It has been a long year.
2020 has felt as if we had undergone two decades’ worth of wait for it to come to a close. Throughout the year I have needed a constant reminder of where we had come from, what life was like in the “before times” which I mean to include the time that occurred prior to January 2020.
We saw the beginning of the languish during the fall of 2019 as the global pandemic started to set in, coupled with an election cycle that somehow still isn’t over, and doesn’t look like it will be over even by January 20th.
Throughout it all there has been a steady attempt, on the part of many, to keep moving forward. It has been a slog and we have all felt it. In no way am I attempting to garner any attention or accolades by admitting what we all know, that the past 400 days have been unnaturally different and difficult. Instead I would like to focus on more positive things.
TOIstudio has new and exciting digs that for the past 2 months have been undergoing functional changes(and ignoring any real aesthetic changes). We now have roughly 1000sf of outbuilding for dirty work and 250sf of clean and dry space for electronics and “cleaner” fabrication. Of course, the outbuilding has to sacrifice some space currently for storage thanks to winter, but I am hoping for that to be resolved by the upcoming summer or, I may just try to fill it with things with various types of engines and motors..
We also have some land to play with, to build things on and test, to break things more safely, and to inspire with all the crazy stuff one can find outside if one is willing to look.
What this means, is in between teaching and learning I am going to get to spend a lot more time making things, things I didn’t have the space to make before. It will be less making on paper (or in the digital realm) and more trying to make it in the physical realm. I’m curious to see how this all pans out.
Regardless, 2020 may have been a slog, but it is looking better.
Hope. That’s a nice thing to have again.