Studio 490

[vaneramos]

A new artist venue, Studio 490, has sprung up half a block from my apartment. I hurried back from Toronto on Sunday afternoon in time to attend the grand opening. Anne Hunt is a fibre artist. Louisa Kratka is a dancer and bookbinder among other things (she has a Leclerc table loom just like the one Danny gave me last weekend, and it turns out she is also a friend of my writing partner, Sarah). Lisa Cosier is billed as a potter, but I discovered she also writes poetry. They intend for the space to benefit other local creative types, too. Before realizing I was a writer, Anne mentioned that they would like to host readings.

Monday night they host a knitting group, so I walked there after dinner. Signs were posted for the grand opening, but now you have to know where you're going. The place is situated in a deep corner of an old warehouse beside the tracks. You have to navigate down a winding alley, through a ramshackle shed with plywood leaning against the wall, up some massive, creaking stairs, around corners, past other studios and work spaces, and finally into a long gallery that catches afternoon light through its high windows.

Besides Anne and Louisa, five women attended. Several of them are working on a "tree of life" afghan. I have started Danny's traveling rib pattern. Everyone wanted to touch it, and several asked how it was done. Anne jotted down his website.

Dark clouds covered the sunset. A violent wind burst through the open windows, scattering papers and plastic cups.

Overnight rain has wrought magic in the park. The trees whisper incantations. The mallard mother painting a shining streak across the pond is an enchanted brush artist who gazed too long at the pattern of droplets on water and fell beneath the Eramosa River's spell, drawing her children with her under bondage of beauty.