BWAC returns for annual spring art exhibition in Red Hook

Gallery will host exhibit that raises funds for Ukraine refugees

April 27, 2022 Jaime DeJesus, Brooklynreporter.com

Sandra Giunta, “Coral Memories-11”; clay. Photos courtesy of BWAC

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The Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC) has returned with its annual art exhibition for the season at its historic gallery space at 481 Van Brunt St. in Red Hook.

The exhibition opens on Saturday, April 30 with an opening reception. It will run until Sunday, June 5 from 1-6 p.m.

BWAC is a volunteer artist-run gallery with around 150 members.

The gallery has been closed for four months over the winter, and artists are ready for the reopening this weekend.

BWAC Co-President Alicia Degener is excited about the return of the annual event.

“We started spring cleaning and hanging all the shows this past March and April,” she said. “BWAC has a strong sense of pride and community like an extended family. Everyone is very proud of our beautiful enormous space and all the new artwork that has been created over the winter break. We are all super happy to be together in the gallery again and can’t wait to reopen this weekend.”

Nora Aresti, “Ashokan Reservoir, Where
NYC Gets Its Drinking Water,” acrylic on canvas.

The BWAC spring exhibitions include drawings, paintings, sculpture, photography, installations and more.

This year’s exhibitions include “The Elements,” “Sky Earth Sea,” “Art and Artists for Ukraine,” and “The Brooklyn Watercolor Society.”

The Elements gathers contemporary working artists for a reappraisal of our relationship to the world. It is an investigation of the nitty-gritty of existence as manifest in its ancient essentials: Water, Earth, Fire, Wind and Sky.

The juror is Scout Hutchinson, a curatorial fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Sky Earth Sea is a companion exhibit that features the work of BWAC members. As the world continues to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, artists express their emotions on where we are now, in relation to our surroundings.

With Art and Artists for Ukraine, BWAC is partnering with Gap Inc. to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees with a special exhibition. Proceeds of sales from the exhibition will go to the USA for UNHCR fund established by the United Nations to support refugee families. Also, Gap Inc. will match the sales.

The Brooklyn Watercolor Society is a special exhibition featuring a wide variety of watercolor techniques being presented by The Brooklyn Watercolor Society.

BWAC, housed in a Civil War-era warehouse on the Red Hook waterfront, is an artist-run organization founded in 1978 by 16 artists.

For more information, visit bwac.org.