KSic's Dolce Vita: Visiting North High Street and Wishing what Cincinnati Arts COULD be

The other day, I very haphazardly filled out an application on a art gallery website to be an artist they represent. Found the link on craigslist. What are the chances of this being anything decent? It did not ask for a portfolio just asked for mediums, so, I check photography, graphic/computer art, painting, and drawing as they are my specialities but commented that photography is what most of my recent work is in. Again, this was all haphazard. Ryan and I were over at the Dilly Deli visiting Dom and eating dinner and my phone starts blowing up with Columbus area code. Reception was bad, I didn't answer. Well it was the gallery wanting to talk to me. Cool.

Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to call this guy back till Saturday afternoon, but, it was cool. We talked, I sent him to my lowly little website with one gallery on it event photography and the other in graphic design. It apparently peeked his interest enough to say, can you be up here tomorrow or are you busy? By busy, my only plans were to go to yoga and ironically, go shoot at Spring Grove Cemetery because I have a ton of ideas brewing with my fascination to the Cincinnati landmark. So I agreed to come up and show him my stuff.

I was bouncing around the apartment--I WAS STOKED!!! I had a lot of things over at the apartment photography wise along with my best drawings, but, there were a few more things that I wanted to bring (like my pieces from "Gloss, Glitz, and Grime" shown in the West End about 5 years ago and of course my baby, my senior thesis shown at DAAPworks 4 years ago when I graduated). I get there, of COURSE my mother has to be the debbie downer and told me to not get TOO excited and that I really shouldn't be posting my excitement on facebook. Really mom? I am happy and excited and this is a chance to start building a relationship with a great gallery (and I say that because it is located on North High Street in Columbus--it is what Northside/OTR/Clifton COULD BE but Cincinnati is ass backwards about art).

Anyway--I get more portfolio together in a frenzy and call my friend Emily (my token hipster friend, we've known each other since the first day of college and fortunately/unfortunately, know most of our deep dark secrets--she is very nonjudgemental that way). I bribed her with breakfast and french press coffee to get her to come over and be objective in selecting pieces. I love her for that---we streamlined the photo-book and picked the best pieces from thesis (and chatted how the thesis itself was a big step for me that took me a long way to get there and it did not get me a directors award because they didn't know how to "classify" my work--it's called mixed media a-holes) and brought my drawings/painting/2d whatever.

We got up to Cbus (Ryan is amazing and drove up with me because the drive to Cbus sucks and is boring and its Memorial Day Weekend and the state troopers were EVERYWHERE!). I love North High Street. The gallery director and I got to talk for about an hour on and off because potential "clients" were coming in the door. I immediately love the way the gallery is run. I drunk guy comes in a buys a piece of jewelry and he immediately gets all his contact info and what other pieces he likes. Smart. It really is a hole in the wall kind of place owned by sculpture artist from Kenton, OH. SO most of his stuff is in there. It's all colorful and fun and my portfolio is dull and morbid (I shoot in Cemeteries, think about this---and my thesis is based on the ballet Giselle, again, dark and morbid). He looked at everything and said the work was beautiful. LOVED the thesis--would want to see more with color (okay, I'm thinking doable--just need access to a printmaking press, but, totally doable). Loved my recent shots at Spring Grove I just edited. HATED my "ice storm trees" and told me to take them out of my portfolio immediately if I continue to live in the midwest.

Landscape from the Spring Grove Suite

The guy was excited about my work....which is cool, because, it is somebody who does not know my story and does not know anything and is purely looking objectively. He wants to speak with me again (sweet) and to really focus on my vision--also if my vision is what people are going to want to buy while doing a gallery hop in the Short North District. He told me a lot of money is put into marketing and he wants both sides to be ready when I sign on--which I AM TOTALLY COOL with because I am practical business wise. He also told me to walk away knowing that he is NOT there saying "oh that was nice." He flat out told me my photography was beautiful and that a lot of the event photos would be perfect commercially, the dance photos for playbills, etc. The newest work, the Spring Grove Suite--I have 225 photos to work with from just one shoot alone--So I have a lot of things to think about and play with and I am excited because he wants to speak with me again.