The Arts

Explore the latest exhibit from Park Slope Windsor Terrace Artists in partnership with ShapeShifter Lab.

Artistic endeavors exist on every corner of Park Slope, but even longtime residents may not be fully aware of the vast array of creative collaborations within our neighborhood. However, “Exploring Abstraction” is one art exhibit you won’t want to miss this fall. 

he exhibit is displayed at ShapeShifter Lab, a music and arts space on Union Street. Business partners Fortuna Sung and Matt Garrison run ShapeShifter Plus, a nonprofit organization, and designed the Lab to be a living canvas where local artists and musicians could reimagine the space with their own works of art.  

“The space is DIY, letting the artists have the freedom of how [they] want to curate the shows,” Sung said. 

Currently, the living canvas of ShapeShifter features the latest collaboration with the Park Slope Windsor Terrace Artists (ArtsPSWT), a collective of visual artists living and working in the two neighborhoods. 

Since the 1970s, ArtsPSWT has gathered distinguished local artists together to participate in events and showcase their work. Today, the collective is composed of over 50 artists who span the gamut of styles, techniques, and mediums. Rich Garr, who has been a member of ArtsPSWT for over 14 years, is deeply rooted in the art scene in Brooklyn. As a collage artist, Garr is skilled at connecting elements together which transfers to his ability to match artists with spaces to show their work. 

“We all want to be in our studios making art, but we want to make sure it gets seen.” Garr said. 

He said that members in the collective each play a different role to curate spaces and act as liaisons with the community. One of the newer members, Susan Newmark, sits on the exhibition committee for ArtsPSWT. 

Newmark, whose involvement in community arts projects spans many years in the city, has organized shows at The Brooklyn Museum Community Gallery and also ran the visual arts program at Henry Street Settlement. Now, she focuses her energy to curate shows for the diverse artists in Park Slope and Windsor Terrace by partnering with ShapeShifter Lab. She noted how the process of sharing art can often be quite complicated. 

“Artists all want their work to be shown…it’s the other side of creating so this is really a great possibility,” Newmark said. 

ShapeShifter Lab offers the talented artists of ArtsPSWT the opportunity to do precisely what their name suggests and shift the space for each unique exhibit. 

“It’s a community-based space and it allows for a lot of creativity,” Sung said. 

Community and creativity go hand and hand in the current exhibit, “Exploring Abstraction,” which displays work from 11 artists including painters, printmakers, photographers and multimedia artists. Artists Shoshana Cooper, Phil DeSantis, Rich Garr, Tom Nau, Toby Needler, Susan Newmark, Chris Doogen, Diane Miller, Paula Rennis, Robin Roi, and Heidi Yockey explore a unique perspective and story through the use of a wide variety of techniques and mediums including acrylic paint, watercolor, collage, and photographs. 

According to Britannica, abstract art has been historically used by artists to describe and illustrate the natural world and human civilization for centuries. 

The Britannica website notes that “abstract art puzzled and indeed confused many people, but for those who accepted its nonreferential language there is no doubt as to its value and achievements.” 

In order for the ArtsPSWT artists to display their own nonreferential masterpiece in the exhibit, they needed to provide information about their process, the content of their piece, and their unique involvement in their art form which is available for the public to read and learn more about the stories that inspired the works.  

A few artists have even held workshops for people to tangibly interact with the art and ignite their own creativity. Paula Rennis, whose pieces are displayed in “Exploring Abstraction,” hosted “Unwine,” an experimental abstract painting event. Not only did participants sip wine while they painted but also painted with their wine. 

“It’s a way to connect with her artwork too,” Garr said about “Unwine.” “You can have a great time as an artist exploring your own creativity.”

If you missed this workshop, don’t be dismayed because all are welcome to join ArtsPSWT for a free reception at ShapeShifter Lab on September 22nd from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. to meet the artists and engage with “Exploring Abstraction” in all of the intricate interpretations of the theme.  

Newmark believes art goes on everywhere and that it’s important to see the accomplished local artists in our community. Beyond the current exhibit, ArtsPSWT plans to continue partnering with ShapeShifter Plus to host future exhibits exploring street stories and artists who are teachers. 

