How important is work space?

[Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo]

This question is particularly directed to those of us who consider our stitching work, our textile art, to be our profession (whether or not we have another job to pay the bills), but those of you who consider your textile work to be a hobby or pastime are welcome to answer too.

I have been frustrated by a lack of dedicated space in which to do my artwork and to store and organize my materials, a space where I can leave work in progress, where I can get to work immediately without having to set up equipment, and a space which physically honors what I do. Am I just being selfish and unrealistic in the face of family, financial, and physical constraints? Or is space to do one's art an essential ingredient in the creative process?

Please share your opinions and let us know where you do your work. Do you have a separate studio space, either in or outside the home? Do you have a dedicated area of a room in the house? Do you live alone and your whole home is your studio? Or do you do you work in the midst of all the other household activities? How does your particular arrangement work for you and how does it affect your art?

Very curious to hear from you all!

Leslie

[Vicky Davis]

I much prefer to be able to leave my projects out and easy to get to, too. Not always possible with young children around. Then I would have loved to have a separate room. I finally have that now, even though it's part of my bedroom [my husband sleeps there, otherwise the room is mine, all mine!]

Non of this is a selfish need, anymore than my husband needing garage space to keep tools for keeping our cars in good repair. Is there any way you can take over an area in your house? I have always found a way to set up my sewing area, even if it means going up...with shelves at least and buckets under the table, which has rarely been a full dining table size. Make some of it portable, like a kitchen island on wheels. I am using the inexpensive shelf units you can get at Target and other places, the white stuff. It's easy to combine units to make up what you want. Need a design wall? Make one that doubles as a screen if you have to share a room, put wheels on it too so you can really get around your area. Maybe one side can be a for the kids to use as an art display or chalkboard. Slap a piece of metal on it and make it a magnet board. [ I just saw this sort of thing done on a DiY show]

All of it really depends on your situation at home, and whether you are handy with tools. Yard sales and thrift stores are great places to get things at. You have to go in with an attitude, one that says "I am thinking outside the box today" and that row of glass vases in the store suddenly become shelf bracket-leg-holder-upper thingies. Fill the vases with rocks the kids find, or other things to make them heavy and more stable. Use liquid nails gunk to glue everything together..... Baby food jars make great bead storage, paint the lids or glue something on them to make more fun. I love having things like this displayed so I can see the colors.

[JoWynn Johns]

If you go to this blog post, you can see a slide show of my whole work space with captions about how I use the space, which is very limited. It looks very neat and tidy because I deliberately took pictures between projects. When I'm working on a project, everything stays where I left it, ready to continue the work. I clean up after each project. http://jowynn.wordpress.com/2008/01/12/my-space/

[Carol Ann]

I'm speechless (or is that typeless). I enjoyed looking at your workspace - several times. IYou are an inspiration.

[Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo]

I enjoyed looking at your space too, JoWynn! Amazing what one can do in a space that's all one's own. It reminded me a little of my one-room apartments when I lived alone in India.

And Vicky, thanks for your insights and ideas. I realize how much I've obstructed myself from ever creating a real space for myself, because we've always been about to move. I always thought the time to act on such ideas was coming, just around the corner. In the meantime, I have space to work in my living room, but it's not organized or protected or pleasing as I'd like it to be... and of course it means I have no living room either!

Looking forward to hearing more people's thoughts on the importance, or lack thereof, of a dedicated space!

[Guzzisue]

This is amazing, wish I could be this tidy :)

[nancysews]

JoWynn you sure have it together. When I grow up I wanna be like you. Thanks for sharing!

[Mrs Thimble]

I have studio space - a big bedroom. It means so much to me, sometimes in times of stress I long to be able to just sit in there and 'absorb' my 'stuff'. I often sleep in there, lying in bed gazing at my shelves of fabric, threads and paints, feeling my heartbeat slow down. I guess this makes me sound a little odd but to me my room feels like part of me. I feel very lucky to have it.

