Things to Do in Brooklyn

Artist Peter McGouran opened his screenprinting studio and school to fulfill his passion for creating 2-D images layered with emotion, nuance, and color unattainable by computers. Featured on BushwickBK, the artist has worked with Alternative Apparel, American Apparel, Fruit of the Loom, and Hanes to emblazon fashion with artful images and exuberant hues. The pro teaches workshops for learners from beginner to advanced, infusing them with an enthusiasm for the eclectic art form via increasingly complex lessons, hands-on art projects, and freeze-frame group high-fives at the end of every class.

Most painters don't have a body count on their website. Danny Setiawan is the exception—he’s artfully slathering 292 people with paint in 2012. He's been painting traditionally since he was a child in Indonesia, but after graduating from Parsons The New School For Design in New York, he shifted his brush from synthetic to living canvases, layering participants’ skin with lush koi fish, patterns, and re-creations of famous masterpieces. As he told The Today Show, Setiawan became a body painter to imbue his artwork with more relevancy. "You cannot ignore a piece of art if it's painted on a human body," he said, echoing the sentiments Da Vinci expressed when Da Vinci added a miniature Mona Lisa to the forehead of the Mona Lisa.

Since he began filling his portfolio with body paintings, Setiawan's work has been far from ignored. In addition to visiting with Kathie Lee and Hoda, DenArt Studio has been recognized by Last Call with Carson Daly, as well as American Airlines, American Express, and Stoli. Many of his clients are not only attracted to the studio's colorful portfolio but also by its unique services. Guests can commission an artist to paint them clothed or unclothed as individuals or couples, expectant moms can opt for a maternity body-art session, and Halloween celebrants can enlist the studio's help bringing their costumes to life with body paint. At the onsite photo studio a photographer captures the resulting images in dramatic detail. Attendants can also paint each other at a casual Art on Live Canvas workshop, and ambitious artists looking to become the next Danny Setiawan can enroll in a body-painting or makeup course.

Since its creation in 1965, Buzz-A-Rama has hummed with the zooming melody of miniature slot cars, 1/24-scale replicas that race around turns and down straightaways at speeds ranging from 20 to 100 miles per hour. Eight at a time, these mini-racers whip around five different tracks that range from 80 to 100 feet in length, some featuring steep banks and sharp turns for an extra challenge. Owner Buzz Perri likes to say that his fast-paced racing menagerie—open on the weekends for general racing, weekdays for parties—is recommended for ages 5–95. Nothing proves his point better than the fact that past generations of racers now bring in their children and grandchildren to teach them a thing or two about leaving their blinkers on.

At The Bloomfield School, instructors Kerrie Yeung and Melissa J. Tyson love the process of jewelry making as much as the intricate outcomes. With experience at home and abroad crafting and displaying their own work, they have amassed a grab bag of tips and techniques capable of invigorating a simple ring design or transforming a pocketful of beads and molten silver into an elegant pendant. Together, they use their skills to expand the jewelry-crafting community, hosting classes that instill an understanding of how to take a design from a wax idea to a metal reality. Yet they aren't interested in letting students walk away with only surface knowledge. Their intensive courses delve into the theory and collective know-how to create competent artisans capable of expanding on their projects in the future and re-creating their pieces without traveling back in time.

Brimming with colorful bolts of fabric, carefully looped skeins of yarn, and rows of sewing provisions, Save A Thon Stores have been supplying New Yorkers with quality crafting necessities since 1973. With fabrics ranging from basic denim to upscale jacquard upholstery cloth from around the world, the shop showcases a range of patterned designs that can be crafted into cozy quilts or a signal to a passing ship that it would have looked better in plaid. Coils of lace ribbons and tubs of colorful beads add a decorative finishing touch to projects, which can be undertaken at home or under the tutelage of the shop's expert crafters during regular sewing classes. The teachers are also experts in the Wilton method of cake decorating and can help students artfully embellish cakes and cupcakes with fondant, tiny decorations, and tiny brides and grooms on a dessert destination wedding.