The Atlantic Artwalk is back this weekend

To call it the Atlantic Avenue ArtWalk is a big misleading.

The annual arts and music festival stretches from the bustling thoroughfare all the way south to Union Street, with about 200 artists opening their studios to the masses.

When the festival returns on Saturday and Sunday, it also includes the newly opened Brooklyn Bridge Park in the festivities.

When the ArtWalk started six years ago, it wasn’t nearly as pervasive, with about 30 artists participating and the “walk” about half the size. Today, the festival has ballooned in participants and miles, but the goal has always remained the same.

“ArtWalk started as a way to support both the artist and local business community,” said founder and event producer Lisa Shimamura, of Colab Projects. “This is a rare opportunity for people to visit artists’ personal workspaces, offering sneak peeks at innovative new works in progress, and to ArtWalk and greet with artists.”

In addition to the studio tours, the Artwalk will feature live rock, country and jazz on the streets, special promotions at area restaurants, the rare opportunity to see the Axelle Fine Arts print space on Atlantic Avenue, and self-guided tours curated by people from The Brooklyn Circus, Proteus Gowanus and participating artists.

With all that there is to do, you may need both days to explore Atlantic Avenue — and beyond.

Atlantic Avenue ArtWalk, June 5–6, 1–6 pm. Free. For info, visit www.ArtWalk2010.com.

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Lens on hunger

This exhibition gives new meaning to the phrase “starving artist.”

“Starved for Attention: The Crisis of Childhood Malnutrition,” opening June 4 at VII Gallery in DUMBO, exposes the crisis of global childhood malnutrition with works that are at once beautifully composed and harrowing to look at.

In one striking image by Jessica Dimmock (pictured), taken in Burkina Faso in West Africa, a woman with an infant strapped to her back walks through a field of dried-up wheat, the bold blues of her skirt and red of her headdress making for a stark contrast with the dead yellow of the field.

In another, taken by Ron Haviv in Bangladesh, a mother stares off with a worried look while she breastfeeds, with both mother and child nearly erased completely by the light that dances across the image, save for her piercing look.

A cry for attention indeed.

“Starved for Attention: The Crisis of Childhood Malnutrition” at VII Gallery [28 Jay St. at Plymouth Street in DUMBO, (212) 337-3130], June 4 to July 2. Open 10 am-6 pm daily. For info, visit www.starvedforattention.org.

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Crafts go renegade

By Michèle De Meglio

The renegades are coming — and they’re bringing crafts!

The Renegade Craft Fair will rock McCarren Park on June 5 and 6, when 300 artists display and sell their handmade unique designs.

“There’s something for everybody,” said Sue Daly, the event’s organizer. “You’ll find a lot of housewares, clothing and ceramics. A lot of the stuff is one of a kind.”

That’s a great way to describe Greenpoint resident Daina Platais’ ceramics collection. Her “bread and butter” piece is a set of salt and pepper shakers shaped like an avocado.

“Everybody loves them,” Platais said. “I’ve been making them for three years now and they’re really a hit.”

Speaking of best-selling designs, Tamara Stoddard’s Brooklyn Craft line is giving a fresh look to classic sock monkey dolls.

“They’re a new take on the old sock monkeys with the red mouth,” she said. “I’ve made an albino sock monkey, a skeleton with felt bones, and a pirate with a peg leg and eyepatch.”

Stoddard will share her booth at the Fair with Jill Davis, whose J Davis Studio produces delicate jewelry featuring tiny homes and trees.

“I love miniatures,” said Davis, a Clinton Hill resident. “I grew up in a house in Ohio and then I moved to New York where no one has a house, so this is my way of bringing a home with me.”

Renegade Craft Fair at McCarren Park [Bedford Avenue between N. 12th and Lorimer streets in Greenpoint, (773) 227-2707], June 5-6, 11 am–7 pm. For info, visit www.renegadecraft.com.

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Brooklyn beat

Drum call!

This Saturday, hundreds of drummers are expected to gather on the steps of the Brooklyn Public Library’s main branch in Park Slope for a celebration of the different African drumming styles practiced in Brooklyn in a nod to the borough’s long history with the practice.

Even before there was Drummers’ Grove in Prospect Park, drummers would congregate at spaces such as Brower Park in Crown Heights to jam on their congas.

That’s where Neil Clarke got his start as a teen during the 1960s.

“I used to walk by there and I was fascinated,” said Clarke (pictured), a Bedford-Stuyvesant native who went on to travel the world with artists such as Harry Belafonte and is co-curating the event.

During the drum call, nearly a dozen different styles of drumming — as practiced in African, Afro-Caribbean, African American and Hispanic diasporic communities including Ghana, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic — will be performed.

The gathering serves as both an entertaining jam, as well as a chance to introduce people who may be familiar with only one type of drumming style — such as the popular Djembe form, a fast drumming style from Senegal — to the variety that exists.

“A really important part of the day is teaching people the many different styles of African drumming being practiced in Brooklyn other than the Djembe,” said co-curator Dr. Day Turner, a folklorist the Brooklyn Arts Council, which is organizing the event as part of its year-long Black Brooklyn Renaissance festival.

The event will also include drum-making workshops and drumming demos. So bring your own drum and get in line.

Black Brooklyn Drum Call at Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Branch plaza [Grand Army Plaza at Flatbush and Eastern Parkway in Park Slope, (718) 230-2100], June 5 from 2-5:30 pm. For info, visit www.brooklynartscouncil.org.

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Pumps & Pleats: The best work tote

Story and photo by Michèle De Meglio

There’s a trick to finding the perfect purse for work.

