Sunday, October 30, 2005
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The Mockbee's final show
By
Kate Westrich
Necessary to any good arts scene is an effort to reach out to multiple audiences: to folks with money and folks without, to artists and art enthusiasts, to older arts patrons and younger ones, to new artists and established ones.
Helping to make Cincinnati art scene well rounded, The Mockbee catered to young artists and art enthusiasts. With the announced closing of The Mockbee, Cincinnati is in the process of losing one a valuable arts commodity, though you may have never known it existed.
Providing space for art showings, artists’ studios and great parties, The Mockbee, between Central Parkway and West McMicken, has fulfilled a specific niche of the Cincinnati art world. Christopher Daniels stepped down as executive director of The Mockbee, and in so doing started a quick chain of events that has led to the impending closing of the facility, as announced by its Board of Trustees on Sept. 29.
The Mockbee began operating in 2001, known then as SSNOVA (Sanctum Sanctorum Nonprofit Organization for Visual Art). When the opportunity to take over as executive director of The Mockbee became available, Daniels was excited about the possibilities. Despite working full time for no pay and having to do work that ranged from building maintenance to bartending and from acting as doorman to planning art shows, Daniels enjoyed the position and the opportunity to better organize operations.
When Daniels first took over as executive director he operated in reaction to things, lining up shows as they were presented to him. That quickly changed. Prior to his resignation he had shows lined up through 2006, though those slated after mid-November 2005, will be cancelled. For shows that Daniels helped to schedule and plan, he tried to include an educational component. “I try to teach how to walk through a show,” he said.
In 2004, VERSUS 2.0, an art competition pairing designers to create artwork around a one-word theme occurred at The Mockbee last year and VERSUS organizers worked with Daniels to set up the show. “With VERSUS people came over and we walked through to discuss possibilities,” said Daniels. “[The Mockbee] is an odd space to display two-dimensional art and is humid.”
The Mockbee started out as the Bellevue Brewery. While the brewery equipment is long gone, the space still bears marks of its original purpose. The rooms are huge and lend themselves well to exhibiting art, especially large pieces. On a hot summer afternoon, though, a fog can roll through the first floor of the building due to high amounts of humidity. Daniels worked with artists to find solutions for displaying art and keeping it safe. For VERSUS 2.0, pieces were hung off long pieces of wire affixed to the wall.
Daniels hails from Maryland but did his graduate studies in sculpture here in Cincinnati. Working on large-scale piece of sculpture, Daniels understands firsthand the need for large exhibition space like that at The Mockbee. “I decided to resign because I can’t pay my bills,” he said simply.
Gina Gartner has been volunteering with The Mockbee since June of this year. Among the many issues that faced the gallery and studio space “people are nervous about coming down there,” she said. “Where do you enter? Either way it’s not the safest.”
Daniels worked to have a police presence during art shows to help people feel more comfortable and he tried, unsuccessfully, to work with the city to improve lighting around the building. He has applied for grants but had not succeeded in getting enough funding to have The Mockbee operate successfully.
If Daniels does get back into creating sculpture, it remains to be seen if there will be indoor space locally for him to show the finished pieces.
Kate Westrich is a Cincinnati native and avid flip-flop wearer.