Until then, “Exploring Abstraction” will run through October 5th and is open to the public from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays as well as from 12 p.m. – 3 p.m. on Wednesdays. Additionally, Sunday hours will resume on September 8th. 

“I hope that when people realize the incredible amount of talent that is in their community and the diversity, they might be inspired by that.” Garr said. 

Regina Opera continued their 54^th season of classical Italian opera with a free performance of Cavalleria Rusticana this Tuesday evening, February 27^th. The production runs March 2-10^th.

The Regina Opera is a professional opera company in Sunset Park whose mission is to bring world-class performances to music lovers at a price they can afford. Their goal is to make opera accessible to more people, with the hope that young audiences will fall in love with their craft, allowing it to live on to future audiences, too. 

The entire production – orchestra, costumes, set design, lighting, cast, vocal performances – is Metropolitan Opera caliber for $25 or less, and in the intimacy of a small theater where there are no bad seats. The first performance of each opera series is always offered as free to the public.  Join their mailing list to stay in the loop on the latest Regina Opera productions and offerings.

We live in such a talent-rich city, made clear by the high-quality production of these affordable shows. I spoke with the President of The Regina Opera, Fran Garber-Cohen, about the incredible caliber of their performances.

“We are never left wanting for talent in this community.” Garber-Cohen explained that the opera world is a small, but international one. Much of their cast and crew come from around the globe, having studied and performed at some of the most esteemed opera houses in the world.

The artistry is also clear in every stitch, seam, and set piece. Director Sabrina Palladino is quite the history buff, and takes great pleasure researching the history of each opera she directs – down to the historical gossip surrounding her characters and the artwork they may have owned. 

I was lucky enough to see her production of Rigoletto this fall, which featured replicas of artwork from the real Duke of Mantua’s palace in 16^th century Italy. On the love she has for her craft, Palladino said, 

“When you look at a Van Gogh and you examine the brush strokes, you are there with the artist. You are looking at him. It’s the same with opera. When you look at the composer’s notes, you are spending time with them. You are hanging out with Verdi.”

Opera has been a part of Palladino’s life from the beginning, and Cavalleria Rusticana is particularly close to her heart. She sang it every Easter morning with her mother. 

“I’ve watched it, I’ve sung it, I’ve performed it – that opera is a part of me.” 

Cavalleria Rusticana is a decadent melodrama which tells the story of two unfaithful lovers played out on an Easter Sunday in late 19^th century Sicily. And of course, the whole village is in their business. Don’t miss your opportunity to see Palladino’s production of this classic tale which will run March 2-10^th. 

Tickets to Cavalleria Rusticana can be purchased on Regina Opera’s website. General admission is $25, with discounts for seniors, students and teens who can go for as little as $5. Children under 12 are admitted for free. 

The Regina Opera will also be presenting performances of Lucia Di Lammermoor in May 2024, as well as a few outdoor concert series to round out their 54^th season. 

A dozen wheels punctuated with orange clothes and mats stretched out in front of a long slab of wood, like a spinning Last Supper set-up. I picked a spot at the end to avoid breaking up couples who attended together. After grabbing clay from a repurposed trash bin, I threw the clay around in my hands as I looked around the studio. 

“When Jen [Waverek] founded it, the concept was to create an elevated space,” Laura Vogel, BKYLN Clay’s COO/CFO said. “It’s really hard to keep ceramics studios clean. It’s really hard to keep them clutter free. It’s hard to keep them aesthetically elevated and pleasing. I think that people really like having a clean environment to work in.” 

A dozen wheels punctuated with orange clothes and mats stretched out in front of a long slab of wood, like a spinning Last Supper set-up. I picked a spot at the end to avoid breaking up couples who attended together. After grabbing clay from a repurposed trash bin, I threw the clay around in my hands as I looked around the studio. 

“When Jen [Waverek] founded it, the concept was to create an elevated space,” Laura Vogel, BKYLN Clay’s COO/CFO said. “It’s really hard to keep ceramics studios clean. It’s really hard to keep them clutter free. It’s hard to keep them aesthetically elevated and pleasing. I think that people really like having a clean environment to work in.” 

