The Studio: a struggle to survive
by BILL HUGHES
Paradise found may become par
adise lost for a group of artists
working in a facility in downtown
Bryan known as The Studio.
For owner Susan Mahoney, it’s a
matter of economic reality.
The financial burden of estab
lishing a new' home in Houston, try
ing to sell her home here, and own
ing and maintaining an artists’
workspace has forced Mahoney’s
hand.
“It’s a very emotional decision,"
Mahoney says. “If I weren’t mov
ing, there’d be no way I’d be giving
it (The Stud io) up.”
Mahoney said the decision was
especially difficult because of the
struggle involved to get The Studio
up and running and to keep it
going with little support from the
community.
She’d like to sell the building to
the artists w r ho now use The Studio.
The artists can pay the rent, but
they’re finding it difficult to come
up with the money for an outright
purchase.
If the artists can’t buy the build
ing, Mahoney says she hopes some
one interested in keeping the fa
cility as an artists’ workspace will
buy it and allow the artists to stay
and pay rent as they’re doing now.
The final option would be to sell
the building to someone who would
want to use it for a purpose other
than art. Although this option
would help Mahoney out of a finan
cial predicament, she says it would
be a painful decision, especially af
ter all of the work that she and the
other artists have put into the fa
cility.
The Studio is located on 26th
Street in downtown Bryan. It was
converted from a former bank
building into an artists’ haven
through Mahoney’s vision and the
perspiration and dedication of a
group of people committed to es
tablishing an art community in
Bryan-College Station.
Mahoney remembers her first
impression of the building.
“It was horrible,” she says.
The paint on the ceiling and
walls was peeling, there was a tat
tered green carpet on the floor, the
rooms in the former bank building
weren’t suitable for artistic pursuits
and there wasn’t any air condition
ing.
Betty Foster, an artist at The Stu
dio, says that Mahoney’s real gift
was being able to see the possibili
ties of the space as an art studio
even though the building was in a
sad state of disrepair.
Mahoney made connections with
other artists in town through word-
of-mouth, and when she decided to
Jbuy the building, the artists were re
ady to pitch in to convert the space
into a workplace for the visual arts.
Walls were torn down, the inte
rior was painted white, a darkroom
was set up and Mahoney’s husband
installed the air conditioning.
The carpet was pulled up, reveal
ing a white pine floor. Yellow with
age, the pine looked hopeless, but
Mahoney talked with restoration
experts in town and found a way to
remove the yellow and restore the
beauty of the floor.
Now when you walk into the
building, there is a large, evenly lit
open space.
Natural light streams in from
windows running the length of the
west side of the building, and the
white walls and light wood floor
contribute to the airy feeling.
Foster, sitting at her easel and
painting a landscape as she talks,
says, “It’s a very practical space, yet
it’s a little bit elegant even though
it’s a workspace.”
Jazz music drifts through the
room as the artists work. Some are
painting, one is teaching a class of
children and others are cutting pat
terns for silk blouses that will be
hand-painted.
“It’s a very synergistic atmosphe
re,” says Mary Ciani Saslow, an art
ist working with oils and oil pastels.
“Someone can have an idea and
someone else will have access to
materials or can help with carrying
the idea through.”
Saslow was the artist-in-residence
in the environmental design de
partment at Texas A&M last year.
“When someone’s teaching at the
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University,” she says, “they get so
much interaction with students and
other faculty that when they work,
they usually want to work alone. It’s
different for artists outside of the
university situation because you
don’t have that constant interaction.
An artist’s life is usually very iso
lated and lonely.”
Saslow says she stumbled onto
The Studio and thought it was per
fect in terms of space and lighting
requirements, as well as being a
place to meet with people who have
similar interests.
“When you work, it’s nice to have
colleagues,” she says.
Lou Egg, who calls herself “a
novice artist,” agrees.
“I’d hate to lose this building,”
she says. “It’s such a good atmo
sphere to be around other artists.
“The first time I came in, I just
knew this was right... it felt good.”
Claire Lawyer, a freelance artist
specializing in photo retouching
and restoration, says The Studio is
“motivation more than anything el
se.”
“If I make the effort to get down
here,” she says, “I’m going to use it
(the workspace). It’s nice to see
other people work and get some
inspiration.”
Lawyer says she doesn’t worry
about losing the building.
“I feel that this will work out — I
want this to work,” she says.
Most of the artists working in
The Studio believe the facility is a
concept that’s long overdue in this
area. Now that they have a place to
work, they’re going to fight to keep
it.
“We looked for a long time be
fore we found a suitable building,”
Saslow says.
Foster is working hard on find
ing a way to buy The Studio be
cause of the difficulty involved in
setting up and maintaining another
space.
“I’ve lived in this community for
about 20 years and I’ve tried about
five or six times to set up some sort
of studio space,” she says. “I found
that if I didn’t own the space that it
always fell through.”
The artists are trying to get a
group of four to six people together
to buy the building and carry the
mortgage as a group. Under this
plan, space would still be available
for other artists to rent.
So, if you’re looking for a home
for your artistic endeavors or just
want to check out part of the local
art scene, the artists at The Studio
say you’re welcome to drop on by.
Artist Betty Foster (left)
wants to keep The Studio as
an artists’ workplace. The
building’s owner has to sell
and time is running out for
the artists who now work
there to come up with a plan
for buying the facility.
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