Thanks so much to those of you who came out to MiCA 12/v last night to meet us and members of the Contact Center, and to purchase the Vine St. print. Thanks to Building Cincinnati, CityKin, and BuyCincy for spreading the word. All proceeds will fund our redesign of the organization’s storefront signage. If you’re interested in purchasing the print, stop by MiCA 12/v, which still has about half of the edition left. Long live grassroots dogoodery!

December is a busy time of year, but we sincerely hope that you’ll be able to join us this Saturday, 19 Dec, 6-9pm at at MiCA 12/v on the corner of 12th and Vine in Over-the-Rhine. We will be hosting a reception and launch party for our latest project — a print depicting the West side of Vine Street between 12th and 13th Streets. All proceeds from the sale of this print will benefit new storefront signage that we will design for the Contact Center, a nonprofit community organizing agency located in OTR.

Here’s a closeup of the Contact Center in the source photo and in our print:

And the same for MiCA 12/v:

As we live around the corner from the Contact Center and from MiCA 12/v, and since we glean so much inspiration from our neighborhood, this project is near and dear to our hearts. Make a day of last-minute holiday shopping in OTR, support some of the coolest shops in town, check out our new print, and support a great cause!

If you’re curious about the technical specs, this is a 4-color serigraph printed in an limited edition of 40 on bright white, acid-free, recycled cover stock made by the French Paper Company, a small, family-owned paper mill based in Niles, MI. Our inks came from Suder’s Art Store at 1309 Vine St. in OTR. The print measures 19.75×9 inches and fits perfectly into an Ikea Ribba frame, as shown in the above photo, because we’re both clever and thrifty.

People often ask Michael and me about the nature of our collaborations. We tend to share ownership of our work, but the collaboration is rarely 50/50. For instance, the Cincinnati Building Footprint print was Michael’s idea, but I suggested extending the Ohio River to the edges of the paper:

The Over-the-Rhine Anagram print was my idea, but Michael suggested Clarendon, the typeface I ended up using:

In the case of the Vine St. print, however, we got about as close to a 50/50 collaboration as you can get. Faced with a lack of immediate funds for the project, Michael suggested a fundraising print — like a graphic design bake sale! I came up with the idea of illustrating the block where the Contact Center is located. I shot the source photography. Michael traced the photos and scanned in the drawing. I finished the illustration digitally and colored in the drawing. He chose the paper but, when we couldn’t get it in time, I picked the substitute. When the paper arrived, Michael trimmed it down to size, while I mixed the ink colors. He printed while I watched for printing problems and laid down each new sheet of paper, and placed each printed sheet on the side to dry. I went through the prints and pulled out the bad ones, and then he numbered and embossed the good ones. Things don’t always work out this way, but it’s great when they do.

If you’re on Facebook, please RSVP to our event and consider inviting anyone you know who may be interested in this project.

If you can’t attend the launch party, the print will be available at MiCA 12/v and in our online shop, too. Please help us realize this signage project for the Contact Center with either a print purchase or by donating directly to the organization.

Wowsa, right? This here glittery tiled wall is at 615 Main St. in downtown Cincinnati [apparently, it's the M&M Building]. How amazing is this ampersand?

Most of the tile I’ve seen and documented in the Cincinnati area is roughly circa 1900, but I do have a soft spot for the less common, more Modern examples like this one. One of my favorites is the striped tile pattern facade of the fire station at 5th and Central:

I also really like the scattered patterns [like the one above] of Smith’s Toggery Shoppe:

And at Gabriel’s Corner, both in Over-the-Rhine:

Fall in the Midwest may be a bit disappointing, but there is something about the Midwestern sunset that is almost magical. The light has a warm cast, and the buildings gleam with a soft glow.

A few days ago, Over-the-Rhine blogger The Walking Green mentioned some of the benefits of living in a walkable neighborhood, and also her Walk Score, which is 92/100. Mine is actually 98/100! Do you believe that? I actually do walk to pretty much everything I want and need, so my score doesn’t entirely surprise me.

