RoyGBiv Gallery is celebrating their 20th anniversary with two exhibitions this month, the Dan Work Show at their current space and their group show in an empty storefront in the new Smith High development. It's a hyper-modern brand new building that incorporates an old strip mall extending back from High Street as well as new condos on top.
This is the extreme north end of the Short North before going into this sort of South Campus area. There are a lot of new storefronts opening in the area and there will be some time before they all fill. The Smith High is a promising new building which has a gallery and glass studio behind it on Courtland Ave.
The RoyGBiv 20th Anniversary Show was a juried show, but it didn't seem to fill the space completely. The fresh drywall walls and concrete floor was a unique change from the typical warm gentrified look of my Short North art spaces. There were interesting sculpture like a vacuum cleaner with a very large, full bag; a chainsaw made of various colored foam; a neon lettering wall piece; and the test tubes held-up by fiber optic strands above.
The South Campus Gateway project just south of OSU on High Street is feeling the recession. It's lifestyle center is changing with a central "art alley" that leads to the parking garage. OSU has contributed two art offices like Applied Arts above that maintain art displays in the front.
The only other art gallery in the South Campus Gateway development is the Ohio Art League's NEW HOME next to the multi-plex cinema. From the sign to the interior it is very, very fancy !! The first show is "Dreamsters Union" a show of paintings by Joel Monsoon that are illustrations of a thin man in various contortions. Will this bold move bring the Short North gallery scene further north, and not just for college kids walking down to the the gallery hop? Only time will tell.
The arches are up and the street is now open north of campus on N. High Street. For some reason they want the Old North Columbus to start just north of OSU property and extending to Arcadia Ave. North Columbus was a town around Hudson and High Street before Ohio State was thought of.
The oldest building is this 200 year old log cabin on Norwich Ave. just east of High Street that was moved here from the Hudson and High St. area of North Columbus. The rest of the neighborhood is mostly houses and storefront buildings over 100 years old with some recent new ones. It is the bohemia neighborhood for campus being home to many musicians and artists plus some of the most adventuresome eating establishments around.
