These spaces stand apart from commercial galleries by offering a collaborative environment for exhibitions, performances, and cultural events. They provide platforms for building local networks in unorthodox venues like storefronts, homes, warehouses, and garages.
Artist-run spaces can be organized by rag tag crews of friends, or be backed by official boards of directors. They can materialize as pop-up experiences or as established brick-and-mortar venues. One common benefit is a lack of institutional pressure to produce market-driven work, though they are often run on shoestring budgets supplemented with grants and donations. It is a labor of love.
A legacy movement
Also called DIY or alternative spaces, artist-run venues are not new to the area.
The Cincinnati Artists’ Group Effort (C.A.G.E.) was active from 1978 to 1996. Focused on promoting local visual and performance artists through alternative gallery spaces, it left a legacy documented in archives at the University of Cincinnati.
Other now shuttered Cincinnati spaces include Anytime Dept., Rainbow, DiLeia, Images, The Mockbee, Neo Ancestralists, Publico, Semantics, Thundersky, and VOLK. Their histories are documented both in an archive titled “Artist Run” by Britni Bicknaver and Calcagno Cullen — which the artists produced for the 2024 FotoFocus Biennial — and in a 2022 Contemporary Arts Center exhibition.
Here is a list of artist-run spaces active in the Cincinnati region as of publication. Reach out to locations to confirm hours of operation. Given the state of arts funding, these spaces are often ephemeral.
BasketShop: 3105 Harrison Ave.; basketshopgallery.com
1-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday or by appointment at basketshopcincinnati@gmail.com
BasketShop is a collective known for exhibitions and community engagement. The name is inspired by the art of weaving as an analogy for interactions between artists and mainstream culture. The storefront space seeks to bring together disparately opinionated communities. The gallery is currently seeking submissions from “art book creators, small presses, dealers and other art book inclined creators from within 300 miles of the Cincinnati area”.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
General Store: 4575 Hamilton Ave.
Located in the Northside business community, General Store is the storefront studio of Julia Lipovsky and Jon Flannery. The creative duo often collaborate and organize community events. General Store is currently offering creative winter workshops including Expressive Watercolors on February 21 and DIY Charcoal on March 14. More info at linktr.ee/julialipovsky.
Flag Studio: 2922 Colerain Ave.; ducttapedrawings.com
Founded and run by Joe Girandola and based in Camp Washington, Flag Studio shows sporadic exhibitions, including past participation in FotoFocus. Girandola, who is the President of the Art Academy of Cincinnati, is involved in several art and education initiatives around the city, so check his artist website for various shows and events.
Archive of Creative Culture: archive-project.com
Founded by Lacey Haslam, the Archive of Creative Culture is a semi-conceptual project that functions in a pop-up capacity via a traveling 1973 Argosy Airstream. It originated in Camp Washington and continues as a nomadic art experiment. The project invites contributors from local art scenes in towns and cities across the US to create a national survey of creative culture by collecting artist books — a popular mode of expression in DIY culture.
According to the website, the Airstream “employs the framework of a museum offering exhibition space, programming, events and a shop.”
Those interested in participating or hosting the collection should email info@archive-project.com.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
DSGN Collective: 4150 Hamilton Ave.; dsgncllctv.com
DSGN is a multi-purpose creative space functioning as a gallery, performance venue, and design studio. Their mission is “to promote social justice, equity, and personal empowerment, enhancing community well-being through collaborative exhibitions, workshops, and projects that make art accessible and transformative for advocacy and social change”. According to a recent crowdsource fundraiser, DSGN is fighting to keep its art and music programming going to “hold space for the folks who don’t usually get one”.
PAR Projects: 1646 Hoffner St.; parprojects.com
11 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and by request
Located in Northside, the robust PAR Projects (“Professional Artistic Research”) has transformed 3/4 of an acre of blighted land into a contemporary arts and education center. The original indoor/outdoor location serves as headquarters while Studeō PAR- is a 15,000 square foot space dedicated to helping artists pursue creativity-based education and viable career paths, including classes related to career development and skills training.
Currently on view in the gallery through February 2026 is “Funky Ride: The South Still Has Something To Say.” Featuring the work of southern muralists and multidisciplinary artists Brandon Hill and Antonio McilWaine, the dual exhibition honors the visual language of Hip Hop. An artist talk and closing reception will take place at 6:30 p.m. Feb 21.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Pique Gallery: 210 Pike St., Covington, Ky.; piquewebsite.com
Located across the river in Covington, Pique is a gallery and Airbnb that bills itself as “an open ended art experiment”.
In a full circle moment, their most recent art show, “Remembering Semantics”, brought together artists and archives to celebrate Semantics Gallery, the “longest-running alternative art co-op in the city” of Cincinnati, in operation from 1992-2015.
The most up-to-date event listings can be found on their Instagram @pique.gallery.
WAVE POOL: 2940 Colerain Ave.; wavepoolgallery.org
info@wavepoolgallery.org; (513) 257-0842
Gallery open noon-4 p.m., Friday and Saturday or by appointment
Wave Pool is a prominent non-profit organization founded by Calcagno and Skip Cullen, functioning as a socially-engaged art center that aims to foster community change through artist opportunities and support.
Through its extensive programming, the Camp Washington space includes an art gallery, studios, artist residency program, wood shop, ceramics studio, and community gathering space.
Wave Pool helps “build relationships and collective knowledge around complex issues, centering the insights and experience of those most intimately affected”.
On view through February 2026 is “Ghosts of Smoke and Water”, a textile-based exhibition by Abby Ahrens and Leila Denbow.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
The Lodge: 231 6th Ave., Dayton, Ky.; thelodgeky.com
Located just across the Ohio River, The Lodge is a flexible space that functions as a recording studio and event space, offering space for “recording podcasts, filming music videos, hosting events or taking personal or band photos” in addition to hosting art exhibitions. They even offer Celebration of Life parties.
Art shows take place inside the “Gym Room” while live music is in the “Blue Room”.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Neon Heater: 400 1/2 S. Main St., Room 22 in the Historic Jones Building, Findlay
By appointment at theneonheater@gmail.com
The Neon Heater, located north of both Cincinnati and Dayton in Findlay, is worth mentioning as a small-but-mighty space focused on experimental art.
Founded by Ian Breidenbach, it opened in 2012 as a “space for conversations about contemporary art in a rural setting”. The gallery has monthly exhibitions with a focus on conceptual and installation-based works, contemporary photography and painting, and video and new media. Most recently on display was the work of Evan Hume in a show titled “Critical Collection”, recontextualized declassified archival photographs and other found images.
About the Author
