Sharing from a place of honesty
Saying goodbye to our regular weekend open studio event.
After more than a year of hosting weekend Open Studio events we’ve learned a lot. I started this adventure with the idea that our community needed an dedicated space for local art. Having founded an Art Hop event in Takoma many years ago which paired local artists with local businesses for a weekend celebration, I knew how important it was to connect local artists with the community. I wanted to create a place where local artists could tell their story. I also wanted to create a place for connection, where people could experience creativity for themselves. My own personal art journey fueled this as well. I used to send my art to a gallery in Charleston, South Carolina. I would send 10-12 new works every other week. They were small 4 x 4 framed collages which seemed to always sell out. I put my heart and soul in creating these little gems but I never met the people who bought them. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the owner and felt honored and thankful to be showing my work at her gallery. I appreciated that my work was so popular and collected but I also felt something was missing. I wanted to see people’s reaction to my work. I wanted to have more of a connection with the people who bought my art even if it was only for a few minutes. So with these thoughts and ideas I moved forward with this dream of a “community” art studio supported by Sam, my husband and partner (and a very talented photographer) who has always been my cheerleader.
The fall of 2023 saw us opening our door on the weekends and sharing with the community local art, some of which Sam and I created. It’s been amazing to look back and see all of the new relationships we’ve made because of this adventure. We quickly discovered our main visitors were people visiting Takoma Park for the first time and not so much our local neighbors. We also learned a lot about our senior local artist scene. Hosting a free community collage table on Sundays was an opportunity to meet talented artists of all ages and see how important it was to create a third space for the public. And we especially enjoyed the ah-hah moment when people visited our 2nd floor space for the first time. For the most part the stress and expense of starting this new adventure was offset by the joy of meeting people who celebrated our community and our local art. But recently things have changed.
The last several months have been difficult. Although we never expected huge crowds due to our 2nd floor location and the nature of what we do, we never expected to not have visitors. For the past two months we’ve experienced a significant decline in visitors. I’m writing this post after spending 5 hours here at the studio on a beautiful sunny Sunday with only 1 visitor. Yes, we could always do more to promote ourselves but honestly things have changed so quickly for so many families in our region. Some are suddenly struggling with financial insecurities and career changes. Some are worried about family and friends who may be “disappeared.” Our country seems even more divided, isolated and headed in an unimaginable direction. We believe people are not thinking about art right now because something bigger is happening. And we get it because we feel it as well!
We’re not throwing in the towel just yet, but we are pivoting. We’ll still have open studio events. We’ll still make art. The big change is that we won’t host an open studio every weekend. For now we’re changing to a once a month schedule. It’s scary to ponder this change. It goes against what I thought this space could mean to the community. It seems in some way like I’m letting down the local artists whose work adorns these walls but I think it’s time to step back. To rethink how to connect with my neighbors, to make this space more relevant to the community and the artists who live here. It’s just another chapter. Thank you for your support.