About

Powerhouse Arts is a not-for-profit based in Gowanus and Red Hook, Brooklyn, established to create a robust platform for art production and employment in the arts.

We are stewarding the redevelopment of the former Brooklyn Rapid Transit Power Station in Gowanus to create a new facility that will house fabrication and production facilities in wood, metal, ceramic, textile and print.

In addition to fabrication, we provide total project management support for artists and institutions looking to produce ambitious projects.

Our programming includes fabrication, education, employment and public engagement to increase access and opportunity for participation in the arts for all New Yorkers.

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Our shops are currently preparing to move into our future facility. In preparation for the move, production will be paused from January 1st to July 1st. Have a project you’d like to discuss? Book a virtual Shop Talk with our fabricators to advise you on current or future projects in the interim. Book Shop Talk here.
MATERIALS Powerhouse Arts offers fabrication for artists and institutions looking to produce ambitious art projects through our Collaborative Production Program. We specialize in five key materials and offer project management to support artists with the full life cycle of their project needs. Our facilities are structured to optimize collaboration across materials for multimedia projects. Explore Materials
Textile
The Textile Program specializes in multimedia textile and fiber arts production needs for artists and offers access to an extensive suite of textile services and techniques including sewing, embroidery, weaving, tufting, knitting, and other textile construction, manipulation, and embellishment.
Wood & Metal
The Wood & Metal Program offers artists access to bespoke production services spanning carpentry, welding, machining, and digital fabrication. We specialize in solutions to hybrid production needs, crossing the boundaries of traditional carpentry and metal-centered production.
Print
The Print Program offers silkscreen printmaking services with the capacity to accommodate projects in non-traditional and technically ambitious media and printed at scales larger than typically feasible with traditional printing presses. The print team applies over 100 years of combined experience across silkscreen among other printmaking techniques and welcomes projects that require experimentation.
Ceramic
The Ceramic Program offers fabrication at a variety of scales and provides access to technical expertise and equipment. Specializing in sculpture utilizing techniques such as wheel-throwing, hand-building, slip casting, on-premise firing, 3D ceramic printing, bespoke glazes and finishes, among other processes, we offer cross-disciplinary applications with our other material shops, including services such as printmaking on clay.
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Join Powerhouse Arts expert staff and fabricators for a one-on-one shop talks. In these 30-minute sessions, our team is available to advise on projects you’re currently working on, to troubleshoot technical challenges, to explore innovative applications of materials, and to offer thought-partnership in your creative endeavors. Learn More
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Shop Talk
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Ongoing
Event
Join Powerhouse Arts expert staff and fabricators for a one-on-one shop talks. In these 30-minute sessions, our team is available to advise on projects you’re currently working on, to troubleshoot technical challenges, to explore innovative applications of materials, and to offer thought-partnership in your creative endeavors.
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Featured Project Performa approached Powerhouse Arts in May of 2020 to create an edition of porcelain vases for Barbra Kruger as a follow up to her acclaimed Performa 17 Commission Untitled (Skate) where Kruger created a series of merchandise in the guise of a Supreme “drop”. The exhibition involved large text-based vinyl “pastings” as a site-specific installation at Coleman Skatepark in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
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Untitled (Vase), Medium: Glazed porcelain, 10 inches tall x 4 inches wide. Edition of 100. Image by Alistair Matthews.
Featured Project Performa approached Powerhouse Arts in May of 2020 to create an edition of porcelain vases for Barbra Kruger as a follow up to her acclaimed Performa 17 Commission Untitled (Skate) where Kruger created a series of merchandise in the guise of a Supreme “drop”. The exhibition involved large text-based vinyl “pastings” as a site-specific installation at Coleman Skatepark in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
More about this project, All Featured Projects
Featured Project Okwui Okpokwasili worked with Powerhouse to adorn a series of headpieces for the performance On the way, undone, performed in May 2021 on the Highline, inspired by Simone Leigh’s Brick House. On the way, undone reimagines black hair as an antenna or a receiver of signals from the past and the future. The performance is both an homage and a pilgrimage: performers trace a path through the park to Leigh’s magnificent sculpture at 30th Street.
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Okwui Okpokwasili On the way, undone at the High Line. Images by Liz Ligon.
