Our Story
An artist-led gallery built to help artists move forward.
NOMA Gallery exists to give artists meaningful opportunities to be seen, challenged, celebrated, and collected.
What began as a physical creative gathering place in Ocala has grown into an online gallery connecting artists, collectors, jurors, sponsors, and art lovers across borders.
Where NOMA Began
From ArtCastle to NOMA.
NOMA Gallery’s story began as ArtCastle, a creative sanctuary housed in the historic Coca-Cola bottling plant in Ocala, Florida. Born during the pandemic, ArtCastle became a place for resilience, connection, experimentation, and artistic expression during an uncertain time.
NOMA was co-founded by Mel Fiorentino and Lisa Irwin, growing from a shared belief that artists need places to connect, take creative risks, and have their work seen.
As the art world changed, the gallery changed with it. NOMA transitioned into a fully online platform, expanding beyond one physical location and opening the door to a much broader community of artists and collectors.
The spirit of that first space remains at the center of NOMA: art should bring people together, create possibility, and give artists room to grow.
Mel Fiorentino · Co-Founder & Owner, NOMA Gallery
About Mel
Artist, co-founder, advocate.
Mel Fiorentino is the co-founder and owner of NOMA Gallery and an artist herself. Her role today is part curator, part builder, part connector — creating platforms where artists can present serious work, build confidence, meet new audiences, and develop relationships that extend beyond a single exhibition.
NOMA is intentionally artist-led. That means decisions are shaped by an understanding of the vulnerability, ambition, rejection, persistence, and joy that come with making art.
Mel’s goal is not simply to fill digital walls. It is to create opportunities that can become meaningful turning points in an artist’s practice.
Our Why
Competitions should create momentum, not just winners.
NOMA’s international art competitions are designed to encourage artists to push beyond what feels comfortable, take their work seriously, and keep creating. Recognition matters, but growth matters too.
We want artists at every stage — emerging, established, self-taught, formally trained, experimental, traditional — to feel that their work has a place to be considered with care.
Through juried competitions, awards, sponsor partnerships, SOLO opportunities, interviews, and editorial features, NOMA works to turn visibility into something more lasting: confidence, connection, professional presentation, and new audiences.
Elevate Artists
Create serious opportunities for artists to challenge themselves and have their work recognized.
Expand Access
Connect artists and collectors internationally through digital exhibitions and accessible programming.
Build Community
Create relationships among artists, jurors, sponsors, collectors, and communities that continue beyond a single show.
Where We’re Going
Digital reach. Real-world connection.
NOMA will continue expanding its online exhibitions, international competitions, artist interviews, educational content, and partnerships with companies that directly support working artists.
At the same time, the goal is to bring art back into physical communities through dynamic pop-up exhibitions. These temporary shows can create cultural exchange in places large and small while allowing online relationships to become real-world experiences.
Long term, NOMA’s mission is simple: make meaningful art easier to discover, make opportunity more accessible to artists, and create a gallery model where creativity is not limited by geography.
Art by artists, for artists — shared with the world.
Ocala, Florida