Gowanus Night Heron

How will artists reimagine a small acrylic box? See for yourself at Gowanus Open Studios, Oct. 16-17, 2021.

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What is the creative potential of an empty box? See how area artists answered this question in Case Study, the latest project from your friends at Gowanus Night Heron!

More than two dozen artists were invited to reimagine simple acrylic cases, and the results will be on view during Gowanus Open Studios, this Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, and Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021, from noon to 6 p.m. both days. The Case Study locations are as follows:

Case Study: Social Structure Treasure Island 183 Lorraine St. / GOS map location 108

Case Study: Faith, Healing, Feeling Shapeshifter Lab 18 Whitwell Pl. / GOS map location 49

Case Study: Organica/Gowanus Makeville Studio 125 8th St. / GOS map location 89

Case Study: Light and Obscurity Arts Gowanus Offices 540 President St. / GOS map location 43

A portion of Case Study sales will go to Arts Gowanus and Gowanus Mutual Aid.

If you can't make it to all four locations, no worries! Unsold Case Studies works will be on view at the Gowanus Open Studios closing party, 6:30-9:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 17, at the Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse at 165 2nd St. Participating artists: Natale Adgnot, Johanna Aenderl, Nora Evita Aresti, Tania L. Balan-Gaubert, Lauren Bierly, Emily Chiavelli, Jessica Dalrymple, Yvena Despagne, Valeria Divinorum, Miska Draskoczy, Keith Duquette, Arielle Jennings, K Haskell, Karen Mainenti, Hermann Mejia, Stephanie Norberg, Avani Patel,  Anne-Sophie H. Plume, Sean Qualls, Bonnie Ralston, John Richey, Rick Secen, Andrew Smenos, Sonjie Feliciano Solomon, Tamara Staples, Johnny Thornton, Marlene Weisman, and Kasia Zurek-Doule About: Gowanus Night Heron is an artist-run event collective committed to celebrating the community and creative spirit of Gowanus. Gowanus Night Heron was founded by artists Bonnie Ralston, Miska Draskoczy, and Kasia Zurek-Doule and held its inaugural event, a pop-up show on the banks of the canal, in early June.

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Gowanus Open Studios returns for its 25th year • Brooklyn Paper

Gowanus Open Studios is back this weekend for its 25th year, inviting Brooklyn’s art-loving public into galleries and studios for a weekend of fun.

Read all about Gowanus Open Studios and Gowanus Night Heron!

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Thanks to Time Out New York for including Gowanus Night Heron: Case Study on its list of best things to do in NYC this weekend!

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GOWANUS NIGHT HERON CASE STUDY: Trapped In Your Lie (polymer clay, cardboard, acrylic paint) The Monsters Series is inspired by the people and the things I have had to battle my entire life. I have spent a long time looking for a safe haven, a purpose for my life and a reason for wanting to live. I used to cry all the time and everyday I felt helpless and unworthy. Until I started painting and creating, I was able to take all my pain and channel it into my artwork. After creating this series, I realized, the challenges I had to deal with in life are no longer bad things, but became necessary for my life’s journey. I thought I would not survive those traumas but with art, I was able to work through the things that used to intimate me and I climbed out of my darkness. I faced every Monster that tried to bury me and I am no longer afraid of my past and I am not afraid of my future either. I smile now knowing that I am winning and life is not where I want it right now, but there is nothing in this world that can hold me captive anymore from living a happy and fruitful life. Yvena Despagne⁠ is a Haitian-American artists and art curator, based in New York City. She has a focus on working with emerging to mid-way career artists and highlighting their stories. She aims to encourage and provide opportunities for artists, who are interested in intercultural collaboration, dialogue and to indulge in culture. Yvena is also the Founder and Creative Director for Art x Ayiti, an online platform dedicated to highlighting and uplifting contemporary artists of Haitian descent and the Diaspora. Yvena is currently an Associate Curator at Arts Gowanus and Established Gallery, in Park Slope, Brooklyn where she curated her latest art show Dear Self: A Solo Exhibition by Mark Anthony Mcleod. Yvena continues to curate art exhibitions throughout Brooklyn, NY. Yvenadespagneart.com https://www.instagram.com/yvenadespagneart [email protected] All Case Study artist boxes are available to purchase for $150 at the Gowanus Open Studios event. Or email [email protected] for availability and sales info.

