I am moving.

Sometimes you just have to upgrade your life. But I am not leaving my beloved Greenville. I am getting a brand-new studio!  I will still be in West Greenville with a ton more room, windows that don’t leak, AC in the summer and actual heat in the winter. (my current studio temp was recorded at 48 degrees this past winter) I won’t know what to do with myself! And I will have a level floor! My taboret table has been propped up with a 4″ strip of wood because of the serious tilt of the floor. Without it, my taboret drawers just keep drifting open. My window has been seriously leaking for the past year as well and yet it doesn’t warrant fixing. For the past 3 years my current studio at the Greenville Center for Creative Arts was my happy place. But new unprofessional management, a filthy building, bat droppings, and a new emphasis on being an “event center” rather than an art center with actual art classes has had me realizing for a while now that I don’t belong there anymore. Plus, they raised studio rents by 50%, have assigned “chores”  for cleaning the building to all studio artists and we are not allowed to use the garbage cans in the building anymore. Not to mention that anytime the center is open (which has been limited to only 3 and a half days a week now) our studios will get unlocked and are open to the public, whether we are there or not. For “entertainment” for visitors. Nope.

I have not even taught an art class there the past few years because the center does not believe in paying its instructors very well. But, if instructors are not treated right, then how can you have good classes? I once taught an oil painting class a few years ago. I had 15 students. The class brought in $4500 for the 5 weeks. I was paid $425. So I can’t afford to teach there and I live right next door. This is why classes have suffered and are usually cancelled. Classes are too expensive for artists and yet the quality of the classes is lacking. Their reputation has stained me and so I need to move on. Unfortuneately, this is not new. All of this are common problems with art centers. And I get it. it is hard to keep the doors open.  I was asked to teach at another art center about an hour away but they said they can’t pay me since they are a “non-profit.” I shake my head. So I have been teaching my concentrated mentorship classes on my own and it has been a wonderful part of my life. My students are not only my friends, but my family. We grow together. If you live in Greenville and want an “art family” that will cheer you on, join us. And if you also truly want to push yourself artistically, come and find my classes, 

So my new “art home” will be Beacon Studios off of Pendleton Ave. in West Greenville. (I will give more info on how to find me soon.) There will be nine professional studios in an old reclaimed church that has been under construction for the past year and I get to claim my new studio in a few weeks. I can not wait to set up and start painting there. My next blog will be full of moving and progress photos. Don’t you find it is so hard to decide where to stash all those art supplies again? Where to put everything… where to put everything…. I truly want to rebrand my studio… and myself! I will have an Open House for visitors very soon to check out my new “second home” so I hope you can attend that later this summer.

In the meantime, this weekend I am also moving my loft apartment. I am “moving up” in the world by shifting my first-floor loft to one a few floors up. (My current loft is beside the pool area and so I am not going to miss all of the “buns in the sun” which feel like they are plunked down in my living room) Same building, so it will be the easiest move of my life. No trucks. No real boxes. Just lots of wagons and shuffling up an elevator. I will have more windows, a bit more space for a working office and more room for all my kiddos to come and stay with me from all their far-flung destinations. Lots of room for my grandson too. So as I write this all my art is off the walls, most things are loosley packed up and I have been putting a LOT of spackle into all the nail holes. (So many paintings) I have a brigade of friends coming to help schlep stuff this week. Plus, my rock climber son and his strong buddies will help with the furniture. In a way, it is a bit bittersweet. This loft and my old studio has been my comfort. My healing places after my divorce and major surgery after uprooting everything and moving south from Pittsburgh. They gave me a good place to land and heal in a lot of ways. So although I HATE moving, I know it will turn out to be a great reset.  I think everyone needs to move every few years. Throw out old clothes. Find all those hidden dust bunnies. Throw out all of the spices from 2016. Redecorate.

I just hope I don’t throw out my back.