Short North Gallery Hop

Saturday June 3, 2017

Tonight we attended our first ever Short North Gallery Hop (which is held on the first Saturday of every month). I can’t believe in our 13 years of living in Columbus we’ve never attended. I think that was mostly down to not wanting to deal with the hassle of parking. Thanks to endless bits of advice from our neighborhood social media site (Nextdoor Ridgewood), and our neighbor’s kind offer of his parking pass for a parking garage downtown, we had that detail all taken care of. I had a quick look at a list of all the galleries and who was hosting receptions and so forth,

and then we headed downtown. Even though it officially starts at 4pm, Andrew wanted to wait until it was a bit cooler (daytime temps were muggy and in the mid 80s I think). It was certainly a beautiful evening to be out as it had cooled down a bit and there was a gentle breeze.

While we were walking to the galleries we saw quite a lot of graduates from one of the Columbus city schools who had obviously had their ceremony at the convention center. Good night for a party afterwards!

Basically we spent the next three hours or so ducking in and out of galleries (grabbing a cookie here, a cookie there) and a few kitschy shops. We spent most of our time on one side of High Street before finally turning around a bit after 9pm. It can take forever to get down the street when there’s so many places to visit along the way.

There were also quite a few buskers playing their hearts out. My favorite of the entertainers had to be the old man with a small turntable and a stack of 45s that had run a power cord into a shop slightly below street level (though I forget what it was called, but it was owned & run by women acc. to their sign). He was just cleaning up when we came out of the shop. God bless his geriatric DJ soul. I love that you see all kinds of stuff like that in the Short North and downtown in general, which is definitely one of the reasons I enjoy visiting there because it’s a whole different world from life in the ‘burbs.

Andrew said his favorite exhibition was Tyler Bohm’s “Technorama” (Painting Meets Digital and Fabrication Technologies). [Sadly, I don’t have pictures since I wasn’t sure if we were allowed to take any and the postcard I have doesn’t really do it justice.]

Artist Statement:

The technologies that shape our lives represent an intriguing platform for speculation. They evoke an array of hypothetical futures drawn from both the dystopian and utopian ends of science fiction. I explore this evolving technological landscape by imagining futurist scenarios that reflect our broader hopes and fears about the present.

My work speculates on the imminent, drawing on science fiction narratives and past eras' visions of the future. It explores themes such as technophilia and technophobia, how we understand and relate to emerging artificial intelligences, and how we maintain a sense of normalcy in the face of rapid technological change.

These thematic interests dovetail with my process. I am interested in the role and potential of digital and fabrication technologies, and have adopted tools such as graphics software and a laser cutter to translate digital designs into physical objects which I paint and assemble by hand.

My favorite was “Possessed” by Jaye Schlesinger (see above). The exhibit is “a series of nearly 400 small paintings that depict each of her personal possessions. The series began when Schlesinger decided to downsize her belongings, and is informed by an interest in mindfulness and minimalism. Some paintings show objects that are purely practical, while some show objects that exist for beauty alone. By culling and then dutifully representing each object, Schlesinger raises questions about value, quantity and practicality in regards to the things we own and the reasons we keep them.” 

I overhead a pair of girls pointing out their favorite paintings to each other and then going over to the catalog to see what they cost. I believe they were each at least $100 (but perhaps closer to $200). I would have too hard a time just choosing just one. Instead I would probably prefer to have a catalog or some sort of a collage so I could have a bunch of them.

Although I would have liked to have stopped for ice cream, everyone else had the same idea because of the warm evening. The first ice cream shop we came across had a line out the door. A few blocks over at Jeni’s was the same situation. However, Le Chocoholique didn’t seem too busy, so we ducked in there. Since it was well after 9pm by this time, I didn’t want a coffee drink or anything too heavy, so I chose a smoothie for us to split. I wasn’t exactly very adventurous with my flavor choice, which was hot chocolate.

We also each chose a truffle. Mine was Peanut Butter & Jelly (perfect bit of heaven!) and Andrew’s was Blueberry (which he said was okay, but nothing special, really). Although the smoothie was tasty, it was rather difficult to suck up with a straw and really tasted more like a watered down Frosty (Wendy’s). Hence, in the future I would either pick a different flavor or just skip the smoothies.

All in all it was a fun evening, and I think I would like to do it again sometime when the weather’s nice. Other nearby cities have a similar evening. Delaware has a ‘First Friday’ event, whereas Grandview has their gallery hop on the last Saturday of every month; both of these events we've attended.

I also received this piece of advice (from Nextdoor Ridgewood) at one time:

Why not go to the Moonlight Market instead? It's fun and casual, like the Gallery Hop used to be. It's the second Saturday of every month and it's on Gay Street between High and 3rd. The restaurants stay open late, there's well over 100 booths with people selling everything imaginable, and good music playing with live musicians. Things don't cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, like the Arts Festival or Gallery Hop. Well worth spending a Saturday night down there. It's going on between 6pm and 11pm.

I guess that's another item for the Columbus Bucket List!

Have a great week everyone!