Dismantling the studio

Building 101 of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard artists studios is getting new windows. All the artists in the building have to clear everything away from all the walls with windows. They declared the building 'historical' and they are giving us new windows and not tearing down the building. We are all really happy that perhaps we'll be able to stay after all, in this fantastic building, in this fantastic artist community. The new windows are redwood which seems like a crime, historical or not.

Luckily they scheduled the work between two of our open studios. The picture here is from our spring open studio which was quite crowded Friday night, Saturday and somewhat on Sunday. It was fun as usual and I met some nice new people.

I have already taken down the two large walls that I built a few years ago, and the flimsy closet that is barely attached to the wall. And this weekend have to start removing the rack that I built in the corner when I moved into this studio. It took me weeks to build it with several incidents of drill or hammer falling on my head and many many stripped screw heads. I was inspired by the giant rack that Ferlinghetti has in his studio--he will be moving his as well.

I am hoping I can just take it out in one corner and put it right back into another corner. Not sure if it will be that easy. It was never measured...just sort of eyeball construction. Can I reuse all the holes that were already drilled into the wood? Will they be sturdy?

I'll be moving all the paintings at least twice...a bit nerve-wracking, but hopefully nothing will get damaged and I will find some that I can destroy or paint over or give to auctions. Hopefully they won't have my studio wide open to the rain or wind very long.

Then I guess cover everything with plastic and wait for the dust to settle.

Will be painting outdoors in the meantime or working on a book project.