As a creative person, do you ever struggle to create that “room of your own” for your work? Find yourself having to pick up mid-progress because someone needs the dining room table or have to safeguard your materials from curious pets? All these and the fact that tapestry looms are large and heavy had me searching for a studio space solution in 2007. The looms were too heavy for the loft in our house (it began sagging, yikes!), the projects too delicate to be near our squirrel-happy dogs, and the space required too large to fit anywhere else in our home. Make an addition? Build a separate building? The choices were becoming dauntingly expensive, until we settled on installing a yurt next to our home.

Airy, open, and integrated with nature, the yurt makes a wonderful sacred space for making art. The hydronic in-floor heat means I waste no floor space (or the mess!) for a wood stove, and we had electricity installed for extra light and heat when needed. Pacific Yurts makes many sizes (mine is a 16-food diameter) and a great variety of add-on features, and the work is high quality and has lasted well even in our harsh northern climate. It doesn’t stay warm enough when it’s 35-below and windy, but when it’s that cold I’m by the wood stove in the house! I am careful not to bring food or beverage other than water inside, as the last thing I’d want to find in my studio is a bear! Never hurts to be cautious.

Thank you for joining me in my studio.