We were lucky to catch up with Sterling Rook recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sterling, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The Miami Rope Bridge project was a special one foe me. I received a grant to create this project from the Knight Arts Foundation. It’s meaningful me on several levels. First of all, it was in spired by the Peruvian rope bridge builders who have been rebuilding their rope bridge annually for the past 500 years. For them, as for me, it is a community building ritual and one that connects them to their ancestors. The idea was to share that with members of the Miami cultural community. So I reached out to many Miami institutions and initiated community workshops where we made rope from upcycled clothing. Finally, we gathered together and raised the colorful rope bridge at Arch Creek park. It was also later installed at The Wolfson Museum in Miami Beach as part of an exhibition for misael soto’s Bridge Deconstruction project.

Sterling, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a Miami-based visual artist. I’m probably most known for my large-scale sculptural-architectural pieces. These works are like gateways/portals. The armature of these works made from welded steel and then covered in painted palm fronds which serve as a type of siding and adornment. Some times the palm fronds are woven and sometimes they’re just painted and attached. I’ve made several of these pieces for different shows from Miami to West Palm. The most recent and largest of these to-date was for the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami. I made a two-sided archway, meaning there were two portals connected by a sort-of walkway. Besides from my art practice, I also have my fabrication company- Mangrove King Fabrication, which i started partly because there is a need in the arts for metal fabrication. So, I have helped a lot of artists realize their works in the past couple of years. As an artist, you typically need a couple of hustles.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

We need more resources, grants, opportunities, access, platforms…bridges. I think that there is a perception outside of the arts that it’s exclusive or inaccessible or just for the wealthy- unless it falls into the “community project,” or outreach, or educational/ artist workshop category. So what we have ultimately is an economic system that encourages artists to create work that is really inaccessible to everyone but those who can afford it. There has to be another way. Some new model to strive towards. Art, artists, and the art-world is too often (not always) a self-celebratory niche world for the affluent. A place where the culture can be bought up and sold for a literal and figurative seat at a table. What we need is an alternative economic model that reduces the need for patronage. We need a cultural shift in how society values the arts—seeing it not just as a commodity for consumption but as a vital part of community health, education, and well-being so that we can increase public support for more inclusive arts funding. I don’t have all the answers, but I see that artists also fall for the allure of entry into those special places that art can afford them access to. Those special scenes- they don’t represent the people, They are spaces designed to inflate the value and commodify our work.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I’m interested in unpacking history and truth. I want to investigate the values we learned and why how to unlearn the unproductive ones- digging up the trauma and healing it with with love. I want to heal and help others heal along the way. These are hard times we live in- anyone can see that. I’d like to be a person – forget “artist” because artists can be tyrannical too- I want to be a PERSON who helps us navigate out of the scary times we live in- out of fear and frustration and into a more kind, gentle, considerate, compassionate future. A future that where we learn that it’s as important to build a bridge to the opposition and reach their hearts as it is to carry your brother and your sister.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sterlingrook.com
• Instagram: sterlingrook
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sterling-rook-07173b111/

Image Credits
headshot by Rosemarie Cromwell