Making Space for Creativity

Having space to be creative is important; be that a physical space, time to be creative or emotional space to be creative. Creativity is so good in terms of boosting mental wellbeing and giving enjoyment to many people. Using your hands to make something is a real confidence boost and if you choose to gift your make then that's passing on joy too.

Not everyone has an actual physical space to create in, which can make it difficult to work for long times. Then there's the thought of getting all the materials out and setting up to have to pack down again. When I first began to work with textiles I used to use the dining table, so I completely see how a lack of space would stop anyone from being creative.

To overcome this you can be creative in different ways - for instance I did lots of hand embroidery as I could sit with just a few threads and fabrics on a chair in the lounge and work rather than having to set up a machine. It wasn't perfect, but a good compromise. Also, keeping all you need for a project in a box together is a way of making it seem easier to set up and tidy away afterwards.

I was fortunate enough to be able to move into a small summer house in our garden, which was just 7ft by 7ft - but to me it was perfect! I had to be organised over what I put in there and really think what was important. Although it was a tiny space, I produced all of my art college work in there - most of which was large scale.

If you don't have your own space to be creative in, is there a small area of a room you could use? Even if that's a space under the stairs, or a desk in the corner of a bedroom. It's amazing what you can fit into a tiny space with some storage and planning!

When we relocated to the North East, there wasn't room to put the summer house in our new garden, so for the first time I rented a studio. This is it above, during the moving in stage. It was a beautiful room to work in, with so much light and a small room off to one side as well as the main space. Here, I taught workshops as well as created my artwork, did the admin and all the other things that it takes to run a business. There were other artists in the building and that was great as inspiration and also to be with others who understood what I was doing. Part of me still misses this as a studio space.

This was a larger space than I'd had before, yet I still found having suitable storage and spaces to keep everything was necessary.

Whilst in this studio I began to think on a wider scale and left here to set up Articentric, a community interest company that delivered arts workshops and was also a small gallery. Articentric isn't currently active due to lack of affordable space.

When Articentric lost affordable space I moved into a new studio in Staithes. I enjoyed being here, though there wasn't any room to hold workshops. This was a space where I could create my work and also sell it. It was very busy and whilst it was fabulous to meet people I did find it hard to be creative at the same time. Around about this time, I began to do more and more community arts work and decided that this was important to me. I was at the studio less and less, so made the choice to leave and look for somewhere closer to home.

Through this studio experience, I learnt that it was necessary for me to have some quiet periods where I wasn't disturbed in my creative process and also that teaching others and facilitating community arts projects was where I wanted to be. I also discovered that travelling a fair amount of time each day to a studio didn't work for me and that having 'opening' times wasn't for me. I like the freedom of being able to choose which projects I work on and to be able to travel to those if needed.

So, here I am in this studio, which I find to be perfect for me. It's a few minutes walk from where I live. It isn't open to visitors so I have the freedom to travel and work on projects. The studio is the largest space I've ever had to work in and I can have spaces for embroidery and more 'clean' projects as well as an area for the more messy activities like printing and dyeing fabrics. There's also a space for my son who is home educated to work here. It's a stand alone studio, not in with anyone else and so I have the quiet to be creative when needed, yet I have a network of artists I can meet up with when I need some inspiration. For me, this works much better than I could have imagined.

Do I regret the other studios? No, they provided me with the chance to work out what was right for me and what I needed to be creative. That's what I'd encourage you to do; take some time to work out what you need in your space - do you need to be with others or alone? Do you need a larger space or are you more comfortable in a cosy nook somewhere? We're all different and what works for one won't necessarily work for another.

I'd love to hear about your creative spaces, leave a comment below to tell me about your creative space or the creative space you would have if you could. If you don't have your own space, how do you get around that and make time to be creative?