Studio Quarantine Part 25, a series by Josee Bienvenu Gallery
Studio Quarantine
A zoom into an artist’s studio brought to the comfort of your own home by Josee Bienvenu and Jessica Lin since March 27.
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4 min read
Part 25: Roula Partheniou
Sackville, Canada | May 26, 2020
What did you eat today?
Dinner was fresh gnocchi with a butternut squash and sage sauce. I've been enjoying the sport of pantry cooking. But frankly, not having everything readily at one's finger-tips is something I've been acclimatizing to since moving to Sackville (a rural town, population 5,000) a year ago.
I also baked my first of many loaves of banana bread. Some food historians believe banana bread was a by-product of the Great Depression invented by resourceful housewives who didn't want to throw away overripe bananas, and this is certainly the appeal for me. In fact, a lot of my mom's refugee-related food quirks are making a lot of sense to me all of a sudden.
What are you listening to?
At least once a day we play some records from our collection. Currently on rotation: U.S. Girls, Big Thief, Sade, Leonard Cohen and Beatrice Dillon.
What have you been reading?
I’m reading Fewer Better Things: The Hidden Wisdom of Objects by Glenn Adamson. This is not be mistaken for a Marie Kondo style minimalism manifesto/self help book. It's more an exploration of the hidden history, process, craftsmanship and material intelligence contained within objects, and the felt experience of them in our hands and our lives. It also asks us to consider the implications of the ever-growing digitization of resources. At a time when we are stuck in our homes with little outside physical stimuli and galleries, museums etc. are trying to figure out how to translate the experience of art online, it's a particularly timely meditation, on what it means to meaningfully encounter a physical object.
How has this changed your routine?
I've had 4 exhibitions postponed. Just over a month ago my year was packed with deadlines and international travel, my studio was lined with scale models and was a frenzied mess of production. The day my last exhibition was officially cancelled, I turned off the lights, turned down the heat and walked away from my studio for 5 weeks. I couldn't bring myself to make work during this time because, the things I was stressing over, perfecting and preoccupied with suddenly felt trivial.
But in the past week the urge to make work is returning, and I'm easing back in by finishing up some works already in-progress. Paradoxically, I am much more social than usual! Normally I could happily go days without talking to anyone but my partner Dave, working in my studio, reading or whatever. But the forced distancing, and perhaps the sudden gap in my exhibition schedule, has changed the degree to which I crave outside connection. We are video chatting with friends and family more frequently.
What have you never had time to do before, and will do now?
Plan and plant a full vegetable garden! Fairly early on as the news began to escalate, we bought a variety of seeds (tomatoes, eggplant, bok choy, kale, carrots, beets, lettuces, herbs, squash, cucumber, radishes, etc etc etc.) and we are starting seedlings in our sunroom, which will serve as a greenhouse until last frost. We hope to grow most of our own produce this summer. There is a lot to learn, but we have a bit more time to research things now.
What are you surprised to miss?
I am not a chatty person, I enjoy solitude and being lost in my own thoughts most of the time, so I'm surprised to say that I miss small talk. What I might generally dismiss as menial chatter, or perfunctory politeness, has revealed itself to be much more essential to a feeling of overall happiness and grounded-ness. The absence of "chit-chat' robs us of an underlying humanity and generosity that comes with the act of making-an-effort. In it's absence, I feel a bit adrift.
Do you think this will be a time of creative growth or stifling?
I don’t know yet. I think it depends on how long this will last. At the moment I still feel like I’m digesting. It forces new questions and poses new challenges and problems to be solved. However, as a sculptor, I struggle with the idea of art going digital and that everything we see for the next little while will have to be flat and glowing.