Four years ago, I bought a house in Humble, TX. I had looked for a house that either had a large enough storage house in the yard or something of the sort. However, the house I bought did not have that, but I had fallen in love with the interior architecture. Of course, the fact that it had a huge backyard and a big garage helped make the decision. I knew that I could set up a studio in the garage until I was able to build me a studio in the backyard.
Needless to say, the studio is also a garage, so it is not easy to keep up with it and keep it looking more as a studio and not a garage. It has undergone many changes in the past four years. I have rearranged wheels, tables, shelves, and everything else dozens of times, in an effort to find the best studio environment. Personally, I need open space to keep a clear head. This is a defining variable in my work. I had also decided to start teaching, so the studio needed to be student friendly.
In the beginning, there was no sink in the studio. I had to get creative when I started getting students. I remember we had to wash everything in a rubber tub that was sitting on the floor by the garage door. I had hooked up a garden hose to the washing machine's water source. Then I ran it down the side all the way to the entrance of the garage where I had the rubber tub. At the end of the garden hose I hooked up a sprayer... like the one you use for watering plants. We would wash splash pans and everything else in there. Afterward, we would have to get rid of the water, which we would dump into the ground around the side of the garage. It was a job and a half. But I learned one thing from it... when you are really interested in learning, you don't mind the inconvenience. Eventually, a friend who had closed down his cafe, gave me the sink he had in the back of the kitchen for washing hands. I was so excited... we now had a real sink and all we had to do was hook it up.
I was concerned, as many potters are, with the risk of clay going down the drain and into the sewage. Not a good thing. I came up with different ideas until I decided I would return the clay back to where it came from.... the ground. We drilled a hole through the wall of the garage and run the drain pipe through it. Clay, water, glaze chemicals would now drain down into the ground on the side of the garage, where there is a flower bed with no flowers. It was the perfect set up.
I have been fortunate to not have to buy much of what I needed in the studio. Most of what is in there... shelves, tables, chairs, etc... have come from either yard sales or have been given to me. It has taken a few years to accumulate what all I have in there, and it is not the perfect set up nor the prettiest, but it does the job.
One day soon, I'll be able to build in the backyard either a shed for storing anything that is not part of the studio, or a studio... with A/C and heat... can't wait.
Needless to say, the studio is also a garage, so it is not easy to keep up with it and keep it looking more as a studio and not a garage. It has undergone many changes in the past four years. I have rearranged wheels, tables, shelves, and everything else dozens of times, in an effort to find the best studio environment. Personally, I need open space to keep a clear head. This is a defining variable in my work. I had also decided to start teaching, so the studio needed to be student friendly.
In the beginning, there was no sink in the studio. I had to get creative when I started getting students. I remember we had to wash everything in a rubber tub that was sitting on the floor by the garage door. I had hooked up a garden hose to the washing machine's water source. Then I ran it down the side all the way to the entrance of the garage where I had the rubber tub. At the end of the garden hose I hooked up a sprayer... like the one you use for watering plants. We would wash splash pans and everything else in there. Afterward, we would have to get rid of the water, which we would dump into the ground around the side of the garage. It was a job and a half. But I learned one thing from it... when you are really interested in learning, you don't mind the inconvenience. Eventually, a friend who had closed down his cafe, gave me the sink he had in the back of the kitchen for washing hands. I was so excited... we now had a real sink and all we had to do was hook it up.
I was concerned, as many potters are, with the risk of clay going down the drain and into the sewage. Not a good thing. I came up with different ideas until I decided I would return the clay back to where it came from.... the ground. We drilled a hole through the wall of the garage and run the drain pipe through it. Clay, water, glaze chemicals would now drain down into the ground on the side of the garage, where there is a flower bed with no flowers. It was the perfect set up.
I have been fortunate to not have to buy much of what I needed in the studio. Most of what is in there... shelves, tables, chairs, etc... have come from either yard sales or have been given to me. It has taken a few years to accumulate what all I have in there, and it is not the perfect set up nor the prettiest, but it does the job.
One day soon, I'll be able to build in the backyard either a shed for storing anything that is not part of the studio, or a studio... with A/C and heat... can't wait.
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