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GOWANUS NIGHT HERON CASE STUDY: Mini temple 2021 (dichroic & beveled glass, mirror, brass, copper foil, flux, and solder) Valeria Divinorum’s work specializes in stained-glass sculptural objects which she uses as a lens to experiment with the intangible properties of light. She has a deep interest in exploring the optical perception of space through traditional and new media techniques, creating dispersion of light into spectral components. Her practice embodies light, shadows, finding new forms relating to spatial interaction by the interpenetration of space into one single sculpture. A major theme in Valeria’s work is the human connection with nature and the organic expressions that emerge from that relationship. In flowers, fractal patterns appear and geometric compositions become apparent. Through these geometric patterns we can witness the perfect balance of life and creation in the spiraled recurrence of time and space. Valeria Divinorum is a Queens-based visual artist and architect with formal training in the school of Architecture in Buenos Aires. She has attended residencies in Argentina and the US and has created works for a variety of contexts including galleries, live performances and site-specific installations. She is currently an Adjunct Professor of New Media Art at LaGuardia Community College and teaches art workshops at BronxWorks Senior Center and public schools through Lehman College Art Gallery. Recent exhibitions include Gowanus Night Heron (BK, NY) Lumina (LIC, NY) Illusional (New York, NY) Paradise Palace (BK, NY), Rear Vision (Madrid, Spain), Bangkok Biennale (Bangkok, Thailand), The Holocenter, (LIC, NY) and Modern Love (New York, NY). She has created light-based sculptural installations at Chashama (New York, NY) The Plaxall Gallery (Queens, NY) Flux Factory (LIC, NY), The Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY) and others. In 2013, she started her research of the process of Tiffany technique and the principles of sacred geometry with her mentor, Andres Jacob at Taller Escuela del Sur in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Press for her work includes NY Post, Stir, 440 Gallery, Time Out NY, NY1.com, Glass Roots, among others. She has a passion for creating works for the public and with the public, to embrace connectedness and democratize art making for people in our community. valeriadivinorum.com https://www.instagram.com/valeriadivinorum/ [email protected] All Case Study artist boxes are available to purchase for $150 at the Gowanus Open Studios event. Or email [email protected] for availability and sales info.

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GOWANUS NIGHT HERON CASE STUDY: Pakét Study (glass bottle, fabric, beads, rhinestones, and sequins) Some things only name themselves after they are gone. Tania L. Balan-Gaubert is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist, curator, and writer whose work draws from her Haitian and American heritage to explore race, transnational identity, culture, and belonging through photography, mixed media, installation, and video. Guided by Haitian Vodou and African-based cultural traditions, Balan-Gaubert creates works that are caught between several realms. From the covertly racialized trope of the zombie figure in popular culture to the displacement of Black bodies from communities through systematic erasure, Balan-Gaubert combines personal stories, cultural symbols and signifiers, found and ready-made objects, spirituality and folklore with images and craft materials to construct hybrid works. Balan-Gaubert earned her MFA in Fine Arts from California College of the Arts in 2018 and her MA in African American Studies from Columbia University in 2012. She has exhibited in San Francisco at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), SOMArts Cultural Center, and in Brooklyn at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA), the CaribBEING House in residence at the Brooklyn Museum, and the Lefferts Historic House in Prospect Park. Balan-Gaubert is the co-founder of 5/5 Collective, a multimedia group dedicated to exploring Black(ness) as an idea, consciousness, reference, and embodied experience through space, language, and visual culture. https://www.instagram.com/tanialaure/ [email protected] All Case Study artist boxes are available to purchase for $150 at the Gowanus Open Studios event. Or email [email protected] for availability and sales info.

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GOWANUS NIGHT HERON CASE STUDY: Polypharmacy; Side Effects May Include (multimedia) Polypharmacy is part of a larger works entitled, Side Effects May Include,which is a photography-based installation, a ”pill" bedroom that explores disconnection between mental health and medication: specifically polypharmacy.  Following the suicide of my sister suffering from bi-polar, I collected the contents of her medicine cabinet. Pills in this project belonged to her. I wondered if the medications were responsible for her demise and this concern led me in a photographic exploration that ended with experiential artwork in the mind-set of activism. Tamara Staples is a multimedia artist. Her work has appeared in Harper’s Magazine, the New York Times, New York Magazine, Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, to name a few, and has been featured on NPR’s This American Life and CNN. Tamara is twice the recipient of a NYFA Grant, PDN self promotion award, the Bronze award from the 2014 Royal Photographic Society and is a fellow of The Rauschenberg Residency. She works and lives in Brooklyn. tamarastaplesfineartphotography.com https://www.instagram.com/tamarastaples/ [email protected] All Case Study artist boxes are available to purchase for $150 at the Gowanus Open Studios event. Or email [email protected] for availability and sales info.

