Event Recap: Pride Weekend Kickoff Pop-up

Pride month came and went quicker than we thought it would this year, but we were sure to celebrate queer artists all month long (and beyond) here at ZDS Creative. Being a queer-owned business, we wanted to lend a hand in uplifting local artists who push the boundaries, live as their authentic selves, and celebrate their radical queerness every day, through and through.

Lucas Oakley’s month-long exhibition at our Greenpoint storefront opened up a lot of conversations surrounding queerness, religion, and living your truth. We are incredibly blessed (pun intended) to know Lucas and to show his work at our store this month. His show floats themes of growing up gay in the Catholic church, making him the perfect featured artist for June. The artists who accompany him—photographer Shane Reynolds, Assistant Director Talia Smith, and Director Zoey Schorsch—are all a part of the queer community & had one shared goal in mind; to be loud and proud about who they are, the work they make, and the community they’re a part of.

In addition to hosting Lucas’s show, we were incredibly lucky to team up with Ray Baker, owner of the apparel brand Sweet Baby Rays (@sweetbabyraystees), for a fun pop-up event. With Ray’s help and network of creative friends, we hosted a Pride weekend kickoff event at our store on Thursday night of NYC’s famous Pride Weekend. In addition to Ray selling her God Loves Sluts tees and ashtrays, she created an exclusive hand-printed collaged skort collection to sell at our storefront for the remainder of Lucas’s exhibition. For opening night of her pop-up here at the store, we invited Megan Soderstrom (@imnotsod) from Fleur Noir to give flash tatts, two artists from Cherry Bomb Studios (@cherrybomb.nyc) to do tooth gems, and Brooke Shapiro (@brookeshapiro3) to read tarot. Our bestie Jordan Barnett put on a great DJ set all night, and we had free drinks available for anyone who stopped by (especially for the gays!) We had a great time kicking off an iconic Pride weekend full of love and celebration here at ZDS Creative. Cheers to our next event!

Couldn’t make it to our pop-up event? No worries, shop Ray’s collection IRL at 85 West Street now through mid-July during open retail hours, or online 24/7. Click here to see our online store.