Cleveland WorkSpace opening for artists in Old Woolen Mill

The Chattanooga WorkSpace idea is spreading to Cleveland, Tenn., where a pair of artists have created Cleveland WorkSpace inside the Old Woolen Mill downtown.

The space, which has six rental studios available, will hold its grand opening Thursday, June 23, and its first Open Studio Night on Friday, July 8, from 5:30-8:30 p.m.

It’s a relatively simple idea, to bring together a group of like-minded artists renting studio spaces and collaborating on not only their works, but monthly open houses and workshops as well as ideas about how to run a business.

It also gives the artists a place to work other than on their kitchen tables or in their garage.

Artist Claudia Hoffer has joined Jaime Barks as the first artists to rent studio spaces in the building. Hoffer has an online Etsy business where she sells the knitted and crocheted pieces she makes. The WorkSpace gives her a permanent place to work.

“To have a successful Etsy business you have to have photos and listings, and this allows me to have a dedicated space with lights that stay set up,” she says. “And because it’s at the Woolen Mill, I can go outside and have a nice background that is cool and interesting to shoot my clothing pieces.”

The WorkSpace idea is one that Barks, a painter, says is needed in Cleveland.

“I believe that art is central to the human experience and that it helps us to understand and process the world we live in,” she says. “Art gives people a platform to express their hopes, fears and joys.”

Barks worked with community members Key Waller and Joe McCullough to implement the idea, which is modeled after Chattanooga WorkSpace, which opened in 2013 on Sixth Street across from the downtown YMCA.

“They came to us back in January and basically said, ‘Help us do what you guys are doing,” says Kathy Lennon, director of both the Chattanooga and Cleveland facilities. “They want us to parent them, so we are giving them the model and they are doing everything the way we do it.”

That help includes following the same application process used to find working artists who have essentially outgrown their home studios.

“We look for emerging artists who want to participate in an artistic environment and collaborate with other artists,” Lennon says.

The artists also are expected to participate in the monthly Open Studio Nights, which take place on the first Friday of the month in Chattanooga and will take place on the second Friday in Cleveland. Artists from both cities will regularly work together on the events, Lennon says.

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.