Outer Brooklyn – Brooklyn Artisan

More than just Halloween : : Joy’s best of Brooklyn for October 26, 27, 28

October 24, 2012 by Joy Makon Leave a Comment

Learn to sew, work with glass, get your bike repaired and sample homebrews

Ongoing through Sunday: Passport to Prospect Heights. Yelp is promoting numerous specials and events for locally-owned businesses in the nabe; check the Yelp site.

Kimchi Taco Truck makes the rounds
at the Parade Grounds.

Saturday and Sunday: Food Trucks at Prospect Park’s Parade Grounds. A rotating selection from Gorilla Cheese NYC, Kimchi Taco Truck, Mud Truck, Snap Truck, Toum Truck. “Reward your kid for a soccer game well played with an artisanal grilled cheese.” Ok. Through November 17. 8am-5pm.

Saturday and Sunday: Stained Glass Weekend at UrbanGlass, Brooklyn’s resource for aspiring and established artists to create with glass. This is a two-day beginner’s class to explore the fundamentals of cutting, copper foiling and soldering. Park Slope. 12pm-5pm, both days.

Outer Brooklyn Friday: Rubin Museum of Art. New and ongoing exhibitions of art of Himalayan Asia in a beautiful space. Friday events include: the K2 Lounge—light dining, drinks and entertainment by music stylist Kamala, and a screening of classic The 400 Blows by François Truffaut, introduced by author Annette Insdorf. At least one Brooklyn Artisan’s spouse is going to this one. Chelsea, Manhattan. Free admission 6pm-10 pm.

Saturday: Brooklyn Wort—Brooklyn’s Homebrew Competition. 25 brewers, one location, the public decides. Sponsored by Park Slope’s Brooklyn Homebrew, and Ditmas Park’s Sycamore. Event is held at Public Assembly, a former mayonnaise factory in Williamsburg. Tastings at 2pm and 4pm.

Saturday: The Art of Fashion Illustration: Antonio Lopez. A talk and exhibit about the 70s and 80s fashion illustrator. Guaranteed to contain fashion, art, sex and disco. The Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library, Dweck Center. 4pm

Artist Richard Eagan is inspiration
for a children’s workshop at 440 Gallery. (courtesy 440 Gallery)

Saturday: Sew Your Own Burlesque Dancer Halloween Costume. A class to learn how to use a sewing machine, hand sew, and “vamp up”. At Film Biz Recycling & Prop Shop, Gowanus. Sponsored by Brooklyn Brewery. 2:30pm-5:30pm.

Good for Families Sunday: Young Artists @ 440: Coney Island Amusements. A free, hands-on art workshop for children ages 4 to 12. Inspired by the current exhibition at 440 Gallery Art of the Coney Island Hysterical Society featuring work by Richard Eagan and Philomena Marano. Park Slope. 4:40pm-6:00pm.

Green-Wood Cemetery late October
walking tour. (photo ©all rights reserved, Green-Wood Cemetery)

Sunday: Free Bike Repair courtesy of Occupy Wall Street Bike Coalition. Prospect Park north entrance. 2pm-7pm

Sunday: The Annual Late October Walking Tour, Green-Wood Cemetery. Tales of murder, mayhem, spirits and ghosts led by Green-Wood historian Jeff Richman. Very popular, purchase tickets in advance. Two tours: 1pm and 3pm.

Sunday: Made in DUMBO Walking Tour. Given by Made in Brooklyn Tours—guided walking tours that tell the story of Brooklyn’s industrial revolution and revival through the creativity, ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit of Brooklynites past and present. 1:30pm.

Laugh: The Hipster Song. Maybe it applies to you, maybe it doesn’t. We hope it makes you smile.

