Studio Design - Pattern Language #200 Open Shelves, #201 Waist-high Shelf

'A Pattern Language' by Christopher Alexander is a collection of patterns found in well-designed living spaces. I applied many of these patterns to my studio design.

Pattern #200 Open Shelves

The Problem - 'Cupboards that are too deep waste valuable space, and it always seems that you want what is behind something else'.

The Solution - 'Cover the walls with narrow shelves of varying depth but always shallow enough so that things can be placed on them one deep - nothing hiding behind anything else.'

I measured the depth of some of the books and binders I wanted to have in the studio and used that measurement for the depth of the shelves in this bookcase. Likewise in the rest of the studio the shelves depths and the varying spaces between them match the sizes of the articles stored on them. Things are stored only one item deep, mostly.

Pattern #201 Waist-high Shelf

Problem - 'In every house and every workplace there is a daily "traffic" of objects which are handled most. Unless such things are immediately at hand, the flow of life is awkward, full of mistakes; things are forgotten, misplaced.'

Solution - 'Build waist-high shelves around at least part of the main rooms where people live and work. Make them long, 9 to 15 inches deep, with shelves or cupboard underneath. Interrupt the shelf for seats, windows or doors.'

The 12" top of the bookshelf doubles as the needed waist-high shelf where stuff gets put. It also serves as the protective back for the Drawing Centre. Papers won't blow off the desk when the front door is opened.

Drawing Centre

This is where I put the cork mat I made from leftover floor tiles that didn't work on the cutting table. The area is big enough to hold a portable sloped drawing board that I use when doing design work.

Desk Centre

Attached to the Drawing Centre is the Desk Centre and both share the one chair. Underneath there are 2 basket stacks on wheels stored in otherwise unused space. Art materials are stored here and easily accessed from either work area.

Desk Centre

Each morning after I enter the studio, I start work here with some drawing practice and writing in a journal. These 2 activities slow me down and make me focus on what I plan to do that day. I end a studio session here too. I write in the journal  and plan what I will do next day.

Whenever I need extra horizontal workspace I can easily clear off these few things and temporarily free up a large area.The simple L-shaped design gives a lot of flexibility in how the space can be used. 

Dorothy Caldwell: Book Making - Putting it all Together

Dorothy showed us many other methods for making our mark on fabric and paper. She also showed us many examples of what others had done in the past and what contemporary artists are currently working on. 

 We were left to continue exploring the methods we liked.

Then is was time to start thinking about how various elements and pages could go together.

Cleverly Dorothy got us to use the sheet of paper we had been working on top of to make a practice book with a woven spine binding. I was delighted I am a messy worker because I have lots of random marks in the pages of my book.

Another book involved folding and cutting up the large piece of paper we marked with ink while outside. This book was such fun to make. It now awaits embellishment, or not.

After the practice books, we worked in earnest on assembling our main book. Dorothy sat with each of us while we showed her our marked pages and she offered advice, suggestions and help that kept us going until the end of the week.

The last activity involved everyone sharing their books.

Such a wonderful workshop.

Thank you, Dorothy.

Lesley's New Office/Library

We had lots of company over the summer and as a result felt we needed a better second guest bedroom. So we have had a shuffle around of rooms and furniture.

The work-out equipment was moved out of the room with the pull out couch/bed and into my library/office area, off the TV room. 

I moved my library/office into the now basically empty second guest bedroom.

During the move I had a ruthless purge of books etc, cutting 8 shelf units down to 7 but only so the whole library would fit along both long sides of the room.

I had to buy a new desk after vacating the built-in one.

I found someone who likes putting things together.

Isn't it a pretty colour?

Here is the office part of the room. 

All it needs is the cork board to be put up above the desk.

Here is one of two walls of the library. The couch can now be easily pulled out to make a double bed. I'm sure our next lots of guests will enjoy sleeping with this arrangement rather than squeezing around sweaty work-out equipment.

Now it is time to get back to work.

Mi'kmaq Material Culture

I continued my research on the material culture of the Mi'kmaq.
Inspired by the cover of this excellent book by Ruth Holmes Whitehead...

...I worked an image of a bark house in cotton on evenweave canvas.

After more reading...

...I collected materials to represent the ones the Mi'kmaq used in their daily lives.
Now what to do with them?
How can I tell a story about how the Mi'maq lived in the Bay of Fundy? 

