BWAC grapples with loss and new beginnings in new exhibit, 'Unmoored/Unbound,' opening May 21 at Powerhouse Arts * Brooklyn Paper

The Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition has been recovering for eight months after a five-alarm fire destroyed its home of 35 years and nearly all stored materials. Repair costs threaten future affordability, making a permanent return unlikely. The coalition has relied on community support through fundraisers and temporary gallery spaces while seeking a lasting location. Its first in-person exhibition since the fire, “Unmoored/Unbound,” opens May 21 at Powerhouse Arts and features works by 40 artists. Powerhouse Arts offered free gallery use after the coalition applied to rent space. The national juried show drew about 400 applicants and uses a theme shaped by waterfront imagery of a ship losing its rope.

"For eight months, the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition has been relying on the support of its community as it recovers from a devastating fire. “Unmoored/Unbound,” the org's first in-person exhibition since the fire, opens May 21 at Powerhouse Arts. , featuring the works of 40 artists, grapples with the emotions of such a great loss and the first steps toward a new beginning."

"BWAC lost its home of 35 years and everything inside in a five-alarm fire last September, and the cost of repairs mean that someday, when the building is inhabitable again, the rents will be too high for the org to afford. Still grappling with her own grief, Degener has been searching for ways to keep BWAC afloat - fundraisers, temporary gallery spaces - while they try to lock down a permanent home."

"Last fall, she applied to rent a gallery at Powerhouse Arts . Eric Shiner, president of Powerhouse Arts, offered to let them use it for free. “That was tremendous of him,” she said. “He's such a generous and helpful and supportive person. I can't say enough things about him and Powerhouse arts. Above and beyond anyone else, they have helped us enormously.”"

"“Unmoored/Unbound” is a national juried exhibition, and roughly 400 people applied to take part, Degener said. The theme was suggested by a BWAC member artist. “He was thinking about, just how we were on the waterfront, we were kind of like a ship that gets its rope cut and is floating away,” she said. “He came up with the idea of 'unmoored.' It just kind of spoke to a lot of ... how you feel when you lose something like that.”"

Read at Brooklyn Paper