New arts fair springs up in a new artistic part of Brooklyn

PROSPECT LEFFERTS GARDENS, Brooklyn (PIX11) -- A fabulous indoor art fair is just wrapping up in a pocket of Brooklyn that is getting to be known for its wonderful art and its artists.

It was the first annual PLG Arts Indoor Spring Arts Fair and most of the participating artists here at Brooklyn Commons live and work in Prospect Lefferts Gardens.

With the Rafael Rosa Jazz Trio playing, these artists range in age from 5 to 92 years old, and all have one thing in common, they love what they create, like 92-year-old Otto Neals, whose work is displayed in the Smithsonian, Kings County Medical Center and many other places.

“I paint and sculpt,” Neals told PIX11 News. “I work in all the mediums, wood, stone, bronze, oil, pastels and printmaking.”

Jamie Lubetkin took these photographs on the street over the past three years.

“It was inspired doing the pandemic as a form of meditation and therapy to get through the difficult time,” Lubetkin, a street photographer, told PIX11 News. “I would take walks and notice architecture, nature and people.”

This is the first annual indoor art fair created by PLG Arts.

“We wanted to do something for the neighborhood, and we decided this would be the perfect place, and it really is people. The attendance is so great,” Rina Kleege, co-president of  PLG Arts, told PIX11 News. “They are coming from all over and saying, how can I get in on this."

A father-son duo inspired each other, with 81-year-old Karl McIntosh creating three-dimensional collages while his son Magnet creates found art and paints it.

“It’s always been in my blood, even when I was in school, I would be scribbling and creating art,” Magnet McIntosh, son of an artist, told PIX11 News.

“As the neighborhood has changed, there’s been a great influx of artists,” Hollis Headrick, co-president of PLG Arts, told PIX11 News.

Up next for PLG Arts are two musical performances, one for children at the Crown Heights Public Library and a jazz performance at a historic home in Prospect Lefferts Gardens.

For more information, go to PLGarts.org.