Saturday, January 21, 7pm
Join us for wine and conversation with Leslie-Arlette Boyce, lead author of The Glory of Brooklyn’s Gowanus: Legacy, Industry, and Artistry. Boyce will discuss her book, its images and local history from the arrival of the Dutch West India Company to the present day. She will be joined by Chris Matias, founder and director of the Redhawk Native American Arts Council, who will discuss the continuing presence of native americans in the Gowanus area. Join us for wine and conversation.
The Glory Of Brooklyn’s Gowanus begins with the arrival of the Dutch West India Company, encounters with the indigenous population and the land sales made, early slavery in Brooklyn and the Revolutionary War. The text in this section is surrounded by reproductions of early maps and lithographs. The second section of the publication is primarily comprised of archival photographs, and bills of sale from nineteenth century industries along the shores of the Gowanus Canal that had a hand in creating the now infamous pollution. In addition, section two of The Glory of Gowanus takes a look into the lives of the people who called the surrounding area home through the nineteen sixties. The third section focuses on local artists of multiple ethnicities and the work they created that was inspired by the post-Industrial beauty of the Canal. The book was co-authored by local historian Brian Merlis.
