S
ummer has returned, with languid days, dripping ice cream cones and sweaty car rides, flip-flops and sunscreen and a marathon of art fairs and block parties. In fact, summer seems fit to burst with art festivals, enough to fill every weekend. One such festival is Art on Vine, which returns to Fountain Square July 5. But the fair hasn’t been waiting for the summer solstice to open its canopies; it has been open each and every month since July 2013, growing in popularity since founder James Jenkins first had the idea.
The concept grew out of a college project in 2012. Jenkins, a photography and business law major, was paired with graphic designer Page Lansley in a project management class at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. After discovering their shared artistic interests, they came up with the idea of planning a boutique art fair.
“At the time, as far as we knew, there weren’t many events like this one around Cincinnati,” Lansley says. “We thought it was something new and different that we could plan.”
After college, Jenkins approached Lansley to revisit their class project and make it a reality. He needed her to design posters and advertisements for the inaugural show. Art on Vine opened in July of 2013 with eight artists on display. Jenkins partnered with the Over-the-Rhine Community Housing organization to hold the fair in its parking lot on Vine Street between 12th and 13th streets. A portion of the artist entry fee benefited the nonprofit in its effort to provide affordable housing to low-income neighbors. In the months that followed, the event steadily grew, with 40-plus artists now exhibiting.
“Everything Art on Vine is today — and it’s thriving — is due to the yeoman’s work put in by James [Jenkins],” says participating artist Gordon Brown of Paper Surgery. Brown, who has been selling his hand-cut paper designs at the fair for close to two years, has witnessed the burgeoning success. “James invests his lifeblood, his dollars and an inordinate amount of his time in nurturing it, growing it,” Brown says.
As other summer art fairs began packing it in for the winter, Jenkins didn’t want to stop the momentum of that first season in 2013.
While in college, Jenkins launched a business called Photography for the People. With it, he fostered many connections to local shops and restaurants, including Elm & Iron, Macaron Bar and Rhinegeist. He saw in Rhinegeist an opportunity, and he approached brewery co-owner Bob Bonder with the idea of hosting Art on Vine indoors during the winter months.
“People are blown away to see this space and to see the art,” Jenkins says. “It was truly one of the high points of Art on Vine to have such a great partnership with Rhinegeist.”
“The winter months, even during some of the dreariest weather, have really been great,” Brown says. “I’ve definitely seen my sales and recognition building right along with the attendance.”
“[Jenkins] is always thinking about how he can make the event better than the last one,” says Therese Holt, a fiber artist who has exhibited at the fair since 2014.
Art on Vine is now held on Fountain Square every first Sunday, June through October, and continues at Rhinegeist in the winter. Jenkins says he has also continued to help local nonprofits, with proceeds from past events benefiting organizations including Cincinnati Area Senior Services. But the greatest benefactors are the artists.
“We give them a monthly platform to showcase their work,” Jenkins says. “Art on Vine is the only art show that goes on all year round. It gives them an opportunity to really pursue their passion and actually make a living from it, and get out there and network.”
He has seen participating artists go on to find commissions and connect with galleries. “Events like Art on Vine, City Flea and Crafty Supermarket — these events are really giving locals a chance to pursue their dreams and figure out who they are and what they actually want to do with their life,” Jenkins says.
Jenkins knew early on photography was his life’s calling. The inspiration came from his mother, who always seemed to have a camera pointed on him and his brothers.
“Being a kid, you never understand why your mom is taking so many photos,” he says. “But she was capturing those moments and really saving them. So for me, with my photography, it’s all about capturing that perfect moment.”
Fleeting moments are what Jenkins is after when he focuses his lens on Over-the-Rhine in his quest to document the rapidly changing landscape.
“His photography is first-class, taking familiar local subjects and offering new perspectives, making us reconsider for a moment the city we thought we knew by heart,” Brown says of Jenkins’ work.
Jenkins grew up in North Avondale and says it was in 2009 that he really became infatuated with Over-the-Rhine. The momentous growth from The Banks to the Gateway Quarter to Findlay Market compelled him to move to the neighborhood.
As he began photographing the neighborhood, documenting the people and places of OTR, he says he actually felt a great sense of relief. It’s as if he is finally part of the change that first inspired him so many years ago. Now, although he’s a resident of Clifton, Jenkins says OTR remains his first love and will always have his heart.
ART ON VINE continues every first Sunday on Fountain Square noon-6 p.m. through October. For more information, visit artonvinecincy.com.
