NEW STUDIO!!!

So, the BIG NEWS is I’ve moved into a NEW STUDIO SPACE!!  This is super duper exciting for me!

I had only been in my previous studio space since last April but was already quickly outgrowing it, and was starting to feel claustrophobic and unhappy there.   My previous studio was in a small corner of an unfinished warehouse shared by ~30 other artists.  Most other artists and tenants there had day jobs and were hardly ever there.  The space was very affordable, which made it appealing at the time I moved in, but I knew it was only a short term solution.  If my business continued to grow it was not a place I pictured myself for long.  The  biggest factor motivating me to leave was the lack of space.  It was also dirty, unfinished, there was not enough light nor was there any privacy. Needless to say, I was definitely ready for a change.

The new space is large and spacious with windows everywhere and lots of natural light.  There’s an extra hallway with storage, a kitchen area, a living area with a couch and it even comes with a kitten, Tiger. The best part is I’ll be sharing the space with two wonderful women and fellow letterpress printers, Reba from Rar Rar Press and Kimberly from Daily Sip Studios.  Reba and I were in the same MFA program at Columbia College (she was a few years ahead of me) and we used to see each other printing in the studios all the time (before we both made the leap to owning our own presses). Kimberly had a studio space adjacent to me in my previous studio situation.

Reba and I would see each other at craft fairs all the time and last November at the DIY trunk show she approached me about moving in with her.  Of course the holidays were crazy for both of us and the project got side tabled for December.  When we finally connected in January I saw the space I knew it was exactly what I had been looking for!  Private, cleaner, bigger, more windows, room to grow AND with another letterpress printer.  I don’t think I could ask for more.   I then approached Kimberly about joining us in the move.  She said yes and everything else quickly fell into place over the last few weeks.

I moved all my smaller stuff in last week and then yesterday (Monday January 23rd) on a cold, rainy day in Chicago my 1,800 lbs Chandler Price Model-n and Kimberly’s 800 lbs Vandercook SP-15 made the journey to Pilsen to their new home.  Below are some photos of the move taken with my camera phone.  I plan on taking some better pix of the new space in the coming days for now I leave you with this.

AND —  once everything is moved in and the dust has settled you all are welcome to come visit an open house!

getting put up on skates - easier to roll to the truck

on skates and ready to rock and roll

loading from the freight elevator to the truck (temps quickly dropping)

being positioned in the new space, almost lowered to the ground

finally in place!

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Penelope loves her new home!