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  • Inviting the Waste of Studio Practice: Cala Coats and Alison Shields in Conversation
  • Cala Coats and Alison Shields

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Studio as a place to escape to . . .

Studio as a place I nest . . .


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Studio as the world around us . . .

Studio as connection to land . . .

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Studio as emergent . . .

Studio as possibilities . . .


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Studio as traveling ideas . . .

Studio as thinking and being . . .

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We had very little knowledge of each other’s work or artistic practice before our first meeting. We immediately realized our mutual interest in spaces where “making” occurs. I discussed my doctoral work traveling across Canada visiting over 125 artists’ studios, exploring these spaces inhabited for the purpose of art making. Cala and I discussed how I was interested in these studio spaces not simply for the paintings produced there, but rather for the ways that making art transformed the space. I am intrigued by the ways that old factories, schools, churches, garages, basements, and department stores turn into a space that is always changing. They exist somewhere between fact and fiction, between real and imaginary, through the objects that inhabit the space. We immediately saw a connection between my investigation into studio spaces and her research into other types of maker spaces. I was particularly drawn in by stories she told about going into an old missile base, which also had been transformed through making.

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Through the experiences working with makers, I realized each home was an assemblage of our combined energy, entangled with the residual history of the space, made tangible through the intensity of our interactions. The homes were alive, active, and affective. They had a life that exceeded their use. Paradoxically, the spaces triggered an awareness of their material boundaries as merely temporary enclosures. The force of our experience in the home, like that of the studio, leaves the boundaries of that space and is carried with us—I began to see the studio space as any space where we realize an encounter with emergent thought.

As we talked, we sought out intersections and connections between ways we may conceptualize a studio as not simply a room, but rather as a way of thinking and a way of being. Following our conversation, we exchanged images of our notebooks. One question that appeared in each of our notes was: [End Page 104]

Where does a studio emerge?


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Finding time

Emergent thinking on a drive.


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Moments of rupture

Creative encounters with discarded materials.


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Wandering mind

Traveling across Canada visiting artists’ studios.


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Wasting time

Getting lost in the exploration of others’ spaces of making.

Our conversations continually led us to the idea of “wasted time”—which took the form of wonder, experimentation, and making work that won’t be published or shown. We discussed how the work of thinking can appear idle and unproductive, and realized that “wasting time,” in the form of sitting with an idea, allowing our minds to wander, and following curious paths of inquiry are critical to any creative practice.

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As a person with children, I find that long-term engagement is difficult. I don’t have a space designated solely for art making or creative practice. That being said, the omission of a designated space has created a more focused awareness of what I [End Page 105] identify as creative encounters —acute moments of rupture and idea generation. I must record them in some way—typically on scraps of paper, scribbled mind maps, or photographs of a moment that seem to follow me and litter the spaces that serve other functions in my life.

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I do need that physical studio space, partially because I paint. I find when I move somewhere I find a studio before I even find a home as that makes me feel more grounded in a place. And I tend to organize my time so that I get all my...

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