Summer Flea: Great new Short North event

The first Summer Flea  flea market in the Short North was held in the empty Fireproof Warehouse parking lot at Third and High St. The space was filled with vendors and shoppers for most of the day. This was the Sunday after the August Gallery Hop.

A wide variety of products were available from crafts to cupcakes (Penelope Danger is in the middle above selling her unusually flavored cupcakes) to vintage T-shirts. T-shirts seemed to be the most popular item as one tent had a line getting inside to see the T-shirt assortment from the 70's and 80's.

This vendor sold trophy tops and things made from old LP records like notebooks. They expertly cut album covers and even the records themselves down to notebook covers.

 Even a Tarot Card reader was welcomed at the Summer Flea.

An item I picked-up is this Moonshot Glass commemorating Apollo 11 where the stem of the glass functions as a shot glass when turned upside down. Only $5.00

Via Colori 2009

The 2009 Via Colori Chalk Art festival was incorporated very well in the empty sections of the Gay St. part of the This is Independence Day Festival. Curtis Goldstein (above) was the obvious featured artist. He is not only a local artists who is getting attention for his murals in Columbus, but he was on the CBS Morning Show in July demonstrating chalk art. His Columbus Snow Globe is done in perspective from one vantage point and looks stretched from other angles.
There weren't as many artists as past shows, and many artists gave out on finishing their work in the hot sunshine. Still, there were many displays to enjoy.

The above piece was the most art museum-like. Most of the chalk artists stuck to a more cartoon or less realistic style. Below, you can see the yellow tables at the Dine Original food court.

Independence Day Art Fest:: Bigger/ not as Cool

The 2009 This is Independents' Day Art Festival was bigger and better attended than the first one last year, but not as cool. The two new Scion automobiles parked right in the middle was a dead give away. In 2008, the festival was confined to one block of Gay St. and Pearl Alley down to the next alley. This year all of Pearl Alley to Broad St. and the all of Lynn alley was packed with booths and each ended in a musical act stage. There was a large restaurant section for local original eateries. And of course, the Via Colori chalk art festival coincided with this new downtown fair after being in the Short North for several years.
The Ohio Roller Girls were keeping the place fun through-out the hot daylight hours with a "dunk the rollergirl" game. Later they competed in a shuffleboard, firld hockey game or sort with T-squares (below).


Urban Scrawl created a large colorful mural along the Rhodes Tower. The mural changed and got more complex through-out the festival.
The street fair was the most crowded section of the festival. There was much unique to look at with a nod to what downtown residents need. It was also national dress like a pirate day (see girl in red dewrag above) so many people were sporting eye patches and plastic swords.
The cavernous Lynn Alley brought a new wing to the street fair along with local eateries. I got a Peruvian-style sandwich with a cheese/sweet potato spread. Many interesting food vendors as well as a Yardless Sale section for local residents who live in downtown condos.
The above colorful doll house was rotating around.
The Idea Factory (above) had a demonstration booth of some of the things they do in the rentable workshop they run. Some welding, ironworking, glass blowing, etc. One could use their multi- colored duct tape to create something at the festival.
Two outdoor stages seemed to anchor the festival's edges. The one above was on Gay Street at Third. Yet, the one on Pearl Alley at Broad Street attracted a large crowd as well. In addition, there were bands and performances at Skylab, Due Amici, and even the new shoe shine store Shine me Up at 37 E. Gay St.
Skylab (above) had a continuous roster of musical acts jamming. This is, if you walked up the stairs to the fifth floor. They had less art on display than last year.
One floor below Skylab is The Shelf, which had Aaron Hibbs trying to beat the Guinness Book of World Record for Hula Hooping. He had to beat 90 hours. He was on webcam and on TV monitor in the gallery. He had water, fruit, a chunk of grass sod, and a tube running out of his pants leg. Go to Hoopforever.com
Many people partied with Aaron during the festival (if not the entire 4-5 days) and got into the swing of things themselves.

On act I missed was the Act-o-Matic vending machine that allowed you, for 25 cents, to get someone to act any of 8 scenes. There were also a couple of local movie producers trying to promote their locally made independent movie.
As I mentioned, things weren't as cool as last year. Missing were the local creamery and other foods. Not that many artists displayed their creations outside of via Colori and a few booths. The Vault had a private party booked and wasn't part of the festival. Due Amici was having a dance DJ party, but not local modern dance like last year. Also, the beer was limited to PBR and one microbrew. The beer booths sereved more interesting brew last year. Still no real seating to watch the bands. The festival has more birth pains to go through, but look for this to become a big downtown event in years to come.

