TOLEDO – In a tucked-away downtown warehouse space above the Blarney Irish Pub, four artists have joined forces to create a studio that fosters collaboration and creativity.
The studio, now known as Stu’s House, began in August after artist Tayler Meinen got permission from the owners of the Blarney, where she works, to use the space for her artistry.
Luke Stoeckley got to know Lee Harms and KP Pace, the other members of Stu’s House, through the B Team Bike Club, and knew they were looking for studio space to work on their art.
Meinen said she had previously worked with Luke, who was a part of the mural they both worked on at St. Paul’s United Methodist on Madison [Ave].
“We brainstormed a few months ahead of time before we started painting. We collaborated, and we just worked really well together. I knew I wanted someone I worked well with, and he was the first one that came to my brain,” she said.
Stu’s House is currently a studio, but they have plans to add a gallery.
The four artists work both individually and collaboratively to produce art, and they have big plans for the future of Stu’s House.
“We are hoping to open our gallery on March 22. We are going to call it Stu’s Housewarming, and have works from all four of us, all of the resident artists,” Meinen said.
In addition to art galleries, Meinen said Stu’s House is hoping to host other events in their gallery space, such as yoga classes and local art shows. The resident artists work with a variety of mediums, including textiles, glass, spray paint, pastels, acrylics and more.
“All four of us haven’t made one piece together, but Lee and I share the space and materials,” Pace said.
“I also know we have plans to collab on a piece or two for our studio opening, all four of us, so we are excited to see what that turns out to be like,” added Meinen.
While they work collaboratively, they agreed it is not necessarily because they are working on the same project.
“The whole space here is a collab in general. The studio, I think we really — on purpose — didn’t want to wall ourselves off from each other, and so the openness of it all kind of gives space for collaboration to happen anytime any of us are here,” said Pace.
The four agreed the space helps foster their sense of creativity because of the nature of the studio.
“You’re not going to get ideas working at home yourself; you might work better that way, but no matter what, you’re still going to have a more closed-minded vision than when you’re working on stuff in front of people,” said Stoeckley.
One of the group’s shared goals is an emphasis on sustainability. The artists often thrift the cloth materials used in their projects and have connected over biking as a way to promote environmentally conscious practices.
“It’s kind of been my vision for a while to support people stepping away from car-centralized thinking to cycling and alternate forms of transportation,” said Harms, who works for Toledo Bikes.
As Stu’s House continues to work on projects and become more established in the community, they hope to host events and spread the word about their work.
“I think we have some really big things ahead of us. Once we get this opening going, there’s going to be a lot of events and everything going on, and I just really want to have the whole community involved. I want to open it up to anybody and everybody that wants to have a space to do something,” Meinen said.
