STUDIO OBJECTS: CLOSET!

I want to share about a long ago dream turned actual: a functional, bondafide studio closet. In my nomadic years, between 2007 and 2010 when I moved my studio four times, I had a lot of opportunities to think about what did and didn’t work in a studio situation. **


One of them was tripping over my chop saw which lived on the floor, and covered everything with sawdust when I used it, and storing all my boxes, finished materials and supplies in plain sight. It worked well eough, and I loved the place I worked more than anywhere in the world, but dared I to dream, the first thing was a closet: a discreet place with a modicum of order, good shelving that I couldn’t see and didn’t have to drape sheets over when I opened my studio.

My friend Tracey Easthope here in Ann Arbor, with her husband John DeHoog, came over and advised on the design. They helped us figure out exactly how this might work in the raw space we turned into my studio in the summer and fall of 2020. Their idea was a partial wall, blocking off one window with no formal door.
​
At first it looked like this.

And then like this.
​

And then like this when my friend Patrick and I put in the flooring. 

Here's the cieling. PS Guy wired the whole place for electricity. The closet has its own electric and light. 

Finally, and momentarily, it was this gorgeous potential space. I made some shelf brackets with our friend Thom’s borrowed jig, and then put up wood we’d brought with us that was sitting out in the weather in the yard of our last rental, for the shelves.

And here’s what it looks like full! Actually, its way messier than this, but this was what it first looked like, all organized and full, a year ago. Now of course, I can barely step into it, but at least I can't see it without rounding a corner!

Yes. All things tend toward entropy, especially if a) I am involved, b) it’s an art studio and you make stuff in more than one medium and more than two dimensions.
There’s another critical few features to this closet.

1. This closet is the only enclosure that I can safely heat while I am away. I installed a ceramic wall heater and block off the entrance with insulation material when I leave. I first gather up all cold sensitive materials: adhesives, pigments, things with hinges, and stow them all in there. And then I turn the ceramic heater on to its lowest setting and it turns off when the small space is at that low, fifty degrees or so.
2. The wall that creates the closet is a lovely white wall: drywall backed with full plywood sheeting, so that I can hang whatever I want without having to find studs. This is a wonderful wonderful thing. ​

1. The ceiling is a loft for storage, and if truly desperate, possibly a place to sleep. But it makes me dizzy to be up there and so for now it’s just to store light and bulky stuff.
2. The closet light is a lovely thing to use when the studio is dark and I just want a little atmosphere but no overhead light. It’s quite a treat.

​**Some examples of bad studio situations include:
-finding a bag of meth on the side of the shared bathroom sink...hmmm
-a stairwell that was blocked off and blacked out sucking energy into the black hole that it created around the corner from where I was working
-a leaking roof
-sudden evictions
-ghostly visitations
-nowhere to park
-no privacy
-toxic air…