A Closer Look at Tom Fruin's Neon Sign for Brooklyn's Wythe Hotel

If North Brooklynites haven't yet had a cocktail in the swank bar at Wythe Hotel, they've at least noticed the newest addition to the neighborhood: A fifty-foot-tall, glowing "HOTEL" sign mounted vertically on the corner of Wythe and N. 11th in Williamsburg. As it's virtually impossible to not see, we though we'd get a closer look and find out more.

The five-story, 72-room hotel, a turn-of-the-century factory and former cooperage (barrel and cask-making) that officially opened on May 1st, commissioned artist Tom Fruin to design and build a permanent sculptural installation for them. As source material, Fruin used old found metal signs from New York City.

"The signs, featuring hand-painted fruit and pizza, air conditioner repair advertisements, warnings and phone numbers, were found all over town from a demolished pizza deli in DUMBO to a converted paper supply warehouse on the bowery. Many were liberated from construction dumpsters or discovered in the street. One sign features 3D artwork by graffiti artist Dan Witz, dating to the mid-90s."

After collecting enough bright, text-heavy signage, Fruin hand-riveted the pieces together to serve as the base for red neon tubing. Fruin's previous work uses similar materials, most often collaged with other found objects.

Head over to Fruin's site to see more work--though might we suggest tackling its immensity for yourself by perusing a few of our Welding & Fabrication classes.

Call for Entries: Local Filmmakers, The Northside DIY Film Festival Deadline Draws Near

Summer is just around the corner, and we're especially excited for The L Magazine's fourth annual Northside Festival, an extravaganza of music, film art and food that's happening June 14-21 at venues across Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

Part of that excitement is due to the fact that 3rd Ward's own Assistant Director, Minden Koopmans, will be serving as a judge in the Northside DIY Film Festival.

All of you local filmmakers still have time to submit your cinematic masterpiece to the festival. The deadline is April 15, and you can peruse the guidelines and other details in our previous post.

This year's winning feature will snag a $500 prize, while the winning short gets $250. A screening of both winning films will take place at Williamsburg's Nitehawk Cinema, followed by an awesome party for the filmmakers and their crew. The winners will also get credit redeemable at NYC's DCTV media arts center.

For an idea of what your competition could be like, here's the trailer for last year's winning feature film, Echotone:

-- John Ruscher

Watch This Now // Parsons' DESIS Lab Amplifies Social Innovation in North Brooklyn

 

People in our neighborhood are always up to amazing things, so it's not surprising that last year the DESIS Lab at Parsons The New School for Design focused its lens on North Brooklyn to highlight local examples of sustainable living and innovation.

As part of its two-year Amplifying Creative Communities project, which looked at the Lower East Side in 2010, DESIS (short for Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability) explored different organizations and initiatives in Greenpoint and Williamsburg to learn how they work, help them improve through design service, and share information that will allow others to create their own alternatives to standard commercial and government services.

In addition to an exhibition and a series of workshops about local sustainable change, Amplify Brooklyn also produced some inspiring videos featuring examples of local food, sharing, biking and more, including interviews with the people behind the Greenpoint-Williamsburg CSA, the North Brooklyn Compost Project, Not An Alternative, Times Up!, the Pa-La Loma Bicycle Club and the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative.

Check out a few of those videos after the jump and head over to the Amplifying Creative Communities website for more insight and inspiration.

-- John Ruscher

Call For Entries // Cinephiles: The Northside DIY Film Fest Beckons You

Following the success of last Summer's Northside Festival, L Magazine will once again be hosting their celebration of food, art, music and film--all going down June 14-21. Though today we're highlighting one specific elment of it: this year's Northside DIY Film Fest, a full-blown competition for the city's aspiring cinephiles and auteurs. This year, the feature and short film winners will receive a cash prize and a screening at Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg. They'll also win a credit at DCTV that can be redeemed for anything from equipment rentals to post-production facilities.

Of course, this is all great. But why are we especially excited this year? Because 3rd Ward's own Assistant Director, Minden Koopmans will be one of the competition's judges! We're mighty proud.

The deadline to submit is April 15th via standard mail or--praise to the gods--through Vimeo (anyone who's been making the submittal rounds knows what we mean). So get shooting, get editing and hit the jump now for all of the fest's guidelines:

Features must be longer than 50 minutes, but no more than 130. Budget must be $100,000 or less.

Shorts must be under 30 minutes and have a budget of $20,000 or less.

All films must be made after January 1, 2009.

We will only accept completed submissions.

We will accept submissions with distribution agreements.

For fees and a few more specifics, visit the fest's submissions page.

-- Perrin Drumm