Bay Ridge

Storefront Art Walk looking for artists

Bay Ridge exhibit coming in spring of 2016

December 23, 2015 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
At last year’s SAW event, artist Deanna Lee painted the window of Hair Culture at 7910 Fifth Ave. The blue waves could be waves of hair, but they could also be ocean waves, the artist said. Eagle file photo by Paula Katinas
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Calling all Brooklyn artists! The people behind the Storefront Art Walk (SAW), the Bay Ridge exhibition that brings creative minds and merchants together, are looking for artists to take part in the 2016 show.

SAW gives artists the chance to display their works in shop windows along the Bay Ridge Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District (BID) and gives the merchants the opportunity to use the art to attract new customers.

SAW is now accepting artist applications for the Seventh Annual SAW. Fifteen Brooklyn artists will be chosen to create site-specific art installations in collaboration with the merchants along Fifth Avenue.

The exhibition will take place in the spring in stores along the avenue between 68th Street and 84th Street. Opening Day is set for May 14.

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The unique art show will offering Bay Ridge residents and visitors the chance to engage with the visual arts and explore the dialogue between commerce, art and community, according to SAW’s founders. 

The artists will be selected by a jury of six experts, including curators, arts administrators and artists. The artists will be chosen to take part in SAW 2016 based on artistic merit, feasibility and an ability to successfully engage with the Bay Ridge community.

Last year’s jury included Anna Lise Jensen, a SAW 2013 artist; Maureen Drennan, a SAW 2014 artist; Jason Andrew, co-founder/director of Norte Maar and co-owner of OUTLET; Jillian Steinhauer, senior editor of Hyperallergic; and Leigh Holliday Brannan, owner of The Art Room in Bay Ridge.

Each artist will eventually be paired with a Fifth Avenue business and will create an installation with the particular business in mind.

Artists will receive a stipend to create new work that will be installed for the duration of SAW.

Interested artists are urged to send their application materials no later than 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 27 to [email protected]

SAW was created in 2010 by local business owners John Avelluto (The Owl’s Head Wine Bar) and Heather Hamilton (Long’s Wines & Liquors) as a way to showcase the diverse community of Bay Ridge and give it a unique platform for engagement with the visual arts.

Avelluto and Hamilton said that while Bay Ridge is home to many artists, the neighborhood is underfunded in public arts spending and grants. 

The Seventh Annual SAW will be sponsored by the Bay Ridge Fifth Avenue BID, Red Hook Winery and SixPoint Brewery.

Last year’s SAW attracted widespread interest from art lovers and novices alike.

Following an opening ceremony outside the offices of Community Board 10 at 8119 Fifth Ave. that drew a large crowd, the 15 artists were stationed outside the participating stores to talk to curious shoppers about their work.

Jeannine Bardo, a painter who worked in the window at Long’s Wines, even made use of the wine Hamilton sells. “I painted the land masses using wine as my paint,” she told the Brooklyn Eagle.

Over at Enchanted Florist, at 7515 Fifth Ave., photographer Margaux Walter placed a large photo of a bouquet of flowers in the front window. The bouquet was sitting at the center of a table with four distracted women drinking tea and eating cookies.  “I want the viewer to see the beauty of the flowers and not get caught up in the commercialization of them,” she said.

Ray Lin, who worked on his project at Verrazano Bicycle Shop at 7308 Fifth Ave., used bicycle parts to create an imaginary archaeological find.

“We wanted the artists to get to know the merchants. We really wanted them to create something original and something that reflects what’s being sold in the store,” Hamilton told the Eagle.

For more information on SAW, visit www.bayridgesaw.org.

 


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