April Gallery Hop 2009: Spring Has Sprung

As the flowers at the Greek Cathedral and the courtyard off Lincoln Avenue attest, Spring has come to the Short North Gallery Hop.
Many musical groups lined High Street with their instrument cases opened, so much so that good spots were all taken. But then construction sites line the street and the construction/ destruction extends north past campus and south past the statehouse.
Not to be outdone, artists also grab spots to paint while the daylight gallery hoppers pass by.
Lindsay Gallery (left) had a show of paintings of famous rock stars done by Robert Falcone with a guitar made of metal by Kendall Polster to continue the musical theme. The Mahan Gallery (right) actually got a rockstar, Ric Ocasek of The Cars showing lots of drawing, paintings, and photographs. His abstracts look good when displayed dozens at a time.
Roman Czech has been a fixture on the edge of the Gallery Hop for decades now. In recent years his Elements of Art Gallery has been in the North Market area. He's pictured above with artist Farida Hassanali who was showing her abstract phtographs and installation pieces among Czech's sculptures as well as work by artists around the world. One of Roman's sculptures was on the sidewalk across from the Convention Center.A large cheerleading conference was at the Convention Center during the gallery hop. Some cheerleaders were throwing each other up in the air infront of diners in the Short North
New businesses are springing up, though slowly. The Sandbox has taken over the old 853 Photography Studio in Prescott Alley. It is an shared office for people who don't have an office. Off of Russell St. is a new clothing store called Mary's Boutique that was trying to open by displaying a dress and a potted plant. Mary joins other new fashion boutiques recently opened, but much farther north along High Street. Someone has already nabbed the space emptied by Cameo Glass Art Gallery that just closed in the Body Shop.
RoyGBiv had photographer Montana Torrey with painter and constructionist Jessica Brandl doing complimentary exhibits. Jessica dealt with the home (above) in good and bad condition kind of suggesting our housing situation today. The photographer brought pictures of natural settings of rocks and trees where every scene included an artist setup painting the scene. It suggested the love/hate relationship between photographers and traditional artists.

Norka Futon had some nice lamps and furnishings in the window along with the normal musical group.
A Japanese artist pasted his own display on the brick wall of the Yoga on High Building.
Behind some of the new development on the Restaurant scene is Design Collective Inc. who is completely redoing the building at Lincoln and High as well as the interior of the above space on The Cap. Click on the above picture to blow-up. You'll see that something called Sushi Rock will be opening there soon.

Concrete Jungle of Bakers Acres has taken over as the garden flower shop of the Short North.

In Memorial: Greg Six 1958-2009

One of the pivotal figures of the High Street New-Wave of the early 1980's passed away March of 2009 after a long fight with a brain tumor. Greg Six (also known as Grey Six)was in several early new wave groups like the Highly Evolved Cosmic Beings, The Dustbunnies, and Girlboys. Though rarely recorded, the spirit and the creativity of the groups as well as the other band members who went on to do other new-wave projects, Greg Six's influence threw a wide net. He even booked himself as a professor at one point, and Greg's intellectualism was sure to result in some brainy discussion on stage.
Above: Greg Six with wife April in October, 2008.


Greg Six being given courage by Chas Krider who put together a memorial service at the Ohio Gallery on King Ave. March 23, 2009. A similar memorial service took place on the West Coast by fellow Dustbunny Dave Kulczyk. Greg has been living on the West Coast for over 20 years.


Some old photos of Greg in the early 1980's were displayed at the memorial service. Top color picture was Greg with many of his new-wave pals at his Smith Place apartment in the North Short North. Below is another picture of Greg Six at Smith Place. He had a large toy collection and a constant playful mood. He was known for his taste in music, having the latest English new-wave record before everyone else.

At the Ohio Gallery memorial service were many of his old friends. Above Left is Tim Anstaett, who published The Offense Newsletter the main High Street fanzine onYesterd music during the entire 1980's. He currently does a radio show on WCRS called Yesterday's Top Secrets. Center is Charles Wince, an important artist in his own right today, once illustrated Greg Six's early Lyrics. On the right is Catherine Whittier another friend of Greg's.
Greg Six's legacy will live forever. His intellectual response to the early new-wave was a fresh approach from the dark, mentally disturbed music of the time. Below is an old video of the Highly Evolved Cosmic Beings performance with Greg Six singing lead.

