brooklyn bound: DUMBO arts festival

DUMBO has quickly become one of my very favorite places to spend the day – and our time at the DUMBO Arts Festival last weekend is yet another reason why.

DUMBO  (which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass)  is way cool, with so much to do – especially for families. There are great shops and restaurants, Jane’s Carousel and the beautiful new Brooklyn Bridge Park. And the views? You can’t beat them – you’ve got both the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, AND the entire New York City skyline.

The DUMBO Arts Festival is a 3-day event exhibiting the work of over 500 artists, representing all disciplines of the arts. From the web site:

“Art revelers can enjoy: outdoor and indoor visual art installations and exhibitions, digital art and large scale projections, visiting artists in their studios or making murals on the street, musicians, dancers, poets, performance and circus artists throughout the neighborhood, on street corners, and in the park.”

In addition, the Children’s Museum of the Arts (where I had a great day with Noah last year) took over the beautiful, crumbly courtyard of the Tobacco Warehouse, offering a full day of free children’s crafts and activities.

DUMBO arts festival, Children's Museum of the Arts, Tobacco Warehouse

Tobacco Warehouse

DUMBO arts festival, Children's Museum of the Arts

making a penguin at the “clay shack”

DUMBO arts festival, Children's Museum of the Arts

DUMBO arts festival, Children's Museum of the Arts

“tape wall” (how brilliant and simple is this idea? Totally doing this at home!)

DUMBO arts festival, Children's Museum of the Arts

“sticky mural” – another great, simple idea, using contact paper and scrap materials

DUMBO arts festival, Children's Museum of the Arts

DUMBO arts festival, Children's Museum of the Arts

Flubber!!  With recipe!

DUMBO arts festival, Children's Museum of the Arts

adding “cables” to the Brooklyn Bridge

DUMBO arts festival, Children's Museum of the Arts

string “skyline”

After waiting out a rainstorm (under some scaffolding and eating some amazing dumplings) we headed back out to wander the park and look at some of the outdoor art. It was everywhere – in the water, at “Pebble Beach” and under the bridge:

DUMBO arts festival Jane's Carousel

DUMBO arts festival, Tidal Voyage

DUMBO arts festival

DUMBO arts festival, Entasis Dance

DUMBO arts festival, Entasis Dance

It was even displayed in backpacks:

DUMBO arts festival, Backpack Gallery

DUMBO arts festival, Backpack Gallery

The day was perfectly capped with a pumpkin whoopie pie from One Girl Cookies (consumed too quickly to photograph).

This is just a small fraction of the art on display – as we were on “Noah time” we didn’t get to see nearly enough. But we’ll definitely be back next year and hopefully, as Noah gets older, we’ll be able to see more.

And maybe even see you!

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2 Comments

  1. Sandra on October 4, 2012 at 9:14 am

    Lovely – I think that I have to plan a fall trip around this festival next year! Great ideas and I think I can guess which ones were the Childrens’ Museum of the Arts!

    • sherisilver on October 4, 2012 at 12:13 pm

      Thanks Sandra – it really was – and we barely scratched the surface. You would LOVE this!

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