App essay excerpt

Operating out of the completed HerrSuite Mobile Studio as I envision it will make my current workflow easier and simpler, establish HerrSuite as a visible, independent, professional part of Richmond’s art community, create flexibility in the communities that I engage with, and facilitate collaboration between HerrSuite and others, allow me to participate more often and more effectively in events like demos, workshops, art fairs, etc, and lastly, embody an attitude of intentional and adventurous life and work which I will endeavor to display prominently as an example and inspiration.

I see an opportunity for the mobile studio to act as a sort of coworking pod for HerrSuite I’ll be able to work in Scott’s Addition and share resources with Art on Wheels one week, roll up to Church Hill to work with Arts in the Alley for the weekend, and maybe park at Gather or 804RVA to work on my website and finances and connect with other designers and entrepreneurs. Where artists’ studios can often be isolated places for reasons of location cost or messy materials, a mobile studio immediately offers a whole map of accessible locations and communities.

By the same token, this studio will facilitate HerrSuite’s presence at events like art fairs, maker demonstrations, community workshops and lectures, festivals, etc. In the past I have presented talks or demonstrations about mural painting and entrepreneurship at RVA MakerFest 2014 and 2015, Arts on the Grove, Gather’s Maker Series, the Children’s Museum, and RVA Makers meetups, among others. I plan on continuing to do this, for which being able to show off an entire working artist’s studio on location at an event will be a powerful tool.

The mobile studio will also allow me to pursue ways of interacting with the world as an artist that are new and different, not just to me but to muralists as a whole. This will be a unique vehicle. This uniqueness is not necessarily an end to itself, but a gateway to leading a lifestyle that embraces adventure, exploration, creativity, and storytelling. I believe that an invaluable part of our creative community is its members willingness to intentionally live a life worth telling stories about, and then follow through and tell them in a way that brings new insight about life’s possibilities and the human experience into the world.

A successful outcome of this project will be not only a vehicle that provides a practical solution to a personal challenge, but an adventure machine in which I can embody that willingness. While this studio will be crafted to my specific needs, I expect to promote this project in order to make myself a highly visible example of several things: 1) a self-supporting and self-employed young woman with 2) a project-based career who has 3) a creative approach to a unique challenge which demonstrates 4) small-spaces possibilities in an urban location.