Joy Makon curates Brooklyn Artisan’s Craft & Design coverage and creates the weekend to-do lists.
Send items for listings to brooklynartisan@joymakondesign.com

Filed Under: Craft/Design, Food/Drink, Galleries, Handmade, Method/Materials, museums, Outer Brooklyn, Uncategorized, Winery, brewery, distiller Tagged With: 440 Gallery, Antonio Lopez, Brooklyn brewery, Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Wort, Ditmas Park, DUMBO, Film Biz Recycling & Prop Shop, food truck, Green-Wood Cemetery, Himalayan Asia, homebrew, Jeff Richman, Kimchi Taco Truck, locally owned, outer Brooklyn, Parade Ground, Philomena Marano, Prospect Heights, Prospect Park, Public Assembly, Richard Eagan, Rubin Museum, Sycamore, The Hipster Song, UrbanGlass, walking tour

Brooklyn Makers at Martha Stewart’s American Made Show

October 20, 2012 by Anne Mollegen Smith 1 Comment

THE DETAILS: A huge American Made sign in Grand Central Station gets
a going-over by Brooklyn Artisan inspectors. (Photos for BA/Mollie Ann Smith)

MY FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE UNDERGROUND BUZZ about Martha Stewart’s big Grand Central Station event is literally that – underground: in the food court, where I am buying a quick chicken caesar. Something (the Brooklyn Artisan tote bag over my shoulder?) must’ve tipped off Maria who is taking food orders at Tri Tip.

Martha Stewart's American Made was a big event for Maria, working at Tri Tip.

In the food court, Maria is excited that Martha Stewart’s upstairs.

“Have you been up to the Martha Stewart exhibit? It’s really fun,” she confides. “I made a key chain and I’m going back after my shift to make a necklace.” Usually she knits or crochets, but she says she has gotten a bunch of new ideas from the show. No, Maria didn’t see Martha Stewart in person, but to know she was there was…a good thing.

Up in Vanderbilt Hall, one long line snakes around to the silkscreening of custom tote bags, another waits on the food tastings, and a third crowd will attend the next class session in a screened off area behind the silver Toyota. Toyota, Westin Hotels, and JCP (as in James Cash Penny) are among the event sponsors. The craft tables are on the eastern side of the hall along with the UPS and Avery sponsor/information tables.

Foxy & Winston towels designed by Jane Buck, Red Hook, Brooklyn

Brooklyn’s Red Hook is the creative home of Jane Buck’s whimsical designs. (BA photo: Joy Makon)

Brooklyn is well represented at the craft tables. Red Hook’s Foxy & Winston display, for instance, shows tea towels, children’s aprons, pillow covers, wispy neck scarves, and letterpress cards printed with whimsical designs by Jane Buck: artichokes, hedgehogs, paddleboats, tugboats, peacocks.

Jane tells us her designs are printed in India on Indian cotton, and then the bolts are cut and the pieces sewn in the USA. She herself is an import, she mentions. As an art history and fashion student in London for five years, she was making a living by waiting tables. She met and was courted by a New Zealander. When his English visa ran out, he had to go home, and the closest spot to her he could find to live was New York. He is a wine importer. They traveled back and forth and then made the leap: 13 years ago on October 1, they were married in Central Park. It’s a love story that stretches halfway round the world and ends up in Brooklyn.

Jane Buck set up her design studio in Red Hook and opened a little retail area in the front. Now through that store and other outlets, her business has enough volume for her to afford an assistant three days a week. “Before that,” she says, laughing, “‘I’d be working in the back and when someone came in, I’d have to pop out from behind the curtain: ‘Hello, may I help you?'” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Craft/Design, Handmade, Innovation, Look, Outer Brooklyn, Uncategorized Tagged With: Avery Dennison, Brooklyn Artisan tote bag, com, enormouschallenge, Etsy.com, Foxy & Winston, Grand Central Station, JCP sponsorship, Martha Stewart American Made, Toyota, UPS sponsor, www.vintagebycrystal.com

Joy’s Best of Brooklyn for October 19, 20, 21

October 17, 2012 by Joy Makon Leave a Comment

♥ Walking tours that help you work off the eating

Friday: Launch party for Widow Jane Whiskey, a single barrel bourbon. Cocktails, BBQ, Live Bluegrass music, whiskey distillation and white lightning from the still. At Cacao Prieto Distillery & Chocolate Factory, Red Hook. 7pm-10pm.

Friday: Celebrate Cider Week NY with Cheese and Cider at BKLYN Larder. Demo by Eve’s Cidery plus cheese and cider pairings. Park Slope. 5pm-8pm.

