Bed-Stuy Arts Stroll Lets Local Artists Shine

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN -- A local business owner wants to help local artists show off their work, so she's making a gallery out of Bed-Stuy itself.

The fourth edition of the Bed-Stuy Art Stroll, set to launch on Feb. 23, will unite local artists and art lovers for a season of open studios, literary events and art exhibitions across the neighborhood, organizers announced.

Murals, art galleries, graffiti-tagged buildings and local businesses will all be featured in the series of weekend events that explore the state of modern art in the heart of Brooklyn, founder Atim Annette Oton told Patch.

"There’s a lot of artists in the neighborhood but few galleries, very few community spaces that show art on a regular basis," said Oton.

"You see a range of art here you don’t see anywhere else ... You see the diversity of Bed-Stuy."

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Bed-Stuy Art Stroll was born out of Calabar Imports, the Bed-Stuy retail shop Oton co-owns at 351 Tompkins Ave., where she began showcasing local artists in about 2015, the business owner said.

Oton began asking local gallery owners if they would be interested in uniting for monthly art exhibits and the art stroll, which Oton says supports both artists and local entrepreneurs, was founded.

"Art and business need to grow in Beds-Stuy," Oton said. "It’s a great opportunity."

But it was walking the streets of Bed-Stuy that inspired Oton to expand the stroll out of galleries and into the streets, she said.

"I noticed that we have a large number of murals in the community," she said. "One of the goals is to get a sense of what is in the neighborhood, creating a tour around that."

So this year, Bed-Stuy Art Stoll will open with Destination Bed-Stuy, a daylong event at BKLYN Commons on Feb. 23 to discuss the intersection where art and hip hop meet, Oton said.

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Murals, grafitti artists and artist collective will discuss what happens when the neighborhood's buildings become a canvas for local artists, which will be on display for the strolls starting on March 2.

On Saturdays and Sundays from March through December, participants can walk on self-guided tours of 25 murals, galleries, restaurants and studios across the neighborhood.

Artist collective Groundswell NYC will lead a Bed-Stuy mural tour and Cumbe Dance will showcase some of their classes as part of the tour, according to the stroll's Eventbrite site.

Shops and studios joining in on the tour include Bed-Stuy Provisions, Brown Butter Cafe, Deanna Evans Projects, Peace & Riot, Zion Gallery, The Bishop Gallery and Richard Beavers Gallery.

Artist interested in participating should reach out to Oton by Feb. 15 and those interested in attending should keep an eye on the event's Instagram account, @BedStuyArtsStroll, for updates

"I would love the neighborhood to come out for the event," Oton said. "It’s an opportunity [Bed-Stuy] may not have otherwise gotten."

Header photos courtesy of the Deanna Evans Project and Calabar Imports, used with permission