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| Photo By Manifest Gallery |
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Jason Franz cultivates creativity at the Manifest Gallery in Walnut Hills.
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Manifest Gallery opened with a bold name and an ambitious agenda two years ago next month at 2727 Woodburn Ave. in Walnut Hills, a street that hadn't known art for some time. With the nonprofit gallery now into its third season, we asked founder Jason Franz, "Are plans still on track?"
"We're fabulously on track," Franz says.
The gallery set out to present high quality work by both established and student artists in "a culture of creativity" that would include programs as well as exhibitions and involve "the third component, the public."
The last, Franz says, "is the trickiest to acquire," but membership is up and awareness of the gallery in and out of the neighborhood is growing.
Calls for exhibition entries bring international replies. Whimsical Muse, opening Dec. 22, attracted 180 submissions from 20 states and two Canadian provinces. "Thank God for the Internet," says Franz.
The 180 submissions have been trimmed to 14 works by a selection process Franz calls "rigorous." A jury makes the initial selection without identification of the artists "on quality alone." The show's curator then makes the final cut from the considerably reduced pool. Franz, curator for Whimsical Muse, chose from 18 works culled by the jury.
Since its beginning, Manifest has encouraged drawing and indeed calls one of its two galleries "The Drawing Room." Opening in The Drawing Room on Dec. 22 will be The Drawthrough Collection by Scott Robertson, the work of a Los Angeles-based concept designer. In conjunction with the show, Robertson will conduct a workshop at UC Design, Architecture, Art and Planning department, where Franz also teaches, on Jan. 20. Franz considers drawing "basic to other art forms. For me, the immediacy is important."
Catalogues are another focus for the gallery.
"Publishing a catalogue says, 'We take this seriously,' " Franz explains. "(It) encourages people to enter an exhibition."
In addition to other catalogues, Manifest's National Drawing Annual show is accompanied by a competitive publication of works of current drawing and writing about drawing as well as a companion "selections from the NDA gallery exhibit."
Film, an increasingly strong component of today's art-making, has a place in the gallery's programming and is the project of Jeffrey Salter, who came to the gallery through its intern program and is now a member of the junior board. The intern program itself is an integral element for a gallery established to bring together student and professional artists along with the public.
These different constituencies are also invited to take part in Manifest's "Creative Research Expedition to Greece" June 10-July 1, 2007. Franz, who led a similar journey in 2001, says the trip is open to 15 to 20 artists or art/design students and adventurous non-artists as well. (Further information on this trip, as well as all other gallery activities and projects, can be found at www.manifestgallery.org or by calling 513-861-3638.)
Arts councils and the Fine Arts Fund take the gallery seriously and provide both funding and advice. The three founders of the gallery -- Franz, his wife Brigid O'Kane and Elizabeth Kauffman, all arts professionals -- have comprised the board until now, but with the assistance of the FAF it is being enlarged by interested people who bring skills of their own.
Whimsical Muse includes sculpture, digital photography, assemblage, painting, video and printmaking, chosen to embody "the lighter side of creativity." The show is dedicated to the Franzs' daughter Alexandra, who was born 21 days after the first opening and has attended every one since. She loves to draw, says her father, and already has a start on her own art collection.
"We've bought for her, out of shows, three pieces she really liked," he says.
Alexandra, like the gallery, is young but headed in the right direction.
Manifest Gallery is open 2-7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and noon-5 p.m. Saturday.
