Toxic Gardens
Featuring works by Caroline Larsen, Christian Little, Jack Henry, Sarah Weber, Sarah Zapata
at Greenpoint Terminal Gallery
67 West St., Suite 320
Opening reception: Friday, July 21 (7pm-10pm)
July 21st – Aug. 25th
Curated by Brian Willmont & Alison Sirico
Greenpoint Terminal Gallery is pleased to present a group show evocative of the season, including work from five artists – Caroline Larsen, Christian Little, Jack Henry, Sarah Weber and Sarah Zapata. Entitled Toxic Gardens, the exhibition embodies traits of a secret garden – a space that is secluded, paradisiacal, entangled in foliage – abundant in layers and depth. The artists in the show are united by an interest to intermix materials and subjects not traditionally tied.
Caroline Larsen, Jack Henry, and Sarah Zapata are paragons of combining materials by innovative means. Larsen employs an atypical paint application, weaving together icing-thick strips of oil paint that grow into lush representations of plant-life; Henry vertically pours traditional art materials (like paint, cement, and resin) onto found objects (like decayed house plants) to create multi-textured capsules; Zapata weaves alien objects (like plastic feet) into overgrown rainbow fabric. Her work investigates cultural and gender identity while subtly including moments of fetish. The exhibition layers romantic narratives into imaginative dreamscapes. Virgin innocence is combatted by tempting curiosities. Christian Little’s paintings uncover quiet Eden-esque moments. If you look closely, Exibitionists 23 (Camo) reveals a peeping tom in the boscage. This verdant density is prevalent in Sarah Weber’s watercolors; she thickly layers brushstrokes, so they accumulate into tantalizing impressions of wild flora. The work provokes a desire to push back the layers to reveal what lies behind the leaves.
Greenpointers is seeking writers, photographers, illustrators, videographers, and content makers. If you love Greenpoint and create content in the areas of local news, art, music, food, fashion, wellness, environment, politics, history, events—then you should contribute for us!
Meet with our editorial team along with old and new contributors Thursday, July 27 2017, 7:30pm at Brooklyn Bazaar (150 Greenpoint Ave). We’ll have a fun time exchanging ideas, drinkin’ beer and meeting other mega-talented Greenpointers. If you missed the last happy hour or you attended and we didn’t get in touch with you yet, we’d still love to see you. Please feel free to come by!
The past few weeks have been very “hot town, summer in the city” and most of us have felt the overwhelming urge to blow off work to head to the beach. If you can’t play hooky during this week’s 90° days, we’ve got at least another month and a half of chances for good beach weather. The issue is getting to there from North Brooklyn is no easy feat. But luckily, it is getting easier as the years go on. Well, at least, the city is trying to make it easier. Here’s are the best ways to get to our area beaches without a car. Continue reading →
Rev. Ann Kansfield. Photo via Greenpoint Reformed Church
If you think that all pastors are uptight, judgmental, straight laced, bores, that only shows you never met Reverend Ann Kansfield. I spoke with Ann for an hour and a half and the time seemed to whiz by. She is a great conversationalist with a disarming sense of humor, most of it self-deprecating.
I took careful notes on our conversation, but experienced writer’s block when trying to write about her. Suddenly, I had an aha moment, and realized why. Ann very rarely speaks in first person. She avoids the pronoun I, and invariably shifts from saying I to we. I realized that Ann is one of the least egotistical people I have ever met. Even though she was chosen as the New York Times person of the year in 2016, Ann is the personification of humility. As the old saying goes, “There is no I in team,” and Ann is the consummate team builder. Continue reading →
♦ SummerScreen: Donnie Darko @ McCarren Park, 6pm, FREE, 16th anniversary celebration of Donnie Darko. Gates open at 6pm, grunge-infused rockers Sharkmuffin plays the TIDAL Rising Stage at 7:30pm, and the film starts at sundown, More info # Banned Countries Dinner Series: Sudan Edition @ Franklin Guesthouse (214 Franklin St), 6:30pm, $125, Celebrate Sudanese food and culture by enjoying a family-style feast inspired by Omer Eltigani, author of the forthcoming cookbook The Sudanese Kitchen. Multiple courses, unlimited house wine and vegetarian options are available, Buy tix ♫ WHAT NOW? Sessions: The Sifer, Sakinah Iman, Paco G Train Bandit @ Terra Firma (119 Ingraham St), 8pm, $5, Fusion of the Hip Hop cypher and the Jazz jam session. Emcees bring your bars. Singers bring your melodies. Musicians bring your instruments. Everyone bring your vibe and let’s rock out, RSVP * Microdosing Workshop: Sacred Plants to Enhance Mind-Body-Spirit @ Narayana Integrative Center (191 Nassau Ave), 8:15pm, $20, Learn how you can feel better, increase energy, improve focus, inspire creativity, balance mood, relax, sleep well, and expand awareness with sacred plant microdosing, More info
THURSDAY 7/20
# American Food and Immigration Policy @ MOFAD (62 Bayard St), 6:30pm, $20, An evening of thought-provoking discussion, followed by an informal reception featuring light refreshments from Brooklyn Brewery and Sonia Perez, a street cart vendor and member of Street Vendor Project’s Leadership Council, More info
♦ Superhero Figure Drawing @ Brooklyn Art Library (28 Frost St), 7pm, $10, Practice your cape drawing skills, with everything from pen to graphite — but leave your kryptonite at home, Buy tix * 3D VHS Festival @ The City Reliquary (370 Metropolitan Ave), 7pm, $10, In the garden, the Museum of Interesting Things takes us back to a future that the past never saw coming! See excerpts from movies–not just on VHS, but 3D VHS, More info ♦ Jonathas de Andrade Presents Bodanzky and Senna’s Iracema @ Light Industry (155 Freeman St), 7:30pm, $8, Inspired by neorealism as well as the films of John Cassavetes and Jean Rouch, the directors constructed Iracema by enacting a road-movie scenario inside everyday settings, combining artifice and documentary to yield a richly atmospheric parable whose lessons still maintain a grim relevance, More info ♫ DJ Questlove Presents: Bowl Train @ Brooklyn Bowl (61 Wythe Ave), 11:30pm, $10, Buy tix Continue reading →
Back in 2003, Bedford Cheese Shop opened its doors in the small mini mall in Williamsburg. The tiny shop was one of the first in the neighborhood to offer specialty cheeses, charcuterie, and packaged foodstuffs. In 2006, the owner Charlotte Kamin moved all the beautiful cheeses to the corner space on Bedford Avenue and North 4th Street. But the space was small, and you often felt a little cramped if more than a handful of customers were in the store. When it came time to renew their lease, she began looking around for a bigger space. Luckily, a larger space opened up just down the avenue at 265 Bedford and the whole shop moved three blocks to its new home last August.
