Proof of art

Studio views with new works

You know, sometimes, you’ve been in denial about a change that’s needed to happen, but you keep on going with whatever half-assed approach you’ve cooked up to get by because the thing that you need to do will seem throw everything off, according to your current thinking. Then, one day, you wake up, do the thing and it’s not nearly as disruptive as you thought. That was me today. I’ve needed to make time during the week to do grocery shopping for food that I cook and bring to the studio. I like to make enough to last a couple of days, at least. My way of thinking has been that if I shop during the week, It’ll interfere too much with studio time. Of course, I’ve come to learn that’s not true. I understand it better now, after taking a deeper look at my habits and how I use my time these days.

Even though I’d like to use more morning hours in the studio, most weekdays I don’t get here until 11ish or later. Some mornings I don’t get here until almost 2pm because I spend the morning at the gym, then showering, eating and making food to bring to the studio. I still have memories from years ago stuck in my head, where I’d get up and go to the studio before I had to go to work. On those days, I’d arrive to the studio around 9-930am and work until after 11am, then sprint down to my job on the bike to work for the next 8 hours or so. I remember really treasuring getting into the studio so early because it felt like I was really accomplishing something, and most of the time, I did. I just liked being in the space early in the morning, it just felt special. I would sleep there sometimes if I worked too late. Getting up with the sun and assessing the latest work felt great.

Romanticizing aside, the real issue has been me not consciously immersing myself in my current reality. It’s all good, but like a lot of us, adapting to our newer realities, even when they’re good, can take some time. It took me a long while to understand that I’m not really missing out on studio time when I do these other things that are just as important. A lot of what happens outside of the studio help me when I’m back here the next time. I say this all of the time when talking to colleagues and especially students. It’s all intertwined.

Switching lanes: work in the studio has been moving along at a fairly steady pace this year. Looking around the space and seeing all of the work I’ve made over the last 15 months, I’m truly grateful for having the time to be here making things, as hard as it can be, at times. Today’s rain and clouds made it a perfect time to be an admin day. I’ve been adding images of new work into my relatively new studio inventory platform on Artwork Archive. I made an account there this summer when they were having a sale. So far, I really like the platform. It’s really easy to use and looks great. It’s not a substitute for a proper website, but I feel like it’s a great help with organizing images and detailed information in one place. I’m feeling better about the continuing job of documenting my inventory, that’s for sure. Next, I must make time this week to begin updating my website.

TM