Wednesday, May 8, 2013

industrial paned windows, steel holding the glass in place.  looking into stone concrete brick.  housing fascinating but inexplicable machinery, boilers, dials, iron wheels.  or the rusty remnants of the machinery that has been removed.  these buildings are most lovely to me.  i'm drawn to these industrial spaces of rust and grit and glass more naturally than to all the swoony pinterest rooms.  we walk past a block of these buildings every day, ezra and i, and i always stare in the windows, wishing i could walk in and absorb it all. with my little watercolor box and a camera.
i have a little place i go in my mind....a studio i had in college.  i have spent my life collecting spaces.  spaces i've loved.  and this is one of my jewels.  a low brick building.  a bit like a concrete barn.  but with a wall of steel paned windows.  facing a patch of grass and another identical twin of a building.  inside there was a wall of glass block separating the main room from a smaller one.  the floor was gritty.  and the light was everywhere.  gorgeous cascading light.  it was isolated, on the very edge of campus, and i could be there for hours and hours without being found.  music would pulse against the walls.  dora maar (my first great dane) would be there with me.  and i would work with no concept of time.  just a girl in an empty boiler room with her dog, david bowie and paintings.
so these buildings i walk past every day feel a little like if i walked in i could lose myself to that youthful girl, like the wheels and dials and rusty pipes may be my own personal back to the future.  

1 comment:

  1. "Collecting spaces" is a wonderful phrase--I do that too. I also love industrial spaces.

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