Storefront Art Walk to liven Bay Ridge’s creative scene

April 26, 2017 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

At the 2016 SAW, artist Kara Daving created an island made up of items found in the ocean in the window at Long’s Wines and Liquors. Eagle file photo by Paula Katinas

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Bay Ridge will once again become the center of Brooklyn’s art scene next month when an annual exhibition that will features partnership between innovative artists and savvy business owners opens.

The Eighth Annual Bay Ridge Storefront Art Walk (SAW) opens on May 13 and runs until June 11.

As part of SAW, artists whose works are accepted by a panel of judges are assigned to stores along the Bay Ridge Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District. The artists collaborate with merchants to create artworks unique to that storefront. The interactive exhibition includes shops along Fifth Avenue from 68th Street to 83rd Street.

The artists and the stores where they will be installing their works are:

Eirini Linardaki – Bay Ridge Animal Hospital, 6803 Fifth Ave.
Lauren Silverman – Galaxy Comics, 6823 Fifth Ave.
Maureen Drennan – Arab American Association of New York, 7111 Fifth Ave.
Lara Atallah – Antepli Baklava, 7216 Fifth Ave.
Eri Honda – Verrazano Bicycle Shop, 7308 Fifth Ave.
Bethany Robertson – The Owl’s Head, 479 74th St.
Henrietta Audu – Bubbles and Suds Laundromat, 7418 Fifth Ave.
Quimetta Perle – Sinzl Wireless, 7520 Fifth Ave.
Erin Dodge – Quench Wines & Spirits, 7606 Fifth Ave.
Linda Serrone Rolon – Kruchkow’s Shoe Shop, 7808 Fifth Ave.
Kazue Taguchi – Hair Culture, 7910 Fifth Ave.
Iviva Olenick – Fritsch Custom Upholstering, 7915 Fifth Ave.
Maura Falfan & Berdscarnival – Long’s Wine & Liquors, 7917 Fifth Ave.
Rosemary Taylor – Alex Hair Salon, 7923 Fifth Ave.
Jennifer Grimsyer – Lincoln Brokerage Corp, 8114 Fifth Ave.
Matice McMillan – UPS Store, 8225 Fifth Ave.

And for the first time, SAW will include a Young Artist Program in collaboration with Fontbonne Hall Academy. Fontbonne Hall senior Lauren Silverman will have her artwork on display.

“Working with the talented Fontbonne students in tandem with their teacher Lauren Gueli was a great experience. Each participating artist produced a portfolio-ready piece that was thoughtful and of a high caliber. Lauren Silverman was the winning young artist, but the jurors were impressed with all of the applicants’ work,” said Jeannine Bardo, the program’s coordinator.

SAW will officially open with a brief ceremony in front of Community Board 10 at 8119 Fifth Ave. at 11 a.m. Maps indicating the installation sites will be distributed.

The artists will be stationed at their storefronts to talk to visitors from 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m.

SAW was created in 2010 by business owners John Avelluto (The Owl’s Head) and Heather Hamilton (Long’s Wine and Liquors) with the goal of showcasing the diverse community of Bay Ridge and to allow the neighborhood to become a platform for engagement and dialogue centering on the arts.

Avelluto told the Brooklyn Eagle that the exhibition also sheds light on the inequities in government funding for the arts in Brooklyn.

“I attribute the success and growth of the Storefront Art Walk to the continued support and hard work of those in Bay Ridge that value art within the fleeting presence of artistic outlets in our community. As I have said in the past, the average Brooklynite receives $3.43 in arts redistribution, whereas Community District 10 (CD 10) receives only 31 cents per person,” Avelluto said, referring to statistics from a 2012 City University of New York (CUNY) study.

“The SAW, in its eighth year, continues to be the only venue for public exhibition of visual artwork in CD10, the only organization that commissions the creation of new artworks while providing foot traffic to our local mom-and-pop shops,” he told the Eagle.

For more information, visit bayridgesaw.org