Ready your paintbrushes: Eckford Street Studiowill host a Family Art Party on Sunday, March 1 from 10 AM to 2 PM at the studio’s home base, 70 Eckford Street. Families will enjoy food, games, drinks, and art (with supplies provided by the studio). Tickets start at just $35 for one adult and child, and $50 for two adults and two kids. But note: prices will go up at the door, so be sure to get yours today!
Every ticket purchased helps fulfill Eckford Street Studio’s mission to bring high-quality, affordable, and accessible art education to all members of our community.
Plus, those who attend will enjoy first dibs on the event’s auction, full of gift certificates, bar tabs, class passes, memberships, and more from some favorite hot spots including Artist & Craftsman, Artshack Brooklyn, Awoke Vintage, The Blue Stove, Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Brooklyn Kitchen, Burson and Reynolds, Glasserie, Greenpoint Massage, Greenpoint YMCA, Hosh Yoga, Kanga’s Playspace, The Karcher, The Land of Barbers, Le Fanfare, Nanno, New Love City, Nitehawk Cinema, The Noguchi Museum, The Palace , Paulie Gee’s, Pheasant, Pies ‘n’ Thighs, PLAY Greenpoint, The Rack Shack, Ramona, Ringolevio, Rockin’ Locks, The Sketchbook Project, True North Training, wBees Forest School, Welcome Home Studio, Whitney Museum of American Art, The Williamsburg Hotel, Woops, The Yard, and Your Spoiled Pets .
So come have a colorful afternoon, bond as a family, and support a thriving local institution!
Program support generously provided by The Atlantic Philanthropies Director/Employee Designated Gift Fund, Jonathan and Rebekah Ambjor, Jonathan Nadler, and Jessica and Ryan Demler.
Families enjoy communal painting at Eckford Street Studio
When we discuss the art scene in Greenpoint, we often focus on the Pencil Factory’s many inhabitants or the other visual artists working out of their studios, homes, and even in our neighborhood parks. But North Brooklyn has always been teeming with artists of many different stripes, including versatile theatermakers like director Dina Vovsi. Dina has worked in collegiate and Off-Broadway theaters, crafted plays centering on immigrant experiences, and created immersive experiences in outdoor settings. Below, we get to know the Greenpoint-based director while discussing her career, the importance of affordable housing, and — of course — her dog Bruce.
Greenpointers: How long have you lived in Greenpoint, and what brought you here?
Dina Vovsi: I’ve lived in Greenpoint for about two and a half years. Before moving here, my partner and I were in Kensington for a year, and before that, I lived in Williamsburg for six years, so I’ve spent a lot of time in North Brooklyn. I am super lucky — my name was drawn in the affordable housing lottery for an apartment in a brand-new, mixed-income building, which has made being an artist significantly more possible over the past couple of years. It’s been a financial game-changer, and I can’t stress enough how everyone needs to be submitting for these buildings on NYC Housing Connect; I know quite a few people who have been selected recently, so it’s really not as impossible as legend says. We live in the quieter, north end of the neighborhood, and I love being near the water and walking our dog, Bruce, to Transmitter Park and Greenpoint Landing. More people know his name than mine, which I’m totally fine with. Continue reading →
Lucas Lucas (57 Conselyea Street) will soon present Magna Chroma, the first solo show by Darcy Lauren Briks. The new exhibit opens Feb 21 and will be in the East Williamsburg gallery’s space through March 23.
The body of work began after the birth of Briks’ first child and completed after her second was born. Each piece is born from an intentional meditation; each an abstract exploration of a current issue, whether personal, political or global. Often reflecting on global or political overarching themes, Briks — who attended Mass Art post graduate before embarking on a career in graphic design and ultimately launching her own agency — found an entire new breadth of inspiration in marriage and motherhood.
Although Briks does not intend on forcing anything onto the viewer she conscientiously aims to set a positive spin on the subject, no matter how daring the subject of her meditation.
