new year, new studio

Happy New Year to all!

I've been busy over the holidays with all the usual Christmas singing and parties and food and family get togethers, but now it is the New Year and there's nothing like dealing with a leaky roof at the studio to begin the year.

This water problem has been going on for the past few months resulting in frantic moving of some items like books and temporary storage of other things like fabrics, but mostly the covering up of our cutting tables and machines, while we figure out what to do.

Having a studio space is something that I have maintained for the past 20 years. Since my job is contract based, while I am laid off, I need to find other work and also have a place to do the work in. I don't have the space at home to work from, and over the years I have collected a fair number of industrial sewing machines and related tools that are needed for work.

My colleague Carol and I share the space which helps off set the costs involved. It is increasingly difficult to find affordable studio space to work in- I'm not sure about other areas of the country, but the old factory buildings that make great studio space are often torn down or turned into condos. We've been renting in an old factory which has rented out one wing on one floor to artists to work in. I wasn't looking forward to trying to find another location nor packing up and moving-but as fate would have it, a former colleague, Cynthia, who had been retired for the past ten years or so, passed away in September, and she rented a space down the hall from us- mostly for storage. Her space has become available and I have begun my year by putting up walls and painting.

Next week I have a small contract to fulfill, and then I guess I'll be painting the floor, getting an electrician in and moving, just in time to start my contract for the coming theatre season. While I am at it, I think about Cynthia- she was such a talented cutter, a pioneer in Canadian theatrical costuming- I was privileged to have worked with her- and I think about how sad and strangely things happen and fall into place.