There’s something different about having people in the studio. And I don’t mean “different” in a vague, poetic way. I mean it in a “oh, this is actually what I’ve been missing” kind of way.
Not a gallery, not a fair. Just the actual space where the work happens. The paint on the floor, the pieces I’m not sure about yet, the general organised chaos that I’ve decided to call “my process.” All of it visible.
On April 11th I opened the studio on Coll del Portell. I didn’t know exactly how many people would show up. Turns out: enough to make it feel alive.
For years I painted at home. It worked, until I realised it was also keeping everything quietly contained. The work existed, but the conversations around it barely did. Having a studio with an actual door you can open changes things in ways you don’t fully see coming.
My friend Eleonora was on the music. Painters I’d never met before walked in and stayed way longer than expected. Collectors I’d only ever emailed were suddenly standing in front of the real thing, not a JPEG. The Floral Arrangements pieces were up. People had opinions. Good ones.
But the part I didn’t see coming: I’d also invited the people who make this whole thing run, Roger who does the printing of my limited edition prints, Martha one of my daughter’s teachers who also happens to run her own art gallery (yes, really), Jou the woman from Mail Boxes who handles my very delicate shipments. Not everyone could make it. But the ones who did, I realised I’d never actually talked to them. Like, properly. Normally you’re in transactional mode: quick, efficient, on to the next thing. Give these people an afternoon with good music and wine and suddenly you’re having a real conversation.
Turns out every artist who works alone has an invisible team. I just finally got to meet mine.
I also learned some things about logistics, which sounds boring but isn’t: afternoons are better, weekends work, and sending reminders more than once is not annoying, it’s necessary. Noted for next time.
And there will be a next time.
More to come this summer
