Posts Tagged “garage conversion to art studio”

To really appreciate the “after” shot of my new studio space, you have to take another look at the before shot:

Yes, it truly is the exact same corner of the garagio! I did have to cede a little space to some of my husbands stuff such as golf clubs etc., but gained an additional 80 square feet and another wall. Unfortunately, my test kiln is floating in the middle of the room, but it’s small enough to move wherever I need it to.

After editing, cleaning and re-arranging I have a brand new, well lit functional space and none too soon either. My kid’s clay class starts today and with 19 students enrolled, I’m going to be busy. What you can’t see from the photo is my larger Paragon kiln which needs to stay near it’s dedicated 240 outlet and a set of shelves reserved for the kid’s work which I’ll be transporting back to my studio to fire.

I had such a positive response to my kid’s clay class proposal, that I had to split the class into two days. I started getting nervous when my phone kept ringing as parents called to find out if there was any more room. I have a hard time saying “no”, especially to kids wanting to learn about working with clay. Luckily after speaking with the school’s principal, I will be teaching half the kids on Monday and the other half on Tuesday afternoons.

I will also work on personalizing my space in the coming months - but that is such a gradual thing - a found item here, a favorite drawing of my daughter’s and so on. Right now, I’m pinching myself just thinking about my good fortune.

You know where to find me,

~Cynthia

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Tags: garage conversion to art studio, garagio, low tech pottery studio

Before
My in-laws flew into town on Wednesday and as usual are incredibly helpful. After last weekend’s snow, I realized that I had better weatherize my “garagio” before it gets any colder. I want to be able to work in there year round, and not just in warmer months. I heard the term “garagio” somewhere else, and I thought “what a perfect description of my work space - not quite studio, nor garage.”

On Thursday, I drove up to gorgeous Evergreen, CO to have lunch with a couple of mountain gal friends and to pick up some studio furniture and 300 pounds of clay from a potter who is moving overseas. On the 45 mile drive back home to Denver, with an 8′ work table hanging out of the back of my well used Pathfinder and weighted down with clay, I wondered where I would put the table upon my return because, frankly, there just ain’t no room.

After emptying
On Thursday evening, my inlaws, husband and I debated waiting for a contractor’s bid to insulate and drywall my space, or whether we thought it was feasible to tackle the project ourselves. I’m sure you can deduce from these photos what course of action we have decided to take. The largest hurdle was emptying the garagio - and deciding what to do with the upright piano and all of the other junk. I’m please to share that my husband, father in law and I managed to wrangle the piano inside our house (though I am very sore this am) where it now resides and my daughter is now interested in taking piano lessons.

The other items were separated into things to sell on craigslist, items to donate, and items to keep for all eternity. A part of me thinks that if I haven’t opened the box in years, I should donate the whole enchilada - but once opening the boxes, memories come flooding back and I can’t seem to part with any items such as my daughter’s first shoes, my high school year book, or a box of my grandmother’s tea cups that she collected on all her travels. I’m trying to figure out where I can display the teacups in our small puzzle of a house.

Insulating
When we ended yesterday afternoon, the insulation was in place and 2 panels of dry wall were installed. I hope that by late this afternoon, that my studio will be put back together and ready to use this coming week. I can hardly wait to share the after photos!

In other news, I am very sad to announce that I had to turn on comment word verification after a proliferation of comment spam. I really detest it, but it seems necessary if I want to spare you from the latest viagra, breast enlargement or financial services commercial. I also don’t want to be a conduit for these questionable companies raising their rankings on the Internet by linking to their sites. I hope word verification does it, otherwise I will have to resort to comment moderation.

Have a good weekend,
~Cynthia

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Tags: comment spam, evergreen colorado, garage conversion to art studio, pottery studio

Found Sketch
I made the huge push yesterday to clear out my basement studio of all of my art supplies, books and furniture. It felt like a gargantuan task and at times I was overwhelmed with how much stuff I have accumulated over the years. In those moments, I would sit down, catch my breath and wonder how this happened. The other question floating around in my head was how did I cram so much stuff into a roughly 10′ x 13′ space??? To read more ruminations about stuff, check out Andrea’s blog…take a look at her art while you’re visiting too.

In my quest to make sense of my stuff and to organize my items sensibly for future use, I went through everything very methodically so that I could box drawing supplies with similar items, etc. I also found some things that have been MIA for some time including this sketch which I drew using a great Japanese ink brush pen (that I also happened to find BTW) on heavy weight paper back in ‘03 or ‘04. This eventually became a lino cut which I’ve used many times including on this ceramic wall piece.

My former basement art studio is now our TV room, small and cozy. But, hey, how much room does one really need to sit immobile staring at the tube? We all cram on the futon next to each other anyway. Personal space? Not in our household.

Before and after photographs of my former basement studio

I’m pretty excited about my new studio space, it will be almost triple the size of my basement studio. As you can see from the photo below, the garage studio is definitely a work in progress. I can already visualize what my space is going to look like after the drywall is installed and ample lighting is available with the flick of a switch. Until then, it’s functional, but not terribly comfortable on cold days like today. It’s overcast and cold here in Colorado this weekend with a few spits of snow thrown in. It has made me realize that I need to make huge strides in finishing my space before next winter.

Garage studio - a work in progress

Last night, we’re talking about installing some solar panels on the garage to provide heat and power to the garage. We have it wired for electricity, but, wouldn’t it be cool (maybe I should say hot!) to have the sun provide all my energy needs? Colorado gets over 300 days of sunshine a year, so it seems logical, plus it will ease my conscience about contributing to our energy crisis. I should research other ceramic artists who use alternative energy to power their studios.

I hope everyone has a nice Easter weekend,

Tags: garage conversion to art studio, lino cut, pottery studio, solar panels, solar powered pottery studio