The Baltic Sea by Pamela Talese

For close to two hundred years, the Brooklyn Navy Yard was a center for shipbuilding. These days the sprawling site is home to a museum as well as a wide range of light industry. It is also host to quite a few artist’s studios.  This weekend, October 6-7, there will be an Open Studio Tour at dozens of artists’ studios at the Brooklyn Navy Yard from 12-5pm.  One of these artists, Pamela Talese, who is also one of our favorite artists of maritime themes in New York City, was recently featured in a profile in the Wall Street Journal.

Artist Finds Safe Harbor in Brooklyn

Pamela Talese, an artist who has made a career, at least part of it, painting the tugs and fireboats that visit the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s dry docks for repair, would be the first to acknowledge that the historic Navy yard, where she has had a studio since 2008, is changing. “I fear it’s going to become the next High Line,” she said.

But even she was surprised when we had to make way for a tour bus on a recent afternoon. “This is unusual,” she conceded.

“It’s an interesting mix of the new sustainability and the old polluting industries,” she added as we strolled past IceStone, a company that recycles glass into high design. “Even though I’m a vegetarian, I prefer the old industries—visually.”