The white walls and cabinets with shelves full of kiln-fired mugs and bowls made the space feel like a Hollywood version of purgatory. Anything outside the beige dried clay or white walls, from the orange dish towels, the bright beanie of one member working on their own, or the two small dogs the member dog-sits sniffing the dust of the floor, commanded attention. 

Once the class started, I trained my eye on the orange mat. I followed the instructor’s advice about centering the clay, throwing it hard enough to stick, and moving a sponge along the perimeter of the clay’s base to anchor and seal it for the upcoming spins. There was something almost natural or nostalgic about touching clay, about wetting it so it stays “glossy” while spinning. Maybe it’s a kindergarten playground memory of finding red clay in a sandbox and working our five-year-old fingers to dig as much of it as possible out of the ground. Maybe it’s a clay kit my friend had a few years ago where I made a little clay turtle named “Taxi”. Or maybe there’s a more primal drive beneath clay. 

“It is one of the most ancient art forms,” Vogel said. “Connecting with something that has such a long history, and is literally earth, is appealing to people. Also, you have to put your phone down. You can’t do it while holding your phone. That forced separation is good for people, and people really need an excuse to do that. For ceramics, you need two hands in mud.” 

While it would be easy to associate the pandemic with the increased popularity of a hands-on artistic escape, Park Slope residents have gravitated toward ceramics for over six years. A studio opened in 2017 by Jennifer Waverek and Cor Garcia-Held found popularity almost immediately in the neighborhood. After Waverek and Garcia-Held found different visions for their studios, Waverek and Vogel started BKLYN Clay at the Prospect Heights location on Dean Street, and Garcia-Held and her partner Emiliano founded Gasworks on Fifth Avenue. 

Today, BKLN Clay has expanded to a Tribeca branch. Vogel estimates between the two branches they see 1,500 people walk in and out of their spaces each week. Gasworks boasts a smaller community of 75 members and almost 200 virtual and in-person students. The Garcia-Helds also started a philanthropy effort called Public Ceramics that raises money for ceramics fellowships to make it accessible to people who otherwise can’t afford the opportunity. Both studios offer one-time Try Night classes, private lessons and events, and specialized workshops covering topics from Claymation and hand-building planters to hand-building classes. 

In 2018, the first year of both studios opening, BKLY Clay and Gasworks each saw their classes sell out within thirty minutes. Now, once the class registration link is live on their websites, their classes sell out in minutes. 

“There are jokes around the studio games of, ‘Oh, here comes the Hunger Games,’’’ Garcia-Held said. “It can be heartbreaking for people when they don’t get into classes.” 

Both studios claim that there isn’t one type of ceramics artist. “Broadening the definition of what it is to be an artist is important,” Vogel said. “So many people are like, ‘Oh, I’m not an artist, but I spend six hours a week crocheting,’ or ‘I really love coming to my ceramics class.’ You are an artist. You don’t have to have a gallery show to say you’re an artist. I really like being surrounded by people who are exploring that part of themselves very consciously.” 

Garcia-Held also notes that ceramics is a communal activity from its earliest roots. “Historically, ceramics has always necessitated a lot of people to mine clay from the earth, to make glazes, to help fire the kilns. You can’t really do it by yourself. It’s always been something done in community.” 

Back in my Try Night class, the beginners collective and I learn how to individually lift the clay with the outer edges of our hands, palms facing up into a small knob. Then we push the clay back into a lower dome by pushing the pad of our right thumb into our left thumb on the clay. 

I could do this forever, I think. I imagine myself as the first cavewoman to discover ceramics. It feels so natural that I’m convinced I may have been clay in a past life. 

I might be called to be a ceramics artist. I might be that girl. 

We move onto putting our right thumbs into the lower dome to pull it closer to our bellies and create a bowl shape. 

I push it too hard, and my thumb goes through the wall and breaks my beloved bowl. 

