Lizzy Plapinger had barely settled into her studio in a sunny corner of Industry City before visitors spilled into the space on Sunday, October 18, to see a handful of her brightly contrasting geometric paintings laid against her walls for Sunset Park Open Studios.
“I just moved in two months ago from Bushwick, and I’m still getting to know the area, but it feels very welcoming,” Plapinger told Hyperallergic. “I like that it’s close to other artists and designers, which makes it feel ripe for collaboration.”
When New York artists needed a place to work after being priced out of their communities over the past decade, Sunset Park became one of their last refuges for affordable studio space. Known as an industrial manufacturing hub and enclave for Mexican and Chinese immigrants, the southwest Brooklyn neighborhood has drawn enough artists and creative workers to its converted factories, warehouses, and three-story walk-ups to sustain a three-day arts festival featuring more than 300 spaces.
