This year BAM turns 150 years old, and bidding for their 8th annual silent benefit auction will open on Paddle8 this Wednesday. To celebrate BAM’s borough, we will be highlighting different neighborhoods in Brooklyn during the coming weeks to further explore the diverse and growing art communities. Our Brooklyn tour starts in Bushwick, but stay tuned for posts on Rockaway Beach, Greenpoint and Sunset Park.
For many years now Bushwick has been home to countless artists’ studios, but more recently it has become one of Brooklyn’s hubs for exhibitions, innovative arts organizations, and many other performance and arts spaces. A large warehouse at 56 Bogart Street acts in many ways as the anchor of the Bushwick art world, with a high concentration of some of the neighborhood’s best galleries including The Bogart Salon and THEODORE:art, as well as two of the neighborhood’s most prominent non-profit’s NURTUREart and Momenta Art. 56 Bogart is also home to many artists’ studios, arts related businesses, and other alternative spaces that tend to be artist-run and open only on the weekends.
Within walking distance of 56 Bogart include a blend of small alternative spaces like the non-profit Norte Maar Projects, which is located in the home of one of its co-founders Jason Andrew, and the larger Fortress to Solitude, with new and more commercial additions like Luhring Augustine’s recently opened Bushwick location. The opening of the Manhattan-based Luhring Augustine has created murmurings throughout the neighborhood as residents debate in which direction Bushwick should head: the small and collaborative approach that defines the local scene or a continued migration of established entities.
A short walk from Luhring Augustine, is the non-profit 3rd Ward, which hosts dozens of art and design classes, while also providing workspace to people in creative industries. The open workspace and membership-based business model of 3rd Ward very much speaks to the collaborative vibe of the neighborhood, which often comes together to create community-wide events, like Beat Night, where many galleries stay open extra late, and the forthcoming 6th annual Bushwick Open Studios, where dozens of artists open their studios to the public for several days (June 1 – 3). With so much unused space and an extremely high concentration of artists, the Bushwick art scene is constantly changing, and at a breakneck pace, so make sure to keep an eye on this neighborhood as Williamsburg’s quieter neighbor quickly transforms into a New York art hub.
Artists we like in Bushwick: Alexandre Singh (shown by Paddle8 member Monitor) and Liz Nielsen.