Hello art lovers! Spring has sprung and the city is blooming with art. Scroll down to see what's happening this week.

Guided Tour for Arts Gowanus community:
Fresh, Fly, Fabulous at The Museum @ FIT

Arts Gowanus is partnering with SOLA Market for a guided tour of Fresh, Fly, and Fabulous: 50 Years of Hip Hop Style, an exhibition at The Museum @ FIT. This special tour for Arts Gowanus and Black Girls in Art Spaces (BGIAS) will be led by exhibition co-curator Liz Way on Thursday, April 13 at 6pm.

Hip Hop was and remains a testament to the cultural expression and ingenuity of Black and Brown working-class youth right here in NYC 50 years ago. But it also reflects that through art and community, we can create a new world with what we have and can share, a mission we share with SOLA Market and its partners.

SOLA Market is a marketplace that makes art production more accessible, supporting artists to find the materials, tools, gear, and equipment to make more art. ArtsGowanus nurtures relationships among individual artists, arts organizations, local businesses, and the community. Join us on April 13th at 6pm.

This event series will feature guided tours by exhibition co-curator Liz Way, co-hosted with SOLA Market founder Kemi Oritsejafor. 

RSVP HERE

Open Call for Public Outdoor Art Exhibition Celebrating Brooklyn’s LGBTQIA+ Community!

Meet the Jurors of "Together We Will..."

To celebrate Pride month Arts Gowanus is partnering with Brooklyn Pride and the Old Stone House & Washington Park to present an outdoor art exhibit featuring works by Brooklyn based LGBTQIA+ artists. We are currently accepting submissions for “Together We Will…” a public outdoor exhibition showcasing artwork by Brooklyn-based LGBTQIA+ artists that celebrates their community.
 
Artwork submitted for this exhibition can depict and celebrate any aspect of the LGBTQIA+ experience and community. Accepted artworks will be printed on vinyl and displayed on the fence surrounding the Old Stone House & Washington Park.

FOR MORE INFO CLICK HERE

Scroll down to meet the 5 jurors who will be selecting the final artwork for "Together We Will..."

Mickey Heller, a Native New Yorker originally from the Bronx, has spent the last four decades in Brooklyn. A graduate of the HS of Music & Art, Hunter College and Brooklyn Law School, Mickey has been practicing law for 30 years.

A founding board member of the Brooklyn Community Pride Center, Mickey has volunteered for several non-profit organizations, and has been the Park Slope Santa for the 5th Avenue BID for 10 years. He is proudest of his work with Brooklyn Pride, Inc. becoming involved by driving former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz’s parade float in 2007 and 2008. That led to volunteering in 2009 on the parade and 5K Run, and in 2010 he became, and currently serves, as the Parade Director.  Mickey became Co-Chair of Brooklyn Pride in 2012, Chair from 2013 and Co-chair since 2016.

Kyle Naff (he/him/his), originally from the cornfields of the Midwest, landed in Brooklyn to see what it was like to live in the big city. While he thought that it would be just for a short stint, he has managed to find a sense of community here through fitness and running with Front Runners New York. His involvement with the team led him to take up an offer to oversee the Brooklyn Pride LGBTQIA+ 5K as a way to get even more involved and give back to the community that has been his home since 2015. He is honored to join the Board to continue to put together an amazing Brooklyn Pride Week and more.

Oluwakemi (Kemi) Oritsejafor is a Nigerian-Liberian-American, multi-hyphenate Black-bodied artist, professional, entrepreneur, and recovering chronic overachiever.

She seeks and stumbles across paths of creation and community with work that aims to unlock intimacy, radical honesty, personal agency, and moments of emotional reprieve. She works in various creative mediums, including unorthodox ones like community organizing and entrepreneurship. The core of her artistry reflects where she's been and has yet to go—whether physically, mentally, or emotionally. In its purest form, her work is an eager and open hand open to be held and to hold in return.

Black, queer, neurodivergent, fat, and often a woman—but sometimes very happily not—she was born to the West African parentage of political and economic refugees while raised in the backdrop of the Black American South (Raleigh, North Carolina). She graduated from DePaul University (Chicago, Illinois, 2017) with a business and German language degree and a community development minor. She has also completed coursework in fashion design, illustration, and technical design from the Fashion Institute of Technology (New York City, 2019).

Ariel Sanders is a Brooklyn native who is super honored to have been a part of Brooklyn Pride for a few years now. Being raised to always be warm, friendly, and helpful, coupled with strong community service values instilled by the Quaker High School education she received, Ariel could not be more excited to be volunteering for an organization that represents two of her biggest loves – Pride and Brooklyn!

Eric Sosa is the co-owner and event programming director for Good Judy, a queer bar and venue in Park Slope, as well as the two-time GLAM Award-winning queer bar and venue C'mon Everybody in Bed Stuy. 

Click Here to view the Arts Gowanus News - April 7, 2023.