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Help Save Brooklyn's Broken Angel Building
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jul 17, 2012
Modified Jul 17, 2012
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jul 17, 2012
Modified Jul 17, 2012
Share
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Photo by jameswolberg's flickr
With Brooklyn's Broken Angel's tenant in danger of being evicted, a Kickstarter has gone up to give the spot a new life. The building—located at 4/5 Downing Street in Clinton Hill—is a neighborhood institution, and was purchased in 1972 by artist Arthur Wood's parents. He would eventually build upon the 4-story brick tenement building and transform it into a unique home and work of architectural art. It has seen some good times (as a part of Dave Chappelle's Block Party) and some bad times (the many attempts to tear it down) throughout its years. In the past few years it has sort of lost its luster, starting around 2006 when there was a fire and the Dept. of Buildings told the family they needed to vacate (Arthur was arrested when he refused, and they lived in their car outside for a period of time). The next year they were faced with foreclosure; and in 2007 Wood's wife Cynthia died.
Now there's a chance to give this angel back its wings! The Kickstarter is an attempt to raise money to transform it into a museum, all kicking off with an art project you can be a part of:
We want you to design an original art piece on one square inch of paper and send it to us. For a $20.00 pledge we will combine your art work with others and display it at Broken Angel for viewing by the general public. We will use these squares to create the worlds largest collaborative art piece. The first 1000 squares sold will be displayed on the facade of Broken Angel. The first $50,000.00 will be used to safeguard the art collection that will eventually be housed in the muesum. This includes Arthur Wood's work in addition to the pieces submitted as part of Broken Angel Squared. All submitted pieces will be archived and preserved for display.
Funds will be used to save Broken Angel, and used to transform it into the a museum.
Tagged
arthur wood
broken angel
kickstarter
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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