crunch time arrives

crunch time arrives.  last week, we began moving into our new studio space.  we are now located at the old foam city building on 3rd street in downtown lafayette, indiana.  it's an old garage/warehouse-type building that the owner is partitioning into several different-sized affordable studio spaces for artists.

yesterday i built a wall of shelving, because you can never have enough shelving.  next, after i get the floor cleaned up a bit, we'll be moving in the tables and all the equipment, including the new kiln.  we have a lot of work still to do, and the building still has a lot of work to be done, but we are bubbling with excitement for what having a space downtown can afford us in opportunities to interact with the community.  because the space is still transitional and is not yet filled up, the front of the building provides a great, raw experimental space to create in.  hopefully this space will allow us to promote a more contemporary vision of art for the city.  lafayette has a ton of painters and potters and art makers, but it also has a lot of people who experiment with installation, space, video, sound and experimental media, and this space will allow for the public to take notice of some of these new visions for this city.

the first project will be getting ready for the indiana artisan marketplace at the end of march.  the first public project, however, starts next week.  in association with tippecanoe arts federation and the after school arts program, i will be constructing and painting a mural for downtown lafayette with local high school students.  yesterday i received the panels, and on thursday, march 1st we begin with our brainstorming session.  i'm am very excited about this project, and because of its location, we will be using a theme of 'art and music.'  the kids will be developing the imagery and i will be constructing an assemblage to be installed on the wall.  because we will be installing on a 'historical building' we cannot paint directly on the wall, so this allows me to work on panels and to create a multi-dimensional assemblage.

first things first though.  i've got to get the place cleaned up.  time is short, but hopefully the energy will persist.