Studio Space
Last weekend, the Hubs and I traveled over the mountains to Asheville, NC for the weekend to find a house to live in, as we are moving in 3 weeks! We have to rent before we decide where to buy, so trying to find a house that hasn't had pets in it since I am allergic to cats and most dogs, but that will allow my dog, since she is hypoallergenic and that has an outside workshop has been, well, extremely difficult! But we held out and found a house to live in that meets all of our weird criteria in Brevard, NC, just outside of Asheville, NC.
Whew!
I want to bring your attention to the largish outbuilding to the left above...that will be my new studio/workshop for the next year! I am so jazzed about having a beautiful place to work, well, with a little elbow grease it will be quite nice on the inside! I have a creek that runs across the front of the property, and it feels very country, but we are only about 1 mile from downtown Brevard.
We. Can't. Wait!
Since I have been making jewelry, I haven't lived in the same place for longer then a year and a half. I thought I would share with you what my various work spaces have looked like, and that sometimes my sacred space was deluxe, and other times, well...not so much.
This was my most deluxe spot...when we lived in Chattanooga, I rented some space in a very old bank building (no heat in the winter!) for a year and had a blast learning how to solder and was also very chatty with the other artists in the building. I was able to rent this spot for about $125 per month. I loved being able to paint the walls the way I wanted to and there was another room attached to this one where I set up my soldering station.
And then we decided to go on the road for a year and a half, staying in places for about 8 weeks at a time. During this time, I was still making jewelry and shipping it off to a few places that sold it retail.
In the video above, I did a brief tour of my portable studio set up when we were staying in Hot Springs, Arkansas for two months. It was in the middle of the summer and even though the house we rented was great, there was no space for me to work inside. I learned to work fairly fast here since I was afraid of getting Dengue Fever (nightmares from living in Singapore) from all the mosquitoes I had to contend with, not to mention snakes trying to escape the heat.
Our next stop was Taos, NM. I had a pretty good set up in the house we rented in Taos. We were there for 8 weeks, and the owner said that I could use the sun room for my portable set up. We stayed on the canyon road between Taos and Angel Fire, and every morning as I got into the studio, I would watch coyotes and mountain lions drink from a stream outside of my window. I knew the place was pretty granola, as the owner also told me she gave birth to both of her children on the living room floor. And yes, there was also an outhouse on the property...a working outhouse.
Our next stop was in Bellingham, WA and my studio was in a barn. Actually, this was pretty nice, as I would open the garage door up and would often be surprised with little deer that were practically tame. They liked to watch what I was up to, and I learned to always keep my camera nearby for candid shots.
After Bellingham, we moved back to East Tennessee, and this is where I have been working while at the lake house. I have been back in the garage, but the view outside is pretty nice...
I am one temporary studio away from a permanent place to call home! I feel really fortunate regarding the new place, as I will have a sink in my work space too! Having a room or corner of one's own is important...and one that I don't take lightly. It will be great to have both heat and air conditioning in my room, as well as indoor plumbing when we find just the right place....lol...
