Elisa Turner
An award-winning art critic and art journalist, Elisa Turner’s brilliant writing has sparked intelligent dialogue about the arts in Miami-Dade County for decades. Her forthcoming book from the University Press of Florida, Miami's Art Boom: From Local Vision to International Presence is supported by the Knight Foundation and is drawn from her personal Miami Herald archives (1987-2007), creating a chronological portrait of Miami's evolving art community. The book provides contemporary context of Miami's considerable changes following the inaugural Art Basel Miami Beach in 2002 and challenges outsiders’ misconception that the Miami art community was lackluster before 2002. Her Miami Herald career began in 1986 and from 1995 to 2007, she was the primary art critic, with international assignments to Havana Biennial, Haiti, Venice Biennial, and Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland. A member of the International Association of Art Critics, U.S. Section, and ArtTable, she has written as a Miami Correspondent for ARTnews magazine. A contributor to Artburst Miami, her writing has appeared in many publications including Art+Auction, Art Circuits, ARTnews, ArtSpeak | Florida International University, Hamptons Art Hub, Hyperallergic, Miami Herald and Miami Rail. She was awarded a 2024 MIA Grant from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and 2023 Ellies Creator Award from Oolite Arts. She has received numerous awards including the $50,000 Rabkin Prize; First Place for Arts Commentary & Criticism (2021-2020); 2019 Leadership Award, Florida Chapter of ArtTable; and President’s Volunteer Service Award from Miami Dade College.