Transformative Brooklyn Gallery Coalition Offers Summer Exhibits That Tell Stories

Half A Century of High-Quality Art On The Red Hook Waterfront

When developer Gregory O’Connell offered 16 artists an exhibition space in warehouses along the waterfront here, it was 1978. Neither O’Connell nor the artists, who were based in DUMBO at the time, could have predicted the engagement and vitality they would bring to a fledgling community called Red Hook. 

Now occupying almost 27,000 square feet, the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC) shows the work of more than 1,000 artists with five comprehensive, themed exhibitions every year. 

Three new summer exhibits will be shown simultaneously until Aug. 24. The spacious non-profit gallery is located in the historic Beard and Robinson Warehouse Stores at 481 Van Brunt St. 

The new exhibits are named “Amped!!! The Art of Rock & Roll,” “Brooklyn X Pittsburgh: The Industry of Art,” and “Elements of Movement, a BWAC Members show.”

“BWAC’s Summer Show really sizzles,” said Janice Weiss, public relations coordinator at BWAC. “We had the opportunity to have the Associated Artists from Pittsburgh exhibit their artwork in our beautiful Brooklyn Waterfront Gallery. In addition, we have some fond memories come alive with our National Juried Show entitled “Amped!!! The Art of Rock & Roll.” These shows, in addition to our members’ show, make coming to BWAC a memorable and enjoyable summer experience”.

“Amped!!! The Art of Rock & Roll” is described by BWAC as “a high-voltage, national juried show that celebrates the power, spirit, and cultural legacy of rock and roll. More than just a genre, rock is a movement—a driving force that has shaped art, identity, and society for generations.”

“Amped!!!” cranks up the volume on the synergy between visual art and music, pulsing with energy, attitude, and emotion,” said co-curator of the show Dan Lawson. “Come on! Let’s dance!” 

“Brooklyn X Pittsburgh: The Industry of Art” is a partnership show with Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. It represents artists from both Brooklyn and Pittsburgh and celebrates the innovation and industry of these two cities. 

“The exhibit builds on Brooklyn’s emerging role as one of the world’s most prolific centers of art production, with countless artists, studios, arts institutions and fabrication facilities, which has grown on the bones of the borough’s great industrial past, as mirrored in Pittsburgh’s similar long history of heavy industry fueling a new burgeoning art scene,” BWAC said in a statement.

Associated Artists of Pittsburgh will be transporting over 130 works of art to Brooklyn for the exhibition. 

The theme for this summer’s BWAC members show is “Elements of Movement.”

“Members and artists explore how motion can be interpreted in art,” said BWAC. “Movement might be expressed in subject, or through the creation of gesture, form, color, shape and perspective. In any case, the results are energetic.”

BWAC was organized in 1978 by sixteen artists looking for a place to exhibit.

“BWAC has grown to become Brooklyn’s largest artist-run organization,” stated its website. “We take pride in our all-volunteer operation, where our artist-members serve as management, leadership, and board.