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GOWANUS NIGHT HERON CASE STUDY: chrysalis (resin, mirrors, acrylic sheets, iridescent jewel, and LED light) Chrysalis is about the process of developing and the in-between states of being. Stephanie D. Norberg is a multi-disciplinary artist who works in drawing, painting, sculpture, installation and sound. Located in the heart of Brooklyn, she's inspired by urban architecture, geometry, and music. www.stephanienorberg.com https://www.instagram.com/stephanie_d_norberg/ https://www.instagram.com/stephanor/ [email protected] All Case Study artist boxes are available to purchase for $150 at the Gowanus Open Studios event. Or email [email protected] for availability and sales info.

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GOWANUS NIGHT HERON CASE STUDY: Inside Out (acrylic box, cement, wood) We’ve never focused on our homes as much as this past year, that’s for sure. At times confined in our spaces with small pods or family while we worked, played, studied and fell apart together. All. The. Time. Fortunately, freelance jobs got me out of my home and I was able to peek into scores of empty apartments and houses on the market in NYC. New Yorkers spend hours looking at house porn online but I got the real thing. The 10 year old me (who would buy and study floorplan magazines and spend hours drawing up my dream home by tracing the most interesting features) was in heaven! So when I received the clear plastic Case Study box, it immediately reminded me of a house - one of those boxy modernist houses with sheets of glass for walls and the inhabitants exposed like fish in a tank. Oftentimes these types of houses have unfinished concrete floors and walls. The interior of my tiny house is one piece of poured cement which I created in a very rough mold. On the wall, I hung a tiny painted wood carving representing my Lifeline series of wall sculptures. Brooklyn-based artist and designer Sonjie Feliciano Solomon earned her BFA in industrial design with honors from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BSBA in marketing from Georgetown University. Currently she works in exhibition design at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Sonjie's practice centers around material investigations and creating process-based work. Her paintings and textile sculptures have appeared in solo and group shows at The Curator Gallery, Causey Contemporary, Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, the Honolulu Museum of Art, Nancy Margolis Gallery, Longwood Art Gallery, Bridge Gallery, New Art Center, Art ASIA fair, Cheongju International Biennale, Daegu International Textile Show, Gwangju Biennial. Sonjie received a 2010 Urban Artist Initiative/NYC Fellowship and enjoyed a residency at the Vermont Studio Center. Montefiore Hospital, Northwestern University Medical Campus, Hotel Indigo and private collectors have commissioned work by Sonjie for their collections. www.sonjie.com https://www.instagram.com/sonjiebk/ [email protected] All Case Study artist boxes are available to purchase for $150 at the Gowanus Open Studios event. Or email [email protected] for availability and sales info.

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GOWANUS NIGHT HERON CASE STUDY: The God Box #1 (acrylic, paper, newspaper, pencil, and mirror paper) The inspiration behind the God Box is a literal interpretation of the idea that we were created in the image of God. If this is true, then God may appear different to everyone. The God Box is a tool of self reflection, so that one may see themselves when contemplating the existence/nature of God. Sean Quall's work explores unknown, obscure and forgotten people/moments from history and mythology, combined with his love of vintage advertising graphics. His work also examines our relationship to perfectionism and our self concept. With his recent geometric paintings, Sean hopes to reveal how idiosyncrasies and imperfections make people and things more attractive, not less. Sean is also a highly sought-after illustrator and has created art for books by Spike Lee, Toni Morrison and Zindzi Mandela to name a few. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY where on occasion you can also find him djing or sharing his work with the community. SeanQualls.com https://www.instagram.com/sean_qualls/ [email protected] All Case Study artist boxes are available to purchase for $150 at the Gowanus Open Studios event. Or email [email protected] for availability and sales info.

