MA Report.
Studio
I occupy a space within an artist's co-operative based in North lincolnshire which is shared with twelve other artists. The building comprises of eleven artists studios, thirteen creative industry units, two galleriesa craft gallery, an auditorium, sculpture garden and coffee shop. the building is a converted rope making factory which closed in 1989 bringing an end to its two hundred year history in the industry. although the studio isn't my sole creative base, it is the place where i am able to bring ideas, thoughts, concepts and experiences to fruition.
'The house shelters day dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace. thought and experience are not the only things that sanction values. The values that belong to day dreaming mark humanity in its depths.' 1.
The space allows me to dream alone. Life today is in a constant state of flux, there are many distractions - cul de sacs which can halt the act of productive creativity. the day to day need to earn money, checking emails, spending time with the family, reading the tabloids, broadsheets, bus journeys, trips by car, phone calls, watching TV as a form of escapism all combine to limit the available time devoted to art. it can make one appearto be living life in a state of constant flux, without a centre, a world submerged in information overload.
The studio, the room with the four white walls becomes my sanctuary. In her book, 'A Room Of One's Own', Virginia Woolf makes the point that '...a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.' 2. This is a sentiment that I employ in my creative practice. There is an inclination towards keeping the space relatively uncluttered and clean, somewhere comfortable, a place of leisure, an environment that is incomparable to other spaces that I occupy anywhere else in my life. When i close the door I imagine that there is no history, no future...simply 'now time'.
