Getting ready for the Crawl 2011

Bernadine's Studio during 2010 Crawl
(photo by Colin Briers)

We artists are essentially glorified manufacturers: we create product (albeit with much more meaning behind it than the average product you find on a shelf). We often dress in our grubbiest clothes full of paint or sculpting dust. Unless cleanliness is necessary for creativity, most artist's studios are.... well let me say MY art studio is most often a mess. In fact, at the height of my creativity, it is the worst. I do clean my brushes because there is nothing worse than ruining a favourite one. But, I can't be bothered to put the cap back on my tubes of oil paint. I dress in my grubbiest clothes, get lost in the production of my art, and hesitate to clean up in the same way a hockey player doesn't want to shave during the playoffs - it disturbs the air of creativity and, ultimately, the very act of painting itself gets messed up.

What most folks don't know about the CRAWL is that, in the days and weeks leading up to the opening at 5 pm on the Friday (Nov 18), the energy in each building starts to vibrate. Especially in one like William Clark studios where you have a large number of artists (20-30) who are participating in this event. Artists are cleaning up their studios, painting the walls, storing their incidental art supplies, packing up all their art materials (brushes, varnish, unused canvases, mediums, paints), and just a general overall decluttering. Some are sweeping the floor for the first time in a year or so. They are pushing aside projects that haven't quite gelled and have sat in the corner for awhile and bringing out work that was done almost a year ago. They are deciding what to hang and where or what order to do it. Suddenly, these artists are no longer self-involved in their own ideas about art or politics or focused on colour or hue. They transform into the entrepreneurs they are and begin to consider the flow of people through their studios, lighting, documentation and inventory records, packaging material, sales receipts, product placement, floats, marketing and publicity.

We dress up in our best (unpainted attire) and stand ready to greet you - our audience. And this is one other thing that is not always understood by those who view art as opposed to make art. Visual artists are experts in language -but not oral or written language per se. We use our fingers, our ideas, our colours, and our images to create a nonverbal language which is intended to speak to our audience. Language does not exist without a response. You are our response. We need your feedback and that happens when you arrive in our studio. You do not have to say anything directly to us or write anything in our comment books - your attendance is priceless and the response we need most.

So, I thank each and every one of you who will be coming out to my studio this year! I look forward to seeing you again or meeting you for the first time.

The details:

Eastside Culture Crawl
Bernadine Fox, Studio 7, 1310 William St. (William Clark Studios)
Nov 18 to 20th (Friday 5-10pm and Sat/Sun 11-6pm)
Check out my preview on Facebook

See you there!