I rediscovered recently, while talking to Dee, Abi and Kezia (my fellow AA2A artists at University of Bedfordshire, Luton) that where I work is really important to me and my art practice.
Its not really the actual physical space that I find important. I currently work in a shed (which I gloriously title my studio), part of a garage, bits of my home, even in a marquee in the garden when I need more space or am doing particularly messy sculpture work, and when I can I work direct in a local forest.
What is important is that I get to spend enough time in the space to make it 'mine' ... my energy, my creativity - building a rapport between me and the physical environment I'm working in. Thinking about it as I write, this is totally connected with how I see, and what I want to express in, my work - the whole scientific/mythical connection with the world around us and how we explore, explain and relate to it is also wrapped up in my relationship with the creative environment I'm working in.
This is a rather unexpected and potentially awkward thing to rediscover at this stage in my residency. I really want to commit time to spend at the Uni in Luton, but I can't just pop in and out and at the same time be creative - it just isn't me.
I've realised that I need to order my time - some spent at home (like right now) working in a familiar zone on unfamiliar things (bringing my graphics experience of Adobe Illustrator into my art practice), but also making sure I spend some very concentrated time in the studios at Luton, actually working on weaving the sculptures and developing my ideas ... this will be much easier once I have the materials (see the lasercutter blog post).
UPDATE:
An unfortunate and negative outcome of my thoughts on working in the studios in Luton - my work and that of another AA2A artist were taken down from the space we were working in. Apparently a misunderstanding but no communication directly from the Uni and it has made me feel even more unable to make their space 'mine' ...
