Smack Mellon

Smack Mellon was founded in 1995 in Dumbo, Brooklyn by artist Andrea Reynosa and musician Kevin Vertrees in their live/work loft space at 135 Plymouth Street, #306 when the neighborhood consisted of abandoned warehouse buildings and a sparsely populated pioneering class of artist do-it-yourselfers. Since its inception the organization has produced numerous exhibitions, and presented the work of hundreds of artists in four different locations in DUMBO. In 1997 Smack Mellon founding Executive Director Andrea Reynosa brokered a partnership with the Walentas family and their company Two Trees Management for a temporary dedicated space at 81 Washington Street for the exhibition Lost and Found featuring the work of Harmony Hammond and emerging Brooklyn based talent. At that time, Two Trees had a number of vacant historic, industrial properties throughout DUMBO and was interested in providing their spaces to not-for-profit organizations to use for cultural programming. From 1999 to 2005 Smack Mellon occupied a Civil War-era iron foundry at 56 Water Street, which had been turned into a spice milling and grinding facility in the 1950s. Since 2005 Smack Mellon has been located at 92 Plymouth Street in a former coal-fired boiler house that provided steam for heat and power to several industrial buildings in the neighborhood.

Today, Smack Mellon’s Exhibition Program continues to advance public interest in the visual arts while providing opportunities for emerging and under-recognized visual artists whose opportunities for exhibition have been limited to realize ambitious projects. Smack Mellon enables roughly thirty artists each year - 60% of whom are women - to create and present large-scale work to the public in their 6,000 sq ft gallery. Smack Mellon features a wide range of work, including sculpture, installation art, painting, photography, film/video, and site specific projects. Smack Mellon provides opportunities for solo exhibitions to artists who do not have commercial gallery representation in NYC.

Beyond, Beyond by Ron Baron at Smack Mellon, 2017

Previous exhibitions have included the critically acclaimed RESPOND, which was a direct response to the continued failure of the United States to protect its black citizens from police discrimination and violence, after learning of the grand jury's decision to not indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo for the death of Eric Garner.[1][2][3]

Smack Mellon's exhibitions have received multiple rewards for best show during the Dumbo Art Festival. In 2013 Bryan Zanisnik's exhibition at Smack Mellon was awarded the prize of best exhibition;[4] and the following year Saya Woolfalk's ChimaTEK won the award.[5]

The Artist Studio Program at Smack Mellon provides urgently needed studio space and career building opportunities to artists wishing to live and work in New York City. As rents continue to increase astronomically throughout the City, it is increasingly difficult, if not virtually impossible for artists to find affordable, appropriate studio space. In response to the studio crisis faced by artists in New York City, Smack Mellon's Studio Program provides much needed workspace, and financial and technical support to aid artists in the creation of new work. Smack Mellon receives over 600 applications for six available studios each year. Expenses, including museum admissions, transportation and food, are paid during the program.[7][8]

Smack Mellon’s arts education initiative, Art Ready engages young people in a way no other arts education program does, it pairs students directly with working artists; the students learn first hand over the course of a school year what it is to be an artist in the artist’s studio. The program operates during the school year and includes a series of studio visits with emerging and established artists; a series of field trips to museums and galleries; 2-3 art workshops; and a four-month arts mentorship. Art Ready connects up to twenty high school students with ten diverse artists, to gain practical experience working with professionals in a variety of artistic disciplines. The program is free for students.[9] Working as mentors, the artists provide professional and creative guidance as the students make decisions about their futures in the arts. Mentor/teaching artists also tutor the students in their creative process, introduce them to new ways of working, and engage them in continuous critical reflection. Art Ready truly prepares high school aged students for artistic careers and gives them practical experience working in a diversity of artistic disciplines.

• www.smackmellon.org