Wednesday's Weekly: The Home of Art House • Art House Co-op

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Wednesday’s Weekly: The Home of Art House

[Art House HQ; Brooklyn, NY]

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the physical & ideological structures that surround us. The most predominant, perhaps, over the course of a lifetime is the home. The Free Dictionary online defines “home” as:

an environment offering security and happiness
a dwelling place together with the family or social unit that occupies it
the place where something is discovered, founded, developed, or promoted
and a headquarters or home base.

[2012 Sketchbook by artist Grace Gonzalez; “Writing on the Wall”]

It’s probably no big surprise that someone working at a place called “ART HOUSE” might muse on such topics, since the name already suggests physical structure. And in a sense we’re quite aptly named, being a place where art is literally housed, or protected. But lately I’ve found myself more interested in thinking about the ways in which a house can also be a home, and what the differences between the two might be.

As part of this new Wednesday’s Weekly blog post, I want to open up the literal and metaphorical doors of Art House, and give our community members a chance to peek inside the inner workings of this creative operation. So what better place to start than with the building itself?

[2012 Sketchbook by artist Stephen B. Moore; “Encylopedia of”]

I would have to admit that I feel, generally speaking, that the Art House headquarters does indeed “provide a sense of security & happiness” to the hard-working Art House staffers. While the building itself is old, spooky, and inhabited by strange people that harken to that old saying — “ONLY in New York…” — and therefore probably is not the epitome of physical security, we are a very happy bunch here inside our cozy loft. Here are the cheerful Art House letters that greet us each day inside the door:

Now let’s get a bird’s-eye view on this place:

If I compare our building to a living organism — or a person, or an ecosystem of sorts — then the roof would correlate to the crown chakra, which is the energy center associated with consciousness and the ability to connect with other energies/entities.

I love this comparison and the meanings it evokes, because being on a rooftop in New York City is one of the best ways to feel connected with the millions of people surrounding you, all at once. Suddenly the street view becomes bird’s-eye, and you get the chance to appreciate your larger home, expanded.

Our roof is a strange place where odd, no-longer-used structures reside; sentinels of a bygone era. A water tower, strange pipes that lead to no where, a small cabin-like structure covered with bright grafitti; and beyond, Manhattan, the Williamsburg Bridge segmenting the city, and the Empire State Building.

[ABOVE: the former Gretsch factory is an iconic Williamsburg landmark; throughout much of the 1900s it produced professional-quality drums and other musical instruments. This area does have a history of dabbling in the arts.]

So that’s what’s at the the top of this establishment … now what about the juicy insides, the heart, what makes this place tick? Rooftops and chakras aside, what else about our Art House makes it a real home?

Indeed a social unit resides here, which would be our small staff (of big, beautiful personalities). As I’m writing this Veronica, our newest addition, just walked in the door and asked me, “Did you miss me?” I wasn’t sure what she meant exactly, but of course I replied, “Do you even need to ask?”

It’s that kind of place, and I feel lucky to spend time here each day.

Umm, but what about the SKETCHBOOKS?! Don’t we give them a home too?

This may be the most important piece of the whole house = home puzzle. The Art House home wouldn’t exist without the community that occupies it, and that community doesn’t just include myself and the other Art House staffers … it’s really all about the thousands of artists whose work finds a home in our sketcbooks and our archive.

A home where tens of thousands of people make art. I love thinking about it that way.

So in closing for the first of Wednesday’s Weekly Art House exposés, I’ll leave you with some of the houses I found residing here at home base, plucked from within the amazing 2012 sketchbook submissions that have been trickling in. Keep’um comin’, you fine artists … we’re always in need of new art in our house!

From our home to yours,

Caitlin & the Art House Staff