Swoon fans lined up on Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum to get their own screen print designed by the local street-artist success story. Some brought their own materials, others picked from a stack donated by Materials for the Arts. Since the Brooklyn-based artist herself was in India, her studio assistants worked a battery of stations, squeegeeing out hundreds of gossamer patterns onto everything from a map of North America to a pizza box.
It was a diverse crowd, and everyone I spoke to was familiar with Swoon. A young woman from Williamsburg planned on mailing a print to her ex in Australia (break up to make up?). A Westchester mother and daughter stood in line twice to double their booty, admitting it would be fun to walk away from a museum carrying some art (names have been removed to protect the not-so-innocent).
The event marked the kickoff of 1stfans—a $20 membership to the museum that can stand alone or act as an add-on to an existing one—which provides admission to events designed just for this category as well as super-connectedness on the net: As you’d expect, this cool-kids club has a souped-up online presence (these days, even the stodgy Met is posting official YouTube videos). 1stfans is on Facebook and Flickr, but the main attraction is their Twitter feed, which features a monthly artist. The next event’s a talk on animal mummies; we’re sold.…
To register for 1stfans, go to the Brooklyn Museum website.
All photographs courtesy Melissa Soltis
I had fun last Saturday! It was my first time at the museum, and I was so excited about the screen print. I picked design #1, but when i got home i realized the print wasn’t just butterflies, it was also bird skeletons - yuck! But it’s still art and it is something of value
The Brooklyn Museum is one of the best museums in NY, not just because of its collection and shows, but also because it is so active in promoting community and the broad exposure to the arts.