In January last year, I wrote this post about an impending studio move:
‘There’s no doubt that the ongoing uncertainty has been disruptive and affected my work output. But my resolution for 2024, though very hard to do, is to be more accepting of what’s on the cards. That said, this will be the third time that I’ve been forced to make a studio move because of property developers taking over prime locations in the Deptford/New Cross area in SE London. It’s an absolute travesty that the current building, a beautiful Art Deco building housing some 70+ artists, is to be reduced to rubble to make way for yet another block of soulless, high priced flats. But there we have it – there’s little any of us can do to prevent this happening. For now, it’s a waiting game – hoping that the promise of alternative accommodation will come through for us and we can regroup as a community of artists.’
Things have moved on since I wrote this and the promise of alternative accommodation did actually materialise for those artists who chose to carry on renting. It took longer than anticipated and it’s only in the past four weeks or so that the move across to an alternative space in New Cross has taken place.
I took advantage of the delays to take a long hard look at what I needed for my future and decided that I’d give up my studio space and give working from home a go. I also wrote this last January:
‘Another regular fantasy of mine is to imagine having a studio space on a permanent/for life basis. Imagine just how brilliant that would be!’
So the will to move on is there – as is the opportunity, with sufficient space at home to set up a good, solid working area. I don’t yet know if it will turn out to be ‘a studio space on a permanent/for life basis’ – nor whether having studio space at home will work for me in the long run. But I’ll never know unless I try it – and what I do know is that it will save me money, hopefully some of which can go towards creating future work. I’ve been yearning to do some work around my late father, Alec, for example and would love to be able to make this in his beloved Scotland. I’m already fantasising about the absence of studio rent freeing me up and enabling me to afford a week or two in a quaint cottage, somewhere in an area close to where my Dad was born.
Back to reality, in the meantime … my studio lease expired on the last day of 2024, a year that’s brought some unexpected life challenges and one I wasn’t too sad to say goodbye to. I’m not sure how many of the challenges will dissipate in the future but I’m already looking at ways to ring-fence sufficient time for my creative practice.
First things first, though: leaving and emptying the studio in between Christmas and New Year meant literally dumping the stuff in one place at home. Anyone reading this blog will be very familiar with the regular use of the word ‘sorting’ in my vocabulary. It’s a huge part of the process for me – a continuous, ongoing one which, so long as I continue to work with found, ready-made objects, will always be a part of what I do.
Along the way, I’m constantly having to review what I can and cannot keep, specifically in terms of space and storage. The large 10×10 cabinet was a case in point and if space wasn’t an issue, I may well have held onto it. As it was, it was too large to fit into my home and I put out a general call to see if anyone could rehouse it. My artist friend, Elena Thomas responded and I was able to come to a brilliant arrangement with her. Elena has taken care of the cabinet on what could be a long term care basis, but is actually, more likely, to be permanent. Whatever it turns out to be, I’m hugely grateful to her for offering to take on a substantial piece of furniture at a point when I was thinking it might have to be chopped up for firewood!
Since last exhibiting 10×10 in 2023 as part of the Deptford X festival, my overriding feeling has been that I’ve gone full circle with the project and that it reached its natural end, especially given that it ended up at ArtHub studios again last year, where it was first introduced in 2008. But never say never, as they say – who knows what might happen and if I ever finally get around to writing up the many stories associated with 10×10 and ever make a real, hard push to get it more in the public eye, then maybe (just maybe) someone with time and money to invest, might want to revive it. For now, it’s in safe hands and I’m so relieved not to have to think about it any more.
My focus over the next few weeks will be on how much of the stuff I brought back from the studio will fit into the house and leave me with sufficient space to work in. It’ll be a slow process but I’m already feeling buoyed up by the fact that this is the first time in over seventeen years that I’ve actually managed to have everything in one place. It feels like a major achievement after many years of having the raw materials I use, scattered in various spaces – my sister’s attic, my friend’s garage – never quite sure where things were. This has improved massively over the years and my aim over the next few months is to continue with the process I started at the beginning of 2024 – a final thorough sort through of 100+ boxes, stored in my garden shed. I got as far as box 33 before a busy family time interrupted the process – just another 70 or so to go …
