dancing girl press & studio | the mini tour
Lately I spend about equal parts marveling at the awesomeness of having such a great studio space in the Fine Arts, and an equal part panicking over being able to afford the rent for such a great studio space. At times, I've wondered at the benefits of moving the operation back to the confines of my apartment--being able to work on books on weekends and all parts of the night, having everything roughly in one place, saving about $800 a month. But the negs are that it would be kind of crowded and chaotic, even more so than when I moved it out, storing packing supplies and books and printers and the general mess. Also, I still hope to open up the studio every once in a while, but since I've been pushing more on books and less on inventory of other things, I doubt the open studios would bring in the amount of income to make them worth it (and worth it after pulling a full day already in the library, by which time I am exhausted already).
Plus there's added the benefit of being able to work in such an awesome creative building with so much going on. Even if it's only a few hours every day it does my soul good. Obviously the solution would be to get it more retail friendly and bone up on my paper goods and print inventory, which is my goal for the coming year, and actually make those monthly open studios happen. Though I do a fair amount of artwork at home on weekends--paintings, collages, and prints--and occasional things like jewelry making, and of course, most of my writing/editing there, it's still nice to have a separation of "home" and "work"--where the more official things like printing, book assembly and shipping happen. Plus a space just to store all the the books and art and random supplies that were threatening to drown me pre-2007.
I've been shooting some shots of my favorite little bits in the dgp space. It's narrow and only about 300 square feet give or take, but it has the most glorious ceilings that have to be about 20 feet and these huge windows (the view is mostly a brick wall, but there's a little space where a lower building sits next to us. From 9th floor, you can just see a bit of the lake if you lean out the window. The building itself is always gorgeous, from the manned elevators to the frescos on the floor above to the Italian courtyard in the middle and hands down my favorite building in the city. The 9th floor boasts a violin-maker, a sheet music store, several painters, an oboeist, and some music practice rooms that seem to be hopping during the day. There is also a newish and infinitely instagrammable bookstore on the 2nd Floor and the newly re-opened Studebaker Theatre at the bottom.
In the studio, I have about three printers, two staplers, a hefty guillotine trimmer, and about 500 mailing envelopes. I also have about a thousand assembled and half assembled chapbook copies. I currently have about 5 discarded Epson Workforces shoved here and there that I occasionally harbor parts for the current ones I run in tandem (I was replacing them a lot over the years when I was using them for color..now the laser does the covers, but the insides are done on the inkjet. The inket is a heavy beast and thirsty for toner, but is really good on covers. I also have a closet full of shipping boxes and packing tape, a metal cabinet full of various colors of cardstock, and a mini fridge (currently empty, but I sometimes keep water and soda on hand.) I also have various packaging materials, cardboard inserts, matboards, cello bags for selling things.
While a good amount of my art supplies are at home, some still linger here A box with about a hundred various faux birds and butterflies I keep meaning to make into more assemblages. A good amount of ephemera and decorative paper, as well as a fair amount of things to cover with said paper--paperweight blanks, flasks. Also a huge with lavender, rose petals, green tea and other bath tea fixins ( though my messy soap making days have ceased, I really need to start selling this again in the shop, it was fairly easy and non-messy)
The studio has also been a great place to meet with authors who are local or in town (well, at least when there isn't a wall of paper trimmings threatening to subsume us all like there is currently.)
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