Workshop Hop

In my last HeartWood blog post, I ruminated on work spaces and what to call them, and I took you on a tour of mine, henceforth to be known as my studio. I was happy that several readers took me up on my invitation to share photos and thoughts about their own work spaces. Here's what they shared:

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Katherine Myers, Crafter, Claremore, Oklahoma

My space, sometimes called the craft room, sometimes the sewing room, is a lot more cluttered than your lovely space. The clutter is really made up of reminders of my crafting journey, from a crewel Beatrix Potter character I did in high school to whatever I’m currently working on. My mother’s old Singer is still the one I use, and a patchwork doll quilt made by my grandmother covers a back up machine. There’s a schoolhouse wall hanging courtesy of my daughter and rugs hooked from recycled wool. Also a spinning wheel I’m determined to use! And yarn, lots of yarn, for knitting. And I can look out the window and see hellebores in bloom right now!

Katherine's craft room reflects her many interests and talents

The heirloom Singer

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Sandra Bernard, Author and Musician, Newaygo, Michigan

My space is my dining room table, which is piled with papers and books and snacks and Kleenex and CDs and the last 4 days' mail and a box of clean paper for my scribbles. Typing on the computer for my more creative moments just doesn't work--it's an old brain to pen habit.

Sandra's creative space

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Mark Winston, Professor and Senior Fellow, Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC
(Also one of my grad school office mates)

Oddly, although I have a large office at work and a comfy office at home, most of my writing and meetings these days are at coffee houses! Go figure.

Editor's note: A few years ago, Mark wrote this post for his blog "The Hive" about working  in coffee shops: Coffee Culture. 

Mark's at-work office at Simon Fraser University

Mark and Lori's home office. Mark says they sometimes send each other emails while working side by side.

Mark in his coffee-shop workspace

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Marsha Traxler Reeves, Holistic Nurse, Newaygo, Michigan
Balanced Blessings

I favor the name "studio" too. I call mine an office, though, because my art is health care and people are accustomed to going to an "office" for that.

My desk, I think, is more jumbled than yours, as there always seems that there is more to do than I have time for. My rocks painted with Anishinaabe designs keep things from getting lost, and inspire me to be a good person. I love my plastic-free water bottle and the basket made of cedar and bulrush by my friend and master weaver, Renee Dillard.  The pastel painted plastic skull is something I use to explain to clients what I'm doing, so it always has a place on my desk where it's handy. After all, Craniosacral Therapy is one of my specialties. And the timer is helpful for keeping me safe from the Facebook vortex.  At least most of the time.

The books in my office are both inspirational and references. And my colored pencils wait for an opportunity to decorate and enhance whatever they can. I actually made the red and black ash basket and am keeping it safe here until the time arrives to give it away. I also love that my shelves and desk are proof that we don't need to process and manufacture to have beautiful and functional items for our lives. They are made from trimmings from cherry orchards and salvaged wood.

My fountain is made of a big copper dish and rocks that my Grandmother collected along the north shore of Lake Superior in the 1950's. Rockhounds run deep in my family tree.

The medicine cupboard, which used to be a pie cupboard, holds most of the medicinals I've gathered and made into tinctures and oils over the last couple of years. I have most of what's needed for the common ailments we encounter, and I love helping people find out that what grows around us can be healing and nourishing as well as beautiful. I keep a water pitcher and glasses on top of the cupboard, and a basket of toys for the littles underneath it.

The photo of my office table is proof of the multi-purpose nature of my work space. The electric table adjusts to the perfect height for working on people's necks and backs, as well as for folding laundry. I'm kinda proud that those laundry baskets are about 40 years old and still going strong.

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Michelle Celarier, Journalist, Croton on Hudson, New York

My home office, which I've had since 1995, is so full of books and papers that I often prefer to write on my laptop from a comfy chair and ottoman in a sunny corner of my living room, which I've now decided is my desk. (This is also one reason why I only read books on my kindle app on the laptop.) In the summer, I sometimes work from the front porch. That said, we actually have two large rooms in our house that serve as offices and another is a painting studio.

Michelle's office in the home she shares with her husband, artist Taher Shafie (tahershafie.com). The office is outfitted with three tables and walls of books.

The comfy corner where Michelle prefers to work

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Nancy and Ed Waits, Former High School Teachers, Newaygo, Michigan and Bartow, Florida

In Newaygo, we have what originally was called the library, then office, which was meant for both of us. But Ed has pretty much taken it over with his involvement in two organizations that require time on the computer and storage of hard copy documents. I have my sewing room downstairs that is occasionally a guest bedroom. 

Ed and Nancy's (mostly Ed's) Newaygo home office

​In Florida, our Florida room does it all.

The Florida room in their Florida home

Ed's Florida command post

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Sandra McPeak, Investment Advisor, Palos Verdes Peninsula, California

I love the question you posed. It got me thinking how eclectic I am about being creative. I do not really have a dedicated space to create. Thus by default my creative space is in my head when I go jogging. I love running up and down the hills and around twists and turns, noticing the houses as I pass and letting my mind wander wherever it wants to go. It’s led to a few creative epiphanies. Compared to the rest of my life with more structured time and activities. I admire your followers who also make time and a special space for creativity.

(Photo by Daniel Reche from Pexels)

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Sally Wagoner, Earth Lover, Newaygo, Michigan

​​I can’t think of a known word yet that adequately names the spaces that I do this deep contemplative work in. Both of my areas contain altars, intentional settings that contain items which vibrate with those concentric rings of a kind of consciousness that synchronize with mine, and can take me to those places of which I know you are familiar as well. 

One has inks, paints and pencils and a view that opens to the sky, water, a cacophony of native plants and flying things in summer, and gray-white ice in winter. All seasons are eclipsed with the presence of Grandmother Cedar and her Grandson Pine Tree at her side, always receptive to a greeting and prayer. It has a comfy chair as well to sink into, lending itself to deep revelry and thought.

One of Sally's creative spaces

The other space is more cocoonish, but still with an altar of vibrating sacred things and a view that is closer and more woodsy. This space has a bed that I retreat to on sleepless nights that also lends itself well to safety and security while journeying in thoughts or prayers, and when creativity needs to flow to paper or laptop.

Sally's cocoon

Then there is the “computer room” where household and work related tasks get accomplished in an as-efficient way as possible. But even this space is populated with friends of a non-human nature, and gifts from the hearts of human friends as well. It has functional furniture made by my life partner whose surfaces reflect the spirit of the universe that help rescue me from becoming trapped in brain bytes. 

The computer room

I am grateful to have these places, and blessed to have been led to the knowing that these outer spaces are needed so I may reach those inner dimensions, to help keep my life in balance. 

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J.Q. Rose, Author, Fremont, Michigan and Brooksville, Florida

In Florida, I have a desk (that I share with my hubby). That's a bit larger than what I wrote on when we were full-time RVers: the kitchen table in the RV, and I had to move all my "stuff" into an extra chair in order to eat there.

J.Q's Florida work area as it looks when she's in the midst of preparing to present a workshop

​​At home in Michigan we do have a dedicated room for an office. Yes, office. That's where the files and bookshelves are and of course the desk. The room has dark paneling, the piano and a few framed photos of travels. Not a very bright, inspiring place to write. Maybe that's why I write everywhere in the house--recliner, kitchen counter, dining room table, deck. Yes, much brighter and more space for my laptop and cup of tea.

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Do these glimpses of other people's work areas give you ideas for ways to use your own? Are you inspired to carve out a completely different niche for your creative endeavors?