In Colleen Blackard’s universe, everything is illuminated. Her photorealistic artwork is a deep dive into personal experiences—real or imagined—that transcend time and space. Through detailed monochrome imagery created with ballpoint pen, marker, ink wash, or monotype, we get a glimpse into her world, which moves between feelings of pain, abandonment, renewal, and reconnection.
Fate (2014, Archival marker on paper, 48″ x 72″)
“The way I draw is to follow the light… to see where it leads,” she says. For years, Colleen spent long meditative hours drawing circles to capture the inner glow of her subjects and to reveal the light within. “Circles are so expansive. They create more space than you’d expect from a tiny little region.” In a close-up view of her work, you see meticulous coils of tightly drawn lines that make up the resultant photorealistic images. While they range from scenes in nature to portraits, recurring motifs of the sky, water, and a decaying barn manifest an undercurrent of emotions derived from her earliest memory of pain. Continue reading →
WHAT: 13th Annual FREE Summer Starz Movies
WHEN: Fridays, July 7th to August 11th, 8pm
WHERE: Transmitter Park, Greenpoint COST: FREE!
School’s almost out and Town Square’s free family movie nights are back for the summer. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for these six Friday nights, starting with Guardians of the Galaxy coming up next week on July 7th. Bring a picnic blanket, your friends & family to Transmitter Park on the gorgeous Greenpoint waterfront.
Check out our roundup of summer outdoor movies here. This Friday June 30th there’s a French film screening at Transmitter, and next Wednesday Mean Girls will be at McCarren.
The next installment of Pete’s Mini Zine Fest is coming up this July 8th! This zine-fest-in-a-bar has been going strong for seven years. Come on down to Pete’s Candy Store (709 Lorimer St), drink some booze, meet the talented lineup, and read some zines!
As always, admission is FREE.
Crowd chillin’ at Governors Ball 2017. All photos by Dylan Lappin.
Another year passes and another Governors Ball flies by. This year was marked with legendary bands, fantastic emerging artists and others that I hadn’t heard of before, but now know well. With Chance the Rapper, Phoenix, Air, Lorde, Wiz Khalifa and the all-powerful and militant Tool, the 2017 Ball was set to be an amazing weekend. The lines were surprisingly quick and easy, probably the easiest and fastest festival check-in experience I’ve ever had. The wristband technology was also pretty efficient—a bonus was being able to attach your credit card to the wristband, and use it to not only pay for food and drinks, but also access different areas of the festival.
People packed in early each day to max out on sunshine. The weekend held up, bringing ideal weather and positive vibes. I noticed younger (teens, early 20s) crowds at most of the EDM and Hip Hop acts. As a 31-year-old elder, I was asked one too many times to buy drinks for the underage crowd. I gladly declined and went on my way. I have to admit, I was amused watching their faces quickly turn from eager to disappointed, but I knew deep down inside that they’d find a way somehow, just not from me.Continue reading →
Last Tuesday night, a bit of the tropics came to NYC as Bahamas—the recording name of Canadian musician Afie Jurvanen—played to a sold out crowd at Good Room (98 Meserole Ave). The Greenpoint show preceded a show at Forest Hills Stadium the next night opening for Jack Johnson, whose Brushfire Records released Jurvanen’s second and third albums, Barchords (2012) and Bahamas is Afie (2014). Continue reading →
Dobbin St Rooftop | 64 Dobbin St | subscribe to ThisPlace emails for schedule
Event popup ThisPlace regularly hosts drink n draws all over North Brooklyn. The next one is coming up on June 26 at Dobbin St, from 630-9pm. Tickets are $25 and include rosé, but you should bring your own drawing supplies. Since this is happening at sunset, you can bet the light will be magical so you might want to bring colored pencils or pastels. Join the ThisPlace mailing list to stay up-to-date on future drink n draws and other fun events.
Greenpoint Figure Drawing. Photo: Julia Moak
Greenpoint Figure Drawing | 67 West St #303 (Big Object Studio) | Fridays at 7pm
Greenpoint Figure Drawing is a Meetup group that hosts weekly drink n draws, for $15. “In each 3-hr session, we will draw from a live model, beginning with quick poses to warm up, and then gradually extend the pose length to a final 1 hour pose to finish the evening.” The sessions are moderated by two stop motion visual artists. BYOB and BYO art supplies. *Note, the next meetup is Friday June 23rd; there won’t be a drink n draw tonight.Continue reading →
Group Partner, the Instagram darling of the pottery world, has certainly come a long way since their early days at their studio studio on Norman and Lorimer. Headed by Isaac Nichols, the studio has become known for their quirky, iconic boob pots and other equally alluring containers. The pots, designed by Nichols, started out as a hobby that bloomed into a successful ceramics studio business. Continue reading →
I hope you have the pleasure of meeting Caitlin Bebb, whose addictive and contagious luminosity makes her an ideal artist to write and perform in a show about self-help. Even if you don’t meet her personally, you may feel like you have after experiencing her intimate but wild new show, The Protégé, presented by Glass Bandits and playing June 23–26 at Chez Bushwick (304 Boerum St).
Personal development, therapy, and self-improvement can come with sticky stigmas; by nature, these tactics make us address, confront, and perhaps publicize our imperfections. But in her mysterious yet alluring solo show, Caitlin Bebb rejiggers these ignominies, breaking down the walls of what self-help can expound — well, perhaps not breaking them down, but certainly infusing them with spiritual rejuvenation, a genre-defying performance, and a dance party. Continue reading →
Brooklyn Grain Photo Studios (1166 Manhattan Ave #302), in partnership with photographer Roeg Cohen, is presenting “Photographers For Planned Parenthood,” a one-night exhibition and print sale with prints from more than 25 photographers. The show features works generously donated from photographers in various stages of their careers, and all prints are priced less than $300 with all proceeds donated to Planned Parenthood.
Photographers For Planned Parenthood
Friday, June 9 | 6-10pm
Brooklyn Grain Photo Studios | 1166 Manhattan Ave #302 RSVP on Facebook
On Saturday June 10th and Sunday 11th from 1-6pmWilliamsburg’s main drag will transform into a public park (Saturday Metropolitan Avenue to N 7th Street and Sunday N7th street to N12th Street). There will be temporary wall units for live painting, interactive installations and workshops, and engaging sculptures will be staggered throughout the blocks for the community to enjoy. RSVP on Facebook
