It felt great to pick up the keys to my new (second!) studio yesterday evening. The room is going to get a coat of white paint before I move in – as if I need to emphasis the difference between studio A: Enköping with it’s institutional pale blue walls and chocolate brown ceiling, and studio B: Uppsala soon to be bright and white! Just feeling that it is worth decorating makes me realise how much more seriously I can take the Uppsala studio. For some reason, that no-one knows or understands, we are not allowed to paint the terrible lino floor. I am going to see what affordable flooring options I can find. Just as I was about to leave I met a photographer who has just moved in to her studio a little further along the building. She invited me to see what a difference painting the walls makes. It was incredible! She has painted hers a neutral grey and is going to put down an inexpensive fake(!) ’laminate floor’.
The two times that I have seen the studio have been in the evening, I am interested to see it in daylight. The existing light fixtures will be fine once I have adjusted the height and I am probably going to replace the florescent tubes with ’daylight’ tubes. There is also a section of suspended ceiling that demands further investigation. It might cover ducting or other necessary services, it might however have been installed for acoustic reasons. It is unattractive but definitely not the worst thing that I have ever seen. It might be interesting to take it down, or even to take it on as something to work with.
From tapping them with my knuckles I suspect that one of the long walls is plasterboard and the other is brick or concrete. Shelves, if there are to be any, will be put on the ’stone’ wall as it is far better to keep the more easily pierced one free from permanent fixtures. I know myself well enough to know that I will put up some shelves … but not too many as I do not want this studio to become too cluttered – I want to have space to see what I am working on. Obviously I need storage for materials and tools.
I also know that I like to fill space so if keep the studio as clear and clean as possible I will probably find myself making art to fill the emptiness.
I want to studio to be a social space. I want to be able to invite people for lunch or dinner there. This is important to me as I want to develop friendships with my peers and colleagues. There is no shortage of porcelain and glassware that I can spare at home, and a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to save six stackable school (?) chairs from being scrapped. What kind of table to have is more of a question: it needs to be something that is comfortable to work and eat at, I think it should be on lockable wheels … or perhaps collapsable.
It’s good fun to sit here and day dream about my ideal studio. Making it a professional and fun space is important. And I am sure that it will reward me …
I am very pleased and excited to be part of an active artistic community – it’s exactly what I have been looking for!
