Studio Practice
How an artist makes and the way in which they occupy space is a significant consideration for any arts-based practitioner. For this reason, I feel it is of the utmost importance to invite others in to my makers’ spaces. While I view the artists body as a place where art happens organically and in continuity, without there needing to be any more consideration to the space we inhabit, I also think the exercise of considering ourselves as participatory in our environment’s construction is necessary. As such, a meaningful entry point is the artist’s studio, which is kept outside the individual but remains deeply reflective of it. Much more so, the studio becomes of even deeper importance when the art practiced facilitated there comes with the responsibility of another’s health and safety, as in the instance of tattooing.
I often inhabit many spaces simultaneously and am continuously attempting to assert a decentralized approach to the creation and maintaining of an art making space. Currently I inhabit three places: Vancouver, Courtenay, Powell River (I write about them in much more detail on my personal blog entry here). What matters most to me in each of these studio spaces is that they are safe spaces where good work happens. While that may look differently in how each studio operates, what remains constant within each space is the spirit behind the work.