Today I want to share with you all an exciting change for me and my art practice.
After 2+ years in a large, lovely space in the basement of the Lincoln City Cultural Center, I made the decision to move upstairs to a much smaller studio. This week I settled in, after days of moving stained glass, smalti and stone, and sorting through forgotten materials. You creatives will know what I mean by that. Now I know where everything is, haha!
While it was a tough decision to let go of my oversized teaching-oriented studio, I realized that the majority of teaching I was doing in the past couple years was to small, private groups rather than large classes. So while I won't be hosting large groups in-studio, I have access to other meeting spaces in the building for those occasional events that need more room. I do have a cozy teaching space in-studio for 4-6 people and hope to use that soon (see video below).
This year is encouraging many of us to re-evaluate how we are operating as artists, business owners and humans. I feel this new space is "right-sized" for me, and opens up a large room to someone else who needs it more. I'm already seeing more folks who drop into the center, since I'm on the main floor now. My studio is just across the hall from the beautiful textile studio, which also moved up from the basement, and a couple who are doing a "pop-up" gallery selling their artworks. Next to me is the dance studio on one side, and the Creative Quarantine art-kit room where families can pick up free or low-cost kits for kids to make fun projects, a great program that developed during the shutdown this spring. When we are past COVID-19, this space will probably go back to full-time yoga studio (which I really miss).
Have a look at this short video to see what my new studio looks like, and I hope you'll stop by to visit (with a mask please) when you're in Lincoln City!