Sunset Park-based artists welcome visitors into their workspaces during October’s Open Studios

Open Studios, coinciding with Open House New York, offered locals and visitors the opportunity to explore the old warehouses and spaces below Third Avenue, including the MADE campus, which expanded public access in October.

In the waterfront industrial buildings off First Avenue, near the entrance to Bush Terminal Piers Park at 43rd Street, artists opened workspaces inside what the city now calls MADE Bush Terminal, a redevelopment led by the NYC Economic Development Corporation. The administration building at the foot of 43rd Street — with the bronze statue of Irving T. Bush out front — was the final destination of a Turnstile Tours program that weekend, sending a steady flow of curious visitors from around the city to explore.

Rebecca Miller in her third-floor studio, surrounded by paintings from her current series.

On the third floor, painter and textile designer Rebecca Miller used Open Studios as an opportunity to organize some of her work, showcasing an ongoing series on body image and how women see the female form compared with the traditional male gaze. Miller is the owner of Rustic Loom, a Brooklyn–based textile line she has run for more than a decade.

“It’s nice to get people’s insights,” she said. “It’s also a chance to clean out the studio.”

Miller was there with her 9-year-old son, Simon, and his piano teacher, greeting visitors. She said this was her third year participating in Open Studios.

Kyra Brant models a jacket she designed and sewed in her studio.

Down the hall, designer and artist Kyra Brant invited visitors to tour her photography studio and view a handmade jacket she created. Brant said she’s been in the building nine months after finding the space online. One of her ongoing projects is called “I Have More Shoes Than Friends,” a line of clothing and a photography series she developed over the summer.

“I’m the type of artist that wants full control of their work,” she said.

Tatjana Krizmanic in one of her two studios on the third floor of the Bush Terminal admin building at 43rd Street.

Across the same floor, painter Tatjana Krizmanic rents two separate studio rooms. Krizmanic, who originally moved from Croatia to the United States to study language and comparative literature at Georgetown University, described one of the rooms as her main workspace for her modern figurative paintings. The second, smaller space holds her realist work, which she thinks of as her hobby.

After spending her 20s inching toward the artist’s life, she turned to art full-time when she became a parent, wanting to spend more time with her family. She’s been doing this work for almost 40 years. Painting, she said, is not just therapeutic; the constant problem-solving each work of art requires helps keep her young. “Planning uses a different part of the brain. It’s enormously helpful,” she said. “There’s always one more piece you want to finish.”

Painter Richard O’Russa was also showing work inside the same administration building and said having the Turnstile tours end at the building helped.

Painter Richard O’Russa opens his studio in the Bush Terminal administration to touring visitors.

“With Open House New York going on, it’s been really good,” he said of the citywide event held annually. People would finish the tour and then wander upstairs to see who was around. “Unlike other times, where you’re just twiddling your thumbs,” he said.

Sculptor Deborah Simon rents a space on the ground floor of the admin building. Simon’s practice is known for sculpting animals, such as tigers, rabbits, and other mammals, that show embroidered organs and anatomical structures on or under the surface. Her work examines how people assign value to different animals, which ones we protect, which we fear, and why.

Simon said this was her third time opening her studio for the event. She noted that ongoing construction in the area has been a challenge, but said NYCEDC encouraged artists to participate in Open Studios and helped make sure this section of the campus was ready for visitors.

A few blocks away at 250 44th Street, another group of artists had their doors open. Some were officially on the Sunset Park Open Studios online guide. Others were just open.

Keo Xmen, active since the late 1970s with the Brooklyn graffiti crew X-Men, was talking to visitors about art, boxing, and staying healthy. Keo said he first started writing graffiti as a kid in Brooklyn and is still at it at 58.

Keo Xmen at 250 44th St., discusses art, boxing, and staying healthy for his grandson.

In addition to being a full-time artist, he trains regularly at Sweatbox Brooklyn, a boxing gym with roots in the small back room of the now-closed Sunset Park branch of Richie’s Gym.

For him, staying active is about mobility and longevity. “I want to be able to move. I want to be able to play with my grandson,” he said. He also talked about how boxing classes for neighborhood kids can give them confidence and “an alternative to gangs” and said the gym donates gloves to kids who can’t afford them.

A few doors down in the same building, Jeremy Canfield described himself as a designer and photographer who, in recent years, fell in love with watercolor.

Jeremy Canfield shows recent watercolor work in his 250 44th St. space.

“I really like it,” he said. “It’s unpredictable and kind of a deep well of things to learn.”

He shares space with artist Mollie Ruskin. She said this year felt less busy than past editions of Open Studios.

“It’s been very quiet this time around,” she said. “But it’s an excuse to clean up and meet a few people.”

Her studio walls showed a mix of recent drawings, paintings, and zines. During the pandemic and in the years since, Ruskin helped organize community art shows and fundraisers for South Brooklyn Mutual Aid, blending creative work with neighborhood solidarity.

Jose Ortiz, the owner and design director of Fig. 9, displayed graphic work, illustration, and posters. Ortiz said he’s been working professionally since the 1990s, first at design agencies and later on his own. This was his third time taking part in Open Studios. He said the event is an important opportunity to connect with other local artists, potential clients, and new neighbors.

Jose Ortiz, owner and design director of Fig. 9, stands with his illustration and poster work.

“Meeting people is really nice,” he said.

By the end of the weekend, some artist spaces saw steady foot traffic from groups coming off the tours, while others were quieter. But doors were open, and both locals and visitors from outside Sunset Park took the opportunity to explore working studios, many for the first time.