“In order for a woman to write fiction she needs money and a room of her own.” Virginia Woolf
While I agree that financial resources are necessary to pursue any of the arts—at least to provide the basics for living and supplies for one’s craft—I disagree with Virginia Woolf on the matter of “a room of her own”. For many years I wrote (some fiction, and a lot of everything else) in various places around the home—starting with a kitchen corner counter where I sat on a stool and wrote for 2 hours most every afternoon while dinner simmered or baked, and our small children tumbled and bumbled around me.
From the kitchen, I graduated to a writing desk in the corner of our master bedroom. Then came some interim years where I did have a spare hobby room in the home, and now I’ve happily returned to a desk in the master bedroom. In this same bedroom we have a generous window sill and table for houseplants, and 2 work surfaces where I can paint and build collages. A second desk with shelves and drawers holds painting supplies, along with 3 commodious stacking units of plastic drawers from HOME DEPOT.
A room of one’s own can be a few square feet in most any multi purpose room. Private space can be managed most anywhere, when we enjoy planning and accommodating our working needs to whatever is available. It’s amazing how much furniture (and how many objects!) can be efficiently and attractively crammed into a given area, when one is willing (and in my case, eager) to be creative and somewhat “far out”. I’ve always loved arranging my home in ways that would make most conventional “interior decorating” gurus shudder—just as I thrive on decorating with stuff that the conventional folks would take to the dump, or toss out to the curb.
The main challenge with private space is to create an area where projects may be left out while in process. The drawback of working at a kitchen counter or dining room table is obvious; the writer or artist must clean up his or her act in order to prepare and serve a meal. One artist said she was happy to finally move her art space out of the kitchen, because she was tired of getting peanut butter on her brushes.
I subscribe to art magazines and enjoy gazing at the spacious studios where professional artists work. But I simply do not covet these studios one teeny bit. The professional artist who hangs his work in galleries frequently does large renderings. Gallery displays— especially of oil paintings but also of acrylics, water media, and collages—tend to measure out in feet rather than inches.
At this point, I have not been motivated to “work big”. My largest pieces are 11″ x 14″, matted and mounted in 12″ x 16″ frames. The above pictured card table could accommodate a larger support, and will—if I ever decide to expand my paintings. I’d simply have to move my palette and brushes somewhere else for the duration. Meanwhile, smaller works are fun!
Our entire 4 room condo (plus 2 bathrooms and great storage areas) could be called a “studio”. A corner of our living room has been turned into a fiber arts studio, pictured below. ↓
Joe’s den is his “sports viewing studio”, and it is his computer area as well. There 2 things on earth which Joe and I cannot share: 1) a toothbrush and 2) a computer. Joe and I each have our own cyberspace. He has a recliner chair in his den, so it’s also a “napping studio”.
Then there is a “music studio”, in another part of our living room. ↓
And finally, you might call the houseplant areas (3 places around our home) “horticulture studios”—or maybe conservatories. Here is one of our conservatory/horticulture studios. ↓
Whether for writing, making art, reading, sipping tea, or just sitting and zoning out, every person needs a “studio space”—even if it’s only one small table and a chair in a corner of a room. Private space! 🙂
Margaret L. Been, ©2011
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The Messy Palette . . . 