RoHo gallery reopens in Over-the-Rhine

When RoHo Photo gallery re-opens in Over the Rhine this Friday, Michael Skaggs will bring a do-it-yourself arts concept full circle.The gallery has moved from a downtown 4th St. location to a larger space in Over-the-Rhine that will accommodate bigger crowds and link RoHo to the Final Friday gallery-walk circuit. The move will also bring RoHo back to the neighborhood where it was born.”In the seventies in New York City people went into old loft warehouse spaces in SoHo and held Jazz concerts,” Skaggs said. “So in the eighties I decided to have jazz concerts in a loft in Over-the-Rhine, and I called it RoHo.”Skaggs eventually stopped hosting concerts and moved to New York City. When he returned to Cincinnati in 2000, he opened RoHo photo gallery on Central Avenue, which then became RoHo Photo and Framing in Bellevue, KY. The galleries featured mostly local artists’ work, but they didn’t work financially, he said.To solve that problem Skaggs fashioned an innovative, low-risk business plan and opened the latest format of RoHo photo downtown a year ago.RoHo offers cash prizes ($1750 total per show) to photographers who enter their works as a digital file. The images are juried by Skaggs and partner William Spangler, or by guest jurors. The two directors then print and frame the best 31 entries for the show, pay the prize money and host an opening reception. RoHo artists don’t have to pay for printing and framing of their work, and if their work is selected to be hung then it will also be for sale in the gallery. The top three photos win a cash prize.With about 100 entries at $50 apiece for each show, RoHo brings in more than enough money to cover their costs. The fees also pay for an open bar and hors de ouvres by chef Miranda Leurck. This week’s opening features live Jazz by Brian Cashwell.Anything Goes,” a wide range of photographs from professional and amateur photographers from nine foreign countries and 25 states will open in the downstairs gallery. A solo show of local photographer Matthew Andrews’ work will hang in the upstairs gallery, and jewelry by Elaine York McGue will also be on display.RoHo photo is located at 209 Woodward St. Loft G. “Anything Goes” will be open from 6 to 10 p.m. on this Final Friday. Writer: Henry Sweets