“I’m excited to see these works, my largest and boldest to date, displayed in the gallery together and look forward to the viewer interpreting their own objective feelings from the abstract shapes and color combinations, especially the pairs in the Magna Series,” Briks said.
The show is curated by Stacie Lucas. Lucas Lucas is located right off the Lorimer L/Metropolitan G stop in Williamsburg and operates by walk-in and appointment. All work will be available to purchase online here starting February 21.
Super fun Brooklyn-based supergroup Love Always crafts sunny musical vibes with Jamaican/roots, rocksteady, reggae and lovers rock influences.
Love Always will perform two sets on Sunday at 2pm and 3pm.
Patricia Verdolino (vocals), Michael O’Connor (guitar), and Andy Shaw (bass) are original members of 90s Ska band Metro Stylee. Shaw also plays bass in the popular Brooklyn band Bikini Carwash, while drummer Ron Salvo plays with .357 Lover and keyboardist Jeannie Oliver played in Si Se. Checkout a clip from their performance at our Polar Vortex Holiday Market last December.
Kendra Morris (Credit: Taylor Ballantyne)
With powerful vocals and a passion for 60s and 70s funk and soul developed through her parents’ record collection Kendra Morris began recording songs by herself in the closet of her bushwick loft.
Morris released the album Banshee (2012) on Wax Poetics Records and in 2013 returned with the covers album Mockingbird. She released new music in 2018 with her first single “Nothing” off of an upcoming record and the second single “Playing Games” following close behind in April 2018 along with a Greg Nice of Nice & Smooth on the Break Up Mix and her cover “Virgin” with DâM-FunK playing shoulder synth on the breakdown.
Kendra Morris takes the stage with her band at 4pm.
If I could spend the next six weeks of winter in one spot, it would be tucked in a cozy corner of FourFiveSix (199 Richardson Street) surrounded by the eclectic decor and art, absorbing the rhythmic musical stylings of the St. Amour Jazz Collective. On Sunday evening, the collective performed at the popular neighborhood jazz bar, offering a carefree alternative to Super Bowl festivities.
The St. Amour Jazz Collective features Jim St. Amour on the vibraphone, Luke Markham on drums, and Alex Heigl on bass guitar. It’s St. Amour’s passion project: a percussionist of 35 years, he made a natural transition to the vibraphone to start composing his own works.
“As a composer, I am inspired by the drum n’ bass and neo-soul genres of music. The vibraphone is a beautiful instrument, and its range and percussive tonal characteristics really fit nicely with the harmony and melody of both styles of music,” St. Amour said. He integrated the drums and bass guitar into his compositions, thus shaping the group’s unique sound.
Markham has been a drummer for 19 years. He is well-versed in various genres and plays with a number of groups. When he plays, the drumsticks seem like extensions of his own arms. Both he and St. Amour also teach. Heigl was 15 when he started on the bass guitar. His initial genre was punk before classically training with a jazz bassist soon after. This was the groundwork for his success as an independent bassist. As a group, this trio feeds off each other’s energy, talent, and love of music in an authentic way that makes for a spirited and contemporary live performance.
We’ve all rushed for the G train, but few have captured its whimsy and hysteria as winningly as local artist Nadeesha Godamunne. (Mokshini, the mononym you may know her by, is actually her first name.) Her post on Instagram, combined with its repost on Greenpointers, received almost 3,000 hits, and in this Thursday Spotlight, Greenpointers got to know Nadeesha, her artistic ethics, and the importance of “putting humor into something that most people get frustrated with.”
Greenpointers: Do you live in the neighborhood, and if so for how long? Nadeesha Godamunne: No, but I’ve always been a fan of the artisan vibe of Greenpoint, and recently got my art studio right by Transmitter Park — I love it!
