Flickinger Glassworks, Inc.

Have you checked out the lighting section on our new website? Here's a sneak peek, but visit the link below to see more. https://www.flickingerglassworks.com/gallery.html

Koho Update | We went to Koho's Noguchi show opening and it was magical to watch her walk into the gallery where her powerful paintings were beautifully displayed. Here she is with curator Dakin Hart and her students (Charles in the back row).

"For years, I spent every Wednesday evening studying sumi-e brush painting with sensei Koho Yamamoto in her Soho storefront school. Classes always began and ended with bamboo flute music. Green tea was served. No idle chatter was allowed. The first 20 minutes were devoted to making liquid paint from a hard stick of sumi ink. You rubbed and re-rubbed the ink stick in water in a sort of meditation. Once the ink was dark enough, you could begin. For my entire first year, I was o...nly permitted to paint bamboo. Once my bamboo renderings passed approval, I was allowed to move on to pine trees and rocks. After a couple of years, she permitted me to paint fish. But Koho was never just an exacting teacher. She is an artist. Something she didn’t discover about herself until she, like other Japanese Americans, was uprooted from her San Francisco home to a Utah desert internment camp for the duration of WWII. Instead of foundering there, she soared. She grasped an opportunity to study sumi-e with a master painter, Chiura Obata, likewise incarcerated. It awoke something in her. When she was released, she moved to NYC where she continued painting, becoming influenced by the abstract expressionist movement in swing. When I began studying with her in the late 80s, I recall a period when she suspended classes to focus on what I call her swamp paintings. These powerful paintings full of brooding darkness are some of my favorite works of hers. Koho’s students have always believed she's been overlooked as an artist. So I am thrilled to report that now, at the age of 98, she will have a solo gallery showing at the Noguchi Museum in LIC, Queens from March 9 to May 23, 2021. We are grateful to the museum’s senior curator, Dakin Hart, for recognizing her talent. It is open to the public by timed ticket. I hope you will visit." CF Koho Yamamoto: Under a Dark Moon The Noguchi Museum 9-01 33rd Rd, Queens, NY 11106 Go to noguchi.org for details and to make reservations.

We invited staff photographer, Randy Duchaine, to visit the shop on January 21st to photograph what caught his eye. Here's a handful of our favorites.

When you walk down Van Brunt Street Red Hook’s main drag it’s always a good idea to slow down between Wolcott and Sullivan Streets. That’s where The Record Shop is located. You don’t want to miss whatever is wafting from its speakers in front. It might be reggae, pop, jazz, experimental, rock or something else altogether. But whatever is playing, it makes people want to pause and listen and linger. I wanted to make a place to hang out that isn’t a bar, says owner Bene Co...op, who opened this used record store five years ago using his own huge collection as the initial merchandise. He also buys records for resale. Bene’s wife Sousan Hammad curates an interesting selection of poetry, and Friday night jam sessions in the basement that anyone can attend once Covid has been kicked to the curb. His store hours are Friday to Sunday noon to 7P.

Artist Bosco Sodi’s soulful clay spheres are a sight to see. Even more so because of the exhibition site a vacated lot in Red Hook that used to house Perfect Bodies Auto Collision. Perfect Bodies features 30 imperfect, large-scale clay orbs artfully strewn across the lot’s cracked cement. When you enter this industrial patch, they appear almost like an apparition, harboring primordial secrets within their quietly majestic pods. It can be good medicine to walk around, sa...ys the Mexican artist, who maintains a studio in Red Hook and another in Oaxaca, Mexico where he sourced his red earth material. Presented by Pioneer Works and curated by Dakin Hart, the exhibit is on view Saturdays & Sundays from noon to 7P until December 20. It’s located at 184-186 Conover Street (at Wolcott), just a few blocks from Flickinger Glassworks and even closer to the Red Hook ferry stop.

NEW WEBSITE | The talented Brooklyn-based photographer Randy Duchaine completely revised Flickinger Glassworks’ website. As Randy explains in the video below, the new site is photo-forward and digs into the process of bending glass. We also like to think that Randy made us look pretty good. Please tell us if you agree. New Site: flickingerglassworks.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNtHIIHLFFU

In continuing with last week's theme, here's another dose of live music from Red Hook. You could stroll a couple of blocks east to Hometown BBQ and stumble upon the Michael Blake Trio. The accomplished jazz trio improvised for hours, entertaining the crowds of people seated outside and chowing down on Hometown’s superb BBQ. This video, recorded that evening, features Michael Blake on sax, Tony Scherr on bass and Allan Mednard on drums. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brmrtsnfgvc

Our country is going through a difficult time. But that hasn’t stopped people from playing and reveling in music throughout Red Hook at a safe distance, of course. Charles Flickinger met Bob Armistead decades ago when they both worked as stained glass artists. Bob, who later became a beloved Bronx high school teacher, also enjoys playing the fiddle with other aficionados of Québécois, a variety of Celtic music. So when he recently asked to host an informal music session on Pier 41 in front of Flickinger Glassworks, we pulled out some chairs and an umbrella and set them up in the airy locale. Please listen to this talented foursome, which includes Anna Bosnick, Doyun Park and Colin Forhan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF9lq2vykyk&feature=youtu.be

Neighbor Highlight | You might not notice the Gowanus Nursery in Red Hook. It’s tucked away at the corner of Carroll and Van Brunt Streets, largely hidden behind greenery. But what a find it is! Especially for those looking for native plants or unusual varieties. Michele Paladino opened the nursery in 2003 (originally located in Gowanus) to give home gardeners more diversity to pick from. She managed to stay afloat during the early days of the pandemic by offering catalogue shopping. But her doors are open again on Thursdays through Saturdays from 11A-6P. Michele Paladino is shown here giving a brief tour of the nursery: https://vimeo.com/459128963 They also offer evening workshops that focus on Native Plants, Watering, Perennials, and Seeding. Sign up here: gowanusnursery.biz