The Sculptor's Muse - the Studio 'becomes'...
As any sculptor will tell you- there is no such thing as a studio that is too small when you work with three dimensions. Since moving into our wonderful home built in 1852 about four years ago, my studio has continued to 'become'.... well, to become more like the studio I need/want. The studio was not part of the original house and has followed the age old process of back patio, to covered back porch, to screened porch, to sculptor's studio when we removed the screen and added walls and windows, and a kiln. And there are several considerations in creating my studio, not only is space and light and storage all vastly important, but as I (ahem) 'mature', I notice there are other facets of my studio that need to 'become' more conducive to what I need. Concrete floors are great - easy to mop up the clay dust, don't have to worry about wax drips when casting the waxes for bronze sculptures or even oil paints when I occasionally pull out my canvases. However, standing for hours on concrete and sculpting has become (that word again!) a bit more disturbing to my joints than when I sculpted as a graduate student. I've been able to use oriental rug samples given to me by a friend of ours - about 18" square and look good - spreading them around whichever pedestal I've got a sculpture in progress on. That has helped a lot. And though many friends of mine have extolled the virtures of 'crocs' I simply cannot bring myself to get any - purely from the standpoint that I find them highly unaesthetic. But, the good news is that my studio is about to have a major 'becoming' in this area. We were able to pull some antique heart pine flooring from a beautiful house built in 1924. The property had been sold to a retail chain store with plans to bulldoze the house. So, with the immense help of our three older children we spent two days pulling tongue and groove heartpine flooring along with nails and splinters. Next spring, we will be 'springing' the studio floor with 2 by's, adding a subfloor and then the heartpine. Thus giving my joints immense relief for hours of standing, walking around the pedestals and sculpting. Of course, we're giving up the ease of mopping on a concrete floor, but with many many layers of heavy duty floor varnish, I think we can make it work. And then there is the aesthetic 'becoming' part of the studio, the floors will now match the rest of the house.... now if I can only find some great 1920's Art's and Crafts windows.....
