When Ashley Steward was presented with the opportunity to help launch and run a new gallery – Project Unicorn, which opened in mid-July in the former Close Quarters Social Gaming Club space in Franklinton – the deal was that the unicorn stayed.
“So, there were conversations about the unicorn, and whether we were going to put it on the roof, or if it would stay in the space,” Steward said of the gallery’s namesake, a horse-sized, horned statue that has since been mounted to a “floating cloud” base that allows it to be positioned anywhere within the gallery. “His name is Capi, as in Capricorn the Unicorn. … And he’s kind of developing his own little personality.”
The same could be said of the developing new gallery, which Steward described as a blank canvas, of sorts, able to take on multiple personalities depending on the show or event taking place within. Indeed, on the late July day Steward guided me through the space, the walls were lined with works by Michael Bush, Larry Doyle and Jeni Pie, who featured in the gallery’s opening show (on display until Wednesday, Aug. 2). But the floor had also been marked out with blue painter’s tape by Columbus Fashion Alliance, which was in the midst of devising an experiential retail market to be held in the space during Franklinton Friday in August.
“I think the space is malleable, just like we all are malleable, or like I’m malleable,” said Steward, who was first approached by Blake Compton of Compton Construction in April with the idea for the gallery. “Even though I went through my own personal growth during the pandemic years, I’m not done. I’m not done learning about myself. I’m not done discovering more of my own voice. And I think that’s reflected in Project Unicorn. And it’s reflected in this space.”
Steward said that Compton reached out with the opportunity while they were at an interesting crossroads in life, which also aligned with a time when new questions emerged surrounding the evolution of Franklinton as an arts district. “Blake was having conversations with the landlord and wanted to find a way of … keeping the spirit of Franklinton going and alive, especially in this really crucial moment of how Franklinton is being shaped,” said Steward, who has more than seven years of experience working with 934 Gallery, beginning as a volunteer and later serving on the art space’s board (Steward is also a member of the Matter News board). “It meant a lot to have Blake approach me, but then also to give me full trust in the space. … To kind of have my own sandbox in which to play, it’s been eye-opening for me, and it’s letting me flex my curatorial and organizational skills.”
The hope, Steward said, is for Project Unicorn to add to the “abundance of spaces” in which Columbus and Franklinton artists are given opportunity to play, with the gallery operating as a blank slate that can be molded into virtually anything given the right vision. “When there’s no art on the walls, this place literally becomes a big, blank box,” they said. “This space can be transformed into anything with the right hands and the right creative mind.”
In taking on this new role, Steward is also embracing other ideas they absorbed in the early months of the pandemic, such as a renewed acceptance of the temporary nature of things. Currently billed as a pop-up, the idea is to hold up Project Unicorn as something of an experiment through the end of 2023, and to see if there’s enough momentum at that point to keep things going. “I’m kind of in a temporary state myself right now, so the idea of being like, ‘Oh, I’m signing on to be part of this for the next five years of my life,’ what does that mean? And it’s been very freeing this year to think of anything I touch as temporary, and there hasn’t been this existential crisis moment,” Steward said. “But that hasn’t stopped me from putting my all into it. And that hasn’t stopped me from putting the most amount of love I can into it.”
This concept has been fused into the early DNA of the gallery, with Steward championing the idea of creating temporary moments of magic – ephemeral here-and-gone experiences that range from pop-up dinners to gallery exhibitions and runway shows.
“The more we can have these experiences that are truly unique, where if you’re there, it’s magical. And if you weren’t, that’s okay, because there will be something different down the road,” Steward said. “And that’s kind of what I want to create with this space – those little things people talk about and remember, but you can’t touch. And there’s something magical in the way it can’t be created twice.”
