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Birth & Death of Art Colonies — The Smaller Picture pg235
Colorful companion to my memoir The Incompetent Psychic
2003–2004
Jobs to estimate, signs to paint and Benicia Artists Open Studios was coming up again in May. Earnings from the previous lucrative year had zero’d the debt, bought an iMac and gotten me through a winter of experimenting with new techniques. The last of it paid for Paris, then ran out during my two week vacation coughing into a pillow. All that right up to the sick part was great. Now I was back to the monthly scramble for income. I wandered into the disheveled studio to see what I had painted over the winter. Open Studios is held the first weekend of every May. It’s a pretty big deal that forces at least seventy artists to clean up their shit every spring. — From Chapter 13
The huge Civil War-era arsenal by the industrial port on the waterfront of Benicia, California was converted to five warehouses of artist live/work space in the 80s, and has been a thriving creative colony ever since. This vibrant community is anchored by Arts Benicia Center Gallery and its arts education facility in the Commanding Officer’s Quarters.
How do art colonies become creative, economic and politically progressive hubs? Woodstock NY, Sedona AZ, Taos NM and Benicia CA come to mind. Is there…
