In our 2011 Fall Group Art Show, Tales of Breukelen, more than 300 artists exhibited more than 1,200 pieces in all media. The show included a special September 11 commemoration, scenes of Brooklyn by the Brooklyn Watercolor Society, and work from Featured Artists including photographer Richard Capuozzo, printmaker Richard Lubell, and wood sculptor Zane Treimanis.
Tales was a narrative show. Most artists included a written narrative as part of their presentation - a statement, a poem or book, one word or one page. Says Fritz Weiss, who, along with Bill and Linda Storoniak, was one of the show's co-chairs, "Once a Dutch colony, once a city, ever since a melting pot with waves of immigrants that still to this day are settling in Breukelen creating their own mini colonies and adding to the rich history, culture and flavors of this major city within a city. This show is the visual history, stories and tales of the people that made Breukelen one of the must places to live in and visit in the world." Click here for the performance calendar!
July 16 - August 21 Black and White Summer Art Show
The theme of this summer's show was Black and White.
We bathe in the beauty of color and spin thousands of words describing the experience that the cone cells transmit to our brain. In reality, they are not nearly as numerous as our rods, the cells that register light and dark, the black and white of our experience. Our rods are less articulated in language; fewer words are generated to describe that experience. Black and white is primal, the underneath, the foundation, of the opulence of color; black and white is where we register motion and, when the cones do not have sufficient light, our rods optimize our survival in the night woods.
In BWAC's 2011 summer show, we explored this underground of survival and few words.
[Black and White banner image courtesy of artist Julia Elsas - see her work at juliaelsas.com.]
May 7 - June 12 Convergence in Red Hook
Convergence in Red Hook, the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition's Spring Pier Art Show, exhibited 1000 pieces of new art in all media. The show's co-chairs, Anna Hagen and Therese Urban, created an exciting exhibition of new techniques, reinterpretations and innovative collaborations between diverse artists.
Opening day festivities included a Meet the Artists reception, with live music by Scott Fagan and The MAAC Island Band.
A series of live acoustic musical performances of all genres, BWAC's popular "UnPlugged in Red Hook" sessions took place every Sunday at 3PM during the run of the show. Click here for the performance calendar!
March 12 - March 27 Wide Open 2
Wide Open is a juried show, receiving close to 1600 entries annually, of which only ten percent are accepted for exhibition. The works represent a diverse range of outstanding, contemporary artwork. The generous proportions of our gallery space enable the exhibition of wall pieces, sculptures and installations of a scale not often found in other shows. As well as work of monumental dimensions, there are many smaller works and an Affordable Art wall, where all pieces are priced at $1000 and under.
This year, the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition was again fortunate to be joined by a prestigious juror. Nat Trotman is Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, where he has worked on the exhibitions of David Smith, Richard Serra, Constantin Brancusi and Matthew Barney. He recently co-curated the exhibition Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance and curated the current exhibition, Found in Translation.
Said Trotman, "In reviewing the many entries for Wide Open 2, I was consistently impressed with the variety and quality of the works. I was struck in particular by a sort of fervent surrealism that repeatedly appeared across all the mediums submitted. Many works mixed obvious concerns about the war in Iraq, the state of the economy, and other contemporary issues with colorful, often humorous, otherworldly visions. These scenes, together with a rich selection of abstract work and strong installation pieces, should make for a powerful and compelling exhibition."
At the ceremony on March 12, 3PM, 11 prizes were awarded in various categories - see our Featured Artists page to take a look at the prize-winning pieces - as well as the Juror's and Curators' Best in Show awards.
Sep 25 - Oct 31 Lineage
On September 25th, the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition opened its gates to LINEAGE, its 2010 Fall Group Art Show. Three hundred artists exhibited 1200 works in all media, including those of Featured Artist, Anujan Ezhikode.
LINEAGE is a narrative show. Says Paula Jeanine Bennett, who, along with Anna Hagen and Zane Treimanis, was one on the show's co-chairs, "It is an opportunity for artists to explore the source and metamorphosis of their creative journey and/or discipline; to honor their personal artistic inheritance and its change and its continuity." Most artists presented a written narrative alongside their artwork.
Opening day's Meet the Artist all day reception featured live music by Richard Bennett (piano and compositions) joined by Naren Budhakar (table), Arun Ramamurthy (carnatic violin) and Gaku Takanashi (bass) playing original explorations of ragas, blues forms and moods from New Delhi to New Orleans. Scheduled for each Sunday were UnPlugged in Red Hook acoustic performances including concerts by Red Orange Morning, Binary Marketing Show and Jigsaw Soul. Other special events include Lineage at the Brooklyn Museum with BMA docent, Fortunata Schiano, and a Nuyorican poetry reading. For all of the wonderful events we hosted during the show, see the Lineage performance calendar (PDF).
July 17 - Aug 22 Red Hooked
BWAC's 2010 Summer Show at the Pier is named for the triangle of Brooklyn that is its home. Red Hook, a historically working-class, waterfront neighborhood facing the Statue of Liberty and isolated from the rest of the borough by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, lagged for many years behind its rapidly-gentrifiying neighbors. In recent years Red Hook has emerged as a new locus of urban development. To be Red Hooked is to look at the always incomplete and contradictory nature of change - it is to embrace with open arms both what is gained and what is lost in any process of development.
In our show, artists were not required to present work on a particular topic, but many artists chose to address this theme - both concretely and metaphorically.
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