Saturday...more cabinets, but with the right drawer hardware this time. The park is doing a "fall frolic" thingy for halloween, so we got to see some kids dressed up wandering the park, and occasionally making it up the stairs to my space. I threw together a make-shift display for the looky-looos... with a sign, "coming in november".
Friday...Multiple trips to IKEA was rewarded with some super deals. I was delighted to find the kitchen island that I had selected for a work bench in the as-is room for fifty dollars less. Of course the challenge was to then get the already assembled thing into my already jam packed element. Fortunately Bryan had packed the entire tool box and so when presented with the problem, I just pulled out the cordless drill and took the thing apart right in the middle of the parking lot.
Bryan had to work the morning, but then we headed toward my new space to begin the task of assembling cabinets. Part way in we realized that IKEA had given us the wrong drawer parts...
back to IKEA.
And more deals in the as-is-room.
Bryan assembling cabinets...
Loading up the Element with paint, ladder, and stuff... today I begin to paint the space. Color scheme... purple, green, black, and natural wood.
Put Daniel on a plane yesterday and picked up my keys today. It is hard to describe the emotional shake down that happens with so many transitions. Shifting of focus can be a little disconcerting, but also invigorating. New creativity gets jacked up for me in these moments.
Now its pedal to the metal to convert the space.
Well, the good people of Glen Echo Park selected me as their newest artist in residence.
I am honored.
Yesterday I signed the contract, and Tuesday I pick up the keys to what will be my new studio and gallery. It is a wee 345 square feet, and has challenging proportions but after modeling it to the inch with the help of sketch-up, and of course Bryan, the most supportive husband in the world, I am able to imagine a very efficient and functional space.
As well as imagine a new chapter in my life as an artist.
As always it is a wild ride, and I am both excited about the possibilities in this new space as well as being a member of this vibrant artist community. A lot of very talented people make the Glen Echo community a coveted place to be, and I hope to add another facet to those offerings with classes in silversmithing.
Ironically the morning before I pick up my keys, I am putting Daniel on a plane back to Arizona. I have not gone into much detail about him of late because he is embarking on his own journey that is a wild ride which deserves its own very long post. All good, just unconventional, which seems to be the way us anderson's like it...
hey why be conventional?
But it is great symbolism to close a chapter then unlock the door to a new one. Especially when the building of this new one will package together everything that has come before it in such an amazing way, as well as provide what seems like the next logical step to our ultimate project in the bahamas, Exnihilo.
So I am posting below a tiny arial view of a space that in the next few weeks I will be transforming from a tiny room into an inspiring space. I hope to teach my first class by mid november which will be a stretch, but thanks to the Glen Echo people I am at least getting into the space a few days in advance of the Nov 1 date which is when I technically take possession.
So, as a way to keep my own record, the desert that has been my blog of late will become a day by day account of the creation of the space that will lead up to opening day which I have yet to decide on. It took a month from the last post, and much was happening behind the scenes before it made sense to post anything. Now the more tangible, visible work will ensue at a break-neck pace.
An artist's "life in balance" sometimes has to rock wildly out of control in order to exist at all. But the full-thruster moments are full of fun.
model of the plan. the space will allow for teaching a class of 8 people.
before. here is the space as I am getting it.
