The Goose Flies at Midnight
By Eric Pacella |
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An unassuming building on Summit Street, flanked by residential properties, houses a refuge for artists and provides a platform to display all manner of unique artistic endeavors. It's the only place in town to catch stand-up comedy delivered by a robot named PPBO#2, followed by Bacon Camp, a daylong crash-course on just about everything one can do with salted pork. A music venue one night; a portrait studio the next: Wild Goose Creative does it all.
Wild Goose provides a space for artists to create and display their work: a soapbox from which to shout. This nonprofit artists' haven hosts events that are open to the public, usually for an all-ages crowd. Wild Goose Creative is active in the community, hosting benefit shows and educational opportunities, and providing an opportunity for conversation to start between artists of all disciplines.
Writers, painters, musicians, culinary artists, actors, woodworkers, and stand-up comedians convene in one location, sharing their art - and the process behind it - with each other and with the public.
"Columbus is an exceptional, amazing city for art of all kinds, and it really appeals to us because we're doing music and we're doing culinary arts and we're doing performance and we're doing visual art. We have this broad spectrum of things. We're doing events ranging from graphic designers to crafters to local food artists," said Ryan Hoke, one of six founding members of Wild Goose Creative. "There's so many connections between all these different art forms, and really what we're trying to do is highlight those connections and highlight the connections between the artists."
One way that Wild Goose promotes interaction among artists, and between artists and the public, is through its "Third Thursdays" series, during which an artist will share a work in progress. It could be a recently developed recipe, an oil painting, or a piece of music that has never been performed. The artist opens a window into the creative process - and dialogue is encouraged.
Bacon Camp at Wild Goose Creative
"We met a wood turner, Devon Palmer, and he came in with his giant wood turning lathe and turned a bowl right in front of us and talked to us about the process and shavings were flying," said Hoke. "That just came out of a conversation that we had on the street. These sorts of things just happen by meeting people; it's this idea that relationships are forming the art that you're creating."
Wild Goose Creative cultivates its relationship with the community through these educational events, but also contributes in more concrete ways.
A Columbus-based charity held a fundraiser for Sudanese orphanages, said Jessie Boettcher, another Wild Goose founder.
"For another event, a recently started theater company called 'Whistling in the Dark,' we were able to give the space to them for the evening, and they had a crazy variety show and a silent auction. They are an organization that is specifically interested in providing educational opportunities through theater," she said. "In terms of the larger arts community and the nonprofit community, that is one way that we are able to get involved."
In return, the community has been gracious toward Wild Goose. A local base of donors provides support, both monetarily and in the donation of goods useful to the Creative. Now, a growing base of volunteers has allowed Wild Goose to stay open four days per week. This gives members of the public an opportunity to come inside and see the gallery artwork, as well as for artists to get a chance to come in and work on their projects.
"It is a time when people can stop by on an ad hoc basis, bring something they're working on, and work in a space that is not quite as private and alone as home would be, but is not as social or high-traffic as a coffee shop, for example," said Boettcher. "But it could also be really comfortable and have a good creative vibe, and could potentially have other people around, who you can bounce ideas off of," she concluded.
Volunteer opportunities abound at Wild Goose Creative, according to Hoke, and if you're interested, just ask.
"There are lots of points of entry," she said. "You can be an audience member, but you can find a way to participate as well."
Wild Goose Creative
2491 Summit St.
Columbus, OH 43202
(614) 859-WILD
www.wildgoosecreative.com
Originally Published: October 1, 2009