The rest of the class moves on to the part of actually making a mug shape, and I’m back at square one. I creepily crane my neck to peer at the instructor and everyone else’s hands after I whack another clay cube into a ball and throw it on the orange mat, now dripping with the excess water from my last, glossy attempt. 

“Speaking for myself, I think clay attracts perfectionists,” Garcia-Held said. “It attracts people that are grieving or going through intense emotions. In the world of art therapy, I was always taught that clay absorbs the most emotion of any medium, so I find it incredibly healing, and I think a lot of people do, too. When you were making something with clay, you’re sculpting it, you have these intentions for it, but it has to go through this crazy metamorphosis when it goes into the kiln. And you don’t know what it’s going to come out like, so you really have to practice surrendering and letting go.” 

When I heard this the day after my Try Night class, spending the entire time at another studio going over and over the centering phase that I trusted myself to do so well, I almost laughed. During the pandemic, I wrote a book on perfectionism in our larger Western culture but also, primarily, in my negative spurring. I always want to be the person that does something right on the first try, and if I can’t, I won’t try. I’ve gotten better at trying things, even if I think I’ll look like a fool when I mess up, but the instinct to preserve the respect I have still hides out. 

Another woman in the class shares this same self-deprecating route that I find so familiar. “Is this doomed?” she asks the instructor. 

“It’s not doomed yet,” the instructor says hopefully. People in the class laugh as the woman says, “That’s an emphatic yet.” The instructor hops in, pulls the clay back from breakage. I’m too scared to hail the instructor over to my station to repair the knowledge I don’t have on how to keep my clay upright and whole. 

The woman across from me, one of the only other people who arrived alone, laughs that her longer nails are not compatible with clay. I laugh because my nails are almost filed down to the nub, so what’s my excuse? 

At the end of the class, everyone cleans up their station and throws their clay, whether it eventually adopted the intended mug shape or not, into an orange bin. No one takes anything away from the class, but everyone knows that going in. This wet clay will be thrown in the kiln and recycled, ready to become something for someone else another day. 

By Julia DePinto

“Photographing strangers on the street is like having an epic novel read aloud to you, only it’s real. You’re connected. You’re involved. And you carry every piece of it with you from then on.”

Amy Touchette, Personal Ties: Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn

Touchette adores New York City. The visceral energy and the frenetic vibrations; the architecture; the history; the diversity and blending of cultures— the city is a sea of inspiration for visual artists and storytellers to sink into. Touchette spends the late afternoons of warm summer days canvassing the city’s streets and searching for captivating characters. Her photography practice explores themes of social connectedness by celebrating New Yorkers in their communities and within their social groups. An antiquated Rolleiflex film camera makes her intentions explicit. Young people gathered in units, families sitting on stoops, grannies pushing carts of groceries, and teenage girls flaunting their individuality, are among the subjects of her pictures. Touchette provides her subjects with the space to present themselves in their most authentic form, highlighting the features that make them emboldened and unique. 

“One of the greatest things about New York is that you can be a misfit,” Touchette told me, in a phone interview. “Misfits belong here.” 

Touchette moved to New York City in 1997, after completing a Master’s degree in Literature and living in San Francisco and DC. She worked as a managing editor in the publishing industry and painted large-scale compositions of jazz musicians in her kitchen. She was steadily climbing the ladder of corporate America when the unthinkable events of September 11 transpired. At the time, Touchette was living on Bleecker Street in the West Village, only a few train stops from the Twin Towers. Traffic was cut off from her neighborhood and the stench of smoke and death was unavoidable. The landscape had been permanently altered.

“It looked like the end of the world had come,” said Touchette. 

She described the horror of the terrorist attacks and the extraordinary loss that New Yorkers felt. Touchette’s younger brother had enlisted in the army one year before the attacks and was one of the first troops to deploy to Afghanistan.

“It was surreal. There were all these posters up that said ‘have you seen my mother’ or family member and it was awful because if you didn’t have a loved one missing you knew they were gone.” 

