About the Throes

I’m in the throes of converting my studio into a visitor friendly space for our local North Coast Open Studios event. The task is daunting. Apart from the difficulty of moving about in a space filled with large collage pieces in progress on foam-core, barely held together with quilting pins, which will tip over if you breathe and mess up hours of serious pondering, my space is private. It is where I find my blessed solitude. How can I open it to the public? Don’t ask. I just do it.

I’ve done it before; it’s good for me to be friendly sometimes. Maybe a little out of character, but there are rewards. I like hearing people admire the look of the studio. It is basically an ugly space, a converted double garage. But it is almost completely covered by works in progress, finished work and some projects that are exercises in putting color together that I find beautiful. I like it to be seen. I suppose that the artist, even those shy and introverted, is a performer and needs an audience to complete the experience.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “There is no strong performance without a little fanaticism in the performer”.