Featured Project Okwui Okpokwasili worked with Powerhouse to adorn a series of headpieces for the performance On the way, undone, performed in May 2021 on the Highline, inspired by Simone Leigh’s Brick House. On the way, undone reimagines black hair as an antenna or a receiver of signals from the past and the future. The performance is both an homage and a pilgrimage: performers trace a path through the park to Leigh’s magnificent sculpture at 30th Street.
More about this project, All Featured Projects
Featured Project In March 2021, artists Aziz + Cucher approached Powerhouse Arts to produce a series of unique prints entitled You’re Welcome and I’m Sorry. The artist duo was initially introduced to Powerhouse through Virtual Consultations where they consulted with Print Director Luther Davis regarding methodologies for translating photography of performance into large-scale prints.
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The Hard Sell silkscreen painting by Aziz + Cucher
Featured Project In March 2021, artists Aziz + Cucher approached Powerhouse Arts to produce a series of unique prints entitled You’re Welcome and I’m Sorry. The artist duo was initially introduced to Powerhouse through Virtual Consultations where they consulted with Print Director Luther Davis regarding methodologies for translating photography of performance into large-scale prints.
More about this project, All Featured Projects
Featured Project Artist Caroline Garcia approached Powerhouse Arts to fabricate the main structural component of The Headless Headhunt, a multimedia installation built to resemble a boxing ring that was commissioned as part of The Shed’s Open Call, on view from June 4 through August 1, 2021.
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The Headless Headhunt with augmented reality (AR) text by Caroline Garcia at The Shed’s Open Call. Photography courtesy of the artist and The Shed
Featured Project Artist Caroline Garcia approached Powerhouse Arts to fabricate the main structural component of The Headless Headhunt, a multimedia installation built to resemble a boxing ring that was commissioned as part of The Shed’s Open Call, on view from June 4 through August 1, 2021.
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Featured Project New York’s Swivel Gallery approached Powerhouse Arts in 2020 to collaborate on producing a print edition for their inaugural exhibition, an immersive, site specific installation entitled PANACEA by Corey Wash that was on view from January 23 to February 28, 2021.
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Installation view of PANACEA by Corey Wash at Swivel Gallery.
Featured Project New York’s Swivel Gallery approached Powerhouse Arts in 2020 to collaborate on producing a print edition for their inaugural exhibition, an immersive, site specific installation entitled PANACEA by Corey Wash that was on view from January 23 to February 28, 2021.
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Featured Project Sydney Shen collaborated with Powerhouse Arts’s Wood, Metal, and Digital Fabrication team to fabricate a series of large sculptures for her newly commissioned solo exhibition Strange But True at the Queens Museum.
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Installation view(s), Sydney Shen: Strange But True, Queens Museum (April 28 - August 22, 2021). Courtesy of Queens Museum: photo credit Hai Zhang.
Featured Project Sydney Shen collaborated with Powerhouse Arts’s Wood, Metal, and Digital Fabrication team to fabricate a series of large sculptures for her newly commissioned solo exhibition Strange But True at the Queens Museum.
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Featured Project Desiiiire/Diiiistortiiiion and Body/Meat are a series of prints by Rodrigo Moreira produced in 2021 in collaboration with Powerhouse Arts. For this project, Moreira worked with Powerhouse to print photo-collages from two existing bodies of work titled Desiiiire/Diiiistortiiiion and Body/Meat, which amounted to an edition of 15 prints measuring 20 x 16 inches on Coventry Rag paper in CMYK with a gray wash.
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Detail digital image of Desiiiire/Diiiistortiiiion for final screen files by Rodrigo Moreira.
Featured Project Desiiiire/Diiiistortiiiion and Body/Meat are a series of prints by Rodrigo Moreira produced in 2021 in collaboration with Powerhouse Arts. For this project, Moreira worked with Powerhouse to print photo-collages from two existing bodies of work titled Desiiiire/Diiiistortiiiion and Body/Meat, which amounted to an edition of 15 prints measuring 20 x 16 inches on Coventry Rag paper in CMYK with a gray wash.
