Yes, you can have your dream studio! At the tail end of 2024, a long time ambition started to come to fruition...
I have worked in a large variety of places during my 30 year career as an artist from the pleasingly spacious unused outbuildings of a further education college as artist in residence and less glamorously my garden shed!
When we moved to the West Midlands in 2008 I fulfilled my dream of opening my own gallery, which was a good choice and I was very happy and successful in Bridgnorth for eight years. Unfortunately I could not stay there longterm as the building was built in 1665, which gave it character, but also meant that the sandstone walls were mouldy and crumbling and it was rather dark and cramped, not to mention its tiny staircase was ruining my knees!
I have kept the name of my gallery alive since then during my subsequent move to a purpose built studio but then, when the rent was raised by an extortionate ammount and Covid came along, I ended up working from home and taking over our double garage as a workspace. A running theme, the garage was also rather damp and dark - the need for affordable space means artist often find themselves working in less than ideal premises - so I began to plan improvements! You can see what the garage space looked like before its transformation in the video below...
In 2024 circumstances aligned so that I could have the old garage knocked down to build something more suitable on the site. Our house descended into chaos as plant machinery did the heavy work, building materials were delivererd and the remnants of the garage sat in piles of rubble. But eventually at the beginning of 2025 a shiny new building stood in it's place! It will be used primarily as a clean gallery space to showcase my artwork where you can visit to view and buy by appointment. It will additionally provide the space for me to run workshops for up to six participants. I have also appropriated our adjacent dining room for some extra display space and added a loo for customer convenience!
I'll add more as the new space becomes more complete.
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