Small Potatoes, a strangely sentimental exhibit at Thunder-Sky Inc., is like a heapin’ helping of Grandma’s comfort food. It’s unapologetically lumpy, undeniably homemade and served without fancy presentation but with a whole lot of love.  Even those with refined palates can appreciate the dinner-table discussion if not the actual buffet of “self-made (and repurposed) knick-knacks, tchotchkes and other curiosities.” This show isn’t so much about art collections as it is about the art of collecting, sometimes to the point of hoarding. Why is one person’s trash another’s treasure? When does a thrifty recycler need a reality check? At what point does hanging on to childhood mementoes go from cute to creepy?  

The reality show Hoarders, one of the inspirations for Small Potatoes, has taught us that an obsessive-compulsive pack rat might start out with a seemingly harmless habit. Similarly, one wall of the exhibit happens to be more innocent than the opposite side, notes gallery co-founder Bill Ross. 

Nearly all the art in the show is placed on or low to the floor — perfect for evoking a child’s point of view and creating anAlice in Wonderland aesthetic. Lighthearted paperboard robots and dolls by Katherine Ziff of Athens, Ohio, line shelves fashioned out of old lumber, concrete blocks and paint cans. More robots sit atop metal TV trays — black floral ones like Grandma’s, of course. 

It’s fitting that Ziff found her inspiration in the art of second-graders she met as a school counselor. Food boxes, egg cartons and toilet paper rolls are minimally transformed into whimsical figures with button eyes and coifs made out of newspaper fans. Who’s to say they’re less special than a cabinet of vintage Barbies or porcelain dolls?

Matthew Waldeck’s colorful, plush action figures look like characters out of Saturday morning Schoolhouse Rock! lessons. Waldeck (of Cincinnati) pairs smiling and frowning figures, re-creating the childhood world where inanimate objects become friends and enemies. An eraser, with its soothing pink color and soft corners, is good and kind. Mr. Scissors, though, is mean and hurtful.

Read the full article in City Beat

A Guest Post by our friend April Doner.  
From This Week in Sarasosta

It’s the season for red cellophane heart-shaped boxes, romantic dates and love letters. In the spirit of the season, I decided to put my feelings for my greatest local “paramour” into words and pictures in a love letter to my neighborhood, Gillespie Park.  - April Doner





Ten Things I Love About You
A Love Letter to Gillespie Park

Dear Gillespie Park,

Since the day we first met, when I was visiting my friends at the blue house on 7th St., I have nurtured a strong and enduring love for you. I hope you won’t think me presumptuous in sharing my feelings so openly, but I can’t shake this feeling that we are made for each another. My greatest sadness would be for you to never know how very special you are …  

So here are 10things I love the most about you:  
(Read the full article)

Have you ever been to a place where it just feels wonderfully good to spend time there?

I am thinking of places that offer an open sincere welcome, and possess such a sense of warmth and open energy that it feels great just to be there.

In my neighborhood I know of several places like that.

One such place is Happen, Inc.

Happen is a “play center” for kids and their parents and by its nature is a very creative space. But it is not the creativity that fosters the hospitality, warmth, friendship and the power that is easily discovered here. It flows from the people.

Tommy Reuff is the chief welcomer and conductor of Happen. He is also a talented community builder. He is amazing at welcoming, pays intense attention to people’s gifts and this space in turn offers great hospitality.

I spend much of my time discovering places where this sense of radical hospitality exists.

It is at these places where not only people are usually welcomed, but often so are their gifts.

I have discovered thousands of hospitable places in the Cincinnati area.  What about you??

- Joe

FOR YOUR REFLECTION AND SHARING:

What are the places in YOUR neighbourhood that offer sincere welcomes?

What places in YOUR neighbourhood make you feel great?