Athena International Foods

Can we tell you how much we like the Athena Foods, at 8548 Winton Road, in Cincinnati? It is truly a great little Greek deli. Delicious gyro, greek yogurt, homemade desserts, bulk dry goods, herbs and spices, Greek wine, olive oil, olives, good prices, tables to sit in and relax.... we could go on and on. As we sit here in the studio and bliss out after having a delicious lunch of olives, dolmas, and gyros, we wonder why there isn't hardly any web presence for them. Where's the webpage or blog with a list of wines, a menu, etc? And when will there be mousaka?! If you are a frequent City Beat reader, you may have seen pics and write-ups, though. We can't wait til they have an on-license so we can go sit there, listen to traditional Greek and Cretian music, have a glass of wine and gnosh on olives and end with a piece of baklava. Does it get much better?

If you're looking for it in Finneytown, its next door to Hong Kong Kim's Kwon Do studio,in the strip right next to the CVS on Winton across from the Applebees. Don't go to Applebee's. Go to Athena.

Spring Sneakers and Gnus

News, news and more gnus.

Snow is melting and green grass is showing. All the fat little gray squirrels are outside the studio door rooting around rather than trying to get into the birdfeeders. Brett just picked up another bag of seed and as he was preparing to put it away, some of our local avian neighbors figured out what it was and broke into it before he had a chance to even open it himself!

Also with the change of season comes Habit Footwear's new spring line. Check out page 24 of the spring catalog for the Charley Harper Artist Series! That's right, lo-cut and hi-top sneakers featuring Charley Harper's artwork. Both are part of a matching set of sneakers and skate decks. They're just out and already getting rave reviews for looks and comfort. Kudos to Habitat!

Ever read Atomic Ranch magazine? We do. For those that don't know, "Atomic Ranch celebrates midcentury houses—from 1940s ranch tracts to 1960s architect-designed modernist homes. With an emphasis on affordable solutions and homeowner renovations... quarterly magazine shows you how to make your house cool, both inside and out." As a matter of fact, the Charley Harper Art Studio is located in a midcentury custom built ranch home. The spring edition features Charley and the studio's work. Karen Bartos, of Farmington Hills, Michigan, provides a nice right up of how they decorated she and her husband's ranch home with Harper art. Then on pg. 38 the Charley Harper Art Studio is featured under "Cool Stuff"! Right next to the Star Trek fans and fly-away winged overhead lamps. Thanks for the love Atomic Ranch, and nice design layout!

We at the Harper studio, would like to take a minute to say thank you to Treglown Designs. When Edie passed, they sent us a box of sugar cookies made to look like Harper ladybugs and cardinals! We finally broke down today and broke into them. It must be the nice weather that inspired it. They were YUM!

Last week was Cincinnati's Modernism show, 20th Century Cincinnati. It was well attended and sales were good. Considering that, even though the economy has boosted some, we are still in a recession, people are beginning to go out and spend money again and exercise a sense of style. Here are some pics we took while there!

Obey and 20th Century Cincy

BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!!

This weekend was tremendous and Monday is really doing its best to try and come off strong. Friday night found us downtown attempting to go to long-time Charley Harper Art Studio supporter, the Contemporary Art Center, for the Shepard Fairey opening. The thing is, as we get older, we don't quite find ourselves needing to make "the scene" and not to mention, it takes a bit longer to get out the door. By the time we got to downtown Cincinnati there was a line all the way around the block. So, rather than stand around in the chill, we walked up the street and enjoyed a steamed bagel sandwich at Gilpins Bagel & Deli. Excellent sandwich, mediocre service. Never made it into the CAC. It looked like fun. Lots of young people dancing and enjoying the time. Most of our readers are probably familiar with Fairey's Obama poster with the words "HOPE". Well, this young whippersnapper has been making all sorts of artwork for quite sometime borrowing from Russian Constructivism and the visage on the late great pro-wrestler, Andre the Giant. "Andre the Giant Has a Posse". You can see some of his latest graphic mural work adorning select walls throughout Cincinnati, currently. Our only real criticism - put them up higher so the younger kids have room to practice on a blank wall instead of a on top a nice mural. That's all.
We finished that evening off listening to delightful young musical group from Columbus called Saint Seneca. Not sure what to call the sound, some of it was overly dramatic coffee-house angst, but most of it was upbeat, driven acoustic spiritualistic folk. Kudos to the young folks over at the Bike Haus for allowing opening us up to good energy.