Saturday & Sunday: Electronic Waste Recycling in Brooklyn, sponsored by the Lower East Side Ecology Center
• Saturday: Flatbush Food Coop, Cortelyou Road, Flatbush. 10am-4pm.
• Sunday: PS29 at Baltic Street, Cobble Hill. 10am-4pm.

Painting by Frangiou Fotini,
BWAC, this weekend.

Saturday & Sunday: Last weekend for Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC) Affordable Art Auction. Red Hook. Silent auction until 4pm each day. Winners can take art home by 6pm.

Saturday: Events in Bed-Stuy:
♥ Brownstoners of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Inc. 34th annual House Tour. Self-guided tour from 11am-4pm.
• Bed-Stuy Bazaar featuring merchandise from Fulton Arts Fair members. 10:30am-3:30pm.
♥ BeSAA 9th Annual Studio Strut. Self-guided tour of local artists in their studios, homes, galleries and area businesses. 3pm-7pm

Saturday: Prospect Park Food Truck Rally. To date, 16 trucks including: Bongo Brothers, Cupcake Crew, Eddies Pizza, Green Pirate, Kimchi Taco Truck, Mexicue, Milk Truck, Nuchas, Phil’s Steaks, Red Hook Lobster, Rickshaw Truck, Schnitzel & Things, Souvlaki GR , Taïm Mobile, Wafels & Dinges. Sponsored by Prospect Park Alliance and the NYC Food Truck Association. Grand Army Plaza. 11am-5pm.

Brownstones in Bed-Stuy and mansions in Bay Ridge will be part of walking tours on Saturday. (Photo courtesy
of the Historic Districts Council.)

♥ Saturday: Bay Ridge walking tour led by Victoria Hofmo, founder of the Bay Ridge Conservancy. The tour focuses on some of the neighborhood’s most pressing preservation priorities. 10am

Saturday: 2nd annual Tastes of Brooklyn. Top Brooklyn chefs partner with farmers and seeds in the middle of the Greenmarket at Borough Hall. 11:30am-3pm.

Sunday: 3rd annual Havemeyer Sugar Sweets Festival. All-donation bake sale and baking competition to raise funds for The City Reliquary museum and civic organization. Baking Smackdown schedule: The most decadent vegan, 11am. Best fall-flavored treat, 12pm. Best sweet slice, 1pm. Best booze-infused, 2pm. Best In Show, 3pm. Williamsburg, 10am-4pm.

Sunday: Pickling Canning Workshop, one of a series of classes in practicing the skills of sustainable living. Everyone who attends will get a jar of something to bring home. Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, Park Slope. 1pm-3pm.

At MAD: Basket. Jeremy Frey, 2011. (Image copyright
©2012 Ari Plosker, all rights reserved)

Sunday: 3rd annual MAC-OFF, a no-holds-barred competition to find the best version of the All-American classic macaroni and cheese. With complementary Ommegang BPA. Huckleberrybar, Williamsburg. 5pm-8pm.

Sunday in Outer Brooklyn: Closing day for Changing Hands, Art Without Reservation 3. Contemporary Native North American Art from the Northeast and Southeast. Museum of Art and Design. “MAD” explores the blur zone between art, design, and craft today. MAD’s history of honoring the relationship between materials and maker is evident in their architecturally-fascinating space at Columbus Circle. Manhattan. 11am-6pm.

Joy Makon curates Brooklyn Artisan’s Craft & Design coverage and creates the weekend to-do lists.
Send items for listings to brooklynartisan@joymakondesign.com

Filed Under: Architecture, Community, Craft/Design, Food/Drink, Galleries, Guilds/Fairs, museums, Outer Brooklyn, Uncategorized, urban planning, Winery, brewery, distiller Tagged With: affordable art, Bay Ridge, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bongo Brothers, Borough Hall, Brooklyn, BWAC, Columbus Circle, conservancy, Cupcake Crew, Eddies Pizza, electronic waste recycling, Ethical Culture, Flatbush, food coop, food truck, Green Pirate, greenmarket, Kimchi Taco Truck, Mexicue, Milk Truck, Nuchas, Park Slope, Phil’s Steaks, Prospect Park, Red Hook, Red Hook Lobster, Rickshaw Truck, Schnitzel & Things, Souvlaki GR, Taïm Mobile, to do, Wafels & Dinges, walking tour, weekend, Williamsburg

Boston-NYC Food Truck Throwdown: And the winner is….

