If sweeping coastal headlands, herds of wild elk, and the waving grasses of a windswept estuary aren't enough to entice you to the coast this winter, perhaps the opportunity to meet a few artists while touring about the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology will be just the nudge you need.

This coming Monday evening the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology is hosting an open studio event that is free and open to the public. There will be food, drink, and a chance to meet the writers and artists in residence at Sitka this winter. My studio will be open for the duration with a number of completed works and works-in-progress on display. I do hope to see you there!

Learn more about the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology's residents from the 2012/13 winter season.

There are a few studio amenities that, now that I've enjoyed them, I can't imagine going without. 

Perhaps the most notable is having a sink in the studio. For years I had to walk down a winding hall every time I needed to clean a brush, which inevitably led to impromptu conversations with studio mates or waiting by the bathroom for someone to finish their business before I could even access a sink. How luxurious to just take four steps over to a faucet and then turn back around and pick up working again. 

And then there's heat. You can just turn up the heaters in the studio when it gets cold. They won't blow a circuit and the button to their thermostats isn't jealously guarded for nine months out of the year in the interest of cutting energy costs. This means no numb toes and no need for fingerless gloves while trying to mix paint. I can even let go of the fact that one of the baseboard heaters is on a prime working wall which now must simply be used as a prime works in progress storage wall.

These seem like simple things, right? Yet I've never had both in any studio space I've ever occupied. Additionally, the functionality of this studio is greatly enhanced by the fact that it is temporary, and all the items in it (excluding a few tables and chairs) I've had to bring in for the interim. This helps minimize the clutter which so quickly takes hold in a permanent studio space. Work surfaces cannot be monopolized by stacks of vintage frames and one won't spend an hour looking for gum arabic amongst drawers and drawers of drawing supplies. 

As it is so often the artist who renders their own studio sub-standard through a combination of materials hoarding and untidy work habits, having a short-term work space might ultimately prove to be a more productive arrangement as it necessitates a periodic uprooting and subsequent reevaluation of both working practice and materials. This experience has certainly informed some new thinking about how to arrange my permanent studio, which continues to languish in a state of near completion, as it has for months. I doubt I'll be able to plumb in a sink, but heat is within the realm of reason, as is a serious purging of items that do not immediately contribute to the creative work.

This coming weekend I'll be participating in the annual Spring Open House at Troy Studios in SE PDX. This Open House will be unlike any other I've done in the past as this event will also serve as a STUDIO LIQUIDATION SALE! 

As I'll be moving from the Troy Laundry Building in June I've decided to let go of a few things rather than try and re-incorporate them into my new studio space (see also suburban garage). Ridiculously low prices are guaranteed on items like:

oil paint, book cloth, coasters, frames, office supplies, Jeffrey juvenilia (invest now in priceless relics of my formative years as an artist), toys, magazines, books, comics, furniture, flags, apparel, and so much more

So come on by to say hello, see some works in progress, sift through art materials/inspirational fodder, and to help me bid the laundry building farewell after so many years.

Troy Studios is located at 221 SE 11th Ave. Portland OR 
Friday, May 11th from 5-9pm
Saturday, May 12th from 12-6pm