More about this project, All Featured Projects
Featured Project Artist Liz Collins worked with Powerhouse Arts to create the sculpture Map Key for the exhibition “Wayfinding” at The Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Massachusetts. The sculpture is based on a map key that Collins referenced within the Phillips Academy’s Sidney R. Knafel Map Collection, which included European maps, atlases, and documents from 1434 through the 19th century. Map Key is made of wood and papier-mâché, acrylic fabric, wool, silk, screen printed antique linen tablecloth.
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Map Key in the exhibition Wayfinding at The Addison Gallery of American Art. Image courtesy of the artist.
Featured Project Artist Liz Collins worked with Powerhouse Arts to create the sculpture Map Key for the exhibition “Wayfinding” at The Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Massachusetts. The sculpture is based on a map key that Collins referenced within the Phillips Academy’s Sidney R. Knafel Map Collection, which included European maps, atlases, and documents from 1434 through the 19th century. Map Key is made of wood and papier-mâché, acrylic fabric, wool, silk, screen printed antique linen tablecloth.
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Featured Project Artist Michael Joo approached Powerhouse Arts for fabrication of QR codes that involved milling carbon, wood, and iron for his exhibition On the Passage… at CLEA_RSKY, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institute. The QR code is a functional sculpture: when scanned, it leads to an archive of images, artifacts, and information that add layers of contemplation to the installation.
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On the Passage… installation at CLEA _RSKY. Image by Ben Cohen.
Featured Project Artist Michael Joo approached Powerhouse Arts for fabrication of QR codes that involved milling carbon, wood, and iron for his exhibition On the Passage… at CLEA_RSKY, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institute. The QR code is a functional sculpture: when scanned, it leads to an archive of images, artifacts, and information that add layers of contemplation to the installation.
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Featured Project During a residency in The Kitchen’s building at 512 West 19th Street, Autumn Knight created a new project to be viewed by online audiences. This project merged the artist’s practice of improvisation with new text, choreography, and sculpture that responds to the architecture of the space.
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Installation at The Kitchen. Images courtesy of the artist. Photos copyright Paula Court
Featured Project During a residency in The Kitchen’s building at 512 West 19th Street, Autumn Knight created a new project to be viewed by online audiences. This project merged the artist’s practice of improvisation with new text, choreography, and sculpture that responds to the architecture of the space.
More about this project, All Featured Projects
Featured Project In 2020, K8 Hardy reached out to Powerhouse Arts to collaborate on the fabrication of March, a large-scale, 10 x 6 foot upholstered maxi pad with colorful stains. March is composed of silver infused dimpled bamboo fabric — currently being marketed as a face mask filtration layer.
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K8 Hardy, March, 2020, Mixed media. Photography by Joerg Lohse. Courtesy of the artist and Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York / Los Angeles.
Featured Project In 2020, K8 Hardy reached out to Powerhouse Arts to collaborate on the fabrication of March, a large-scale, 10 x 6 foot upholstered maxi pad with colorful stains. March is composed of silver infused dimpled bamboo fabric — currently being marketed as a face mask filtration layer.
More about this project, All Featured Projects
Featured Project Artist Bruce M. Sherman commissioned Powerhouse Arts to fabricate a series of ceramic sculptures for a new body of work entitled Infinite Columns. The works reference Brancusi’s Infinite Columns and assert a connection between the earth and the celestial realm in their prominent verticality.
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Bruce Sherman, Earth/Heaven Heaven/Earth, 2020. Installation view. Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, NY. Courtesy of the artist.
Featured Project Artist Bruce M. Sherman commissioned Powerhouse Arts to fabricate a series of ceramic sculptures for a new body of work entitled Infinite Columns. The works reference Brancusi’s Infinite Columns and assert a connection between the earth and the celestial realm in their prominent verticality.
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Featured Project Powerhouse Arts’ Project Management team was hired to install Kenseth Armstead’s Boulevard of African Monarchs, at the corner of 116th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, in the heart of Harlem described by the artist as “a hub of African excellence in America.”
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Detail: Boulevard of African Monarchs, 10’x10’x15’, Aluminum Plate & Shoe Polish, Harlem, NY, 2020. Photo by Liz Ligon
Featured Project Powerhouse Arts’ Project Management team was hired to install Kenseth Armstead’s Boulevard of African Monarchs, at the corner of 116th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, in the heart of Harlem described by the artist as “a hub of African excellence in America.”