October 17, 2012 by Guest Blogger Leave a Comment

by John J. Kochevar

THERE ARE 3000 FOOD TRUCKS IN THE NAKED CITY – 3000 permit-carrying food trucks, that is, and countless illegals. Last Saturday seven of New York’s finest rumbled north to go dumpling to dumpling with seven of Boston’s best in the first annual NYC- Boston Food Truck Throw-Down. Food trucks, long time purveyors to construction workers and late evening drunks, have become an obsession of the food focused. My assignment was to be Brooklyn Artisan’s taster on record and to plumb the sources of this, to me, unlikely fashion trend. Never mind that my last experience with New York Street food was a dirty-water hot dog on East 28thStreet in 1972. It was a sunny, cold day, a fitting start to the eating season.

Wafels and Dinges puts on quite a show making the Belgian waffles.
(Photos for Brooklyn Artisan by John J. Kochevar)

Boston was definitely the underdog. Long smothered under a deep rooted puritanical impulse we came late to the food-truck fashion parade. Still, I had hopes that our scrappy innovators and home-town spirit would give us a modest advantage. Boston had several contenders: Staff Meal, chef-driven foodie enthusiasms; Roxy’s, a grilled cheese specialist; Lobsta Love, cheap lobster on good rolls; Kickass Cupcakes, name says it all. In the other corner, New York fielded a more conventional lineup: Mike N Willies tacos; Fishing Shrimp, a chipper; Wafels and Dinges, Belgian waffles, etc.

I show up at 3:00 hoping to miss the lunchtime rush. But the social media elves had been busy. Huge, long lines snaked from each truck. The fans were mostly young, chatting, talking on their phones, texting, eternally texting. My calls, “Anyone here from New York?,” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Food/Drink, Outer Brooklyn, Uncategorized Tagged With: Boston-NY Throwdown, brooklyn artisan, food truck, food truck throwdown, gourmet food truck, jetBlue sponsored, lobsta, Staff Meal

The Littlest Makers at Maker Faire

October 13, 2012 by Bruce Campbell 1 Comment

FOR A MOVEMENT THAT THE ECONOMIST magazine has declared may “herald a new industrial revolution,” there appears to be an inordinate amount of fun in the maker world, at least in the examples on view at the recent World Maker Faire 2012. Apart from the rolling cupcake-mobiles and the explosive “science” involving Diet Coke and Mentos, there were robots dancing Gangnam Style, a range of steampunk gadgetry and clothing, and a large number of—not to put too fine a point on it—toys.

Play appears to be a central value for makers, for many it may be a blast of fresh air from the spreadsheets and word processors of “adult” worklife. Get in your garage, create a robot or an autonomous helicopter, assemble a music machine that uses sunlight to generate music, put some flashing lights on your t-shirt that advertise your heartbeat. Why not?

Robot makers engineering the future at the booth of Brooklyn Robot Foundry.

In fact, of the many perspectives on fun at Maker Faire, the one from sub-four-feet was ever-intriguing, as thousands of children can attest. Brooklyn Robot Foundry was a substantial presence at Maker Faire, winning two Educator Awards, [Read more…]

Filed Under: Craft/Design, Encore, Guilds/Fairs, Handmade, Outer Brooklyn Tagged With: afterschool, Brooklyn, computers, crafts, festivals, hacker, kids, maker, robots

Food Truck Throwdown: New York vs. Boston

October 12, 2012 by Guest Blogger Leave a Comment

Nine of New York’s finest food trucks headed to Boston on Saturday, October 13, for a historic mash-up with the best Boston can offer. Brooklyn Artisan’s report will follow – watch this space.

Dewey Square, 11:00 am to 9:00 pm, was the locale. Dewey Square is a large open plaza next to Boston’s South Station.

John J. Kochevar is Brooklyn Artisan’s Occasional Correspondent from Boston.

