Books are popping up alongside poetry readings and experimental art performances in a shed across the street from Camp Washington’s Wave Pool.
A contemporary art fulfillment center, Wave Pool has an impressive track record: to date, the nonprofit estimates impacting over 6,000 individuals with more than 270 unique programs. Calcagno Cullen, the center’s co-founder and director, says they gear their programming toward what artists need in Cincinnati — and other communities — need.
Their current project, The FRINGE Bookstore, is one piece of that goal.
The pop-up bookshop is the brainchild of Andrew McKinley, who first came to the area from San Francisco as an artist in residence at Wave Pool nearly two years ago. He stayed there for about a month and turned the downstairs gallery into a bookstore/community living room. Christened “The Gathering Space,” it was a hit.
“(It was) so well received by the community…people stopping in to read books, having tea and snacks,” Cullen says. “We got to meet a lot of our neighbors that way and, in the process, Andrew really fell in love with Cincinnati.”
McKinley decided to make Cincinnati his new home and bought a house across the street from Wave Pool. With their help — and an ArtsWave grant — he has since transformed his shed into a colorful bookstand.
“We’re getting books into local people’s hands,” McKinley says. “I’m trying to bring good books into the pop-up so they’ll spread throughout the neighborhood.”
They’re priced about $3 apiece. He’s been pleased that the garage has become a meeting place for people in the community and hopes that, in the future, other groups might use the space for other creative endeavors.
“It’s set up like a carnival booth, or an ice cream booth,” he says. “It should morph into something more substantial down the line. It’s really in its infancy.”
The bookstand’s facade is the work of local artist Karay Martin, whose art is praised by Cullen for its tendencies toward being “interactive, very bright, very pleasing to the eye.” Her work here includes colorful fringe and interactive chalkboards that invite the creation of temporary graffiti — or an opportunity to share encouraging messages with other visitors.
McKinley’s interest and passion for the introduction of a pop-up bookshop wasn’t happenstance; he founded the renowned Adobe Books in San Francisco 30 years prior. Pulling from his own collection of books and texts, FRINGE customers can expect to sift through an array of works that relate to “inclusion, equality and equity” — specifically ones that speak to the LGBTQI community.
The pop-up bookshop hosts complementary programming; local artist Sidney Cherie Hilley has scheduled performances, readings and workshops throughout FRINGE’s run. Maybe you’ve already caught a sound installation by Torn Light Records founder Alex York, or a poetry reading featuring local artists and writers like Lillian Currens and Sydney Raines.
Or, if you’re just finding out, it’s not too late; the pop-up bookshop is open every Saturday through June 1. A special performance of It Can Only Be As Beautiful As We Make It takes place on May 18, as part of the Contemporary Arts Center’s current exhibition, Archive as Action.
Aside from the pop-up shop, more community engagement is on the horizon.
“In the next year, we look forward to opening the Welcome Project Kitchen and Market,” Cullen says. “Our neighborhood has been a food desert for a long time and we’re very fortunate to have such talented refugee and immigrant folks working with us, cooking pop-up dinners and managing a produce market as part of Wave Pool that we will be running as an alternative art space, with artists in residence and a ceramics marketplace to tie in with produce.”
Reflecting on what a difference the space makes introduces an unmistakable, sentimental tone to Cullen’s voice.
“The neighborhood has embraced us in such a positive way; it’s been incredible,” she says. “Our neighborhood has gone from having one arts center — we were the first gallery — to having about nine or 10 spaces. There’s been such an uptick in community festivals, outdoor parties, people feeling safe and welcome in the neighborhood.
“The things that we do, we’re doing because it’s what (our fellow neighborhood residents) are telling us.”
The FRINGE Bookstore (2931 Jessamine St., Camp Washington) is open on Saturdays through June 1. For more information visit wavepoolgallery.org.
This article appears in May 8-15, 2019.