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Featured Project Artist Leah Raintree approached Powerhouse Arts in 2020 to formulate a glaze and fire works for Clearing, a series of ceramic drawings using found materials from Raintree’s childhood home on a small farm in rural Virginia.
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Before Clearing, 2.2, 2020 4 ½ x 9”, iris ash, wood ash glaze, Virginia clay soil on porcelain
Featured Project Artist Leah Raintree approached Powerhouse Arts in 2020 to formulate a glaze and fire works for Clearing, a series of ceramic drawings using found materials from Raintree’s childhood home on a small farm in rural Virginia.
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Featured Project Artists La Vaughn Belle and Jeannette Ehlers were commissioned by the Ford Foundation Gallery to create I Am Queen Mary for the exhibition, Radical Love, which ran from June to August, 2019.
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I Am Queen Mary installed at the exhibition “Radical Love” at the Ford Foundation Gallery. Photo by Sebastian Bach and courtesy of Ford Foundation Gallery
Featured Project Artists La Vaughn Belle and Jeannette Ehlers were commissioned by the Ford Foundation Gallery to create I Am Queen Mary for the exhibition, Radical Love, which ran from June to August, 2019.
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Featured Project In 2019 artist Alex Dodge collaborated with the Powerhouse Arts Printshop on his print edition The Only Stars Are In Your Eyes. The print is a seven-color screenprint on Bristol that utilizes an ultraviolet light-cured ink. The UV-cured ink is printed in such a way that it creates a raised surface, such as you might encounter with braille.
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Detail View: The Only Stars Are In Your Eyes, March 2019. Courtesy the artist and Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery
Featured Project In 2019 artist Alex Dodge collaborated with the Powerhouse Arts Printshop on his print edition The Only Stars Are In Your Eyes. The print is a seven-color screenprint on Bristol that utilizes an ultraviolet light-cured ink. The UV-cured ink is printed in such a way that it creates a raised surface, such as you might encounter with braille.
More about this project, All Featured Projects
Featured Project The Powerhouse Arts Project Management team assembled and installed the first model of Agnes Denes’ Probability Pyramid—Study for Crystal Pyramid from 1976. The sculpture was commissioned by The Shed for the artist’s retrospective exhibition Agnes Denes: Absolutes and Intermediates curated by Emma Enderby, which was on view from October 2019 through March 2020.
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Installation view: Agnes Denes: Absolutes and Intermediates, The Shed, New York, October 9, 2019 – March 22, 2020. Photo by Dan Bradica, courtesy of The Shed
Featured Project The Powerhouse Arts Project Management team assembled and installed the first model of Agnes Denes’ Probability Pyramid—Study for Crystal Pyramid from 1976. The sculpture was commissioned by The Shed for the artist’s retrospective exhibition Agnes Denes: Absolutes and Intermediates curated by Emma Enderby, which was on view from October 2019 through March 2020.
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Featured Project Bryony Roberts Studio commissioned Powerhouse Arts to fabricate Soft Civic, a site-specific work that aims to enhance the public gathering space in Columbus, Indiana.
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Aerial view of Soft Civic installed at City Hall in Columbus, Indiana. © Bryony Roberts. Photography by Hadley Fruits
Featured Project Bryony Roberts Studio commissioned Powerhouse Arts to fabricate Soft Civic, a site-specific work that aims to enhance the public gathering space in Columbus, Indiana.
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Featured Project Sarah Crowner was commissioned by the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans to create a series of six individual tapestry panels for the exhibition, Hinge Pictures: Eight Women Artists Occupy the Third Dimension, which aimed to challenge patriarchal narratives of European modernism.
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Sarah Crowner, Sapphire Tapestry, (Parts 1-3), 2019. Exhibition view: “Hinge Pictures: Eight Women Artists Occupy the Third Dimension,” 2019, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans. Image courtesy the artist and Casey Kaplan, New York. Photo: Alex Marks.
Featured Project Sarah Crowner was commissioned by the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans to create a series of six individual tapestry panels for the exhibition, Hinge Pictures: Eight Women Artists Occupy the Third Dimension, which aimed to challenge patriarchal narratives of European modernism.
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