Tag: Life In The Studio

Two years ago I made the announcement that after 12 years in our home studio, we were moving to the westside of Santa Cruz. It was a huge change for us and we were really excited for all the possibilities. The past two years at Mission Industrial Art Studios has been even more amazing than we could of expected; the community of artists who work there became friends, a 1400 sq ft warehouse became our basecamp and you- the community of art lovers- joined us at events, for classes and drop-in visits- it’s been pretty incredible and we’re so grateful.

Just a few weeks ago, the powers-that-be at Mission Industrial notified all the tenants that due to issues with ADA compliance, it is too high of a liability for the property to be open to the public any longer. Therefore all of the tenants are no longer allowed to participate in art events like Open Studios, hold classes, or have the public come onto the property. Everyone was stunned by the news and it has taken time to digest what this means and how each of us will move forward. And to be honest, we’re not exactly sure how Earth Art Studio is going to move forward yet but I wanted to keep you in the loop.

What we do know is that we will not be resuming classes at the studio but we may offer some workshops outside of the studio space, those opportunities will be announced in our monthly email blast. And while, I was delighted to officially be accepted into the Open Studios Art Tour for this coming October, I’m still researching my options for a venue, if a suitable one can’t be found, I may not be participating for the first time in over 15 years.

In the short term, we plan to stay put since the idea of moving the studio again in addition to the lack of spaces available for light industrial artists is daunting but we are keeping our eyes open for options – please let me know of any leads if you’ve got them!

In the meantime, since you can’t visit the studio to buy art any longer, the online shop is open 24/7 for all your art buying needs and will be added to and improved on to make an even better art buying experience for you. I’m also working on more venues to show and sell my work from that are outside of my studio space and will announce those as they happen.

Thanks for sticking with us as we go through these ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch changes!

(also sorry if that song is stuck in your head all day after reading this!)

I hit the road on Monday with the van fully packed with art and headed north to Oregon. The Grants Pass Museum of Art is a beautiful second story space in the downtown area and I’m grateful to show my work here. All the work arrived safely – except for one snafu- I realized I left two boxes behind in the studio! Luckily they are being shipped up here and will arrive in time for the opening of the show – whew! After a year of planning and a tiring day one of install, a lot of the work is ready to go and I’m really happy with the way it’s turning out. I’ll post more photos and videos of the install as things develop!

This weekend I’m packing up the van to head north but this time I’m bringing art, lots and lots of art instead of our usual camping gear. I’ll be headed up to Grants Pass to start the install week of my solo show ‘Where Art & Nature Meet’ at the Grants Pass Museum of Art! I’ll be posting photos and videos of the installation as it happens next week, so stayed tuned!

And keep your fingers crossed that all the art makes it there safely!

This is the only Dirt post for the week, and that’s not because there is nothing to share! It’s because small upgrades have been happening on my website all week long, some will be visible changes and some are background changes but now it’s ready to share with you!

So if it’s been a while since you’ve been on my site, please take your time perusing my Installations, In the Field Installations in nature with videos of many of the installs or dive back into my Archived work for a blast from the past. It’s been fun even for me to revisit a lot of these pages that I hadn’t pulled up in quite some time.

Also! If you happen to find any glitches in my site, like layout issues or images not loading properly, please let me know so I can work out the kinks. Thanks and enjoy!

www.jenniward.com

As a working artist, I wear many, many hats. One of them is making art- that’s my favorite hat but this week I haven’t been wearing that hat very much. Not because I don’t want to or because I’m not inspired to make things, but because as a working artist, there’s just a lot more to the job.

I’ve been preparing for a solo show at the Grants Pass Museum of Art in Grants Pass Oregon which opens the beginning of April. It’s a really big deal to get a solo show, and it’s an even bigger deal to get a solo show in a museum. There is so much planning that goes into making a successful show. There is the theme of the show you want to present, the space you need to fill, the coordination of it all, the three million other tiny details that really, really matter- oh! and you need to have the work, lots of it.

Want to know how I get my sh*t together and keep it together while I go through this process? In a single word, lists. I have lots and lots of lists. Some of my lists are your standard to-do items, but some take the form of sketches with arrows, notes and question marks. Other times my lists are inventory numbers, file names and contracts but almost all are hardcopy, actual papers that I can hold and flip through to see my thoughts. Having this pile of papers may seem disorganized but for me its a way to track my process as I tackle a project like putting together a solo show. It’s a way of making sure I’ve considered the options, even if I’ve decided to dismiss them. At the end of the day, I can take a look at my lists, see what I’ve accomplished, see what needs to be done and (most of the time) I can go to sleep knowing that I’ve got my sh*t together.

Today, the studio is very cold and the idea of working with wet clay is less than appealing so instead I’m wearing my blog writer hat while cooped up in my office with the heater buzzing working on crossing things off the lists. Also, I know many of you won’t get to see this show in person, so I’ll be posting details about my installation plans, the progress of putting up the show as it happens and I’ll share images of it finished with you -promise- it’s on the list!