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PHOTOS: Local Artists Turn Crown Heights Work Site Into Public Gallery

By Rachel Holliday Smith | August 28, 2015 4:33pm | Updated on August 30, 2015 9:09pm
 Portraits by Nigerian-born artist Francis Simeni hang on the construction fence at 564 St. Johns Place, a new development in Crown Heights. The artwork is part of an outdoor exhibit created by FiveMyles gallery, located next door to the work site.
Portraits by Nigerian-born artist Francis Simeni hang on the construction fence at 564 St. Johns Place, a new development in Crown Heights. The artwork is part of an outdoor exhibit created by FiveMyles gallery, located next door to the work site.
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DNAinfo/Rachel Holliday Smith

CROWN HEIGHTS — Last year, the residents of St. Johns Place between Franklin and Classon avenues heard news that's been familiar to Crown Heights these days: a big, new building is coming to their block.

The eight-story, 136,000-square-foot building is coming to a lot right next to FiveMyles, a local gallery and performance space. Immediately, the gallery staff started planning how it could add a little beauty to the 300-foot plywood wall surrounding the work site.

“We tried to think of a way to make it a bit more bearable for our neighbors and ourselves,” said FiveMyles program manager Marine Cornuet.

What they came up with is a rotating, public artwork exhibit, installed (with permission) on the construction fencing at 564 St. Johns Pl.

"Sun prints" made from the hands of local children on photo-sensitive paper are part of the "Interlude" gallery on construction fencing next to FiveMyles in Crown Heights. (DNAinfo/Rachel Holliday Smith)

The work currently on display, titled “Interlude,” features artwork from three sources: local children who created “sun prints” of their hands using light-sensitive paper, two neighbors of FiveMyles who photographed their extensive collection of sneakers (Cornuet says they have several hundred pairs between them) and Nigerian-born artist Francis Simeni who created 27 laminated prints of portraits he has painted.

One of 27 portraits by Nigerian-born artist Francis Simeni hang on the wall closest to the FiveMyles Gallery on St. Johns Place.

New work will be displayed on the fences every five or six week, Cornuet said, for the entirely of the construction, set to wrap-up in early 2017.

“We’re going to be able to feature a lot of artists over the next two years,” she said.

All of the artwork in the outdoor gallery, including these photographs of two local sneakerheads’ collections, are protected from the elements by laminate.

So far, the outdoor gallery seems to be a hit with residents. No one has damaged the artwork, Cornuet said, and FiveMyles has gotten a steady stream of compliments from passersby.

“A lot of neighbors have come and said ‘We like this, we like that.’ People stop and tell us which portrait they like the most. The kids also, they’re so funny, they go against the wall and do high-fives on the big hand prints,” she said.

Cornuet said the next major rotation in artwork will happen in the beginning of September. For more information about the Interlude project, visit the FiveMyles website.

The FiveMyles gallery and performance space has been operating at 558 St. Johns Pl. in Crown Heights since 1999.