So, new (old) plan, see all the galleries in Brooklyn. Decided to see a few Red Hook galleries before the cold temperatures hit. Stopped off at the Kentler International Drawing Space at 353 Van Brunt Street. The front door is not that inviting with its black façade but it has history - built by "1877 by the Kentler family it housed a men’s haberdashery serving Brooklyn seaport business workers." They were "founded in 1990, as a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing contemporary drawings and works on paper by emerging and under-recognized artists to the public and they include a flat file and exhibition submissions," - who does that these days?! When I stepped in I was greeted by a very nice young woman who told me all about the show. They are exhibiting an intense, emotional, nostalgic exhibition titled Spotlight on the Flatfiles: Meridith McNeal, A Portrait of My Mother up until February 10. The artist states, "Included are portraits of objects that belonged to my mother depicted in my own Brooklyn home; in their new surroundings they become both memorial and useful objects." While her watercolor technique is spectacular, what I felt and wanted to do with MY mother's belongings was to catalog them just as she has, gather a work, arrange it, meticulously render it, and mourn over the loss of such an important woman in your life. So often still-lifes are cold and removed - just a reason for an artist to practice their craft - and while the objects are often there for personal reasons we are not privy their meaning. This show is the opposite and made me so sad, I smiled and thought of my mom.