Thursday seven art installations were unveiled at various Brooklyn subway stations along the D line. According to the New York Times,
Almost all of the new works…are laminated glass windscreens that edge subway platforms above ground.”
To see these “laminated glass windscreens”, check out all of the beautiful art exhibitions in this slide show, c/o the New York Times: Beautifying the D Line. Seriously, take a look.
Amongst these installations includes a very cool gate created by Christopher Russell, a Manhattan sculptor:
Mr. Russell was entrusted with designing bronze gates, 7 feet high and 6 feet wide, at the Ninth Avenue Station in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. The gates depict honeybees crawling on hives, and the posts of adjacent fences will have honeybees resting on 17 finials shaped like flower heads.
The gates are expected to be presented in the fall after the station, an Arts and Crafts-style copper-roofed structure built in 1916, has been fully renovated. Although the gates are operable, riders will not pass through them, but will simply admire them (or tremble in their presence).”
For more on this story, including the inspiration and process behind Russell’s work, visit the New York Times article in its entirety here: A Sculptor Creates a Stop on the Bee Train.
If you happen to hop on the D train and pass one of these installations, comment below!
This year’s Crest Fest is upon us! The festivities run from 1pm to 7pm on Saturday, June 30th. The event will take place at Crest Hardware, located at 558 Metropolitan Avenue and will be filled with art, life music, food, drinks and local vendors. Details and more information can be found by visiting the website.
You probably get Kickstarter requests on a daily basis from friends asking for support. But it’s not every day that you come across one trying to change the city’s skyline. That’s what The Water Tank Project is trying to do. For a million dollars, the Project “will transform the skyline by converting water tanks across all five boroughs into works of art on the subject of water.” There are some big names involved, including Jeff Koons, Jay Z, Devendra Banhart, and Bruce Weber. The exhibit plans to be up for twelve weeks next summer.
“We want New York City to look up again, to dream big, to feel proud, to create, to share, to believe, to take action,” the press release states. Unlike much of the city’s art, this exhibit will be free and accessible to all. Brooklyn-based artist Mary Jordan is behind the project.
Not only is the project about public art, but it also aims to promote a deeper message about the high quality of New York City’s water and how the city should play a “role as a world leader setting new standards for sustainability.”
Sounds pretty good, right? The project needs your help getting off the ground, so head on over to Kickstarter to check out the details for yourself.
2012 is supposed to be a big year with possibly some big changes, namely the predicted apocalypse and train wreck of a presidential election. So why not make a change in your life by trying something that you haven’t done before? After all, if the earth is going to end this year, now would be time to pick up something that you’ve always want to try. Check out these great spots that teach classes that you’ll actually want to take:
The Brooklyn Kitchen- This foodie-haven is known for its wide array of classes that can teach you everything you need to know about the culinary world, and a few things that you don’t really need to know (but it’s pretty cool if you do). Their class calendar is almost filled up for the month of January, but there are still a few good classes with space in the beginning of February that cover topics like baking savory pies and brewing your own beer. Who knows- maybe one of those will turn out to be your life calling. The world always needs more pie and beer, amirite?
The Society for the Advancement of Social Studies (SASS)- Do you enjoy drinking alcohol, clever humor, and learning about history? Well friend, it’s high time you started waving your nerd flag proudly by attending one of this group’s educational and entertaining lectures. On the first Tuesday of each month, the brains behind SASS present a lecture at Public Assembly on “a different historic topic that you probably knew at one point but don’t remember anymore.” The best part? There will be themed drinks specials, so you can leave feeling smart and buzzed. There next lecture is TONIGHT, JANUARY 3rd at 7pm on the apocalypse and other fun doomsday topics. For more information, check out the event page here.
You know how there was that one time? That your friend dragged you to that random warehouse party you’re pretty sure was somewhere in Bushwick but can’t be positive because your recollection of how you got there or how you left is kind of hazy? But all you know is that when you were there there was a zip line, and maybe some fire eaters, and quite possibly a trailer? As we all know, Brooklyn is full of “underground” spaces like that — everything from night clubs to DIY classes to make-you-own-liquor factories. And as anyone who’s lived here long enough knows, these places are so transient once you’ve been to a place once you maybe have a 50-50 chance of ever finding it again.
Well one woman, long time Williamsburg resident Oriana Leckert, has taken it upon herself to chronicle them, one crazy space at a time. You should really check out her blog, Brooklyn Spaces, which chronicles the many many many creative ways Brooklynites are, well using their space. Full of gorgeous photos and in-depth profiles on the history of each space, her site will let you see what you’ve been missing, or maybe evern finally figure out the name of that place you stumbled into in a drunken late-night stupor.
We sat down with her to see what she’s seen, what she loves, and what her website is all about.
Breuckelen Distilling Co. Photo By Maximus Comissar
Artists the displayed works (some of which is included in the video below): Mick Barr, Lee Bartow, Dallas Erl, Jamie Foster, Grey Heart, Karlynn Holland, Suren Karapetyan, Victoria Lui, Gerry Mak, Samantha Marble, Nicholas McMaster, Brian Montuori, Angela Nacol, Nicholas Palmirotto, Owen Rundquist, Sierra Seip, Nathaniel Shannon, Nikki Sneakers, Erin Utzig, Justina Villanueva, George Wilson
On a random meandering through the hood Friday night, we were charmed by a little light show emanating from Ventana244. The boutique art space located on North 6th is currently hosting Intensity, an interactive project experimenting with sound, poetry and movement.
One of the featured artists, Tisch student Mimi Yin, combines her professional software experience with dance training in ‘Hangman’s Jig.’ Light bulbs move mechanically to specialized algorithisms creating a shadow dance party. Yin hopes to expand the piece to a larger performance art production.
Check out Yin’s work as well as the others (one of which involves screaming at a very timid tree) at Ventana244 now. The show runs until July 10.
Ventana244 – 244 North 6th Street (Between Roebling and Havemeyer)
Graphic designers Two Arms Inc. just released the first prints in a new series called the Brooklyn Neighborhood. At this point they’ve only finished Greenpoint and Williamsburg, but we like what we’re seeing so far!
Each poster features places and things that are characteristic of the neighborhood, so naturally the Williamsburg poster has The Domino Sugar Factory, bikes, The Williamsburg Bridge, sleeve tattoos . . .
Although my experience of the venue was less anarchist and more casual DIY fun, Alternet provides an intimate portrait of the 13 Thames lifestyle. The “punk house in deep Bushwick, [where] a collective of punks lives a communal lifestyle that shuns government greed, while their music and art blast government corruption” made news last year when police raided the space.
According to the Alternet author:
At 13 Thames, one might meet a Trinidian black metal kid who grew up in Bed-Stuy, a punk rock woman mechanic who worked for six years at a law firm, a dreadlocked community gardener, or an interestingly “off” German man. They come together to accept people that society fails and rejects, and they pride themselves on open-mindedness. And then they party – often with a conscience. They throw film screenings, noise, metal, and punk shows, art galleries, showcasing whatever parcel of the underground they deem cool enough.
This is pretty bohemian though. Read the whole story at Alternet.
