I’m taking part in a Studio Tour!
Updated 10/18/2023 -
I wanted to let you know that I won’t be in the tour after all. Just a quick note to let you know that I’ve had to drop out due to a death in the family. I’ll write more later, but now is time for family and coming together to mourn the passing of my mother-in-law.
With Love,
Katerina
Hey guess what?
I’m participating in my first-ever Studio Tour! I’m kind of nervous. This will be the first time I’m inviting the public to visit my studio — the space where I work and create and play.
Even though I’ve led workshops, this is different. I’m stepping out of the workshop leader role and into being me, an artist. It’s nerve-wracking. I’m also excited.
Knowing YOu’re coming is motivating!
I need deadlines and knowing that someone is coming to visit always motivates me to get going on those projects I put off. Things like organizing and making pretty and setting up the space in a way I really like rather than what normally happens—which is that life happens and I put those things off. Are you like that too?
I realized a long time ago, and accepted, that I need to invite people into my space. It gives me that deadline. It also gives me a reason big enough to help me focus. It works for me.
i love Being part of an artist community
I also realized long ago that belonging to a group of artists matters. Being a part of a community where we come together and share about our art and support each other in our artmaking journeys — that matters.
It helps me to show up in the ways I want to show up. Belonging to communities where we have a common goal — to be and live as artists — nourishes me in a way that solitary artmaking does not. I mean, I do a lot of that. Making art in my journals and altered books and all the things I can get my hands on to play with. But, it’s not the same as belonging to a community of makers.
We are artists, learning and playing together
I love that the artists range from a teenager still in high school to retired folks who found art late in life, or re-found art after leaving their “professional” jobs and everything in between. This group, the Muddy Creek Artists Guild, is made up of artists of all kinds. Photographers and printmakers, oil painters and mixed media artists (like me), Sculpture artists and felters and bookmakers and jewelers and more. We learn from each other and we play together and most importantly, there is a knowing when we come together.
We need creativity just like we need community
We are creatives and this matters. So often, art is met with the feeling that it's an extra thing. Don’t get an art degree. You’ll never make money. Get a real job. The starving artist. These are all culturally accepted sayings that turn into beliefs we hold and use to stop ourselves from even thinking, I’m an artist.
Art, the creative process,
is foundational to our wellbeing.
It’s why I studied art therapy rather than just therapy.
The creative drive is innate in all of us. It shows up in various ways but it is a thing that, when nurtured and supported, especially in our communities, is a life-giving force.
Come See me in my studio on october 21–22
So. I’d love to see you if you happen to be in Anne Arundel County, Maryland on October 21st and 22nd. Come see the space where I create. I’ll have another artist sharing her work too. She’s a jeweler and we just met and I can’t wait to get to know her better. This is what happens when we show up in places where we feel that sense of belonging. We get to expand and others do too.
And because I have a deadline, I'll be working on art and space and all the things to get ready rather than putting off and waiting. It’s a win-win.
Be sure to check out the events page for a link to more information!
Hope to see you soon.
