Closure of the Pont de Bayonne art gallery
After six years of bringing arts and culture to the Cité Presqu’île, The Bridge Art Gallery in Bayonne will close its doors for good on July 23.
Owners Cheryl and Christopher Mack are hosting a “Farewell Bayonne Party” on July 23 from 3-7 p.m. at the gallery at 199 Broadway. This will be the only day the gallery is open this month, as the previous exhibition, “Protective Spirits” by Heather Williams, has already ended.
The Macks moved to Bayonne from Brooklyn in 2010, opening the gallery in 2016. The Bridge Art Gallery quickly became a hub for various arts and events in the city celebrating all cultures and backgrounds in Bayonne. After more than half a decade of success, the gallery and the Macks are expanding their horizons elsewhere.
In an interview with the News from the Community of Bayonne, Mack said the gallery is expanding, although that means the Bayonne site is closing. The gallery has opened a new location in Wilmington, Delaware.
“We started doing our first show last month with Art Loop Wilmington, which is the citywide art show,” Mack said. “We work closely with the Delaware Chamber of Commerce who have welcomed us with open arms with great enthusiasm and enthusiasm.”
In addition to the location on Justison Street in Wilmington, the gallery will open a satellite location in the art space known as the Gardenship at 205 Campus Drive in Kearny.
“Gardenship is a facility with artists’ studios and a fabrication lab,” Mack said. “It’s just an amazing building with a lot of creativity.”
Say goodbye to Bayonne
Mack was ambivalent about the situation: happy to expand to other places, but sad to close shop in Bayonne.
“We’ve built great relationships in the community, worked with amazing artists,” Mack said. “We are sad to close the Bayonne chapter, but very excited about the further expansion of The Bridge Art Gallery.”
While the Bayonne gallery will no longer exist, the gallery and the Macks will still be active in Hudson County and the New York area.
“We’ll still be in the area somewhat,” Mack said. “We have a lot of collaborations in Jersey City with the Nimbus Arts Center in the fall. And we’re working with a few other arts organizations in Manhattan for projects in early 2023.”
Mack and her husband also manage the quarterly publication Bridge Arts and run the Bridge Arts Festival which is held in Bayonne each year. While they will no longer be in Bayonne, the festival will live under a new name.
“Our arts festival will continue but under the name Bayonne Arts Festival in the same tradition as the Bridge Arts Festival,” Mack said. “We are working closely with Angélique Belle from the Maison des jeunes de Bayonne who are presenting this year’s arts festival in September.”
The festival will not die, but will be taken over by the Maison des Jeunes de Bayonne under the leadership of Angélique Jackson-Belle. According to Mack, the new Bayonne Arts Festival is tentatively set for September 10.
Forward and upward
Looking ahead, Mack is excited to see what Wilmington has to offer. She also spoke of her pride in the work accomplished in Bayonne.
“We look forward to connecting with all of the artists and community members who have been impacted by our ‘Art in the Park’ programming, our festival programming, our art exhibitions and our public art installations. “, Mack said. “We are really proud of the work we have done in Bayonne.
The new gallery is located at 920 Justison Street in Wilmington, Delaware. visits are by appointment only. For more information, visit bridgeartgallery.net.
With the closure of The Bridge Art Gallery, The Dollhaus II at 23 Cottage Street will be the only art gallery in Bayonne. That is, as long as the gallery gets city approval to rectify a zoning issue and isn’t forced to close.
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