And with everything all settled in, it’s time to really invite the neighbors in for drinks and nibbles. Starting last week, the new Bedford Cheese began weekly themed tastings, and this week, they’ll begin serving their cafe menu. Continue reading →
In a previous piece I described how Mae West funded her scandalous 1927 play sex through her romance with the rich, handsome, but very dangerous gangster Owney Madden. However, it was the poor, but handsome bag man of the gangster who made West an American icon.
In 1927 the Acting Mayor of New York Joe McKee, scandalized by the drama’s frank sexual portrayals, had West and the rest of the cast arrested. The arrest was a publicity gold mine and sex and West were the words on the lips of all New Yorkers. When the cops jailed Mae the gangster’s connections with Blackwell’s Island warden earned Mae a private cell and silk underwear. She even dined with the warden every night and left after six days being let out early for good behavior. Upon her release she quipped, “It was the first time I ever got anything for good behavior.”Continue reading →
Spaghetti and Mama’s Meatballs. Photo by Molly Tavoletti.
Echoes of the Cozy Royale catering hall can still be heard in the warm dining room in the back of the bar at Humboldt & Jackson (434 Humboldt Street). The Royale’s former owner, Joanne Perrotta, had turned down many other offers when she was looking to retire. For years, families and neighbors gathered for dinners there, and Perrotta wished to pass on that sense of community along with the space. Perrotta cared more about who was going to take the place over rather than what it was going to be.
The first time I set foot in Humboldt & Jackson was the very day it opened. I followed the renovation of the Cozy Royale into this place, a newly-titled “American Tasting Room,” step-by-step on my daily walk to the Graham Avenue L train and was thrilled to have a prospective place to call my own—my Cheers, if you will. I would cement my status by getting in right at the beginning. Over the three years since their opening I realized that the feeling of ownership and comfort that I felt is exactly what Bill Reed, the bar’s charismatic owner, wants for all his guests.Continue reading →
When Will Malitek, the owner of Film Noir Cinema (122 Meserole Ave), turned an old Greenpoint funeral home into his gorgeous new 54-seat movie theater, he remodeled with very specific plans in mind. There’s a sizeable gap between the screen and the first row, where Will says he could have added more seats, but he wanted space to present live music.
This summer, Film Noir Cinema has launched a new series presenting silent films with live music by Reel Orchestrette, a collaboration between musicians Bradford Reed and Geoff Gersh.
After a sold-out screening of Nosferatu in June, Reel Orchestrette is returning to Film Noir Cinema on Saturday, July 22 at 9pm with a live score for Faust, a 1926 German silent film directed by F. W. Murnau.
These two events are only the beginning. Malitek hopes to continue the series with screenings of all the major German silent films: Metropolis, Waxworks, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and more. And in October, he says we can expect to see a full lineup of silent horror films.
Tickets for Faust are $15 and on sale now at Film Noir Cinema (where you should also take a moment to flip through their incredible collection of films available to rent).
To find out more about the performance, we spoke with Reel Orchestrette’s Bradford Reed and Geoff Gersh. Continue reading →
Saint Anthony of Padua Church. Photo via Historic Districts Council
For years I passed the graceful façade of Saint Anthony of Padua church (862 Manhattan Avenue) and admired its beauty, but never really thought much about the man who built it. Recently I researched the life of the amazing man who built this Greenpoint landmark and his story is every bit as amazing as the church he built.
Patrick Keely (1816-1896) was the most prolific church builder in American history, constructing, by some estimates, seven hundred churches stretching from Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico and from New England to Iowa. He built St. Anthony’s in 1876. It is like many of his churches built in the neo-gothic style. Keely’s prolific career is all the more shocking when we consider that he never received any formal training as an architect.Continue reading →
