An Art Scene Grows in Greenpoint

In the last few years of the supposed “North Brooklyn renaissance”, the art scenes in Williamsburg and Bushwick have gotten more than their fair share of exposure.
“I feel a bit unappreciated as a Greenpointer” Sarah Gallman tells me as she sits outside of Brooklyn Label, sipping her coffee on Saturday, the second day of the first-ever Greenpoint Open Studios. Gallman, 27, and her friends have spent the day walking to the three galleries hosting open studios for the dozens of artists that call Greenpoint home.
Gallman and her crew aren’t the only ones excited about the neighborhood’s coming out party, either. As the busier-than-usual foot traffic on Franklin and Manhattan Ave. would suggest, some not-so-local folks made the trek to the notoriously aloof G-train to experience what Greenpoint has to offer in the art department.

Ryan Watkins of Park Slope told me that “a year ago, I wouldn’t have even thought of making it out here, but now that the G-train picks me up a block away from my apartment, I’ve been coming to Greenpoint just about every weekend.” I ask him to compare the art scene in his area and he says without hesitation: “no comparison. There is no sense of artistic community in Park Slope. When I got out of school at NYU, I moved straight there, and now I regret it a bit. This is a great community, and the art is such a huge part of it.”
Of course there were setbacks. Taking a look at the Open Studios website, you make note of the fact that the plan to distribute programs outside of the G-train stops had been called off because of a lack of volunteers, but the organizers got smart, and asked several local businesses to keep the programs handy for the interested. In turn, local business got a good dose of exposure and new customers that might not have made it in their doorway otherwise. A brose up and down the various storefronts and eateries showed that off. Locals like Coco66, were included in the festivities. The bar hosted an after party, and the closing ceremonies for the weekend, while others just simply wanted to help by pointing those unfamiliar with the neighborhood to the right place in either their art hunting, or for a bite to eat.
Gallman’s company are the perfect example: her friends made it out from the Lower East Side in search of something a little more fresh than what one of them calls the “tired” art scene in Manhattan. Each of them found a new favorite artist they were most interested in, and one exclaimed “my lease is up Nov. 1st, I’m moving to Greenpoint!” Gallman herself was particularly interested in the quilt work of Julie Floersch, one of the artists showcased at 255 Calyer St., impressed by the old Americana feel of Floersch’s work.
“It makes me think of back home…I grew up in Southern Illinois, near Kentucky, and sometimes you really miss home,” Gallman said. “But then you get to see that you live in a community of artists, and great people, and you realize that this is home.”