The Quilters Hall of Fame

I found this such an interesting book.
I went through it twice, once for the photos and again to read the well written bios of mainly American quilters.

It is a 'Whose Who' of the past and present North American ( mainly) quilt world.
By featuring quilt artists from the early 19th century to the present it also does a very good job putting the contemporary art quilt in its social context and illustrates its historical development.

Mamalilaculla

This is one of the books I read this summer while exploring Canada's Pacific coast: A Curve in Time by M. Wylie Blanchet.
A woman/mother of 5 wrote about her summers exploring the same coast with her children.

One chapter recounts visiting the abandoned First Nation's village Mamalilaculla on Village Island. 

Ron and I visited the island and had a most enjoyable time exploring the remains of the village.

 

A fallen totem pole supports a microcosm of new life.

 

 

Victoria College of Art Library

Over the summer I spent more time organising the college's library.

All of the books on individual artists are grouped and labelled with a bold sticker matching the first letter of the name of the artist.

The rest of the books and magazines are group by the courses taught in the college.

Each course has its own coloured sticker.
The system is proving to be most successful.
The books are being used and they are finding their way home.

ravenmade's books | LibraryThing

ravenmade's books | LibraryThing

Here is something to do in your spare time - catalogue all of your books.

A friend who is moving her library to her new studio put me onto this web-base program that actually does make a quick job of a mammoth task (if you have as many books as I have).

Of course it is a no-brain thing to do when one doesn't have the energy to do anything else or when one should be doing something else.

I made a random start on entering my library but now I have to think through as to how such a catalogue would be useful for my work.

One thought is it may perhaps stop me from buying duplicates of the same book - known to happen occasionally.

I do like the pretty list of covers it assembles.

Textile Arts Library

Here are more books for the Textile Arts section of the Victoria College of Art library.
These classics were donated by Marny and Barbara and are a great addition.
Thank you both.

Donations To Victoria College of Art

Students in the Mark Making with Thread course have been most generous in donating different things to the class sessions and the Textile Arts section of the college library.
Barbara donated this delightful collection of threads in an old Velveeta box. They look as though they have been treasured for many decades and now the students will put the threads to good use.

Barbara also donated this classic counted thread book, which still has much to offer the present day student.

Jo Ann donated another valuable classic - a Canadian edition of the Anchor Thread publication. Its clear drawings and well thought out collection of stitches make it a useful portable reference to carry in a stitching bag.

Jo Ann also donated 2 laminated, quick reference stitch charts that will handle being referred to by many students over the coming years.
Thank you both for your thoughtfulness and generosity.
I'll post about more donations later.

Writing-Reading-Gardening

I haven't posted for a while because i have been spending a lot of time each day editing my dissertation, this semester's module towards my BA.
Last week i received, in the mail, 2 books from Anne Gott in Calgary. She has been following on my blog the reorganisation of the Victoria College of Art library. She noticed the mention of starting a Textile Arts section and sent 2 books as her contribution!
Aren't there some wonderfully generous and caring people out there. And Anne is one of them.
This Colette Wolff book happens to be on the Book List for the 1st 2 courses i am teaching at the college. It came out in 1996 and there hasn't been another book published before or after, on this particular technique, that comes anywhere close to the quality of this one. There is a lifetime of exploration between its covers.
Every time i use this book i get the urge to write to Colette to thank her. Yes, i need to follow through on that urge.

The 2nd book Anne donated is another valuable resource holding its own. It was published in response to schools in the UK expecting textile art students to present their work on worksheets. Later, when I did City and Guilds courses, work was glued directly onto boards. The expectation for this BA degree program is to fill sketchbook after sketchbook with ideas in a more informal presentation People are now interested in the actual process the artist works through.
You may have noticed an increase in the number of art exhibitions where the artist's sketchbooks are included in the display.
It is interesting how things evolve.
What will be next? I have a hunch about what it will be and i will be using it in my classes.

The other activity that has kept me away from my blog is happenings in the garden. I have been waiting for the fall season to experiment with a method to convert a weedy area back to Douglas-fir natives. I pulled out the blackberry and my husband cut short the rampant grass with his trusty weed-eater blade.

We covered the area with newspaper then a layer of soil/mulch.
I don't know how long i have to wait until i will be able to dig through the newspaper to plant natives transplanted from other areas.
I'll keep you posted on how this experiment progresses.