Where the work gets done

Art spaces, studio spaces, the hatching zones of madcap schemes and creative endeavors, this is what MIx Magazine is looking for. MIX is a fantastic arts magazine put together out of Kensington Market (an independent territory of Toronto- about 8 square blocks packed with more nationalities and creative community politics and good ole hippie art vibes then most states and nations, incidentally part of my own growing up history.) Tucked down a wee alley off a mini park there’s a sweet lil garden and a house full of books and sculptures and kids’ costume boxes and wry smarts and laughter where I used to play make believe all day and call it babysitting, and it’s from that nook o goodness that MIX editor Katy McDevitt sent out this call for photos of the spaces that nurture and needle you into creation.

Does a space hold keys and secrets to the artistic processes in it? Does it bear archealogical traces of the mind inside the mess? In a great song he performed last night at the FM HI LOW launch at the Green Room, (our thank gad very last Indyish @ Fringe events) Ben Spencer from Edmonton told a story about peeking into a girl’s room he wasn’t supposed to, said to contain secrets, and he lists what he found in there (an awful breach of trust, but a sweet song and story) and Mix Magazine’s call for pictures of art-makin spaces reminds me of this. Studios and bedrooms and the other places where we make ourselves and keep the secrets of the making have an aesthetic value all their own. This also reminds me of a friend’s grad project, exploring different artists’ sketchbooks, leaving the polished published works to other researchers as he tangled with the traces and attempts. All this to say - the Fringe is over, life continues, we’ll be putting our own Indyish workspace / living space back together over the coming days and heck maybe we’ll even take a picture for Mix Magazine…

Got a kick-ass workspace you’d like to show the world? MIX magazine is looking for images of studios and other workspaces to publish in an upcoming issue of the magazine. We are interested in the studios of visual artists, absolutely, but also keen on acquiring images of the workspaces of other creative people, too. (DJs and turntablists, that for sure means you!)

If you think your workspace is something special to look at, then send a SMALL, LOW-RES image or two for our consideration to:
katy @mixmagazine.com. (Hint: House & Gardens neatness tends not to be all that compelling.)

Deadline: 28 June 2007.