Girls' Club Foundation

Girls' Club Foundation is a privately funded non-profit foundation located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the United States. Founded in 2006, it operates an art gallery and exhibition space in the center of the city that exhibits works predominantly, though not exclusively, by female artists. The institution describes itself as the only private collection in the world dedicated to exhibiting contemporary art by women. Its mission encompasses educating the public, nurturing the careers of female artists, and serving as a resource for art students, scholars, curators, and practicing artists, with particular emphasis on introducing local artists to national and international audiences.

Girls' Club was founded in 2006 by artist Francie Bishop Good and her husband David W. Horvitz. The institution's inaugural exhibition, titled Talking Heads, opened on 22 October 2007. Curated jointly by Francie Bishop Good and Michelle Weinberg, this first exhibition ran for a full year until 30 September 2008. The early exhibition program established a pattern of ambitious, thematically focused presentations that drew from the Good-Horvitz collection, works on loan from other private collections and galleries, and pieces directly from artists' studios. In October 2008, the institution presented Under The Influence in collaboration with the Art and Culture Center in Hollywood, Broward County, Florida, curated by Francie Bishop Good, Michelle Weinberg, and Jane Hart. This exhibition was presented simultaneously at both locations and explored how artists' ideas cross between media and influence other aspects of their lives. The following year, in January 2009, Girls' Club presented Spreading the Influence in collaboration with the Olin Art Gallery at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, examining how communication and mentoring through social networks influences the collaborative nature of art. In November 2010, the institution opened its first solo exhibition, featuring Miami-based conceptual fiber artist Frances Trombly. The institution has continued to maintain an active exhibition program into the 2020s, with recent and upcoming exhibitions including Floating by Janet Kelfer in 2026, Drawn Together in 2025, What is Seen in 2024, and In the Weeds by Christina Pettersson. The institution also operates a fellowship program that works hands-on with young artists and professionals, bridging the gap between art school and the professional workplace.

The collection of Francie Bishop Good and David Horvitz comprises over 800 works of art, of which 80 percent are by contemporary female artists. The collection's scope extends beyond any single medium or geographic origin, encompassing photographs, paintings, multimedia works, drawings, and fiber-based art. The institution's exhibition programming reflects this breadth, having presented works in moving image media, hand-painted animations, manually altered 16mm film, collage, and installation. The collection and exhibition program demonstrate particular strength in contemporary portraiture, conceptual fiber art, and works that interrogate the boundaries between craft and fine art. Artists represented span from established international figures to emerging local practitioners, with sustained commitment to presenting artists from diverse ethnic backgrounds and to fostering connections between the local South Florida art community and broader national and international contexts.

The Good-Horvitz collection includes works by significant contemporary artists across multiple generations and nationalities. The inaugural Talking Heads exhibition in 2007 featured works by Diane Arbus, Tracey Emin, and André Kertész. Subsequent exhibitions have drawn from the collection to present works by Elizabeth Murray, Gregory Crewdson, and Joanne Greenbaum in Under The Influence, and by Annette Messager, Kiki Smith, and Jessica Stockholder in Set To Manual. The Spreading the Influence exhibition included works by Inka Essenhigh, Ann Hamilton, and Pipilotti Rist. Other notable artists whose work has been exhibited from the collection include Ghada Amer, Tim Davis, and Elaine Reichek. The collection has also supported solo presentations including Frances Trombly's conceptual fiber works. More recent programming has featured and included works by emerging and mid-career artists such as Kandy G. Lopez, Khaulah Naima Nuruddin, and Marielle Plaisir, as well as local artists including Carol Jazzar, Patricia Schnall Gutierrez, and Gabriela Beltran. The institution has also developed digital projects including Still Do I Keep My Look, My Identity, an independent digital project by Tayina Deravile celebrating works by Black artists from the collection, inspired by a Gwendolyn Brooks poem.

The Girls' Club facility is located on a quiet street on the northern edge of downtown Fort Lauderdale. The building was radically modified by Glavovic Studio from an existing two-story masonry structure dating from 1984. Award-winning architect Margi Glavovic Nothard led the redesign, which created what the architects describe as a resonating presence for a new paradigm combining artist studio, collection, gallery, foundation, and quasi-public space. The facade is clad in polyester fiberglass resin panels layered on adjusted steel framing, creating the illusion of a vertical landscape directly over the existing windows and wall. Lit from behind, this facade produces a glowing, translucent skin at night. The design concept of layering extends through the steel entrance to unify the artist and exhibition spaces. Interior features include a flexible space with pivoting, movable walls designed to change with rotating exhibitions, allowing reconfiguration as needed. A mezzanine was introduced to create an intimate space for an artist in residence, offering a change in scale and point of view. The design modifies Florida's natural light both vertically and horizontally, with deep penetrations into service spaces. Exterior landscape concepts merge toward the building, integrating indigenous species into the surfaces. The project explores issues of adaptive reuse, public and private boundaries, and the feminine and domestic through color, material layering, point of view, intimacy, and adjustment. The building's projection in relation to City Hall was noted by the architects as not incidental to its civic purpose.

Girls' Club Foundation is located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in Broward County. The institution maintains a website at girlsclubcollection.org where visitors can explore the collection and learn about current and upcoming exhibitions. The institution also maintains an active programming schedule that extends beyond traditional gallery exhibitions, including an informal series of Sewing Circles, artist-centric community events that bring people together to create and progress work using fiber-based materials, and professional development sessions for artists and arts professionals. The fellowship program provides hands-on experience for emerging professionals. Web projects by artists, interviews and texts by writers, and a blog extend the institution's presence beyond the physical gallery into the wider community. The collection can be browsed online at girlsclubcollection.org/the-collection.