Filed Under: Food/Drink, Outer Brooklyn, Uncategorized

The Picks of Brooklyn: To Do List for October 5, 6, 7

October 3, 2012 by Joy Makon Leave a Comment

Saturday & Sunday:
Open House New York, multiple sites all weekend, many require reservations. Some Brooklyn picks:

• Green-Wood Cemetery tour of 478 picturesque acres including rare access to several family mausoleums.

• Great for families: Lefferts History House: Sweet & Savory Treats from Mrs. Lefferts Cookbook, circa 1800. Prospect Park.

• Kings County Distillery Tour, tour the new home of NYC’s oldest operating whiskey distillery. Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Saturday: Brooklyn Yarn Crawl & Oktoberfest, sponsored by NYC Pints ‘n’ Purls meetup. Four Brooklyn locations, plus an optional stop at the Kings County Fiber Arts Festival at the Old Stone House. “This shindig runs all day on Saturday.”

Saturday: Brooklyn Museum, Target First Saturday. Brooklyn artist Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe paintings, music, entertainment. Free.

Sunday: Gala Gala Hey! Festival, an apple festival featuring Pie Stand, a cliche-busting pastry academy. Free classes about apples and pie making, treats (brandied apple cardamom pie, JK Scrumpy‘s Farmhouse Organic Cider Duche de Longueville) plus square dancing. At The Drink, Williamsburg.

New: A. L. Coluccio, a new storefront in Bay Ridge, following in the Coluccio family tradition of Italian food importing. Groceries, baked goods, cheeses, cured meats, including several Brooklyn suppliers like Brooklyn Cured sausages and fresh pizza dough from DiFara. Yum!

Read: Dark Rye Tumblr An online magazine from Whole Foods Market.

Filed Under: Community, Craft/Design, Food/Drink, Guilds/Fairs, Outer Brooklyn, Uncategorized Tagged With: Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Fiber Arts, First Saturday, Green-Wood Cemetery, Kings County, meetup, October 5, October 6, October 7, Oktoberfest, Old Stone House, Pie Stand, Pints 'n' Purls, this weekend, to do, Williamsburg

Maker Faire Exploding (in the Good Sense)

October 3, 2012 by Anne Mollegen Smith 4 Comments

Faire Marketing Director Bridgette Vanderlaan just gave Brooklyn Artisan the official attendance count: An astonishing 55,000 people visited World Maker Faire/New York in Queens last weekend, a stunning 57% growth over last year. With 650 vendors this time, the vitality of the event is clear. See Brooklyn Artisan Contributor Bruce Campbell’s reports, Making Space for Makers in Brooklyn and Brooklyn Makes It…to Queens at World Maker Faire 2012. (Remember to come back – he has more good stuff to report.)

Also see Joanna Beltowska‘s report on the packed-auditorium talks by “Seth Godin, and Chris Anderson, both authors and entrepreneurs, the latter also editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and co-founder of robotic manufacturing company 3D Robotics,” she writes. “Anderson is accompanied by Bre Pettis , co-founder and CEO of MakerBot Industries; the two are giving a talk on how the Maker Movement, and 3-D printing in particular, might spark a new age of manufacturing in the US.” Provocative phrase of the day: “the democratization of creation.”

Filed Under: Craft/Design, Guilds/Fairs, Innovation, Manufacturing, Method/Materials, Outer Brooklyn, Uncategorized Tagged With: brooklyn artisan, Maker Faire

October 1 Already? (One Camera’s Eye on Coney Island)

October 1, 2012 by Joy Makon 1 Comment

I don’t want summer to end just yet. Here’s a photo-recap from today’s trip to Coney Island.

A lot of work has gone into updating Coney’s image.
Very evident this season on the boardwalk and somewhat on the nearby avenues.

Art at the Aquarium. Bottom: The First Symphony of the Sea, by Toshio Sasaki, 1991.
Cast concrete terrazzo and ceramic tile. Commissioned by the
Department of Cultural Affairs, Percent for Art Program.

: Old and new contrasts. Will anyone ever do anything with this old bathhouse
structure? Bottom right: My Coney Island Baby, by Robert Wilson, 2003.
Silk-screened glass brick. Commissioned by the MTA Arts for Transit.