Now its Monday, and we have the upcoming 15th Annual 20th Century Cincinnati show this weekend that we are preparing for as well as our show at Castor and Pollux in Brighton, UK.
"20th Century Cincinnati is the Queen City's annual retrospective of the forward looking design trends introduced between the First World War and the Computer Age. Quiet evolutions and clamorous revolutions in the arts, architecture, furnishings, decor and fashion worlds..... Art Deco, Streamline, Futuristic, Mid-Century Modern and Op/Pop.....the century's classic forms - many from the century's signature designers - all will fill the floor when 20th Century Cincinnati returns to the Sharonville Convention Center on the weekend of February 27-28, 2010." Stop by and say hi.

What a Smile!

If you don't know Eleanor Grosch, maybe you should. She's a Philadelphia based designer who works in our favorite fashion - MINIMALISM!!! YAYYYY!!! But seriously, Eleanor is a big fan of the Harpers, and bless her heart, she sent the studio some of her personal prints last year. We think she does fabulous stuff over there at Push Me Pull You Design. We think her Keds shoes are perfect for wearing around our own studio. 7 and a half, Eleanor!! Just kidding. What about men's? She's got great slip-ons for wearing around the house. Size 10, also, Eleanor! We recommend taking the time to peruse her portfolio gallery and the about section of her website. She'll be speaking at How Design Conference 2010 in Denver, CO. Maybe we'll see you there. Ps. Thank you, Eleanor, for your kind words about Edie. It means a lot.

We did promise you a bit about the Ladybug Coalition. Back in 1996 Ranger Rick magazine ran a great piece on Charley and his ladybug artwork. Those little red critturs were a personal favorite of his. "Enchanted", as he put it. So much so, that it became the Harper family symbol! Want to know more? Stay tuned!

Excitement!

Bored? Snowed in with nothing to do but watch TV and twiddle your thumbs? Baked 5 loaves of bread, made 3 pots of soup, and 2 lasagnas, and have no intention of setting foot in the kitchen for 2 weeks? Need something new, yet familiar and comforting in your life? Something to engage the whole room? Eye-hand coordination practice? Memory upkeep? Invite others to brave the elements to share in the love that came out the oven? Well, Pomegranate Publishing how's come through with a whole new group of Harper products and boy, do they look swell!!

There are jigsaw puzzles of the some of Charley's National Parks posters. A really cute pocket journal with Limp on Limb on it. Some very nicely designed invitation cards with Darwin's Finches. And even Ladybugs Mating was turned into a notepad. Everything can be viewed in the "Other Items" section of www.charleyharperartstudio.com.

Snowed In or Snowy Owl?

Ahhh... more snow. Could it get much better? Almost everything was closed down today after Cincinnati received a few inches of wintry blanketing. Almost. The Charley Harper Art Studio was active. Brett was snowed in, but Rena was able to plow through to make sure the cat's were ok and ongoing business was not falling behind. What a trooper! Next time you see her, tell her how much you appreciate all the hard work she puts in to make sure the Harper legacy is sprinkled upon the world like the soft downy feathers falling from the breast of a great horned owl hunting mice.
What started as big fluffy flakes are now fine crystals blown about by a Jack Frost gale. Wonderful weather to curl up in a warm nest rather than trying to forage beneath the firs for nuts and seeds. Or in the case of all the wildlife around the studio, taking turns at the fully stocked feeders. Its a great day for going out and identifying and following animal tracks. A great place to go find out about backyard wildlife and how to help them through these months would be Wild Bird Centers of America. You may even see some of the artwork of Charley and Edie Harper while you are in there!
Remember, once you start, those cute little creatures will need your continued dedication to help them through the year!

Winter's End?

The groundhog both saw and didn't see its shadow the other day. There are flowers poking up out of the bed of leaves on the ground and we're looking at a possible snow storm tomorrow. So close to spring, maybe winter will go out with a bang. Funny how we like to talk about the weather when we're not sure what to say. The loss of Edie is still running deep here. Pushing forward and putting the studio's energy to new products and business is helping. Little things make a difference, too. All the support and condolenses, chocolate, and believe or not, a good gyro.
We went up to Athena Foods on Winton Rd yesterday, after hearing that they now made gyros and WOW!! Just the smells alone were like walking into a little slice of paradise. And the meat - great flavor and not greasy. Little things... little things. ITs always nice to go someplace and talk with someone who has a true love of food.

The studio's new product line from Pomegranite Communications will be online at charleyharperartstudio.com after Monday. Pomegranite's design team seemed to have a lot of fun coming up with the new stuff. Check out the Darwin's Finches invitation cards and the Limp on a Limb journal notebook. There also seems to be a leaning towards a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle series based on the National Parks posters Charley produced. Glacier Bay and the Rocky Mountains will be available next week on our site. Stay tuned.

Coming soon....The "Ladybug Coalition"