Spring Brings Big Changes at Williams Mill

Over the past 10 years as a resident artist at Williams Mill Visual Arts Centre, I’ve noticed a peculiar trend.  For some reason, every spring several artists would move around, move in or move out of their studios to prepare for the year ahead.  I called it “musical studios”, and I could never guess who would be the next artist to change spaces, join or rejoin our group, or decide to move on.

This spring at Williams Mill will live up to past trends, and in fact, the changes will be nothing short of huge.  It appears that there will be big changes coming to the lower level of the yellow building, prompting artists to move into other studio spaces within the venue.  While I’m not at liberty to say what all the changes will be at this point, one thing is for certain, there will be big changes coming for me.

Over the past few years, my online business has continued to grow.  In fact, over the past two years, it has become my primary source of income.  With this in mind, along with other changes occurring in the Stone Building, I’ve made the very difficult decision to move out of Williams Mill into a private studio so I can focus on production and growing and improving my online presence.

For the past 10 years, Williams Mill has been my “happy place” where I grew creatively into the artist I am today.  The camaraderie of the artist community has enabled me to blossom and flourish both artistically and as a businessperson.  I will always cherish my time at Williams Mill and the many artists and visitors I’ve met will forever be in my heart.  I’ve had the nicest group of clients I could ever hope for and am so grateful for their support as well. Even so, I hear the whispering in the spring winds telling me that it’s time to move on to grow my business and to make way for other artists to spread their wings in the studio space I occupied for so long.

Although I will be in the process of moving my studio out of the stone building at the Mill over the month of April, my fiber art, jewellery and bookbinding will still be available in the gallery. I intend to maintain a strong bond with the Mill.  I will be available to clients by appointment in my new home studio, and of course, I will be expanding my online selection of work in a big way.

If you should visit the Mill within the next couple of months, do be patient during these growing pains. There will likely be some inconveniences for a time, but once this year’s game of “musical studios” is done, the experience of visiting Williams Mill will no doubt be better than ever.