Here is one woman’s view of BOS 2015! We’d love to hear yours as well! Contact us at thelivinggallery@gmail.com to submit!
Bushwick Open Studios 2015, was once again a full body experience. Friday night started out with the launch party and Seeking Spaces exhibition at Be Electric on Willoughby Ave, and a line that stretched down the block. Seeking Spaces was a multimedia art immersion with sculptures, video art, along side more traditional works by over 60 artists . Pine Box Rock Shop graciously hosted the open bar with beer donated from Brooklyn Brewery and a small 2nd floor room in the space was host to a digital photo booth by The Bosco that not only printed 4 small pictures, but also animated them into a looping gif file.
Saturday was the busiest day by far, with swaths of visitors pouring into the various Bushwick train stops. Community Day took place at The Maria Hernandez Park on Knickerbocker Ave and featured musical acts, live painting, circus performances, and also tables for local community organizations.
The Bushwick Collective Block Party was also going on, just down the road between Troutman Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue. Local street artists were doing performances of live painting for new mural pieces in the neighborhood (one of its main attractions). 17-17 Troutman is a large building full of artist studios and one of the most popular stops for visitors. Each floor has lots of studios to wander in and out of, where you can see many different types of artists and makers.
House of Yes also had a reopening celebration, with performances of all types throughout the day. 56 Bogart was also another time consuming place to visit, again with each floor of a large warehouse housing studio spaces and galleries. Live performances by Matthew Silver and friends went on outside. Local darlings Roberta’s Pizza hosted an outdoor Art Party where one could drink, nosh on pizza, and wander through a maze of art under a large tent.
While there were just as many studios and galleries open on Sunday, the lack of the block party drew in less crowds. The spaces thatwere open felt much more low key and relaxed in the knowledge that it was the last day in a long art intensive weekend. Bushwick Open Studios is one of NYC’s largest arts events and each year outdoes itself. Between Friday and Sunday, I walked close to 20 miles.
BYO ART AT The Living Gallery
I was able to volunteer for The Living Gallery 2 days in a row to assist artists hanging their work on Friday evening and to promote the gallery on Saturday at Community Day. Bushwick’s street cred in the art scene is starting to rival that of galleries in Manhattan. I look forward to seeing how it develops over the coming years.
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