Studio Yo-Yo

Long time readers will know that I moved out of my big studio I loved about 2 years ago. There was a moisture problem with the 50 year old concrete slab floor and I initially moved out to see if my weird health issues were related. Turns out they were as I've not had a single reoccurrence since. Phew! Shame about loosing the big space though.

The move out coincided with moving back into our main home, a home we loved and raised our children in. It was so nice to back 'home'. Trouble was there is no space suitable for my studio, so I set up initially in the entrance way and laundry spaces, then progressively took over two thirds of our lounge dining area as well. It was necessary for the making of my Complex Simplicity exhibition, but it was such a lovely feeling to move everything out and clean the space up recently so we could fit some visitors in.

What we decided to do was move my studio back to the same house (initially our family holiday house) where I had my big studio, only this time use the big garage instead. It has a sturdy and healthy slab floor! The only problem is that it is used as storage for a whole heap of 'stuff'.

It takes me back to when I first started using the downstairs space initially. It was filled to bursting with stuff of three generations of family members. It was a huge project to firstly claim space near the big sliding doorway, then gradually extend that space until it was all studio. It took a couple of years. I wonder how long this new clear out will take? I'm up for it though. This studio will be wonderfully airy and light in comparison.

All this moving back and forwards does make me feel a bit like a yo-yo though!

Want to see what I’m talking about? Here’s a little chronology of my studio spaces over the last 6 years.

Studio May 2016

This is actually the second level carving out of space. Initially I had only the space at the door opening, but here I’ve managed to go deeper into the room.

Studio September 2018

I had finally reclaimed the space to the back wall and painted the side wall white, added battens to hang paintings on and felt like I was getting somewhere.

Studio February 2017

I fully possess the end of the long room, more lighting has been added, more white walls and battens.

Studio June 2017

The manhole in the side wall has been closed off and although you can’t really see it, the sliding door has been replaced with a window making the space a lot cleaner.

Studio January 2018

I didn’t love the battens as a way of hanging my work on the walls, so here we covered them with plywood. Once up, we painted the walls white again and added a grid of screws to hang work on the wall again. A much better system.

Studio January 2021

Not actually a photo of my studio at all, but a before photo of my lounge/dining which will shortly be taken over by art making.

Studio February 2021

Initially I just took over the entrance way of our home as we rarely used it as such since building a big veranda across the front of the house.

Studio February 2021

In addition to the entrance way I also claimed most of our laundry.

Studio June 2021

Ok, so things are beginning to get a bit messy in the entrance way. I need more space already.

Studio June 2021

The ugly truth of sharing a studio space with the laundry.

Studio July 2021

I have now added two fold up tables to my desk, plus taken over the dining table. I’ve also brought some of the plywood with the screw grids here and attached them to a lounge room wall.

Studio August 2021

Nothing is now sacred in my home. Most of it has become my studio including our big lovely party verandah. Here I’m only showing a bit of what went on out there. This is a maquette for my installation.

Studio August 2021

Inside the studio continues to expand with hanging rails for my large painted plastic pieces. While this has taken up more wall space, it was a lot better than when they used to lie on the floor.

Studio December 2021

Meanwhile the front verandah was playing host to lots of frames.

Studio April 2022

The yo-yoing begins again. Back to my original location, this time in a different space to empty of stored stuff. Here we’ve carved out a space in one back corner. It’s clear however how lovely this space will be eventually.

Studio April 2022

An adjacent space is now cleared although those interesting shelves of jars still need to be sorted through and removed.

Studio May 2022

Have plywood will travel! Yes the plywood here is shown in its third location, but I have a painting wall again!