The Dear Neighbor Project: Art Workshop

NEW DATE! SATURDAY, MAY 3

Join us for an immersive afternoon with artist Tiffany Baker, creator of — a multi-site mural installation that turns the voices of Gowanus residents into public art. Her murals illustrate residents’ experiences with flooding in the neighborhood and stories of community support.

On Saturday, May 3, Tiffany leads a guided mural viewing, followed by an art-making workshop at Van Alen Institute. You'll hear excerpts from community interviews and respond through drawing, writing, and discussion. Explore personal themes of water, place, housing, and belonging, and add your voice to the evolving story of the neighborhood.

Open to ages 12 and up. No artistic experience required.

The Dear Neighbor Project is produced by Van Alen Institute.

Note: This event was originally scheduled for April 26, and has been rescheduled to May 3 due to rain.

About Tiffany Baker

Tiffany Baker (she/her) is a Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based visual artist, working in oil, acrylic, pencil, digital media, and glass. Tiffany works in a unique style of realist portraiture marked by vibrant palettes and considered attention to her subject’s grooming, often merging somber, regal, and mundane themes, bringing forth her subject’s essence. In her portraiture, she transmutes life experiences into emotive visual expressions that reimagine trauma, embed messages of connection, and celebrate her identity as a Black woman.

About Van Alen Institute

Van Alen Institute is a driving force behind community-led urban design, which believes that local knowledge and care enrich the design process. Since 1894, Van Alen has invested in people with a passion for improving cities through the power of architecture and design. Our public space projects build unconventional coalitions of designers, local stakeholders, and city leaders, and we support their visions through project scoping, hands-on guidance, and seed funding. Our work confronts longstanding power imbalances in citymaking, showcases the vanguard of community-led design, and supports the next generation of designers in creating more just cities.

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