FARMER'S MARKET AT GRAND ARMY PLAZA

On Saturday mornings, during the summer and fall, I used to bike over to Grand Army Plaza.  Five streets intersect there, including the most famous, Flatbush Avenue which runs across Brooklyn from the Manhattan  Bridge to Rockaway in the Atlantic.  There’s a road leading into the main entrance of Prospect Park   This roadway was blocked every weekend for Brooklyn’s farmer’s market 

I’m not sure where the farms are that are selling produce – it would hardly be worth it to travel from upstate or New Jersey – but there were bakery items and hand-made cheese and soap.  The best part of the market to me was the truck that accepted old, stained clothes that some business turned into insulation for houses.  The truck wasn’t there every weekend, and when it wasn’t, I had to take my stuff home, but it was a great idea for any farmer’s market to have donations trucks.

Grand Army Plaza is sort of the Arch de Triomphe of Brooklyn.  There’s a traffic circle, an arch, a fountain, its own little park, and a lot of statues.  It was intended to be a break from the city before entering the park, and it has retained its peacefulness.  It was a beautiful place to walk (or bike ride) – especially in summer when the trees were shady.

 

The arch was designed by Olmstead and Vaux (who designed Prospect Park and Central Park) to commemorate the triumph of the Union Army in the Civil War.  The arch is called the Soldiers and Sailors Arch.  The statues were added later.  There’s a John F. Kennedy. monument, statues of two Union Army generals, a couple of governors.  

The top statue reminded me of the Brandenberg Gates in Berlin.  At one point “winged victory,” above the arch, fell over in her chariot and remained that way for several years (because New York City goes broke from time to time) until finally repaired by donations from private citizens.

The main public library faces Grand Army Plaza.  The plaza arch faces the main entrance to Prospect Park.  The Brooklyn Museum is less than a block away, and the Botanical Gardens are right behind the library and museum.  It’s really a nice cultural center.

THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM

The Brooklyn Museum is not one of the more famous museums in New York City, but I found it leisurely, being able to view everything without jostling or looking over someone’s shoulder like you have to do at the Met or MOMA in Manhattan.  The Brooklyn Museum is the second largest - 500,000 square feet - and has 1.5 million works of art.  Mind boggling.  And, like every public museum in NYC, there is a suggested donation or “pay what you want.”  I think suggested admission for the Brooklyn Museum is $5 which is far below the museums in Manhattan.

The Brooklyn Museum has one of the best Egyptian collections in the US, including a copy of The Book of the Dead.  There's American Indian art, African artworks, and large collection of Asian art. Judy Chicago’s “Dinner Party” has a permanent home at the Brooklyn Museum.  I saw a Basquait exhibit there (Basquait is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, by the way). Basquait was a graffiti artist and one of his exhibits was a rough painting was a black, vinyl record painted on plywood.  I preferred the graffiti on the buildings in my neighborhood better.

There’s floor in the museum dedicated to decorative arts – replicas of home interiors from 17 C. to 20 C.  There’s also a visible store room – objects in storage are on display in crowded glass booths.  

On the first Saturday night of every month, Target hosts a free open house with live music, storytelling, lectures, and activities for the kids.  It’s really jammed with thousands of people of all ages == like subways at rush hour == and I only went once.  I sat cross-legged on the floor with a few hundred people in a small art display room listening to someone lecturing about the history of some type of art movement or communism or something.  A guard yelled at me for sitting too close to a painting.  I tried to move but the room was too crowded, so I left to listen to the music. The music is danceable and loads of people were dancing.    

It's better to go on a weekday morning, though, if you want to see the art.  And when you’re finished for the day at the museum, you can sit outside on the huge front terrace and drink a cappuccino.  It’s a quiet way to spend a morning if it’s raining because there’s a porch.  If it's not raining, you can visit the "salvage" sculpture garden == architectural elements scavenged from the City.

 The museum is in the heart of some major “sites” in Brooklyn == the original Brooklyn Public Library is down the block, the Botanical Gardens are behind the museum, Prospect Park is a block away, along with Grand Army Plaza, etc

More about the museum here:  http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/faq.php 

Post by Alana Cash