I recently had to retire my
2003 Honda Accord… it was a very hard and drawn-out decision, but
unfortunately, it had to happen.
One of the perks of a newer
vehicle is that, for the 1st time in almost four years, I have a
working radio in my car. Music has always played a huge role in my art and with
a working sound system in my car, I have been enjoying CDs I made a decade ago
– which has inspired my latest picture for this series.
I have had a fondness for
the band, Jump, Little Children, ever since their 1998 album “Magazine” was
released. (If you haven’t heard them yet, please seek them out.) And over the past two months, I
have realized that I have put their song “Cathedrals” on virtually EVERY SINGLE
CD I burned in 2006/2007. I absolutely love the song and the images it inspires… and,
recently, I have been thinking about how their references to home, and figuring
out what home is to you, were slowly being equated to my studios and how no
matter where I have lived, I have always had studio space carved out somewhere… and
how important it is to me to have that space.
I used to dream of having a
shared studio space in an artist community, believing that if I paid for the
space I would be more inclined to use it and it would provide me with fewer
distractions and more inspiration, but, over time, have come to see the
benefits on having a “flexible” studio space. True, I am not experiencing the
interaction I would get if I had studio space with other artists, but by having
a “mobile” studio does allow me the opportunity to generate new experiences I
may not have been exposed to.
I made a mental list of all
of my studios and it looks like this:
- In the corner of a bedroom
- In a basement room in a house, and then in a town home, I was sharing
- In the unused dining room in my old apartment
- On a kitchen table
- In accommodating and understanding restaurants and coffee shops with a fellow artist
- Note: This is a wonderful way to connect with the community, however, if you choose to try out this option, please speak with the managers first to confirm that it would be OK… we have learned that if they are not busy, most will not mind as long as you purchase something.
- In a space carved out of my current living room
- On my apartment balcony
- And my personal favorite: whatever state park we find ourselves inI guess the point is: like home, a studio is what you make of it.That dining room studio that I used to have was the perfect size. I absolutely loved the space and was determined to spend as much of my free time as possible there. But I was suffering from artist block at the time and I didn’t utilize it as much as I wanted to. The same can be said for the two basement studios I had – I loved and appreciated the spaces that were carved out for me, but both of those studios were severely underutilized.My current studio is actually a portion of our living room and is my favorite to date. Why? I have been the most happy and the most productive in that space: I completed my I Ching project, created several new projects (all in progress) and launched my VIDA collection. And I have been finding myself using it more than ever and WANTING to play more.
No matter what your studio space may be: embrace it if it works for you.
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| Current studio wall - top view |
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| Current studio wall - bottom view with art table |
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| Initial stage of "Cathedrals" |
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Completed "Cathedrals" picture Funny note: It wasn't until I had completed "Cathedrals" and hung it on my studio wall that I realized that by adding the arch to the upper portion of the picture that it now resembled a stained glass window. At the time, I just thought overall the picture would look better with the arch. - Sometimes, things work out better than expected.
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