I made a big move earlier this year so I am enjoying a new adventure. I love my new house and area but of course along with that goes huge amounts of dissruption. The initial task was to find a builder to transform a double garage into my studio. There was quite a wait between finding a nice builder then actually getting the work done. Next came painting and finally the pleasure of bringing in all my ‘stuff’ and settling it into a comfortable working arrangement. I love it when my workshop is just right, that is, when I reach for something it’s right there under my hand. I have always found the activity of arranging and re-arranging extremely useful for getting started. Sometimes I get frustrated that I can’t go straight into the work but I have learned to trust this fiddling around as a vital part of getting in the zone for work.
I feel as though I ‘wear’ my studio. It becomes a space that is separate to normal life, a creative haven, and it has it’s own time zone and sometimes no time at all.
The timing of the building work was such that I had seven bench days to make a special piece of work for the Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor exhibition in Gallery Artisan, Queensland Australia (see Melissa Cameron’s entry on 1st November for more detail). I had to work amongst a big pile of rubble, but I was so happy being able to do my first piece in my new studio. My work was about Grace Cossington Smith, a painter who in fact lived a few streets away from where I grew up. I have always admired her work. She used a colourful palette and a textural layering of vibrating colours onto the canvas. I tried to reflect those aspects in my brooch. The textural firing of the enamel is a technique I explored in a year of post graduate study. The image at the top of my page is a table object from that period.
I have now layed out all my recent work that was interrupted by the move. Of course I am still completey out of kilter with my work routine and creative processes but as I lay out work and enamels and colour samples, I circle all these delicious items and I feel a little shiver of anticipation of what’s to come.
Hi Barbara, I know exactly how you feel as we moved late last year finally into our own home! I now have a studio that I know I won’t be moving from, so could finally relish in creating the ideal environment. There has been purchasing of bookshelves, a new writing desk, and the piece de la resistance, a new workbench! Each new addition has come with the necessary rearranging and organising, but I feel now in a place where the work can flow and develop. Now it’s just a matter of finding the ideal home for my kiln! The shed is looking the likeliest of places, although inside in my studio probably most practical. I’m sure this project will ensure there is a swift ‘wearing in’ of the studio! x
Hello Katrina, I have had my first day in the studio today looking at my enamels, test pieces and experiments. When Melissa contacted me about heat-exchange, I realised it was exactly the right thing to provide a focus for getting started again plus I would finally get to learn about blogging etc. I really learn best about such technology if I have a worthwhile reason for doing it. From what I have seen of everyones work so far, I know this will be a very interesting and stimulating interchange. It is also a bit of a challenge as I have spent many years working alone and although I relish that solitary creative zone, it is also pretty isolating. I keep an eye out for synchronicity, and this project is lighting up a lovely little list of “just what I need to be invloved in right now”. I hope you find the perfect place for your kiln and then, happy firing!
Dear Barbara and Katrina,
you both have struck a strong cord in me. I have also moved into a new house, which we built and I now have a beautiful, albeit very small workshop with a door to the garden. It feels wonderful to just be able to go downstairs and to start work. In the summer, when I was making work for Drawing, Permanence and Place we had a great time firing, sometimes still at 1 am. It was an exciting and at times nerve racking ‘wearing’ in of the studio. I feel like you, still circling around my test pieces, my drawings, my books and test cuts, eagerly anticipating and developing my initial thoughts. Take care and warm wishes from the other side of the earth. Beate
Hi Beate, it’s good to share a period of mutual disruption and new beginnings with you and Katrina. I am enjoying surrounding myself with my bits and pieces and have made a start. I’m moving slowly and starting small while I get into the zone. It’s a very special time of re-establishment and though occasionaly frustrating, ultimately heading for bliss!