The Atelier
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
Many years ago, I spent as much time as possible in the printmaking workshop.
It was the place where my favorite people were. We weren’t necessarily friends outside the workshop, but we were companions, fellow artists, and we worked with each other, helping, talking, keeping each other company through the long process of creating a print. In a printmaking workshop, community is the guiding principle.
Once I graduated, I lost the printmaking workshop. But some years later, I started Mixta Gallery and built my workshop there. My friend Josue Guarionex often joined me to carve a woodcut, and other friends came for workshops or events. My soul was always happiest among people working on their creations.
For many years, after college, I worked mostly alone in my studio in the top floor of my house. But it was large enough to do workshops and gatherings. And it was so nice to have friends and clients join me there to sit surrounded by art and share poetry or simply talk about ideas. I once taught a book-making workshop where we laughed for 7 hours straight while creating books.
There is nothing like being with people working together in a workshop environment.
An atelier, a bottega, a workshop, is where art is created surrounded by community. It’s a place to gather, to create, and grow in the company of your tribe.
I recently rediscovered the power of the atelier because I have been creating at the Rafael Tufiño Printmaking Workshop, located at El Barrio’s Art Space in East Harlem (my old neighborhood). I was invited to join a group of artist gathered by Nitza Tufiño, artist and daughter of Rafael Tufiño.
It’s a great project and I was lucky to be invited to join, although I have to confess that I almost quit before starting. My excuses were that I am incredibly busy, tired, and overwhelmed, and the two-hour round trip felt daunting…
But in the true spirit of a workshop member, my friend Minerva, one of the artists members of the workshop, didn’t allow me to quit. She insisted, and called me, and patiently continued to lure me into the workshop. And once there, I felt the seduction of the atmosphere of the atelier.
Once again, I found the environment of camaraderie and community. Most of the printmakers are retired, over 65. But they are definitely not retired! They are like serious children playing and working diligently on their creations. And helping each other. And joking, playing music and bringing food to share.
It’s impossible not to fall in love.
It’s like finding your old passion and letting it ignite again. At first it seems your love is dead. But then, a kiss brings back everything that was never gone.
I often feel that we are living in a world where connection with other people is a challenge, a luxury even. But all of a sudden, in this workshop, I felt as if I had stepped back into the 90’s, back in the printmaking workshop, back with my friend Khadir, who helped me carry lithography stones. Back with my 70 year old friend Anne, a photographer who seemed to live right there in the studio because she never seemed to leave. Back with Mary, a grandma. With our teacher, Michi Itami, from Berkeley, who fostered camaraderie with every gesture.
The atelier may be the answer to the loneliness, to the lack of social connection and isolation that we are all facing more and more each day as our world changes into a digital version of reality that hooks us but does not nourish us.
Now that I am a regular person who works full time, I accept that I think about retirement a lot. But I also confess that when I was a full time artist, I felt the opposite. I felt with my entire being that I would never want to retire, I would never want to stop. And, of course, the reason why I want to retire is so I can continue creating full time, so I can keep going until I have no more body. Until I have no more mind and only my spirit remains.
And that’s the retirement I wish for myself and for everyone. A renewed life, a connected existence that takes root in creativity and community. With someone always there to help place a paper on an inked plate, and who celebrates the results with you.
Get inspired, Creative Soul:
And listen to the whispers of your being. Write:
Comments