Last of the Dark Hops: March 2009

Thanks to warm weather and the Arnold Fitness Classic the March Gallery Hops were one of the crowded in memory, especially when it came to traffic and parking. Depending when you touched-down in the Short North, you might have spend a half hour or more in the car trying to legally park. The lights on the arches seemed to hypnotize the crowd. Yet, daylight savings time began that night and by the April Gallery Hop it will only be dark for the last half of the event. Many Short North businesses were either not open or were open for a very strict period ending at 10 o'clock. A run of bad winter weather in the last three months probably caused a number of plans for the March Hop to be cancelled.
The galleries and sidewalks attracted a crowd that was elbow to elbow. (above: Mahan and Rivet Galleries) It seemed to be a crowd that has not been to the High Street openings for months or years. People from the Arnold Fitness Classic were as likely to head north to the OSU Campus or Arena District than the Short North. This meant parking was filling up in all directions. Then the major construction sites in the Short North took away sidewalks.( Oh yeh, there is a crane towering over the North Short North now).
Monkey's Retreat (above) is starting to do great window displays of art at Fifth and High St.
Gallery 772 in the upstairs hallway of the Body Shop has shown some consistently interesting paintings, but it is hard to find out the artists' names. New was a long series of paintings where stripes of paint covered the front pages of the Columbus Dispatch for the few weeks after 9-11-2001.
The Sherrie Gallery was showing porcelain sculpture by Julie Elkins. Her pieces had a cabin with smoke coming out of a chimney found on cliffs or chunks of earth with amazing detail.
Kickstart Coffee and scooter shop (left)had a live guitar player wailing away but with few people occupying the seats and tables. RoyGBiv (right) had a photographer and a painter both using trees in a forest as subject matter.
Waldo's (above left) had a show of small photographs, while Utrecht's Art Supply had a real live artist painting next to their colorful front door. Many musicians played along High Street.
An interesting promotional concept was done by two little known galleries. Zengenius Gallery in the Prescott Alley ( two tiny blocks east of High Street) teamed up with a new Tattoo Shop called Sovereign Collective in the original Mahan Gallery space at 3rd and High St. A few pieces were cut in half with one part at one gallery and half at another. Sovereign Collective (above) had a large art show with a grand opening crowd. One piece (above right) asked people to make a wish and add a rock to a pile of rocks suspended by thin pantyhose over a plate of glass. Eventually the rocks would come crashing down and break the glass.

In terms of closures in the Short North, they seem to be mounting in 2009. East Village bar is closed. Four Winds is an empty space. A jewelry store in the new Dakota condo building has vanished. The Cap has a couple of empty spaces. Other empty storefronts along High Street will be joined by new ones that are being built in the near future. Could more art galleries soon afford the Short North?

Campus High Street Always Changing

North of OSU there is a major streetscape renovation strecthing for blocks of what was once called North Columbus. This streetscape is set to showcase the many ethic and unique restaurants and shops that are found north of campus. It will also include a few arches over the street somewhat like the Short North. At Hudson and High St. was once a small town called North Columbus where the streetcars turned around. A few blocks of century old commercial buildings grace this section.

The Big project is the new Ohio Union, the main student union at The Ohio State University. The old one was a sprawling hulk of a building that was a main reminder that OSU was big even in the pre-Baby Boomer 1950's. The future Ohio Union is another sprawling hulk of a building that seems to remind us that the Urban Infill style is alive and well. It looks like the Easton version of the Ohio Union. A new parking garage (right next to another parking garage) is included in the scheme. The above picture is of the back side facing the South Oval.

The High Street facade has many looks the insides look like it has some fun aspects. There are towers and look-outs, picture windows and brick. The main front door is not easy to find, but lets wait until the construction crew cleans up.


The above picture is just an exaple of the interesting renovations of some of the old classroom buildings with the juxtaposition of old and angled post-modern elements.
Yet, the big news is the end of Larry's Bar at the corner of Woodruff and High Street. Larry's Bar lasted over 80 years owned by three generations of one family. Of course, it wasn't a bar at first because that would put it in the middle of Prohibition. It became a bar in 1934 and had been a bohemian outpost until the end of 2008. Always an intellectual bar, they worked hard to keep the jocks out of the place. But alas, the jocks have taken over and made it into a generic sports bar with picture windows.

February Gallery Hop: icy sidewalks

If you stayed away from the February Short North Gallery Hop you played it safe. Despite the seasonably warm weather, the ice and snow from the previous week had not all disappeared. Sidewalks on High Street had a wide path, but the sidewalks on the side streets were mostly ice. Biashara wrapped a tree in front of their shop with scarfs (above). The crowd stayed away, but plenty of people still assembled in the Short North.Sales abound among the galleries. Galleria Zona Cora Zon (above left) had a Carnival sale of a wide variety of pieces. Lindsay Gallery(above left) had a massive group show from his back room full of works from past exhibitors, some haven' t been seen in years. It is a great place to get your folk art fix.
The sales weren't all happy ones. Cameo (above), the glass art gallery that has had the prime spot in the Body Shop building for years is calling it quits. Glass art, perhaps, is losing its luster, especially outside of one man shows. Also on the blocks is Fourwinds home furnishings ( fourwindshome.com ) at 1st Avenue and High. Both shops have prime corner locations selling more of a merchandise product than unique pieces by artists trying to make great art.

Chris Mohler had a show of his heavy metal sculpture and figurative paintings in the Greystone Apartment Building. Mohler has been around over 20 years making a deep portfolio of welded sculpture, sometimes abstract, sometimes recognizable.

Shows of note: Sherrie Gallerie had a show by Christian Faur who has started to make photographic images composed of crayons. That is, he uses thousands of crayons with their tops as pointalist dots of color that form into an image from a distance. Faur also showed other mixed media work.
Rivet Gallery had an erotic photography show called "Darkness into Light" with the likes of such artists as Chas Krider. The show included "Yama", a fetish that incorporated a human skull by Wayne Martin Belger. It was kept in an artistic glass case and was only on view during certain hours. (other showings are scheduled for later in the month).