Bay Ridge Through an Ecological Lens

A Public Art Exhibtion

Opening April 15, 2023 April 15 – June 17

Curated by Jennifer McGregor

Hosted by Stand4 Gallery

In Spring of 2023 Stand4 Gallery will host the multi-faceted project, Bay Ridge Through an Ecological Lens,curated by Jennifer McGregor and presented in collaboration with ecoartspace. This interactive, public, community arts exhibition will feature artists from the New York area and consist of nature walks and community interventions in the gallery and in various locations throughout the neighborhood. Our fundraising will go directly towards artist and curator stipends, stipends for other cultural partners, performances, community guides, marketing and logistics.

New York curator and arts planner, Jennifer McGregor brings deep expertise in the areas of art, ecology, gardens, public engagement and placemaking. McGregor’s visionary thinking combined with a realistic approach is key to projects that engage communities, diverse sites, and multiple art forms. She led Wave Hill’s place-based, ecologically oriented programming for many years prior to working independently. She writes and speaks regularly about public and environmental art.

Artists have been selected to design projects that highlight environmental issues that are relevant to Bay Ridge for this community intervention. They are currently conducting site visits to determine their projects and interventions. Artists were also selected for their knowledge and skills in social practice and ecology.

Below are the artists and the work proposed by the artists:

Kate Dodd– will present The Bay Ridge Tree Collection to honor and preserve the street trees of Bay Ridge. Dodd’s project was designed to increase awareness of the impact climate change has on neighborhood streetscapes, and therefore on community residents and their health, through participation in a site-specific installation at the Bay Ridge Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. The installation by Dodd will include a collaborative art project and be on view in the lobby of the library. Kate was awarded a $1000 grant from Design Trust for Public Space for this specific project.
Aaron Asis– will interpret and pull out the history of underappreciated spaces within the community to highlight its lost history. These images will be brought into the public space to be used for education and discussion.
Chris Costan– will create paintings with text to inform the public about environmental issues. These works will be placed in storefronts throughout the community for people to discover.
E.J. McAdams– in collaboration with Jimbo Blachly will lead a haiku hike through Owls’ Head Park. E.J. wrote the historical sign for Owl’s Head park in Bay Ridge when he was a park ranger 20 years ago. Their hike will conclude with a tea ceremony in The Narrows Botanical Garden with our friends, Tea Arts Culture. The poems will be on view at Stand4 Gallery during the exhibition.
Sergey Jiveten– will present a version of Furrow for Bay Ridge by conducting a workshop asking people to bring him a seed along with the story of their connection to the seed. He will etch their portrait into the seed during the conversation to give the participant a voice and to make a connection with his collaborators.
Nikki Lindt– The Underground Sound Project, Bay Ridge; Within the Upper Bay is an interdisciplinary project connecting you to the sounds of the waters in the Upper Bay. The underwater acoustics recorded in these waters can be accessed on your personal device via the QR code below or at Stand4 Gallery. Site: Veteran’s Memorial Pier at 69th St. and Sore Road. Nikki recently interviewed with CBS This Morning and NPR to describe her practice.
Rita Leduc– Field Marks are environmental collaborations that explore thresholds across various domains. Each Field Mark was created from “visual data” Leduc collected on either side of four “thresholds” around Bay Ridge. Installed at their origin sites, the collages merge both sides of each threshold, inviting you to reflect on duality and change. The four works in this series are installed at thresholds throughout the community waiting to be discovered, Owl’s Head Park, Veteran’s Memorial Pier, Narrows Botanical Garden, and Stand4 Gallery.
Nancy Nowacek– Long Distance Dedication No. 3, Crosstalk– 78th Street soundscape between 4th and 5th Avenues, Bay Ridge Brooklyn -A musical composition created in collaboration with Carla Kiehlstedt and Carlos Alomar inspired by seventies pop music that references environmental issues. This sound work will be broadcast from Stand4 Gallery at a low frequency for public consumption.
Peter Edlund– Qui translulit sustinet has a title inspired by Connecticut’s state motto: Whoever has transplanted will sustain. Peter Edlund imagines a landscape of the Bay Ridge shoreline pre-20^th century development dotted with familiar invasive plants instead of the indigenous flora that existed along the shore before development. Three of these images will be installed along Shore Road Park and the original painting will at Stand4 Gallery
Rebecca Alan– is a painter who is engaged with the environment. She will create new work based on locations in Bay Ridge, possibly Narrows Botanical Garden, that juxtaposes nature and human-made structures.
Benjamin Swett– has photographed New York City trees throughout the five boroughs for many years. His photographs of trees in Bay Ridge such. American Elm on Ridge Boulevard at 72nd Street, 2010, will be included in the exhibition.
Christopher Lin– an installation within the main gallery of Stand4 displaying water samples from the Narrows Bay centered around the metaphor of calcification. Lin will lead an artist talk/workshop within the gallery in late May exploring the systems at play within a body of water as extensive as the New York Harbor. His current work is soil-based and highlights decomposers as vital to the life cycle. Wants to show the importance of circular systems as a way to counter the consumptive capitalist system we live under that is so destructive to the environment.