ArtLab Gowanus
The idea for the ArtLab was conceived over coffee with Andrea Parker, executive director of The Gowanus Canal Conservancy. The idea was a tranparent structure to symboize all the “making” that goes on in Gowanus behind closed doors. The structure would be designed to serve as a community creative space that focuses on the local landscape.
I worked with the GCC and a team of landscape architects to win a grant enabling the creation of the ArtLab. The $10,000 public grant was made possible by Brad Lander’s office and facilitated by Arts Gowanus. My role was to curate and coordinate a series of free art workshops in 2016 & 2017 with a focus on the surrounding landscape and including one I lead entitled “Reimagining the Gowanus Landscape With Collage”.
"ArtLab Gowanus is a popup structure on the Whole Foods Esplanade that hosts monthly site-specific free art workshops, taught by local artists. The “lab” is a steel-framed structure that provides flexible workspace for groups and individuals. By offering a space along the canal for site-specific art-making, this structure places value on different ways of seeing an often maligned water body and its surrounding neighborhood. It acts as a new lens along the Gowanus Canal, opening up opportunities for discovery through art and stewardship. It also serves as a transparent art studio to represent all the 'making' that goes on behind closed doors by thousands of artists, artisans, and fabricators in Gowanus."