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GOWANUS NIGHT HERON CASE STUDY: Balance Under the Bridge (acrylic on wood and paper) With the prompt of a case study, I wanted to create a little world to peer into.   Rick Secen is an oil painter. [email protected] All Case Study artist boxes are available to purchase for $150 at the Gowanus Open Studios event. Or email [email protected] for availability and sales info.

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GOWANUS NIGHT HERON CASE STUDY: Its a Dog Eat Dog World (paper collage) My work is fundamentally autobiographical. I am currently in school to become a librarian and found book covers that were free to the public at a library that I visited for a field study. I refer to my work as “Urgency Art:” work that embodies a sense of urgency, despair, and frustration. I liken my art to this phrase because my process is not clear and often works are created in a hasteful manner because of this mental obstruction. This piece encapsulates a feeling of longing, geography,  history and childlike wonder. Nora Evita Aresti is a New Jersey native currently residing in Peekskill, New York. She discovered her love of photography while studying at William Paterson University where she received her BFA. She began to explore the woods surrounding her school and take pictures of herself in front of mirrors she found left behind. Aresti uses the theme of nature in her work alluding to transformation, adaptation, and the art of evolving. She is a conceptual artist and works with ceramics, paints, and draws. After a 2016 accident, she found herself struggling with chronic pain. Problems with her back and hands left her unable to complete everyday tasks and this jeopardized her artistry, but her profound love for the outdoors brought her comfort and renewed vision. noraevitaaresti.com https://www.instagram.com/theconceptualself/ [email protected] All Case Study artist boxes are available to purchase for $150 at the Gowanus Open Studios event. Or email [email protected] for availability and sales info.

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GOWANUS NIGHT HERON CASE STUDY: Quill Curio 2021 (acrylic paint and enamel on thermoplastic mounted in acrylic box 4" x 8" x 4") This piece is an offshoot of my series of black and white wall sculptures called Drawings in Three Dimensions. Though sharp and menacing when shielding an animal who is on the defense, the quill is far more dangerous when applied to the page. Natale Adgnot is an American-French artist whose graphic compositions blur the line between drawing and sculpture. Alternating between grayscale and colorful palettes, she converts abstract line drawings into wall sculptures made of thermoplastic on panel, inviting interpretation by the viewer like seeing shapes in clouds. Adgnot earned a BFA in graphic design in Texas and studied fashion in Paris. Her experience making garments by hand for haute couture runways eventually led her to focus on sculpture. While living in Tokyo, she began using thermoplastic to work three-dimensionally. Adgnot has been featured in solo exhibitions in Tokyo and New York. Recent group shows include “Black & White” at BWAC (juried by Jenée-Daria Strand, Curatorial Assistant for the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum) where she won an award, as well as TART, curated by Lisa Wirth and Marly Hammer (co-founders of Work in Progress Ventures). She lives and works in New Paltz and Brooklyn. nataleadgnot.com https://www.instagram.com/natale_adgnot/ [email protected] All Case Study artist boxes are available to purchase for $150 at the Gowanus Open Studios event. Or email [email protected] for availability and sales info.

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GOWANUS NIGHT HERON CASE STUDY: Gowanus Street Medley (found objects, locally sourced native wildflowers, velvet board, mylar) On a full length walk of Gowanus, one finds many treasures strewn about, left to rust, rot or wash away. From this industrial mat sprouts an improbable shock of colorful wildflower, bound to velvet night by a mylar wind. Suspended between are marine dreams of the great schools returning, lured and caught by surfaces brightly painted. As an avid outdoorsman living in the big city, Miska Draskoczy’s photography often investigates the overlap between the man-made and natural worlds. His photography has been widely exhibited in the US and abroad and is the recipient of numerous awards. His urban wilderness series, Gowanus Wild, was published as a photobook in conjunction with the Gowanus Canal Conservancy and has been exhibited as a solo show at The Brooklyn Public Library and various galleries as well as in group shows such as THE FENCE at PHOTOVILLE. His work has been featured in the press by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Time Out, Hyperallergic, Brooklyn Magazine and many others as well as collected by institutions such as the Brooklyn Public Library, MoMA Library, Tufts University, and the Fitchburg Art Museum. Miska is also a co-founder of Gowanus Night Heron, an artist run event collective committed to producing group art happenings that engage both artists and the public in unique and unusual ways. miskadraskoczy.com https://www.instagram.com/miskamagic/ [email protected]

All Case Study artist boxes are available to purchase for $150 at the Gowanus Open Studios event. Or email [email protected] for availability and sales info.

