The Latest Studio Business

Got up to Ocean Grove around 11:30 this morning.  Had gotten an email over the weekend that the building would be doing a check of the heating systems this week, so I had some curiosity about that. One of the reasons I made my first stop in the building Nichole's office on the 1st floor.

The heating things being looked at right now are not the ones we have in the studios, which in our case is one that hangs from the ceiling.  As it is needed, a coil heats up, then a fan blows the warmed air into the room. The good thing is that the system works, and our basement Studio has never not been a comfortable temperature in winter. The bad thing is that when it gets very cold out, the unit runs almost constantly, making a lot of noise.  In the past, there were cracks around the window frames (daylight was visible), but the new windows installed a few years ago seems to have resolved that problem.  Back then we had less light as well, as two of the windows were covered with boards, but those left with the new windows.  One thing that didn't change was that the thermostat that controls the whole system is on the wall only inches away from the windows.  Nichole agreed with me that it can't be a good thing, so when those heating guys come around in the coming days, they have something to check.  Don't know if they can do something about it, or what it might cost, but heating is a building expense, not ours, so whatever is decided won't affect us.

Meanwhile, Nichole showed me a handout flyer she had made for the Wednesday night drop in group.  It's called the JSAC Artist Creative Collective.  We have scheduled four nights, beginning in late October.  All will be up in the 3rd floor cafe space, where we had a still life drawing group a few weeks back.  October 30th and November 13th will be rhythm and art, the idea of participants making art in reaction to different types of music, something I've been doing with my Intro class for years.  Nichole is in charge of picking the music, and participants can choose their materials (though a grant has been submitted that would help us provide some.)  November 6th is a high contrast challenge, and November 20th is a still life challenge.  That takes us up to the Thanksgiving holiday and since getting people to show up during the holiday season is almost impossible, that will be the end of these art classes for the year.  Word has gone out through social media, and so far there has been a good response to the idea.  That is not surprising.  Getting all those people to show up those nights and pay the $10 fee for refreshments and participation is a whole other matter. We shall see how this goes.