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Now on to this week’s musings…
At the end of last year, in the missing weeks between October and early December, a long-held dream came true when I collected the keys to my first studio. I had put myself on the waiting list at Krowji a few months before, hoping something I could afford might become free. Krowji is a studio collective in Redruth, about a half hours drive from me. It is housed in and built around an old secondary school, the original school buildings now a network of studio spaces.
When I filled out the form, I feared that the diversity of my practice (messy and clean, quiet and loud) coupled with my tiny budget might make getting a space impossible. Afterall, the shared spaces that fit within my budget aren’t designed for plaster dust. What painter would want to share a space with me?
Then something incredible happened. A tenant moved out of one of the small, slightly strangely shaped, solo studios in the Edwardian building and I was invited to see it. Standing there I knew immediately this was my studio. The strange formation was perfect for the sometimes-conflicting needs of my work. One space for clean work, one for messy. One space for photos and fabric and books, one for wax and plaster and bone. I said yes immediately.
Since collecting the keys back in October I’ve been moving in, nesting, settling. I’ve built tables and been gifted an armchair. As I slowly put my postcard collection on the wall, I’m creating a list of what I need to make the room functional – another table, a stool, bins, a standing lamp, draws for paper, rugs to cover the hideous carpet.
I’m also creating a list of another sort, one not filled with objects but the other things I need to give for myself in this little room – time, permission, acceptance, safety, belief.
Undertaking any PhD is a huge commitment, it is you stating to yourself and the world that what you do matters, that is has value, that you have the ability to create something original, to contribute new knowledge to the world. When that contribution comes in the form of art about mass-extinction to process of research and making is, inevitably, going to have moments of huge emotional upheaval and darkness.
Because of this the spaces I work in are hugely important. My home, my van, my studio.
The process of moving in and nesting is the best way I start to my PhD that I could have possibly hoped for or imagined. I am building a safe space dedicated to giving myself time and permission to create. I room I can walk into and leave everything else behind.
Each time I visit, I find it harder leave, drawn in by possibilities and the ideas I can feel pushing at the edges of my imagination, ready to be shaped within these walls.
I love this for you, Rosie, and for what it means to us all. Let those musings, ideas and images grow tendrils that become a green abundance. We need your unique perspective.