Coffee shop Curia On The Drag filled with laughter and chatter Thursday evening as kids ran around its gallery space showcasing their creations. Collages, self-portraits, sketchbooks and small magazines — all handmade by artists aged 8 to 14 — marked the culmination of their after-school program with La Selva Art Studios.
The art show was hosted May 23 from 6 to 8 p.m., and consisted of over 100 pieces worked on over the past school year. Parents, children and members of the community strolled around the walls, with each student’s portfolio displayed in sections. With refreshments provided on tables, the seats in the room slowly filled up.
Established in 2021, La Selva offers exploratory programming for kids to create outside the confines of a school classroom. Owner and art teacher Gianelle Gelpi said she took a chance when she felt a need for a prominent youth art center in the community.
“If my kids wanted to take printmaking or drawing, where’s that place?” Gelpi said.
With both sides of her family born and raised in Puerto Rico, she said she felt singled out being born and raised in Florida.
“When my late grandmother passed, there was this connection that I really wanted to regain,” she said.
Selva Rodriguez, her grandmother, is the muse for the name of her studio. Her death coincided with the time Gelpi, a former gator, returned to UF for a master's degree.
“She taught me a lot about being self-reliant and independent,” she said. “Taking on that name, I’ve embodied that in my business.”
She graduated with a master’s in art education from UF in 2020, but was unsure of what she wanted out of her career path until the COVID-19 pandemic helped her decide.
“I think when you're in a school setting, they automatically think that I want to be a teacher in a public school,” she said. “I was kind of questioning, ‘Do I really want to be in that environment?’ Then COVID hit, and it’s like, ‘No, you do not.’”
She wrote a business plan immediately after graduating. A fellow artist in the community was leaving Gainesville around that time and positioned Gelpi in a newly vacant studio.
“I’ve got the studio and also the connection I wanted to bring in from my past and my ancestral lineage, connecting to my roots,” she said.
At the time, she had two children, which also shaped her decision.
“All of that kind of came together and I just went for it and opened up my studio.”
Her independent spirit not only shapes her path as an artist but also imprints on the youth who learn from her in the studio.
Olivia Veltheim, her 13-year-old daughter, flaunted blue eyeshadow and a fur beanie at the art show.
Films and movie characters are a central theme of Veltheim’s watercolor pieces. She also helped direct and film “Detention Club, Revenge of Dolly,” a short movie the kids put together.
Veltheim also collaborated with her friend, 13-year-old Oona Björn, to make a feminist zine, a smaller pocket-book-like magazine. Titled “Raw Zine,” they were distributed at the show.
Björn’s art, which hung across the room from Veltheim's, incorporated political themes using newspaper cutouts. One of her pieces depicting two girls explored how similarity can exist in opposites: one painted in pink and the other in blue.
Björn appreciates the studio’s freedom to create but also enjoys the more structured lessons Rodriguez teaches, like color theory and screen printing.
“When you’re in school, you’re kind of struggling. Am I going to get a good grade on this? What is my mom going to think if I get a bad grade on this assignment?” she said. “When you’re in the art group you can have free rein.”
Many parents recognize the limits that schools provide regarding self-exploration, Gianelle Gelpi said. The short film depicted fake blood, traditionally mature themes and the occasional use of profanity by the kids.
The art show ended with a highly anticipated viewing of their movie. No laugh track was needed, and it earned a loud applause.
“I love having that space that’s there’s no judgment,” Gelpi said. “You should be questioning and exploring all those things within yourself through art and creativity.”
Currently, her after-school program only caters to P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, where her children go. Besides some interns and a couple of UF students who help out in the studio, Rodriguez's business is mostly a one-woman show.
Nikki Kragiel, one of the three owners of Gainesville boutique AUK Market, connected her to the Curia manager to host the gallery. Their friendship dates back nearly five years when Gelpi was one of the AUK Market’s first vendors. Kragiel’s 14-year-old daughter, Sophie Kragiel, attends the studio on Wednesdays and displayed her art at the show as well.
“My daughter says that she really likes to take art classes at her school, but you’re barely scratching the surface of each project,” Kragiel said. “With this type of instruction, she really gets to dig deep. It’s really just a super enriching program for them.”
La Selva’s after-school program offers pickup from school to her studio and nature excursions. Tuesday through Thursday, she holds two- to three-hour classes for different age groups, with any single group consisting of eight kids at a time. Now that school’s out, the studio is offering a five-week summer camp starting July 1.
In the future, Gelpi hopes to be able to “take some of the hats” off of her head and expand into a bigger space.
“I just find that the kids being more embedded in the community and supported by community artists and community members feels very important,” she said.
Contact Noor Sukkar at nsukkar@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @noorsukkarr
Noor Sukkar is a third-year journalism major with a minor in Arabic. She is the Avenue's Fall 2024 General Assignment reporter. When she's not writing, she's most likely talking to her cat or overwatering her plants.