Feelings of devastation brought on by the events of 9/11, coupled with feelings of loneliness and complacency in her career led Touchette to rethink her profession and life’s pursuits. She enjoyed oil painting, albeit a solitary art practice, but was searching for a greater purpose and desired human connection. The posters of missing persons were reminders of her mortality. Street photography, Touchette decided, easily lends itself to being an interactive medium. Making pictures of community members would ease the feelings of solitude and satisfy her anthropological curiosities about the human condition. 

“It felt imperative to do what I was supposed to be doing— which was photographing my community,” said Touchette. “9/11 was such a tragic event any way you look at it but it yielded one of the best things that have ever happened to me in my life. It’s very incongruous and it has always confused me, but it is what happened.”

Touchette enrolled in photography courses at the International Center of Photography. She traded her corporate position for freelance writing opportunities that allowed for flexible scheduling. She worked enough hours to pay the rent but prioritized photography projects. The shifting landscape of the great metropolis and the recovery efforts of the 9/11 aftermath were secondary to Touchette’s conceptual interests. Her pictures, void of arrogance and lofty expectations, capture the interconnectedness of humanity— and advance brief but meaningful dialogue. Today, Touchette routinely takes two frames, providing little to no instruction. She allows her subjects to present their authentic selves, gaining much of their trust before documenting their mortality. These ephemeral moments of raw human exchange are invaluable to Touchette’s aesthetic.  

Touchette moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2005 and to Bedford-Stuyvesant in 2015.  

“Bed-Stuy is very vivid,” Touchette explained. “It’s interactive; it’s inclusive; it’s community-oriented. I got that feeling as soon as I arrived.” 

Touchette documents the streets of her adopted community by engaging with Brooklyn natives and introducing both her analog camera and iPhone. The pictures tell the stories of her beloved community, echoing shared human experiences and collective desires. A small portion of Touchette’s film portraits of Bed-Stuy residents culminated into a recently published monograph, appropriately titled, “Personal Ties: Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.” The book celebrates the relationships between families, friends, couples, and culture of the historically Black neighborhood.

The coronavirus pandemic presented Touchette with new technical and visual challenges. For one, state and city mandates required New Yorkers to stay inside and socially distance when outdoors; and two, strict mask mandates were enforced. Facial expressiveness is instrumental to the art of portrait photography. Touchette, however, embraced the challenges the pandemic presented. She photographed New Yorkers from safe distances in open-air spaces and incorporated the masks into her aesthetic. She found that Brighton Beach occupants were particularly welcoming. 

Touchette is currently working on a series of candid street portraits taken with her smartphone. Unlike the collaborative pictures she makes with her film camera, these pictures are taken quickly, candidly, without express permission beforehand. The series, “Street Dailies” feature Touchette’s favorite NYC muses and are archived on Instagram. Touchette explained that the advent of digital photography and the rapidly developing technology of smart cameras and social media are essential to her art. 

“It’s very liberating to photograph with a smartphone because I can capture moments that I can’t always get with my film camera. I really believe in the candid, documentary approach— I don’t always want to see the photographer’s heavy hand in the photo.”  

Editor’s Note: I first spoke with Amy Touchette in early May, on a weekday when major news headlines were nuanced and predictable. The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and continued outrage among progressives over the leaked SCOTUS draft overturning Roe headlined the day’s top stories. Amy and I discussed her two-decades-long career of street photography— including thousands of pictures, numerous awards and exhibitions, a poker-sized deck of playing cards, and a recently published monograph. We also discussed the 9/11 terrorist attacks and how the event impacted her personal life and career trajectory. Two weeks later, as I was finishing this feature, the breaking news of the terrorist attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX began to circulate. Sad and angry at the things I alone can’t resolve, I stopped writing and began to consume as many of the grim details as I could stomach. When the photos of the young victims began to surface, I was suddenly reminded of our conversation and the visceral weight a picture can carry. Photographs are records of human mortality. Beneath the surfaces of the images of the children, lie the complexities of our existence. 

Amy’s pictures are evocative of the moments that shape our lives— and forever remind us of the sanctity of being alive. When I look back through Amy’s pictures, I can appreciate the good in humanity. The bold personalities she captures, the intimate moments between families and friends, and the personal ties within community. They remind me to never give up on humanity.