In Bloom Studio

In Carried Home, one half of the gallery focuses on the Atacama Desert, the origin of the West Indian Drywood Termite. The main wall of ceramic reliefs are made by pressing termite-eaten wood into clay, then combining fired clay with termite-marked wood. Clay has been glazed with the colors of the desert - the minerals in the ceramic washes and glazes are the same ones from the desert. The wooden negative used to press the reliefs hangs at the end of the wall.

The bisqued piece on a pedestal shows the absence of the termites that were fired into the clay. They were pressed into the clay and fired out of it.

The trio of ceramic lamps illuminates the subtle but catastrophic damage of the termite.

On view BaCA Pompano until Sept 12, DM for a walkthrough

Special thanks to Lisa Stephens 🌞 and Mingo Pottery Studio for all of the expertise and help working with a magical new material

📸 by Francesco

Carried Home is open until Sept 12th at
The works in this exhibition bring together patterns made by hand, machine, and insect. Locally reclaimed wood marked by termite activity is reworked alongside carved wood, ceramics, and paper. These materials draw connections between ship structures, desert landscapes, termite colonies, and local communities. Throughout the exhibition, enclosure, repetition, and hidden interiors emerge as shared spatial logics. Termite damage becomes a record of loss, movement, adaptation, and shared environments.

Made possible with support from the Broward County Cultural Division
Support has been provided by the following Funds at the Community Foundation of Broward: Helen and Frank Stoykov Charitable Endowment Fund
Mary and Alex Mackenzie Community Impact Fund

📸 by

Thank you to for installing, and the team at . Big thanks to for the printing and papermaking assists, and .makesit for all the ceramics help 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

Artist Talk at BaCA | Saturday, August 29 at 11am 👁️👄👁️

Join curator Luna Goldberg and me for a conversation about my two exhibitions currently on view at BaCA, Build, Break, Bridge and Carried Home. We’ll discuss the ideas, materials & processes behind the work, and how the two exhibitions developed alongside one another.

RSVP link in bio

Thank you to everyone who came out for the opening! Build, Break, Bridge is curated by Luna Goldberg, and open until Sept 12 at BaCA Pompano.

Bringing together works created over the last decade, Build, Break, Bridge traces Luke Jenkins’ ongoing exploration of wood as both material and collaborator. Across furniture, sculpture, and wall-based works, the exhibition follows a practice shaped by sustained experimentation. Jenkins approaches wood through a wide range of processes, from CNC carving and thermal modification to sandblasting and the interventions of termites, continually testing how materials respond to pressure, time, weather, and use.

Seen together, the works reveal an evolving conversation in which techniques, forms, and materials migrate across projects and reappear in new contexts. Ideas developed in one body of work surface unexpectedly in another, while functional objects sit alongside more conceptual explorations. Shaped by curiosity, iteration, and a willingness to follow materials where they lead, Build, Break, Bridge traces a practice where each experiment becomes the foundation for the next.
- Luna Goldberg

📸 by Francesco

A big thank you to Luna Goldberg for developing the show with me, Kolosick for installing, and the team at BaCA Pompano Alec Carmona-Kerstman Laura Atria

Light in Wing
29 x 80 x 81 inches
Baltic birch plywood, milk paint, acrylic, dichroic film, water-based urethane, hardware

The South Florida Cultural Consortium is on view at from April 15th - October 4th 2026. Curators: Laura Novoa and Kimari Jackson
Thank you to Matt Roza and the install crew for getting my piece in the sky.

For the Consortium exhibition I made a chandelier at architectural scale. Termite wings and markings are carved into the wooden shade, the surface pierced by the iridescent sheen of termite wings. In the South Florida springtime, you can often see termites swarming around street lights at dusk.

Some of these termites are Cryptotermes brevis, an invasive species originally from the Atacama Desert in Chile. It left its place of origin through the early European colonization of the Americas. Traveling inside wooden ships, it moved unnoticed within the same structures that carried precious metals, goods, and people. Traveling along the Pacific coast, through Panama, and across the Caribbean, it eventually arrived in South Florida.

Originating in the driest place on Earth, C. brevis survives in the kiln-dried wood used to build our homes. In South Florida, it lives almost exclusively within human-made structures. Since it can’t withstand moist ecosystems, its survival here depends entirely on the built environment. It is, in many ways, a domesticated termite.

Nina Surel
Lisu Vega
Mark Delmont
Amanda Linares@amandalinares
Diana Larrea
Jen Clay
Lauren Shapiro
Onajide Shabaka Olajide Omotayo
Elliot and Erik Jimenez
Rachelle Salnave
Gerbi Tsesarskaia
Lauren McAloon
Carol Munder
Manuela Gonzalez

Amanda Sanfilippo Long, Director, South Florida Cultural Consortium

, , ,

Carried Home
Bailey Contemporary Arts Center July 24 – September 12, 2026

Opening Reception Friday July 24th from 6PM - 8PM

Carried Home centers on Cryptotermes brevis, a termite native to the Atacama Desert of Chile. Traveling inside wooden ships, it moved unnoticed within the same structures that carried precious metals, goods, and people.
The works in this exhibition bring together patterns made by hand, machine, and insect. Locally reclaimed wood marked by termite activity is reworked alongside carved wood, ceramics, and paper.

Made possible with support from the Broward County Cultural Division. Support has been provided by the following Funds at the Community Foundation of Broward: Helen and Frank Stoykov Charitable Endowment Fund, Mary and Alex Mackenzie Community Impact Fund

Build, Break, Bridge Curated by Luna Goldberg
July 24 – September 12, 2026
Opening Reception Friday July 24th from 6PM - 8PM

Bringing together works created over the last decade, Build, Break, Bridge traces Luke Jenkins' ongoing exploration of wood as both material and collaborator. Across furniture, sculpture, and wall-based works, the exhibition follows a practice shaped by sustained experimentation.
Shaped by curiosity, iteration, and a willingness to follow materials where they lead, Build, Break, Bridge traces a practice where each experiment becomes the foundation for the next.

The studio has a way of filling up with extra parts, unique materials I’ve held onto over the years, formwork and jigs made for past projects, and hand-me-downs from other makers. Using objects that have existed beyond their original use, I made a body of furniture.
If it’s in this post, it’s still available! Please DM me if you’re interested.

Bent lam lamp/table
Bent laminated cherry veneer, carbon fiber, LED hardware
10” D x 18” W x 31” H

Watermelon tables (2)
Plywood, oak veneer, aniline dye
17” W x 24” D x 24.5” H

Copper rod side tables
Cedar beam, black walnut plywood, bamboo, copper, acrylic rod
18” L x 11.5” W x 18” H (each)

S Shelf
Cherry laminated veneer, fir beam, carbon fiber, paint wash
46” L x 14.5” D x 36.5” H

Ladybug strawberry stool
Cedar, plywood, upholstery, fabric, epoxy
16.5” W x 17.5” D x 17” H

Copper bench
Bent laminated plywood, fir beams, aniline dye, powdered copper, lacquer
61” L x 17” D x 17” H