SPARC PLACE: Oakview Residency
The purpose of the SPARC Place residency program is to provide Alachua county artists with focused time and space to develop artwork, and to test out a format to build on for a potential future residency program. This residency hosts artists in most mediums such as visual arts, digital design and media, dance, music, writing and more at Oakview Community Center.
Artists in Residence
Ian Jackson
Ian Jackson is a born and raised Floridan. He is a multidisciplinary artist who makes art and literature about the unsung, unacknowledged, and unappreciated. In his practice, he uses experimental methods to explore and challenge preexisting notions surrounding various subjects. He has contributed to the publication of over 300 literary and visual works with organizations such as Poetry Northwest and Tea Literary & Arts Magazine. Currently, he is Editor-in-Chief of the zine EarlGrey.
Recently, he has been experimenting with a new collage technique he calls Fragmentals. In this series, he builds characters almost entirely from small pieces of paper, which he attaches to larger sheets of heavyweight paper. The core objective of the series is to demonstrate that meaningful art can be created with limited resources. At the same time, it challenges conventional notions of fine art by prioritizing interdisciplinary storytelling over more traditional forms such as painting, ceramics, or photography.
His portfolio can be found at cherryhybrid.wordpress.com.
Oriana Sheffield
Oriana Sheffield is an R&B singer born and raised in Gainesville, Florida. She began singing in church at around five or six years old. She sings about many topics including love, healing, faith, and womanhood with an amazing voice and emotional resonance. Her music is a tool to heal, empower, and reflect the love, struggles, and spirit of her community.
Over the past few years, Oriana has grown not only as an artist but also as a content creator in her community. She is always seeking new ways to uplift and unite those around her, whether through music, food, laughter, or anything that brings people together.
Turbado Marabou
Turbado Marabou, born in Gainesville, Florida, is a multifaceted artist, educator, and cultural storyteller deeply embedded in the Afro-Trans-Atlantic narrative. A graduate of Florida A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts and an M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Turbado is now pursuing a Ph.D. in Arts Education at Florida State University.
For over thirty years, he has explored the complexities of the Black aesthetic, using visual and performing arts to celebrate African cultural legacies and spirituality. In 2020, he founded Deeproots Arts & Culture Creative Services L.L.C., aiming to elevate cultural awareness and aesthetic intelligence through workshops and lectures. He and his family reside in Gainesville, Florida, and Turbado continues to impact the region’s artistic landscape, particularly in the Florida-Georgia area.
MyQueal Lewis
MyQueal Lewis is a filmmaker, muralist, and photographer born and raised in Gainesville, Florida. He dedicates his work to honoring the stories, culture, and resilience of the East Gainesville community that shaped him. MyQueal has collaborated with organizations and brands like the NAACP, Beats by Dre, and Cricket Wireless, but his true passion lies in creating work that centers healing, identity, and representation.
With a background in Social Work, he uses his art as a bridge between storytelling and restoration blending visual expression with community care. Whether it’s through film, public murals, or photography, he’s committed to making space for the voices that are often overlooked and preserving the beauty found in culture.
See his films on YouTube.
Kione Forrest
Kione Forrest is a digital media content creator. He has run a digital clothing brand and organized multiple Christian artist showcases at Westside Park, helping to bring the community together through music and faith. Currently, he runs a media production company. His most recent projects include serving as the director, videographer, and editor for a documentary on climate change in collaboration with Alachua County, as well as producing a mini-documentary for an underground artist showcase in Gainesville. He is developing a photo-documentary series titled “Stories From The Block”, which will feature intimate portraits of Gainesville residents across various communities.
His portfolio can be found at fromthewell.co
Ashiana Moné
Ashiana was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, and later moved to Clermont, FL. She earned a degree in Telecommunication from the University of Florida where she currently works. She has a lifelong passion for performing and singing, when she was young she would belt her heart out with a brush as a stand in microphone. Ashiana has sung in church, musical theatre, and performed in choir and singing groups. She is developing her own music into an album to share her powerful singing and complete a lifelong dream.
See her work on her YouTube channel.
E. Stanley Richardson
E. Stanley Richardson is a multifaceted artist and author of the award winning book of poetry “Hip Hop is Dead – Long Live Hip Hop: The Birth, Death and Resurrection of Hip Hop Activism” (2017) He is known for his work as a poet, actor, playwright and producer. He blends poetry, performance, storytelling and activism to create powerful and impactful art, particularly focusing on aspects of the African American experience. He often incorporates elements of music, specifically, traditional West African drumming, ring shouts, field hollers, work songs, gospel, blues, jazz, soul and hip hop, reflecting the diverse artistic historical landscape of Black Culture, reminiscent of the Black Arts Movement.
E. Stanley Richardson is the founder and executive director of ARTSPEAKSgnv, Inc.
He is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Alachua County, Florida.
Cheyenne Rudolph
Cheyenne Rudolph is a multimedia artist and educator based in Gainesville, working with craft, film, and performance. Her practice is rooted in her Southern heritage and engages with themes of class, gender, and cultural mythologies. She earned an MFA in ceramics from the University of Florida and serves as an adjunct professor of art at Santa Fe College, where she teaches drawing, sculpture, and art appreciation. She also conducts community sewing classes. Her artistic practice includes craft, garment sewing, puppet-making, and digital filmmaking.
In 2020, she co-founded a film collective dedicated to reviving analog special effects techniques through small-scale productions. The collective’s work explores visual illusion using in-camera effects, handcrafted props, and low-tech ingenuity. They regularly produce short films that reflect both a commitment to craft and a playful, critical approach to American iconography. Their unconventional films have been screened nationally at various film festivals.
Essence Thomas
Essence Thomas is a self-taught dancer whose earliest movements were shaped by necessity, emotion, and the will to survive. Growing up, her mother could not afford dance classes, so she taught herself—dancing in her room, on sidewalks, and anywhere she could find space to move. When she entered foster care, dance became more than just a form of expression; it became her sanctuary, a way to process pain, navigate change, and hold on to hope.
She later received formal training at Miami Dade College and earned a BFA in Dance from the University of Florida, studying ballet, contemporary, West African, and Afro-Brazilian techniques. Despite this classical training, freestyle has always remained her foundation—the fluid thread that connects her past to her purpose.
Now a graduate student in Social Work at the University of South Florida, she uses Hip Hop street dance not only as an art form but also as a tool for healing, empowerment, and storytelling for herself and the communities she serves.