What Went There: Junk n' Jive

The Avondale Point Business District continues to attract entrepreneurs with a creative bent.

A trio of arts enthusiasts are turning the old Junk n' Jive store into a gallery/studio/arts and science education center.

Owner Rebekah Kiser is working with Ian Morris, of Homemade Genius - a nonprofit organization that promotes youth involvement in the arts, and Juan Odenwood, CEO of ISIS Research, LLC, to create a space that reconnects science and the arts and promotes creativity in young students.

The trio are still deciding on the name for the new venture, and working out the details like when they'll be able to open for business, but they have big plans for a big space, all 6,600-square-feet of it.

Some of the space will be utilized as a gallery to showcase the work of local  and traveling contemporary artists, some of the square footage will eventually become studio space available to working artists, and most of the rest will be devoted to educational uses.

Kiser said she plans to offer art and music lessons and Odenwood's expertise will come into play in more science and technology focused educational endeavors such as a activities centered around building toys like Lego and Erector Set.

"We really want this to be like a second Renaissance, we're really trying to reconnect the arts with science like it was then," Kiser said.

The new business, tentatively being called 827, or perhaps 827 Gallery, should open in early 2013.