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June 17, 2009
Strand Loft Project
For at least 18 years I have worked on projects somewhat art related, but categorized more in the “faux finish” variety. Not necessarily something I have advertised, as I felt it had little to do with my fine art - although some have been murals - which is close. However, there is something to be said for the experience of each project I take on, not to mention the effects on personal monetary gain. As one client said to me recently, “ it’s your bread and butter.” Yes, it most definitely helps.
Every artist needs their bread and butter, and hopefully it comes through their creative process, either in a sale, a stipend, award money and/or perhaps a nice fat grant. Maybe a collector would decide to help sponsor the artist... how nice to have such a set up, so that the artist can continue pursuing her passion. I sometimes feel that hoping for this kind of thing is liken to a young woman looking for the handsome prince to ride up on a white horse to come save her – that perfect relationship syndrome that most of us learn to be a broken fairy tale.
Without getting too attached to the idea of covering the issue of keeping an artist alive, I thought I would share photos of one of my recent projects I completed in Galveston this week. It was a project I originally did 15 years ago... yikes! I was reminded by the building manager of the exact year. I was called this past March and asked if I could “redo” the Strand Lofts. Puzzled by the question, I was quickly brought back to my senses when the voice on the phone said “Ike”.
Located at 2400 Mechanic St., just one block away and parallel to the Strand, this building was converted into loft apartments with the beautiful character of its’ historic turn-of-the-century flavor combined with the open concept of contemporary loft living. Even though it sits quite high off the street, it had 4’ of water in its’ lobby after the surge came ashore last year, obviously destroying walls in the process – not to mention all else that had to be replaced.... huge undertaking, to say the least.
Galveston does seem to have a lot of reconstruction going on, which was very encouraging to see, even though I am most certain that I personally would not be building my home on any coastal piece of land. If I were to consider such a thing, at least I would build it solid enough to withstand hurricane winds and flooding... however that could be accomplished.
At any rate, it felt good to bring life back into this old building... and color! It feels like the heart of the building began to beat again, and as I worked on the lobby and entrance hallway, more people looked through the front glass doors and proceeded to inquire about the vacancies... and then rented on the spot! I think it is in direct relation to the painting, not to give my work too much credit, but it is odd that in this past week they nearly filled all vacancies!
For now, this artist is pleased to have another project under her belt and more bread and butter to continue feeding her fine art career. As another project comes right behind this one, she is dancing as fast as she can for studio time to be ready for her show in early September.... oh my, so much to do!
Posted by kay at 03:05 PM | Comments (0)