2009 Columbus (Crafts &) Art Festival

For the second year the Columbus Art Festival was held on the campus of the Columbus College or Art and Design with spill-over to the art museum and Columbus State Community College. Then there were events at the Topiary grounds of the Deaf School Park. The museum was wrapping up its Egyptian exhibit at the same time that COSI was beginning an Egyptian Mummy show. Nevertheless, the art festival was almost exclusively out-of-town artists in booths you see at art festivals across the country. This is just one of the largest such events. And, it trends towards the craftsy and anything close to "fine art" is few and far between. The event has been spaced out better with fewer pinch points, but the crowd made one wish to cut between campus buildings more. The food booths were the best ever, with all varieties. Commercial booths at least weren't pushing cars (though cars were pushing beer). As for the musical stage, it was one hour between sets and not much music around the art booths themselves.



Above is a youtube video of a copperman human statue performing and some shots of half of the food vendors.

Off site people are starting to enjoy this location of an art festival. One off-campus apartment building at Grant and Cleveland made their building into an art show and sale of CCAD student work (above). Others sold mix tapes or bottled water. Problem is always how far you need to transport the art you bought to your car.

This Is Independent Festival 2008

The first art festival in the bubbling Gay Street strip happened Saturday, September 20th. Called "This Is Independent" it was one of two art festivals downtown that weekend and was mostly ignored by the local media. Yet, great weather and a sizable crowd made it a memorable laid-back affair to showcase the great downtown buildings being transformed by creative people a block from the statehouse. This used to be part of the main shopping area for Columbus with a few old bank building with tall decorative lobbies. Stone buildings with classical columns abound. There's a new 12 story hotel right in the center of the block and many recent updates, like a rain water garden to filter run-off from the street, make this a comfortable place to hang-out. 

Yet, this first try at a festival suffered from the same attitude as the Short North's first Art al Fresco in August. Many people treated it as an afternoon event. Most of the artists had left their booths long before nightfall. Those that stayed found that lighting was lacking unless you brought your own. But the entertainment continued on into the night on two outdoor stages and a couple of indoor ones.
Half of the festival was in Pearl Alley where a mural was being painted, but other murals are part of a small nightlife and bar scene that has kept century old pubs going in the center of downtown. The crowd were mostly young artsy types that probably either go to C.C.A.D. or live downtown. Mainstream people had the Riverfront Art Festival along the river at COSI that featured the last Fire Walk on the Mile.
Sky Lab art gallery is on the Fifth Floor of an old loft style building which included a 4th Floor gallery and an active group of people shouting out of the window to the festival below. 
The Vault is an old bank with an amazing lobby that was used for a few concerts during the festival. The front lobby had a sky painted ceiling while the main lobby must have 20 foot ceilings and colored lighting that could have held hundreds of people. The Vault itself was mostly empty but for a handful of paintings.

There was a big break between daylight and late night activity. It seemed like two different events. The best performances were inside the  Due Amici restaurant, which seemed to short change the street fair as the two outdoor stages seemed to spend most of their time tearing down and setting up for the next band. But then, if it was raining the indoor stages would have won the day.

Mayor Coleman was seen checking out the festival. The deli and coffeeshop on the corner of High & Gay was giving out free espresso shots to promote themselves, their expert coffee roaster, and a local creamery. All in all, this is a festival we hope will return and grow. Try to spend the whole day if  Couchfire organizes this again.

2008 ART Festival at C.C.A.D.

with construction of the Main Street Bridge and the rest of riverfront the 2008 Columbus Art Festival was moved to the campus of the Columbus College of Art & Design. Infact, the Art Festival will take place here through 2011. Technically, they are saying it was held in the DISCOVER DISTRICT (eastern part of downtown). The 300 booths barely spilled-out beyond the C.C.A.D. campus. The music stage was in the Columbus State Community College parking lot along with corporate displays of cars and the like. Then there were jaunts to Thurber House and the other Discovery District places mapped out. The Columbus Museum of Art was free during the festival!
But, for the most part is was a C.C.A.D. art festival, which worked surprisingly well. Better care could be used in the placement of the Beer Booths and other bottleknecks. The hot sticky weather didn't fare well for the food vendors like those along Cleveland Ave. above. Attendance seemed to be lighter than at the normal site along the river by COSI and the bridges.
As for the art, the annual art festivals is one of the nation's largest... for arts and crafts artists. 90% is mostly just a display of the artist's mastery of technique. The art is safe, non-challenging, and mostly not made by Columbus artists. There are some outstanding gems and crowd pleasers, but most people can just keep walk past most booths, as they usually do.
C.C.A.D. has grown tremendously since Denny Griffith took over as Dean. The above new building for the design department is much like those recently built at The Ohio State University. There's a fancy coffee cafe in the lobby and impressive architecture overlooking a commons. The past Dean had taken C.C.A.D. from a sleepy old art school in two small buildings with classes in the art museum to one with modern functional college buildings and neighboring old buildings converted into studios and dorms.
Denny Griffith has taken the art school to the next level with many new buildings. Two new projects include another 5 story dormitory and the old BYERS Car Dealership building at Broad and Cleveland Ave. which will allow C.C.A.D. students to not have to take their artwork home everyday. This is much like at O.S.U. and studio programs at other large universities. Next year's Art Festival should be even more comfortable in this Discovery District.