On Instagram, you wittily calls yourself a “professional doodler.” I’m wondering, given how much artists need to work to stay afloat, how much of your doodling is for your own enjoyment, like the G Train piece? Every artist finds this a challenge. It’s about striking a balance between the money jobs that pay the bills, but perhaps don’t inspire you as much, and the ones that fulfill you and bring joy. I draw for myself every day and maintain a journal of experiences and things I see. I try not to share this journal with people or on social media. This is vital because it reminds me to create first and foremost for me. A lot of these doodles inform the illustrations that you see on Instagram.
Nadeesha Godamunne at work
Did the impending shutdown in any way help inspire this G train piece? Absolutely! It’s amusing to me that the G train is so short. I find myself sprinting to catch the train and laughing at the same time because the whole situation is just so ridiculous. Putting humor into something that most people get frustrated with just keeps things fun and relatable.
Your art has a wonderfully textured and vivid style to it; can you discuss how this came to be part of your brand and whether or not you have any influences? I try not to take myself too seriously, and i think that’s what comes across in my work. My style is constantly evolving; currently, I’m going through a bolder, more playful phase. I’ve noticed a shift since I started freelancing. It’s interesting. My focus when I draw, however, is not so much about the style — it’s about the message. I try to push the ideals of fashion illustration with whimsical yet relatable characters, satirical fashion storytelling, and humor. Some of my favorite artists are Rene Gruau, Toulouse Lautrec, Kenneth Paul Block, and Egon Schiele.
Central Park by Nadeesha Godamunne
Are there any upcoming projects you’re excited about? Really excited about an upcoming collaboration with Vans, where they showcased my art and personal journey in a video format. We did a time lapse of me drawing and some animation work too. Should turn out great!
Do you have a favorite cafe, restaurant, or locale in Greenpoint? I love Ovenly for their amazing pastries, the Stuart Cinema and Cafe for their soup, and Alameda and Citroen for their cocktails! There’s too many!
♦ Wave, Particle, Duplex by Studio SWINE. @ A/D/O (29 Norman Ave.), 10am, FREE, More Info * Pinball with Park Church Co-op @ Sunshine Laundromat (860 Manhattan Ave.), 6pm, FREE, pinball and happy hour, Buy Tix ♦ Secrets of Green-Wood /// Sexless Cocaine Saturday @ The Brick (579 Metropolitan Ave.), 8pm, $20, a shadow play with puppets, Buy Tix ♫ Kangaroo~eCOCOBOYS~Henry Something~Jovial Cacophony @ Muchmore’s (2 Havemeyer), 9pm, $7, Buy Tix
THURSDAY 1/31
♦ Drawing Brooklyn Presents: Figure Drawing and Pizza! @ 1oo Bogart (100 Bogart St.), 6:30pm, $15, Buy Tix # I AM A FILIPINO: Dinner with Nicole Ponseca and Miguel Trinidad @ Archestratus (160 Huron St.) 7pm, $50, Buy Tix ♦ Ceremonial Tattoo Artist Lecture with Huitzomitl @ Sacred Arts Research Center (107 Green St. #G55), 7pm, FREE, For the first time in New York, Huitzomitl, a Mexica Ceremonial artist, is going to share his research and practice of traditional tattoo, More Info ☺ Franny and Not Zooey Present A Comedy Show About Comedy @ Pete’s Candy Store (709 Lorimer St.), 7pm, FREE, More InfoContinue reading →
Historical Sketch of the Greenpoint Porcelain Works of Charles Cartlidge & Co., reprinted from “The Clay-Worker” via (tiles in new york)
Long before Greenpoint had the shipbuilding, oil refining or sugar refining industries, ceramicists had established Greenpoint as America’s first ceramic capital and it is more than a little ironic that recently a number of New York’s best ceramic artists have decided to call the area home. These artists are reviving an art form with over a hundred and fifty years of local history.
