Production space hopes to build artistic community
Art school comes with access to equipment and a community of other artists for critiques and collaborations. It’s harder to find those things after a degree. Local printmaker Michael Peterson wants to change that.
Peterson and his business partner Crystal Bueckert (of Storefront and BLDG Studio) recently opened Creative Commons YXE to address the needs of artists, particularly those who work in printmaking. The 1,250-square-foot production space includes an etching press and room for workshops and small events. It will eventually have a small wood shop.
“I remember when I was a student talking to others approaching graduation who would switch their focus from printmaking to a painting or drawing practice because they wanted to do something they could continue after school,” said Peterson.
Peterson hopes access to a fullsized press (something very few individual artists own) will allow printmakers to continue in that medium. It took five people to move the heavy piece of machinery into the second-storey space, a second-hand model purchased by the Ink Slab print collective and moved from its former home in the Tees and Persse building.
Creative Commons YXE is about providing opportunities for emerging artists. It’s a philosophy Peterson began with Void Gallery, which is housed in the bottom floor of the space on Avenue B. The gallery, which recently moved from its original home on Eighth Street, shows early career artists that might not otherwise have a place to display their work.
Peterson said the gallery got applications at increasingly early stages of artists’ careers. Some of them weren’t ready to show their work, but he wanted to do more than give them a rejection letter. Creative Commons YXE is a place where they can develop their work.
It’s also a space for newcomers to explore creativity.
“If you come to the gallery you can view art and if you really like something you can buy art, but Creative Commons is about trying to create more of an experience out of it. How can someone who doesn’t have training come and be involved in art and create their own expressions?” Peterson said.
People can access the studio and equipment on a monthly membership basis. They will be available starting in May with several different options depending on an individual’s needs and schedule.
Regular programming is still developing, but the venue plans to run artist critiques on a monthly basis and maker’s nights every two weeks. Creative Commons’ first set of workshops sold out. More are available on picatic.com.
Though there is studio space available elsewhere in Saskatoon, Peterson wanted to create a space where people could collaborate on larger projects.
“People sometimes want to be that romantic artist alone in the studio and I’m not sure how well that works,” he said.
He also wants to create overlap between different artistic disciplines. Creative Commons will host its first concert on April 23. Peterson said he’s open to the space being used for many different types of creativity. The space is available to rent.
“Maybe there’s more overlap between these creative disciplines than we think. Hopefully this can be a communal space where there could be some of that mixing,” he said. “It would be interesting to see what we could learn from each other’s processes.”
It was important to the space’s founders that the division between artist and member of the community be lessened.
The space will also serve to teach things beyond the practice of making art. In September, in collaboration with the Saskatchewan Craft Council, Creative Commons will offer professional practices workshops on everything from approaching a gallery to writing a grant to hanging a show.