It’s a timeworn story: creative type grows up in a small town and feels compelled to leave for the big city. But instead of the usual ending for local designer/businessman Floyd Johnson has instead created his own avenues for creative success right in his hometown.     

Peter Haberkorn, a Cincinnati artist who imaginatively salvages and repurposes older materials, has a background in architectural study. Fittingly, the first thing you notice upon entering Northside’s Prairie to see his new show, Airstream, is just how beautifully his work fits in as gallery-complementing design.    

Sure, I’ve heard of Rookwood Pottery. I’ve seen tiles here and there in older homes in the area and heard the name spoke on the proud owners’ lips. The name evokes images of well-trained artisans leaning over their dusty workspaces, carving incredibly detailed molds and gently placing them in the kiln, waiting expectantly for their creation to take life.   

What happens when talented teenagers are teamed with design professionals and asked to interpret “green” concepts in billboard-like format? Plenty happens, as can be seen in The Outdoor Museum, or TOM, in Eden Park now through May 31.  

Museums have not been immune to the nations economic meltdown Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Arts endowment has calamitously plunged and Cincinnatis Contemporary Arts Center had to lay off five people, including its public relations director.  

China Design Now, which just opened at Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM) and will be there until Jan. 11, 2009, stands poised to be a high-profile exhibition for the museum.