Review
The Art Gallery at Mills Park
by Hind Berji
Alexandra Philco talking with artist Denisse Berlingeri about her work in the show La Diaspora.
Art galleries in residential buildings are nothing new. For years, art has been a requirement—some may say a necessity—in apartment buildings, specifically in residential lobby
areas. Places like Boston, New York City, and
Miami have unsurprisingly caught on to the
trend, and now Orlando has its own set of residential galleries. Originally a sawmill in the old
Mills–Nebraska lumberyard, The Art Gallery
at Mills Park is one of them.
The Daily City called it a “gallobbery,” a gallery/lobby hybrid. Some simply call it the Mills
gallery, some don’t think much of it, and some
see it as an extension of places like CityArts
Factory, where local artists can get a chance
to show their work in the heart of downtown
Orlando. That’s why the gallery differs from its
counterparts; it’s trying to wedge its place within the Orlando arts community as more than
just a glorified lobby area for yuppie residents.
Since its opening on January 29, 2016 with
Florida artists Martha Lent and Peter Scarbor49
ough, the gallery has been a consistent venue
for local artists like Debra Yates and Roberto
Gonzalez. Over the summer, the gallery conducted a call to artists show (which it will now
hold annually) to give artists the opportunity to
submit their work to a panel of judges. Some
artists showed their work for the first