[Guzzisue]

I think I am lucky as with no kids I can take over the middle bedroom just for my stitch bits, mind you I have 4 sewing machines and all my C&G course work in the next room. Photos here and here

[Margaret Ramsay]

When my husband and I were house hunting last year , one of our requirements was the equivalent of 3 double bedrooms so that we could have a playroom/study/studio each as well as a bedroom. I now have the largest room in the house as my studio (the 'master' bedroom' and while it has a wardrobe with our clothes in, it also has an even larger wardrobe with part of my fabric stash in. I'm still searching for design wall solution as most of the wall space is taken up with these wardrobes - I currently use cork boards propped up but they're not really big enough. In my previous property, I had a partially converted loft space ( velux windows but access by a ladder), it's big advantage was that I could leave it as a mess and just close the hatch and I had a design wall of one end wall (tho' it was an odd triangular shape). I now have to be be much more disciplined in spending a few minutes after each session clearing up but the plus side is that I'm far more likely to spend an odd half hour in the studio as I don't have to climb a ladder. I'm also lucky in now having a separate area in the 'conservatory'(more a lean-to) for painting - before I had to clear my table of sewing stuff before I could start and lug buckets of water up that ladder.
I'm far more productive now that everything is more accessible. The jury is still out on the benefits of having the computer in my studio. While it's very handy for printing on fabric etc, I spend more time reading blogs!

[Gail Odegaard]

My current studio is at one end of our master bedroom. We live in 800 sq feet, so every space is being used somehow. In my studio is a dining table, where my sewing machine and cutting mat live. To the left is a book shelf that hold beads, ribbons, rulers, cutters, threads. Across the room, two cabinets hold fabrics and threads. In the washroom 4 cabinets house scrapbooking, soap/lotion supplies, fabric, gift wraping and paint supplies. My longarm machine is in an unused room at a friends 1/4 mile away. This summer we are building (if it ever stops raining) a new master bedroom, studio space, guest room and shop space for DH. All my things will move to the studio space in the new area, it will be very nice to have a dedicated room.

[Chloe Emmott]

I do have a large room that I can call my own, but I am very untidy.
After reading all the replies I think it is fair to say, what ever the space you occupy. It will never be big enough. We all seem to have the capacity to expand and expand. That is the creative mind always wanting to "take it forward".
I some times think it might be an addiction. stichaholics!!!!!

[Judi Shipley]

Leslie, I think your words "a space which physically honors what I do" says it all. I don't think it's selfish to want a dedicated space, but only you know if it's realistic given as you mentioned "family, financial and physical constraints". It certainly makes it easier to create when one has all their tools at their fingertips, but it isn't the key ingredient. YOU and your imagination and your talents and efforts are what result in your art. I'm still struck by the little hole-in-the-wall apartment where Christian Siriano (winner of the last Project Runway) created his "fierce" fashions. He beat out people who had whole studios to work in. So please don't be discouraged. Take some spaces in your living environment and claim them for your own, they don't have to be in the same room. My fabric is located in my laundry room and in a closet and in a cedar trunk. My kids are all raised and have their own homes but my granddaughter visits often and when she was younger I had to keep things out of her sight and curious little hands (now she is my creative buddy). I usually have more than one project going at once and I only have room to have one out at a time, so I'm always switching between projects. I've found that laying them out on a flannel backed vinyl tablecloth and rolling them up is a good way to keep them safe, and they store well under beds. I do most of my work in the family room (I've taken it over -- it adjoins the kitchen which makes it easier for me to work on projects and cook at the same time) and I do most of my hand work in the living room under an Ott light with the embellishments spread out on the glass topped coffee table which BTW doubles as my light table. If our kids were still at home the family room would be used as a family room and I'd have part of it for my sewing machine and I'd put a cutting mat on the dining room table as needed. Would I like a dedicated studio? I'm not sure I would as this set-up seems to be working well for me, although I would like walls to display works-in-progress(the family room is not conducive to this) as a result I have a vinyl backed tablecloth mounted in the dining room for large projects (I roll it up and put it under the bed when I think it's intrusive to guests).

Now that I've written all this a new thought occurred to me --- If you absolutely cannot get the space that you need at home -- could you get together with some like minded artists and rent some space to share?