This summer, celebrate your city at the American Folk Art Museum. Join us for a five-part series celebrating the contributions, communities, histories, cultures, music, and food of each of New York City’s five boroughs. This multi-day festival is offered in conjunction with the exhibition Made in New York City: The Business of Folk Art (March 15–July 28, 2019).
This series is free and open to all.
Brooklyn Day Activities:
All day Jewelry display and sale
Artisan Jody Lyons of Joli Jewelry will have a selection of handmade pieces for sale.
1 pm Closer-Look Tour
3 pm Gallery Talk with historian Nalleli Guillen from the Brooklyn Historical Society
Join us for a gallery talk led by historian Nalleli Guillen and explore how Brooklyn has changed from the 19th century to today, while making connections between the Brooklyn Historical Society’s collection and the works on view in Made in New York City: The Business of Folk Art.
A special family scavenger hunt will be available all day long.
5:30 pm Free Music Friday
Chris Q. Murphy (Americana story songs)
Liz Tormes (dreamy folk-pop)
Terry Radigan (guitar-slinging songwriter)
Beer generously provided by Brooklyn Brewery
Treats generously provided by Sweetly Brooklyn
Nalleli Guillen is Historian and Project Manager of the Revealing Long Island History project at the Brooklyn Historical Society, a collections and research initiative funded by the Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation dedicated to making BHS’s collection of Brooklyn and Long Island artifacts digitally available to the public for the first time. Nalleli received her Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization in May 2018 and holds an M.A. in American Material Culture, both from the University of Delaware. She is a specialist in nineteenth-century America with a particular interest in visual and material culture, race and ethnicity, and the impact of leisure and entertainment culture in shaping American society. Her dissertation, “‘The Humble, Though More Profitable Art’: Panoramic Spectacles in the American Entertainment World, 1794-1850” examined panorama exhibitions of the first half of the nineteenth century and revealed their place within the early American art economy, the business of popular entertainment, and the transatlantic interests of antebellum Americans.
Jody Lyons started Joli Jewelry in 1984. Inspired by her love of the styles from the 1920s to 1960s and her childhood fascination with her mother’s and grandmother’s jewelry boxes, Lyons began designing jewelry for herself while in college. Her mission at Joli Jewelry is to share her love and interest in original, old materials that have color and texture, reusing (whenever possible) what already exists to create modern pieces with an historic nod. In her designs, she mixes vintage original plastics (celluloid and Bakelite), old metal findings and chains, French enamels, mother-of-pearl pieces, glass, buttons, buckles, crystal perfume bottle tops, purse openers, as well as cultural parts and semi-precious materials. Today, Lyons designs everything in the line. The small production runs are handmade in her Park Slope, Brooklyn studio.
Future Best of the Boroughs Event Dates:
Celebrate Manhattan with our annual Summer Saturday event, July 20
Images: View of New York Bay from Brooklyn Heights, attributed to Thomas Chambers (1808–1869), New York City, c. 1843–1860, oil on canvas, 18 x 24 in, private collection, photo by Gavin Ashworth; Chris Q. Murphy photo by Kevin Duffy Photography; Liz Tormes photo by Clarence Klingebiel; Terry Radigan photo by Albie Mitchell.