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The Artist Spce

Kevin Blackburn

Blog #6 of 17

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April 23rd, 2015 - 02:28 PM

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The Artist Spce

We have all heard about the artist space or studio. Often when talking to an artist, we hear them say the words my studio, my gallery, or my creative space. For an artist, the space in which he or she creates their art is incredibly important. The space in which an artist creates their work is actually often more important than the materials and medium that they choose to use. There are many reasons for this categorization of importance. First item of importance, is that the space needs to fit the artist just like a good jacket fits you during the winter. This perfectly fit jacket provides you with the feeling of safety and comfort even in the worst of weather. Secondly an artist has to have enough room to work with the tools that they use as well as the infrastructure to work with them. Third and likely the most important, is that the space that the artist uses needs to feel right. The space needs to be a sanctuary of vision and ideas and a place where those visions can be fed and nurtured. An artist's studio should serve as inspiration and be a holy place of sorts.


The matter of importance is not necessarily where your studio is located, or the size of the studio, but rather that the space needs to serve its function as a creative space and to do it in a cost effective manner. These factors are very important for producing an effective creative space. Simply put, function means that whatever you are creating fits into the studio with you and your tools as well as with all the things you need to create, The space must be cost effective as well. As artists we have to create. For many of us this is for our livelihood in order to be able to pay the mortgage, buy food and clothes, send our kids to school and after school programs. In order to be successful at this means that we have to be profitable. Our success now makes having a cost effective space move to the top of the list as it should be along with other overhead concerns.


I personally have had a number of studio spaces myself. Some of these spaces were a good fit and some were not. Some of these spaces were cost effective, and others weren't. What all of these spaces did have in common is that they were all great for me at the time and I made them work. I still do dream of the perfect studio that I may or may not ever have. Now as my career as a commercial photographer begins to slowly wind down and as I am transitioning to a newer and hopefully slower paced photography career, I will be home more. This change in pace has resulted in my decision to open a Fine Art Gallery. I think that I may have found my perfect creative space that is not a studio at all.


You may ask why do I see it this way. I must say that for years most of my work, even in the days of film, was done on location with no real need for a traditional studio or creative space. During these shoots my creative space was whereever I was. Now that I have moved into the digital age, and into a career in fine art, I do need a creative space. This is simply because the way that I approach my art is completely new. I am now doing a lot of work in the digital darkroom and creating a number of multi image composites. This actually hails back to the days of Jerry Uelsman’s composites that were created in a traditional wet darkroom. The fact is, that I now want and need an inspiring and creative space.


I am blessed to have my space now in the form of a Fine Art Gallery. This space that feels like a museum to me and I am surrounded by amazing ever changing art by wonderful inspiring artists. My Creative space has certainly evolved and it is more important to me than ever before. I am very blessed to have a great space and great artists working with me for inspiration moving forward.

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