Gowanus Open Studios Marks Its 30th Year in Brooklyn, NYC

Gowanus Open Studios, the annual weekend when Brooklyn artists open their workspaces to the public, reached its 30th edition on Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18. Doors were open from noon to 6 p.m. both days. Arts Gowanus, the local nonprofit that supports artists in the neighborhood, organized it, and admission was free. Visitors could talk with artists, look at their work and buy it.

According to Brownstoner, more than 400 artists took part across more than 90 locations. The map reached beyond Gowanus itself into Park Slope, Carroll Gardens and other nearby neighborhoods. Among the sites were new affordable studios created through the Community Benefits Agreement tied to the Gowanus rezoning. Arts Gowanus said 22 of them were occupied by artists so far, and some opened for the weekend.

Hyperallergic's Rhea Nayyar spent six hours on foot on Saturday and still saw only a fraction of the sites, moving through stairwells, hallways and unmarked entrances in former industrial buildings. She described the edition as a love letter to the canal and the creative community along it. Much of what she found was plein air work about the canal's remediation and street corners that are changing fast.

One of her stops was the large studio of landscape painter Elizabeth O'Reilly at 543 Union Street. O'Reilly has worked on the same block as the Union Street Bridge since 1992. She showed paintings and collages of the canal and its surroundings, with angular buildings reflected in the oily surface of the water. Most were from the late 2000s and early 2010s, around the time the canal was designated a Superfund site. Asked about watching the neighborhood go from industrial neglect to luxury towers, O'Reilly said it makes her a bit sad.

Nayyar also visited Lesley Kushner's studio, where figurative beeswax sculptures were on display. Arts Gowanus has since posted a recap of the 30th edition on its website, and an artist directory of the neighborhood remains online.

(Details are drawn from points that agree across reports by Hyperallergic, Brownstoner.)