the daughter of noted artist Budd Hopkins, who was also an author and ufologist. He was a prominent figure in alien abduction phenomena and related UFO research. Her mother, April Kingsley, was a respected art historian. Grace’s parents were friends with art world luminaries like Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning, et al.

Grace lived most of her life in the art communities of Manhattan and Outer Cape Cod (Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet).

Welcome to Art Lovers Forum. There’s a nonprofit art organization that’s quietly becoming a global force — using creativity to stand up for Israel and to fight antisemitism.

It’s called Art World for Israel, and I have to thank artist Dahlia Dreszer for introducing me to its incredible founder, Ariel Penzer.

Ariel told me that since the attacks on Israel on October 7th, 2023, too many Jewish artists have faced online harassment — and a heartbreaking drop in art sales. She decided to do something about it.

That’s how Art World for Israel began — as a simple chat group among friends. They invited more friends, and then more, and it just kept growing.

Today, there are more than 1,200 members — artists, writers, collectors, dealers, and advisors — from all over the world: Zimbabwe, Colombia, Europe, and of course, right here in the U.S.

The mission is powerful: to connect Jewish artists in with their peers in Israel, to build professional opportunities, and to promote positive visibility through exhibitions, talks, and events.

As Ariel puts it, “We believe in peer-led initiatives, local gatherings, studio visits, and professional development to grow our community.”

It’s a reminder that although the Jewish population makes up only about 0.2% of the world — roughly 15.7 million people — we continue to be, as Ariel says, small but mighty.

With everything from shows and openings to workshops and studio visits, Art World for Israel has become one of the most inspiring movements in the Jewish art world today.

@artworldforisrael @bloomsteadfarmresidency @arielpenzer