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GOWANUS NIGHT HERON CASE STUDY: The Winking Plastic Psychedelic Award Experience (upcycled trophy, 3D lenticular plastic, found objects, crystals, paper) Accept your award while expanding your mind in this shimmering, glimmering, upcycled plastic 3D world—where your achievement has wings. Joseph Cornell meets Verner Panton. And remember, it’s bigger on the inside. Marlene Weisman is a visual artist & graphic designer based in Brooklyn, NY. Now working out of her newest studio space at TI Art Studios, (located on the edge of Gowanus/Red Hook), she is known for her work in collage, assemblage, and Xerox transfer art. She will be participating in Gowanus Open Studios 2021, where she will be spotlighting her ongoing experimental work combining 3D lenticular material with traditional collage. Her work has been exhibited in a variety of venues, including the Museum of Modern Art, Islip Art Museum, BRIC Media House, Brooklyn Public Library, and several local galleries. marleneweisman.com https://www.instagram.com/marleneweisman [email protected]

All Case Study artist boxes are available to purchase for $150 at the Gowanus Open Studios event. Or email [email protected] for availability and sales info.

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GOWANUS NIGHT HERON CASE STUDY: Consciousness (acrylic on plexiglas) “Consciousness” is a letter-by-letter Color Translation of the same word into windows of color. Depending on the environment and your perspective, the color mixture is never the same.  How does your subjective experience of this box differ from others’? Maybe “The aim is to explain why redness isn’t like blueness or pain” (‘The hard problem of consciousness is already beginning to dissolve,’ Anil Seth, September 2021, New Scientist). My artwork is rooted in phenomenology and informed by ecology, language and architecture. As a synaesthete, I’m interested in the intersection of sensory languages—like color perception, sound recognition, time sensing—and how these sensory vocabularies shape our subjective experience of identity and place. Lauren Alyssa Bierly is an interdisciplinary artist with over ten years exhibition management experience in contemporary art and fashion. Bierly has exhibited in New York City, Oregon, Kolkata, India and Moscow, Russia. She was artist-in-residence at Playa Art + Science (2020); chaNorth Residency (2018); Starry Night (2017); Panoply Performance Lab (2016) and Trestle Art Space (2015). She was a member of collective Incredible Witness from 2015 to 2017, and has been a regular participant of the University of Sussex’s ongoing research on Synesthesia since 2013. Bierly has participated on artist panels; lectured for undergraduate art courses; and been a guest studio critic for various organizations. She earned a Bachelor of Architecture and minor in Art History from Pennsylvania State University (2009) and MA in Modern Art, Connoisseurship, and History of the Art Market from Christie’s Education (2010). laurenbierly.com https://www.instagram.com/lbierly/ [email protected] All Case Study artist boxes are available to purchase for $150 at the Gowanus Open Studios event. Or email [email protected] for availability and sales info.

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GOWANUS NIGHT HERON CASE STUDY: Card Catalog Creation (Case Study) (paper: Brooklyn Museum Libraries Catalog Cards) I worked in library preservation at the Brooklyn Museum Libraries and Archives for over 30 years. One day, I felt compelled to create a miniature house made of retired library catalog cards. I found the card stock to be quite satisfying to fold and glue. This led to the construction of a series of miniature catalog card book-filled bookshelves, which were used for fundraising for the museum’s libraries. Eventually, I started to construct tables, chairs and plants, etc. that now comprise the miniature paper sculptures, which lead to the creation of my Card Catalog Creations online shop. Card Catalog Creations are unique, recycled, handcrafted, miniature reading nooks made out of retired library catalog cards. These domestic room-scapes are mounted on a rigid catalog card featuring a book-filled shelf, a chair, a table, and perhaps a plant or two creating a lovely literary tableau. Perfect for book lovers and lovers of miniatures. My “Gowanus Night Heron: Case Study” construction is a larger version of the usual 3” x 5” individual catalog card platform, but it inhabits the same spirit as the creations you will find at my online shop. Keith DuQuette is an artist and craftsperson who lives and creates in Brooklyn, New York. cardcatalogcreations.com All Case Study artist boxes are available to purchase for $150 at the Gowanus Open Studios event. Or email [email protected] for availability and sales info.