Our studio, ready and waiting
Are you a Post Covid artist? And what would that mean for you?
Whilst not presuming to know any individuals personal reality, it seems that we have stared pestilence in the face, contemplated our mortality and carried on painting. Now, as the restrictions are slowly loosening there is a process of assessment, looking at what has changed through necessity and thinking about what might remain changed through choice.
We know that there are artists who would have wrinkled their nose at the idea of painting from a screen who now produce solid works that way. Others have put in place a robust studio routine which will stay with them for years to come. New mediums have been tried, new motifs entertained. Works have sold directly through Instagram, schemes like the Artists support pledge have sustained some and allowed others to snap up some good value originals. Galleries have been mounting online exhibitions and in some cases selling handsomely.
The TV companies have latched on to life drawing and helped to excite interest in drawing and painting and a lot of starters have had a first taste either from TV or on Zoom, where a plethora of models and organisations have been offering online sessions. It looks as if quite a few artists have decided to run workshops and teach too, responding to the enhanced interest in learning to draw and paint.
The arts community on Instagram has grown by more than 20% in the last year and it’s now routine to post your work there and accrue comments and likes, which can feel nice. Some artists may treat their feed like their website and post finished works, others will treat it like a window into their studio, where the artist is as interesting as the work.
The government view that creatives like dancers, should consider going into coding has been firmly inserted back into the orifice from which it emerged. We work with lots of dancers and none of them have become computer programmers! Indeed all the creatives we know have dug in and used the time profitably, affirming old practises and learning new.
If there is one thing that we may all share as post Covid artists, it is that we have had time to consider what is important to us. Knowing that is pungently meaningful.
Joining us in the studio
It has been so good to have people back in the studio. Our studio is Covid secure with PVC screens and good ventilation. The new arrangements mean that we can only have thirteen artists at a time so we are now never crowded. We used to like a good throng but now that thronging has become illegal, on the bright side, you’re sure of a clear view of the model and some personal space. We still serve excellent coffee in old fashioned cups with proper biscuits and cakes and our artists are a self-selecting bunch of excellent people, winningly friendly and fabulously talented.
So do think of coming to see us, Wednesday mornings and Tuesday afternoons have plenty of spaces available and all of the evening life drawing sessions have spaces too.