You can’t tote anything too flashy (think bedazzled Kathy Van Zeeland satchels) or anything too dull (basic briefcases are so outdated). Instead, you want to carry something elegantly chic yet still fun and hip. Now that’s a tall order. Fortunately, Pumps & Pleats is here to help!

My search started at the boutiques and chain stores in Downtown Brooklyn, where many of the borough’s working gals slave away in cubicles.

Macy’s in the Fulton Mall seemed like the obvious first choice since it stocks hundreds of purses. But a trip around the famed department store’s accessories section brought Franco Sarto’s overly bright totes, Nine West’s metallic shoppers and Lucky Brand’s hippie hobos. None of the purses were office ready or large enough to store file folders and a laptop.

Ann Taylor Loft on Montague Street off Henry Street has a reputation as a “working woman’s shop” so it had to have an awesome purse, right? Wrong. The bags were all way too small and a bit flimsy. (Side note — the white foldover clutch with gold studs is quite cute!)

I headed across the street to Banana Republic. The shop is ridiculously overpriced but it’s known for stylish suits so a proper office handbag had to be there. The Scala tote in muted gray can fit important documents and has an array of functional yet stylish exterior pockets. But there’s one very big catch — it’s $260!

My next stop was the Diane T. boutique on Court Street between Congress and Amity streets in search of something affordable. This sure wasn’t the right place! The store carries super expensive high-end items, none of which were office appropriate anyway.

Feeling dejected, I ditched the expensive shops and hit the Atlantic Center Target where I recently fell in love with a casually cool faded gray Converse purse. This trip was another success!

Nestled in the overflowing racks was a Merona microfiber tote for just $29.99! The black bag is super roomy and loaded with interior and exterior pockets so you can separate all your stuff — and even have a section to store your turkey sandwich for lunch.

What’s the best thing about this bag? It has a hot pink lining. Professional on the outside, party on the inside!

Target [139 Flatbush Avenue between Atlantic Avenue and Fourth Avenue in Prospect Heights, (718) 290-1109].

Michèle De Meglio is a native Brooklynite addicted to all things chic. Check out Pumps & Pleats each week for more adventures as she scours the borough for fab duds and accessories.

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Studio city! Bushwick artists throw open their aeries this weekend

Brooklyn’s premier artists’ studio tour returns this summer — and it is entirely free.

Bushwick Open Studios, the two-day arts festival in June, is larger than ever with 275 individual shows in studios, galleries, and streets, featuring some of the most exciting artists in Bushwick and Williamsburg.

Seeing so many people on the street in her neighborhood is what Chloe Bass, of the group Arts in Bushwick, looks forward to the most.

“It’s really fun when someone says my house is open to you and anyone else, see how I make work here, how I love and what I do here,” said Bass.

It’s a sprawling festival, so it is impossible to see everything, but there are some highlights.

Several new galleries, including Storefront and Famous Accountants, will feature new shows. The elder statesman of the Bushwick art scene, Factory Fresh, is throwing a solo show for Skewville, while English Kills will celebrate its three-year anniversary, featuring its favorite Bushwick artists.

The future of Bushwick may be at stake at a Saturday afternoon panel, moderated by our own Aaron Short, where community leaders will hash out challenges the neighborhood faces regarding housing, industry, and immigration.

For those interested in rocking out and reading up, a music festival returns to Goodbye Blue Monday and the 2010 Cabaret is back on Scholes Street, while a new literary fair will be held at 3rd Ward Brooklyn.

Perhaps the weirdest show will be hosted by BabySkinGlove, which will give guests a performance art makeover at the Morgan Avenue studio. Suggested donation is $1.69.

Of course, the most exciting aspect of the festival will be the artwork in open studios itself. That is why artists and art patrons keep coming back to Bushwick Open Studios year after year, says festival organizer Laura Braslow.

“Every year we see some of the same faces. Seeing a lot of artists we had in 2007, who are still in the festival, give it feeling of continuity,” said Braslow.

So take it all in and bring your BlackBerry to monitor where you’re going by logging onto the festival’s live-updated Web site. Otherwise, and old-fashioned printed program with a map of every studio in the neighborhood will do just fine.

Bushwick Open Studios, June 4-6, noon to 10 pm. For info, visit www.bos2010.artsinbushwick.org.

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Get 'Hook'ed at annual South Brooklyn music fest this weekend

Experience Red Hook from front to back this month.

The 17th annual Red Hook Fest brings music and dance to South Brooklyn — from Coffey Park to the pier.

“We’re bringing world-class professional artists to Red Hook who might not come here otherwise, people you might see at BAM for $50,” said Jon Mayer of Dance Theater Etcetera, which produces the free festival on June 4 and 5.

On the music end will be M.U.G.A.B.E.E., a Mississippi-based hip-hop/jazz/soul super-power fronted by brothers Carlton and Maurice Turner, and salsa act La Excelencia.

“Red Hook has a really old-school salsa group — families go back several generations in the neighborhood,” said Mayer. “We’re excited to get the old-school folks out to dance.”

Speaking of dance, there will also be performances from the companies Decadance and the Red Hook-based Cora Dance, and the tapping, rapping Joseph Webb (pictured), a veteran of Bring in ’Da Noise, Bring in ’Da Funk.

For the first time in the festival’s history, festivities will be held at Coffey Park, in addition to the Valentino Pier, in an effort to bridge the divided the neighborhood: the front, comprised of one of the largest housing projects in Brooklyn, and the back, made up mostly of newer transplants to the neighborhood.

“People in the front feel like they’re not welcome in the back,” said Mayer. “But what the festival does every year is bring people together.”

Red Hook Fest at Coffey Park (Richards and Pioneers streets), June 4 from 6-9 pm, and Valentino Pier (Coffey and Ferris streets), June 5 from 11 am-7 pm. For info, visit www.redhookfest.com.

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