There are in fact so many first-rate potters working locally that just to mention them all would require too much space. Visit galleries like Greenpoint Hill (Freeman St.) or Wilcoxson Brooklyn Ceramics (67 West St.) to acquaint yourself with just some of the many talented locals turning out a stunning variety of ceramic art pieces.
The great poet Walt Whitman was also a journalist and in August of 1857 he visited The American Porcelain Works on Freeman and West Street to profile Greenpoint porcelain production. The pottery there stood atop a hill that was later leveled, appropriately called Pottery Hill, on account of the number of local potters there.
Charles Cartlidge and Company (1848–1856) Pitcher, 1853–56: (Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Englishman Charles Cartlidge, who established the American Porcelain works there way back in 1848, came to Greenpoint from a family of potters in Staffordshire, the center of English pottery. The Englishman’s Greenpoint company manufactured tea sets, pitchers, busts, and other porcelain pieces, but the firm really excelled at porcelain busts of famous figures, sculpting busts of John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Joseph Hughes, Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York, Senator Daniel Webster, and President Zachary Taylor. Cartlidge’s Greenpoint Pottery exhibited wares that won a “first premium” award at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1853 in New York. The firm, however, could not pay the bills and became bankrupt.
Thomas Smiths’ former house, now the Greenpoint Reformed Church(via Brownstowner/ Suzanne Spellen (aka Montrose Morris)
To survive local potters would need to find commercial uses for porcelain. The man who first set up an economically viable local pottery was Thomas Smith, whose stately home on Milton Street is now occupied by the Greenpoint Reformed Church. Smith, a successful builder, never trained as an artist or a potter, so his success as a ceramicist is all the more remarkable. Continue reading →
The freshly restored 200-pipe organ outfitted with MIDI functionality at the San Damiano Mission Church will provide lush sounds in three separate sets from Noah Prebish featuring Angel Deradoorian, Sabine Holler, Dominic Apa and Takuya Nakamura aka SPACE TAK at 21 Nassau Ave. from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.; RSVP here with suggested donation of $15 at the door.
The event tonight is also in honor of one the San Damiano priests who will be heading to North Carolina for his next assignment. Here’s a note from Noah Prebish:
Hello all! This Tuesday (the 29th) some friends and I will be hosting an evening of improvised music performed on the San Damiano Mission’s beautiful 200-pipe organ. Recently restored and complete with MIDI functionality, the organ can be played both by hand and electronically, the latter with inhuman speed and accuracy, placing the instrument at a really fascinating intersection between ancient and modern.
In my time working at the Lot Radio the last two and a half years (across the street from the San Damiano Mission) I was able to spend a lot of time playing on and getting to know this totally insane instrument. I also had the pleasure of getting to know Nick and Raphael, the two priests at the church, who have been close friends ever since, generously lending us their space for various creative projects. Nick is leaving San Damiano in the next few days to move to his next assignment in NC, so I wanted to be sure we had one final hurrah while he is still here.
I’ll be performing an improvised set on organ and modular synth, with live accompaniment by my friends Angel Deradoorian and Sabine Holler. Composer, DJ, and cosmic wizard Takuya Nakamura will be performing as well with butoh dance by Azumi O E. Controlling visuals will be video artist Enrique Alba with assistance from multi-talented Dutch visual artist, Sebastiaan Bremer, who created the event’s cover image.
The Lot Radio (17 Nassau Ave.) opened their underground internet radio station inside of a repurposed shipping container in 2016 on a triangular, decrepit lot between Banker and N. 15 streets where a gas station once stood.
The site of the Lot Radio in 2015
As an independently owned and operated small business that supports up-and-coming artists, owner Francios Vexelaire needed to raise funds to cover costs by selling drinks. The Lot Radio obtained a license from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and for the past two years has legally sold coffee, beer, wine and snacks to attendees.
Last week the Dept. of Health shut down the cafe portion of the business citing code violations, and since then the radio station has been without a revenue stream.
Code violations for the Lot Radio posted by New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
THURSDAY 1/31