However, the Walk Score is a bit misleading, as some of the nearest establishments are not nearly as relevant or useful as it may suggest, and some others no longer exist. In fact, I had some thoughts about the Walk Score earlier this year.

This particular corner store isn’t quite a close to my house as Bang’s Mkt. was, but it’s pretty damn close. If only it were open!

I’ve been spoiled by larger cities in which I’ve lived, where I’ve had corner store options. My options here include the Vine St. Kroger, Garfield Market, Avril Bleh, Sunshine Fine Foods, Silverglade’s, Walgreen’s, and three CVS stores. How many of those are actual corner stores? How many are on my corner, or even a block away?

When you factor in the “closed on Sundays” and “closed on Mondays” [WTF, Avril Bleh?], lack of evening hours, and the limited availability of certain mundane items in some of these stores, my quick trip to the so-called corner store can easily turn into a highly organized five-stop tour, executed with a bit of advance planning. It can be done; I do it. Life could be simpler, though.

Who’s going to reopen this corner store? Do I have to do it?

Möbius Ship by Tim Hawkinson has got to be one of my favorite pieces of art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Made of wood, plastic, Plexiglas, rope, staples, string, and twist ties, it’s very intricate and incredibly well-detailed.

And I thought Ann Wood’s ghost ships were amazing… I know my photos are pretty crappy, but can you see the level of detail in this sculpture?

Tim Hawkinson was born in San Francisco and now lives in Los Angeles. Some more information about him can be found here and here.

According to Wikipedia, Daybreak in O’Bryonville, the new ArtWorks mural by Kate Holterhoff, borrows motifs from Maxwell Parrish’s iconic Daybreak. While the mural isn’t funny like Scott Donaldson’s Campy Washington, and while it doesn’t pull you into a story like Christian Schmit’s An Epic Tale of Time and Town, its vivid palette is effective in its context. I’m sure this will have an even stronger presence in the dead of winter.

For those of you outside of Cincinnati, this mural is located on the back walls of a parking lot in the heart of O’Bryonville, an eclectic shopping district in Cincinnati.

When Provident Camera closed earlier this year, I didn’t really hear people mourn its loss. Maybe they accepted that stores like this no longer need to exist in neighborhoods like this. For us, though, the loss was significant, since now we have to go to Kenwood for our specialized light bulbs. In any case, here is the ghost signage Provident has left behind.

PROVIDENT CAMERA !

Being from the Northeast, I don’t find Cincinnati’s fall foliage all that impressive. Nonetheless, I’m here now, so I’ve spent the last couple of weeks documenting the best examples of fall color I could find. Over-the-Rhine’s distinguished architecture is, of course, a photogenic backdrop. I’m pretty happy with the results.

Here is a most unusual mural, in that it really doesn’t call attention to itself. From a distance, you may not notice it at all and, up close, its muted palette seems faded by the sun. Located right on MainStrasse in Covington, this recently completed ArtWorks project, led by Christian Schmit, may well be my favorite local mural to date.

Each panel of An Epic Tale of Time and Town is a moment in a loose narrative, as well as part of a continuous landscape filled with area landmarks, including The Ascent, the Roebling Bridge, and the Tyler Davidson Fountain. Each panel is also devoted to a single creative pursuit, like writing or music.

This blue fellow seems to be the protagonist:

There’s a narrative thread involving this hot-air balloon which picks up more passengers in every panel:

Apparently some of the other characters and situations are taken from the team’s time spent on-site this summer, or are part of local lore:

More info about this mural can be found on the John R. Green Company site.

If you haven’t noticed that ArtWorks did an amazing job this past summer, check out my recent posts on the new murals in Clifton Heights, Over-the-Rhine, and Northside [there are many others as well, but I don't get out much]. Kudos to everyone involved; this is mayjah!