Weekend Art Events: May 24-28 (DanceAfrica, GlassBarge, Mini-Operas & More)

It’s Memorial Day weekend and the kick-off to summer! Check out our list of events happening over the long weekend to help you welcome the season and the (hopefully) warmer weather.

Don’t forget to check the BKLYNER Calendar for more events happening around town or to list one of your own.

GlassBarge Glass Making Demonstrations
When: Wednesday, May 23 through Monday, May 28, 11am to 6pm
Where: Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 5
What: Through Memorial Day visitors are invited onboard this 30 feet x 80 feet canal barge to watch free, 30-minute glassmaking demonstrations. After the weekend, it will embark on a four-month tour along the New York State waterways.
How Much: Free, register here

On Reflection
When: Exhibition on view from Wednesday, May 23 through Saturday, July 28
Where: Urban Glass, Agnes Varis Art Center, 647 Fulton Street, Fort Greene
What: An exhibition bringing together the work of six artists who work with reflective surfaces to explore reflection in the physical sense and to reflect the conditions of contemporary experience.

Molly Crabapple & Marwan Hisham: Syria In Ink
When: Exhibition on view through Saturday, June 30
Where: BPL Central Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza, Prospect Heights
What: An exhibition of original artwork from the forthcoming graphic book Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War, illustrated by BPL’s 2018 Katowitz Radin Artist-in-Residence Molly Crabapple and co-authored by Syrian journalist Marwan Hisham. The exhibit features more than 50 of Crabapple’s pen-and-ink works displayed throughout the Central Library’s lobby and accompanied by an audio guide in which Hisham, now exiled in Turkey, discusses his experiences living through the Syrian conflict, the country’s partial occupation by ISIS, and the art it inspired.

Myrtle Avenue Community Bike Ride
When: Thursday, May 24, 6pm to 7pm
Where: Fort Greene Park, Citi Bike station at the corner of Washington Park and Willoughby Ave, Fort Greene
What: The Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership and The Brown Bike Girl are partnering this summer to host free group bike rides around the neighborhood the 1st Saturday of the month. A special ride will be held on Thursday, May 24 at 6pm, beginning at Fort Greene Park’s Citi Bike station at the corner of Washington Park and Willoughby Avenue. Saturday Rides will meet at 9:30am on June 2, July 7, and August 4. All ages and abilities are welcome!
How Much: Free, register here

FilmAfrica 2018
When: Thursday, May 24 through Monday, May 28
Where: BAMcinématek, Peter Jay Sharp Building, Howard Gilman Opera House, 30 Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene
What: The New York African Film Festival and BAM present a film companion to DanceAfrica2018, screening new narrative, documentary, and short films from across Africa, with a focus on South Africa.
How Much: Tickets $15 general admission, $11 children/seniors

DanceAfrica 2018
When: Friday, May 25 through Monday, May 28
Where: BAM, Peter Jay Sharp Building, Howard Gilman Opera House, 30 Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene
What: The nation’s largest African dance festival returns for its 41st year, under the leadership of artistic director Abdel R. Salaam. With a theme of Remembrance, Reconciliation, Renewal, this year’s performances showcase the rhythm and spirit of South Africa while acknowledging Nelson Mandela’s centennial birthday and the contributions of freedom fighters past and present. Read about DanceAfrica’s 40th anniversary and Founding Director, Chuck Davis, here. Visit the Dance Africa Bazaar at the Plaza at 300 Ashland all weekend and discover work by various artisans and vendors.
How Much: Tickets $25

HIMBAD and the 9th Wave
When: Exhibition on view Friday, May 25 through Sunday, June 24 (opening reception Thursday, May 24, 6pm to 11pm)
Where: 3RD ETHOS Gallery, 154 Knickerbocker Avenue, Bushwick
What: “Not all waves are the same and not all waves are of water. Underneath the 9th Wave of the 9th Wave is an entrance to the underworld. Dare to walk this path less trodden?” 3RD ETHOS presents the first NYC solo show of UK-based street artist, HIMBAD.

Coney Island Creek and the Natural World
When: Exhibition on view Saturday, May 26 through Monday, September 3 (open Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays)
Where: The Coney Island History Project, 3059 West 12th Street (at the entrance to Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park), Coney Island
What: Organized around a timeline of Coney Island Creek from 1645 to 2018, the exhibition illustrates Coney Island’s original attraction with maps, photographs, posters, art, artifacts, oral history, and video. The exhibition describes the Creek’s environment through history, art, and ecology.
How Much: Free

Coney Art Walls
When: Saturday, May 26 through September
Where: 3050 Stillwell Avenue, Coney Island
What: This “outdoor museum of street art” featuring live entertainment all summer long returns for a fourth year. Read more about Coney Art Walls here.

Familiar Places: Photographs by Kieran Bammann
When: Saturday, May 26, 7pm to 10pm (opening reception)
Where: Bushwick Community Darkroom, 110 Troutman Street, Bushwick
What: Coinciding with Bammann’s final semester studying photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Bushwick Community Darkroom presents an exhibition of the intern’s artwork.

The Dinner Party Mini-Operas
When: Sunday, May 27, 2pm to 4pm
Where: Brooklyn Museum, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium, 200 Eastern Parkway, 3rd Floor, Prospect Heights
What: NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and Brooklyn-based opera company American Opera Projects present five mini-operas inspired by artist Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party—a permanent installation at the Brooklyn Museum.
How Much: Tickets free with museum general admission ($16)

Derelicts—Oil Paintings by Jim St. Clair
When: Exhibition on view from Thursday, April 26 through Saturday, May 26
Where: Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Red Hook
What: For 30 years, St. Clair has painted on a small workboat sailing along the edges of New York Harbor. The artist was drawn to the derelict, overgrown industrial remains that surrounded the city, illustrating past eras and histories. His work combines the industrial decay with “irrepressible nature” for a “perfect blend of melancholia and hopefulness.”

Home Front
When: Exhibition on view from Thursday, April 19 through Sunday, June 24
Where: The Old Stone House, 336 3rd Street (between 4th & 5th Ave), Park Slope
What: This exhibition showcases six artists whose work explores public and private acts of strength and resistance by women in times of social or political upheaval. The artists are inspired by their own family and community histories as well as their ideas of home. Featured artists include: Lauren Frances Adams, Golnar Adili, Aisha Cousins, Maya Jeffereis, Lorena Molina, and Katherine Toukhy.