news / shop local

We're up and going, so clean and bright and fresh, and flush with new, and new to us, merch. The lucky finds include pieces from Rebecca Taylor, Tucker, Archerie, Layla, Erica Tanov, Madewell, Matta and so much more. Come take a looksee. Find our buying and selling guide here. 

Portrait paintings by Jenny Belin

Join us on Friday evening 9/6 to welcome Jenny Belin and her Portraits of Women show back into the store.

Jenny's paintings of an ever-changing assortment of women is a source of perpetual joy. The subjects bridge the professional spectrum: from artists and writers to mathematicians, activists, icons, justices, and more.

Inspired by the desire to see more women represented in the public sphere, the show aims to do just that.

Come see them for yourself.

Reception is Friday evening, September 6th from 5-7pm

Show will b up in the store through October.

Here we are at the end of 2018. It was a fast-forward kind of year here in DK-land. So much happening in the world and so many moments of feeling both powerless and powerful. There is pleasure and purpose in realizing that although things are broken, we each individually can make them better.. and when there is SO MUCH room for improvement, you can dig in wherever you want, it ALL helps.

To wit: we expanded our collaboration with artist Jenny Belin, showcasing more of her portraits of feminists, including more contemporary women: gun-control activist Emma Gonzalez, writer Rebecca Solnit, artist Amy Sherald, professor Anita Hill, and more.  We created buttons of many of them, so you can carry their images out into the world, because REPRESENTATION MATTERS.

In October we hosted the glorious Turning The Tide: Blue Wave Project from the Pen and Ink Brigade, a collective of women artists and illustrators. We raised over $8000 for voteriders.org, ensuring that people who needed assistance getting to the polls would have it. The artworks were spectacular, as was the opening party :)

This year I dug into it all by co-creating Persisticon. If you haven't checked it out yet, please do. It's a passion project: a social enterprise full of art, laughs, love, and making a difference in the world. Our ultimate goal is the election of pro-choice progressive women, but along the way we seek to foster community, provide platforms for funny women, support our local small businesses, make some art, and have fun. Here's the award winning poster Johanna Goodman did for the first Persisticon event, held in late March at the Bell House in Brooklyn:

When I started this post I planned to include a bunch of pretty new things from the resort collections pooling on the racks in the store.. but it's gotten so long I'm just gonna make another one...

Wishing you and yours all the blessings this world has to offer, and looking forward to seeing you in 2019. 

xDiana

Here's a quick photo recap of the opening party for Portraits of Women: Icons and Feminists. As usual, I managed to take a few quick snaps at the very beginning and then again at the end. In the middle was a blur of smiling faces and wonderful connections.

I'm happy so many of the artists managed to get here, it was great seeing them with their work, and meeting each other as well. We were packed all night long. but fortunately the wine and bubbly held up- thanks again to our local sponsors: Red, White, and Bubbly, and Acme Wines and Spirits. If you didn't make it, please come check it out anytime- these pieces will be up until 10/15. If you are an artist interested in participating in a future iteration of this show, don't hesitate to get in touch. There are an endless supply of worthy subjects.

I'm very pleased to say our lovely neighbors, Red, White, and Bubbly, and Acme Wines & Spirits are sponsoring our opening party for Portraits of Women: Icons and Feminists Thank you to Adam and Donald for your generosity, we will raise a glass to you. 

I'm also happy to report that Brooklyn Frameworks is offering a framing deal to any of you who purchase pieces from the show. There will be examples of the frame style (simple, clean, modern) on a few of the pieces so you can see them. George does excellent work and has been a pillar of our community for over 18 years..

Shop local people, and appreciate the small businesses in your community who contribute to making us the vibrant community we are!

x Diana

In a first for our store, I have organized an art show with many contributing artists. There will be somewhere between 25-35 by the time the show goes up, on September 17th.

Each artist was given a 12" x 12" wooden board and asked to create a portrait of an inspiring woman of their choice. 

It's been an absolute pleasure to see the pieces come in, and they are awesome.

There's something so valuable in original artwork, it's an expression from a human being meant to excite your heart/ mind. I'm fascinated by what we respond to, and why... please take a scan and see what you respond to. 

The inspiration behind this show is equality in representation. What we encounter is invaluable in forming our views of the world and what is possible for us; what we see teaches us what to aspire towards. 

Too much of our history is told and framed by the stories from and of men. Don't get me wrong: I love men. But the truth is we don't see anywhere near an equal number of female contributions and contributors. It's time to see more of the women who succeed in impacting the world.

I hope you can join us for our opening party, please check out the Facebook event for more info. If you can't, don't worry, the show will be up for at least a month, and if it goes well, longer- in my perfect world we can continue to add new work as the first pieces sell.

And do check them out here! 

xDiana