Simply Local - Painting Gowanus & Beyond: Group Exhibit, June 2021
Exhibit Background
In June 2021, I had the wonderful opportunity for an exhibit at the Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse, along the banks of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY. I invited two other Brooklyn-based plein air artists - Susan Greenstein and Janet Pedersen to join me. It was clear from the beginning that we would show scenes of Gowanus and nearby neighborhoods. While our approaches to painting cityscapes differ, collectively the artwork reflected the great affection we share for the historic, often idiosyncratic, architectural details and unusually open spaces of these parts of Brooklyn, NY.
The boathouse is situated in a ground floor space of a new-ish luxury apartment building, a somewhat incongruous setting for storing canoes as well as exhibiting artwork. In fact, its concrete and brick walls have hosted many art exhibits over the past several years thanks to the generous hospitality of the Gowanus Dredgers (gowanuscanal.org).
“Official” Press Release (without artist bios)
Exhibit Installation
When we hung the artwork we were limited to using the nails and screws already embedded into the walls, or the pre-existing holes when we needed a few extra spots for paintings. We managed to arrange all of our paintings “salon style,” which worked well with the unconventional space. A key aspect of our exhibition, which we realized right away, is that our paintings “play well together,” which meant during installation we easily could mix and match our paintings. Large windows let in plenty of daylight, which was pretty much the only lighting we had available.
The brief video below shows close-ups of groups of paintings:
Below are my paintings in the order they appear in the video:
Find these and other urban paintings on the Cityscape page HERE.
Reception(s)
Our first Artists Reception was pummeled by an intense thunder and lightning storm, which nearly flooded the boathouse (water was lapping at the top of the sidewalk just outside the entry door!). Determined to show their support, a surprising number of friends, family and fans braved the tempest to see our exhibit. We were touched by their efforts and in turn, they enjoyed the exhibit, wine and cheese, and were serenaded by ukelele aficionado Brett Ladin. We had a do-over a week later, which was less dramatic, but also well-attended!
Review by ArtHag Blogger
We were honored to be visited by art lover and writer Pam of Art Hag - Contemporary art blog showcasing artists and exhibits in New York City & Brooklyn. She spent a long time looking at our exhibit and interviewed each of us with in-depth questions about our backgrounds and inspirations. The published write-up is available here in its entirety: https://arthag.typepad.com/arthag/2021/06/simply-local-painting-gowanus-and-beyond-gowanus-dredgers-boathouse.html.
To Follow Up
Please send me an email if you have any questions or are interested in acquiring a painting.
Here are links to the other two artists’ websites:
Susan Greenstein, https://susangreenstein.com/
Janet Pedersen, https://www.janetpedersenartstudio.com