Lori Nelson, “Bigger Than This Town” (2017), oil on panel, 24” x 36 (image courtesy Portal: Governors Island)
New York City’s Governors Island Art Fair will return this weekend for its 12th edition, this time under the name, Portal: Governors Island. Presented by the nonprofit 4heads (which has used the “Portal” moniker for other fairs), the monthlong art fair will feature 89 artists from New York and across the United States, chosen from approximately 800 open submissions. This is a selling fair where the selected artists can display their work free of charge (and keep 70% of sales) in and around the island’s former military barracks on Colonel’s Row, which is located in the Governor’s Island’s Historic District.
New Yorkers and visitors who take the ferries from Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge Park can expect to see the work of 70 artists with indoor presentations and 19 with outdoor installations. The exhibitions range in size and format and include sculptures, paintings, photography, video, and more. Some of the New York-area artists shown include Sherri Hay, Anne Muntges, Aaron Li-Hill, Lewis Derogene known artistically as PhenomenaLewis, Federico Muela, Kerry Lessard.
As for the rebranding, according to materials provided by the festival, 4heads moved to change it “as a signal that other iterations of the fair are being planned for future dates and locations around New York City.” We look forward to hearing what those will be. In the meantime, the Governors Island edition will run every Saturday and Sunday from August 31 through September 29, 2019. Note that the fair is free to browse, but that ferries on weekdays and weekend afternoons cost $2 round trip for adults. (It’s free for all on weekend mornings and free for children under 12, NYCID holders, and Governors Island members at all times; senior citizens’ fares are half price.)
When: Saturday and Sundays, August 31-September 29
Where: Colonel’s Row (Governors Island, accessible by ferry from Battery Maritime Building at 10 South Street, Lower Manhattan, or Brooklyn Bridge Park)
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