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A cool new downtown arts space under way
Everybody’s dreams are different. For some, they’re vague, wispy and intangible. For Hamilton and Carli Dixon, they’re made of more solid stuff.
Their dreams are about steel and soil, anvils and presses, bricks and mortar, construction debris and the moving of it. They dream about creating something big — a bustling, lively communal city space that has art at its core.
Hamilton, 49, is one of Dayton’s best-known artists, a sculptor who creates looping, swirling iron constructions that have an organic, plant-like feel to them, and which decorate important spaces in town ranging from the Dayton Art Institute rotunda to the lobby of Dayton International Airport.
Carli, 36, is an artist who owns and runs Freezeframe, a small company that fills an interesting niche: they turn wedding flowers into specially framed dried arrangements and jewelry, creating unusual keepsakes from family events.
But the Dixons are something more: residents of Dayton’s South Park historic neighborhood; can-do owners of an old home they renovated themselves; parents of two small children they hope will learn to love the city as they do; people who believe in community, their city and its future; artsy folks who see a way to contribute to the bubbling street-culture vibe that seems to be percolating in downtown Dayton and which might someday help turn the city around.
Their part in that is a three-building property on East Third Street on the edge of downtown which they and some friends are trying to turn into a studio, performance and community-garden complex dubbed “Atta Girl Art & Gardens.”
The three buildings at 811, 817 and 905 E. Third St. were once offices, a car lot and a plumbing-supply warehouse, among other things. They were originally just looking for studio space for Hamilton, but saw possibilities in the adjoining buildings, which had been on the market so long that the bank sold them for “a ridiculous price.” But that also meant a staggering amount of effort to make them usable.
They’ve spent months hauling away debris, setting up electricity and heat, and working with the city on permits. The weirdest thing about the property was that it was full of several tons of clothing donated by church groups for Hurricane Katrina victims, but which was never delivered. The Dixons are organizing and trying to find a proper place for the abandoned goods, perhaps sending them to Haiti; plenty of people would have simply thrown the stuff out.
Hamilton will soon move his metalworking studio from the Front Street Studios in East Dayton into 811, and is looking forward to a roomier space without pillars to get in the way of his very physical work. His friend and neighbor at Front Street, woodworker and artist Shon Walters, is helping them clean up the new space and will also soon move his studio there.
He shares the Dixons’ vision of turning a large, open, high-ceilinged space in the back of 905, which has 18,000 square feet, into an eccentric, 300-seat theater for everything from rock bands to dance shows. “I’m a big advocate of combining all the arts into one big event,” Walters said. “We just need the proper venue.”
Carli is working with friends who live in or near downtown to organize communal, raised-bed gardening in the rear of the property, and muses about putting in a coffeeshop someday.
But even with all they’ve done already, and even though they have “a long list of friends and associates” who’ve looked at the space and agreed it has potential, there is still a lot of uphill for the Dixons. “This is gargantuan,” she says, admitting they aren’t rich and are still working through the business plan to realize all that potential. Do they run the complex as a non-profit? Do they form some sort of collaborative? Do they find a local organization to run it? Do they manage it themselves as a business? All yet to be determined.
Meanwhile, they’re pushing ahead. “Great cities aren’t great because the government sits on high in theh sky and does all these wonderful things,” Carli says. “Great cities also have a rich, lively bohemian street culture that bubbles up and gets people out and moving around. You need both to create this murmur of a thriving community.” She and her husband think their project can help, and their enthusiasm and passion have gotten them this far, at least. You can learn more about their plans at attagirl.homestead.com.
“We don’t have any regrets,” Hamilton says, laughing about how much work he has ahead of him. “So far.”
“I really don’t like to talk about things,” Carli says, surveying her new domain. “I like to do.”
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