new stu-stu-studio

a fresh start

so my art life of late has been rather rudely interrupted by the need to move my stu-stu-studio to a new location. redline milwaukee finally gave me the boot after about 3.5 years of inhabiting their wonderful space. it is a 2-year residency for emerging artists so i guess it all stands to reason, but it is sad and inconvenient none the less.

at this juncture i debated many things- moving my studio into my basement- various possible studio locations- always considering cost and convenience- community. redline had it all. now what?

i ended up going for convenience above all and moved into a location about 3 blocks from my house. too handy to make time/ distance to get there an excuse.

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buff husband

now cost, that was the hard part. this fancy new joint is about twice as much as my digs at redline. that is scary for a gal like me. am i really serious enough about this art thing to give a chunk of change like that to it every month for a year? that is the question and i guess the answer is yes, cuz i done gone signed the lease and moved all my crap in (crap in the most enduring connotation possible). which by the way was no small feat considering the the fact that as a ceramic artist that means heavy boxes and containers of clay and my oh-so-sturdy clay table. and as a mosaic artist that means box after box of tile, broken dishes, bags of sand and cement, bags of grout and mortar. yeah, you're jealous just thinking about it right? thank goddess my dear husband (so buff) is not working so much right now (wait do i have money for this??) and could help me schlep and endure. my 9-year old also pitched in as there was no school or childcare available. kudos to my boys for being troopers.

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pile-o-crap

i'm thinkin at least some of the walls could use a some color. i like the clarity the white provides - but i'm not so into working inside an egg either. still deciding which walls, what color. we got the kiln moved in this weekend. shout out to leila for the kiln - you rule!! i am looking for a wheel and a slab roller. my dream wheel got away from me on craigslist tonite (so sad). but maybe that guy won't want it and it will be mine after all (hoping). so there are still pieces that need to fall into place- but hey, i've got a mini-fridge so you know i'm stylin.

me in my new studio

could this empty room be my new studio?

helper

my stuff is no longer in the pile-o-crap stage and that is a huge relief. i had a melt down one night when i just went over there to paint and found myself face to face with it. i am more of an art maker than an organizer. not that i do not appreciate organization. i just would rather make art. and this studio move has been forcing me to organize while my artist feels squashed. boo-hiss. thankfully some of my gals came to my rescue and helped me get my org skills rollin. that's what friends are for.

witness the organization

bye bye redline. :(