Merchants On Main
Photo: (left to right) Michael, Jessie, and MikeNorth of Downtown Cincinnati, a group of business and art entrepreneurs offer items not found elsewhere - everything from contemporary crafts, pottery, jewelry, beads, silk fabrics and antique Indian saris, to decorative accessories ranging from antique, to vintage, to new. Many of these independent businesses are part of the
Merchants on Main, a group that has been supporting, programming and encouraging patrons to come down to Main Street in Over-the-Rhine for over 20 years. This week's Soapblog's feature three of Main Street's newest merchants.
Jessie Cundiff is a craftsman, designer, and gallery owner from Cincinnati, Ohio. She started her career at age 20 as a stained glass apprentice, and now designer. Her stained glass pieces can be found in a number of buildings in Cincinnati, such as CVG Airport, Cincinnati's Music Hall, Claddagh Irish Pub, The McAlpin, and countless churches and private residences. From 2006-2009, Jessie was co-founder, director, and curator of KraftHaus Gallery in Over-the-Rhine. After receiving her BFA from NKU this year, Jessie helped open Mud-on-Main, a clay studio and co-op for other artists.
J. Michael Skaggs is a communication instructor at NKU as well as co-director with Bill Spangler of RoHo Photo Gallery. Michael has taught at NKU since fall 2000 after careers with Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and NPR affiliate WBGO-FM in Newark, NJ. Michael's passions are photography, jazz and riding his mountain bike daily. His photography book, Americans Revisited, Volume I, was published by Edgecliff Press on July 4, 2008. Michael lives in a 3-story loft/gallery in Over-the-Rhine.
Mike Markiewicz is best known on Main Street as the founding father of Kaldi's Coffeehouse. He has faked it, over the years, as teacher, hippie, pig farmer, rehabber. He is most at home in the woods and hangs out now in another part of the forest, Main Street's new record store.
Posted By: Merchants On Main
Posted: 8/5/2010
When I returned from the North Woods in the late '80s to deal with family matters, I could not readjust to Chemical Lawn Land. I had been in the natural world too long. I couldn't leave Cincinnati for a while, though, so I did what I COULD do. I could shape a place that would have fit well into the forest, a place where you could sit and imagine yourself surrounded by forest. Perhaps it's ironic,but the inner city seemed best for that. There seemed to be an aura of the old forest still clinging to Main St. And so Kaldi's was born: a place for me to feel comfortably rustic. A place totally without plastic. It didn't have to be a coffee house (I drank instant at the time), and it didn't have to be a bar It didn't have to make money,which was good because I didn't. It just had to be a place that had good feelings.
I didn't like the name "Kaldi's." I accepted it because it allowed me to have a goat logo. The staff would explain to customers that the leering maniacal paper mache goat atop the doorway at Kaldi's represented one of the goatherd Kaldi's goats, who according to myth discovered the coffee bean. Not true. That goat represented the Great God Pan, goat-footed God of the wild lands, the wilderness. A far better companion. And so it was that Kaldi's may have been the first sign of the forest's return to main street. It will return,slowly, as people begin to realize that the age of the personal automobile needs to be over, and all the parking spaces revert to green space. I won't see it (I'll be gone to the mountains), but I'll leave the goat behind to watch from here in another part of the forest.
Posted By: Merchants On Main
Posted: 8/4/2010
I am surrounded by high achievement daily at NKU and immediately as I return home to RoHo Photo Gallery in a 3-story live-in loft gallery. I am living my New York City dream right here in Cincinnati, 45202. Where else could I afford to operate with gallery co-director Bill Spangler, a 2-story photography gallery that exhibits 50+ framed images from photographers worldwide? Woodward St. is just off Main St. between 13th and 14th St. in historic Over-the-Rhine. The view from RoHo is of the entire cityscape of Cincinnati from Mt. Adams to west of the Carew Tower.
I began RoHo Productions in 1984 at 12th and Main St. in O-T-R producing live jazz concerts in my 3rd floor walk-up loft and exhibited photography from Ansel Adams to George Hurrell. The inspiration that led me to leave P&G to produce live jazz in 1984 in O-T-R led me to return to the art hub of Cincinnati that will not die. The Main St. Final Friday Gallery Walk and 2nd Sunday Street Fair brings out the child in me and the many who venture back to the architectural beginnings of Cincinnati.
When I moved back to Cincinnati after 14 years, living in New York City and NJ, I wanted to open a gallery on Main St. in a live-in loft. RoHo Photo Gallery began on Central Ave., moved to Bellevue, KY, then W 4th St. when Bill and I partnered as co-directors, but has settled where the dream began in O-T-R.
RoHo curates photography exhibitions quarterly with opening receptions on the final Fridays in August, November, February and May. Photographers from around the world submit images via the RoHo website. My friend, colleague from Colgate-Palmolive days and gallery co-director Bill Spangler manages the website. We jury the exhibitions along with guest jurors. Bill prints high resolution uploaded images and I frame the accepted images for gallery exhibits at no additional cost to the photographers. The images are exhibited for 2 months in the RoHo Gallery as well as on the RoHo website and are published in a book by Edgecliff Press.
David Rosenthal is the guest juror for One3 our next exhibition. One Cubed will open on Final Friday August 27 from 6-10PM at RoHo Photo Gallery, 209 Woodward St., Loft G in O-T-R. The achievement continues on 2nd Sunday August 8th during the street fair on Main St. between 12th and Liberty. Bring out the child in you and visit the RoHo booth at the intersection of Woodward and Main St. from noon to 5:00PM.
Posted By: Merchants On Main
Posted: 8/3/2010
Seven years ago I was hired at the stained glass studio on Main Street that I currently work for. At that time, Over-the-Rhine seemed like the big bad city to me. I thought it pointless to try and get to know my neighbors because there were too many to count. Plus it seemed like every other week there was a new business opening as another was closing. So what was the point?
After a few years I realized I was in love with the neighborhood, and knew I wasn't leaving any time soon. This is when I had my moment of clarity- I was sitting on the fire escape of a friend's apartment on Main Street with my friend Jen. We were oohing and ahhing at the beautiful neighborhood in front of us, and imagining it full of life and creative businesses. One year later, I had a key to 4 different spaces in Over-the-Rhine! And this is coming from a student/artist with absolutely no money. And I mean not a dime!
So what did I do to make this possible? It's simple. I just committed myself to a community. I started saying “hello” more, I learned people's names, and I wasn't shy about asking for help. It is amazing what can be done when people work together. Cincinnati truly is a great city, with more than enough to offer. The only problem I keep running into here, is the lack of community. Especially when it comes to the young creative class. A lot of my peers are forced to move to another city when looking for jobs in their field. It's time we take a stand and make people notice us!
A couple great examples of proactive communities are the Final Fridays and
Second Sundays in OtR. Have you been? These organizations are unique, original, and diverse. They have both been around for years, and don't plan on going anywhere. Just like OtR!
We have a lot to offer this city and it's people. Let's stick together, discuss ideas, hire each other, buy each other's art! Trust me, it works, I've seen it with my own optimistic eyes.