No Seasoning spotlights seven Afro-Cuban outsider artists at Copperbridge Foundation

Curator Elvia Rosa Castro has organized No Seasoning at the Copperbridge Foundation in North Miami, which opened Friday, Feb. 27 and runs through Saturday, May 23, 2026. The exhibition spotlights seven Afro‑descendant Cuban artists whose practices developed outside academic training and commercial markets, and admission to the show is free, with groups accepted by appointment.

Castro set the tone plainly: “This art doesn’t ask to be explained. It asks to be seen.” The installation is presented to resist tidy interpretation; Castro asks viewers to stand before work that was not made for an art market, not shaped by trend and not softened for easy consumption. That curatorial posture drives the selection and placement of pieces throughout the Copperbridge galleries.

No Seasoning draws entirely from the NAEMI Collection, identified in the exhibition materials as the National Art Exhibitions of the Mentally Ill, a Miami‑based body of work by artists living with psychiatric, neurological or cognitive disabilities. The show’s reliance on NAEMI loans brings a concentrated set of voices to North Miami rather than dispersed works from commercial galleries or museum circuits, and the provenance and history of those loans figure into how the exhibition is presented.

One named artist in the exhibition is Gloria de la Caridad García, whose pieces rework discarded ICAIC film posters. García layers pen drawings and cut fragments over damaged prints, converting damaged promotional material into layered, object‑based compositions, courtesy of the artist. That tact—making art out of found, worn, or institutional ephemera—recurs across works in the selection, underscoring the exhibition’s emphasis on practices that arose outside formal training.

Over its three‑month run, No Seasoning will be accompanied by public programs and performances, though no detailed schedule is listed in the exhibition notice. The Copperbridge Foundation lists gallery hours as 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday; the run ends on Saturday, May 23, but no regular Saturday hours are specified in the published information. Practical details are: Copperbridge Foundation, 12500 NE 4th Ave., North Miami; hours 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday; opens Friday, Feb. 27, through Saturday, May 23; admission free, groups by appointment; info/phone (305) 891-8293; Copperbridge.org.

Quieter than its title suggests, No Seasoning places work by seven Afro‑descendant Cuban artists into view to test how those practices travel when taken out of clinical, domestic, or local contexts and shown in a Miami gallery setting. The show foregrounds art made without market shaping and leaves the business of interpretation to the gallery floor.