Once again Open Studios brings Red Hook a crowd, by Brian Abate

The ninth annual Red Hook Open Studios took place the first weekend of October with a kickoff Scrappy Reading event. Artists and makers throughout the neighborhood open their studios and give the public a chance to see (and buy) their work.

The Scrappy Reading event took place on Van Brunt Street and featured Jax Preyer, Dean Haspiel, Lilly Dancyger, Niguel Dottin, Deborah Copaken, and host Farah Faye. Readings addressed the question: What does scrappy mean to you?

There are some great studios off the beaten path, including Green Lung Studio at 22 Commerce.  Curator Sam Patrone is also founder and creative director of Chain Link Productions.

“This is ‘The Underground’ exhibit, and it includes graffiti and street art, and how it has become a global artistic movement,” Patrone said. “We have some work by Al Diaz, and we have a replica of a piece that he made in a subway station using subway tiles which was really cool.

“We also have pieces by SJK 171.  Steve the Greek is an original, and he actually grew up with Diaz in Washington Heights. We have a piece that he did for the 9/11 memorial that the city commissioned. His father was a very prominent photographer. He would document everything as it happened so his stuff is very historically accurate right down to the times and the dates.”

A couple who stopped by Green Lung Studio said that they wanted to check out “as many of the studios as possible.” They said that they were able to find ones like Green Lung Studio thanks to the map on the Red Hook Open Studios website.

“It’s really cool seeing a different kind of art from what I’m used to,” said Michael from Cobble Hill. “That’s the beauty of this.”

Amy Helfand displayed her unique artwork. Lately, she has been focusing on ceramics, making the art in her studio, and then doing the firing and glazing at Dikeman Street’s Piscina.She also designs hand-knotted rugs which are theyn made in Nepal.

“I have had my hands in clay over the years but I got more serious about it in around 2017 or so when I started doing hand building,” Helfand said. “I really connect with the process of hand building. I like the idea that with ceramics it’s a little bit like writing in the sense that all you really need is a pencil and if you’re hand building ceramics, you don’t need much. I love the physical activity of it too since a lot of my work for the rugs ends up being digital.”

Many artists displayed at Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition.

“I do a lot of South Brooklyn landscape work including this one of Lenny’s Pizza and I also do Manhattan,” said Alicia Degener, BWAC’s president. “I do bridges, brownstones, Coney Island, and I’m doing a pizza series.

One couple in attendance said they came to “enjoy the artwork and the perfect weather.”

There were also a lot of people a few blocks down at Door 14 Studios where Deborah Ugoretz, a founder of Red Hook Open Studios, had her artwork.

“I did a piece called ‘The World Is Upside Down’ which is about the Hamas attack on Israel, and the response by Israel and all of the death and destruction there has been,” Ugoretz said.

“On a lighter note, I’ve been doing a series of bears based on my experience spending part of the summer in Massachusetts. This particular painting, which is a little bit like Maurice Sendak, is this fantasy I had of bears coming in the middle of the night, putting their paws on your eyes, and taking away your nightmares.”

“Open Studios is in its ninth year and every year audiences grow and it brings in more and more people from New York City and New Jersey,” Ugoretz said. “Every year it gets better and better and I think it really rejuvenates the neighborhood. It brings business to businesses and it’s always been a great way to reveal the mysteries behind these great buildings. It’s always special but next year for our tenth anniversary we want to make it extra special.”