Grant Awarded for InHabitation Project

Thank you to the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs for, well...making it rain.

I was notified March 3rd of last week that I was awarded an Artists in Neighborhood Partnerships grant that will fund the prototype for the tiny live/work space. As an artist with debt and space needs, I have been thinking about how to bring my costs of living down. As we know there are only so many things you can cut on a limited income. I have been following the tiny house movement and think that it could be really interesting to try to combine a tiny house and a tiny studio into - voila - a live/work space that has the added benefit of mobility. I will be working to make this a viable space for a mobile artist residency for and with Juxtaposition Arts,

Here is an excerpt from the project description:

The live/work space:

Live work spaces are often created as large below-market rate rental units. Though they

are slightly more affordable than market-rate lofts, at anywhere between $945-and

$1145/month they are still out of financial reach for many. For artists, spaces such as

these are ideal as they afford them the desired studio space without adding the cost of a

separate rental lease to their expenses. Outside of these economic factors is also the

issue of mobility. Early career artists are often seeking opportunities to do their work in

places that will take them away from home for months at a time. This project bridges the

challenges of the live/work space and immobility by using the form of micro-architecture,

tiny housing, as a means to make cost-effective mobilized permanent residences for

artists.

- The Tiny House (Movement)

The tiny house movement is based on an ethos of small footprint, low environmental

impact architecture. While many low-income, poor, and homeless people have and

continue to live in what could be called “micro-dwellings,” until recently the Tiny House

Movement has neglected the needs and contributions of aforementioned communities,

turning what began as a cost-saving architectural model into an expensive boutique real

estate investment. As an artist, I am interested in the relationship between tiny house

architecture and the shot-gun house, a building constructed typically in a line of three

rooms. How might we see the tiny house movement of today differently if we considered

forms of architecture such as the shotgun house or whole micro-neighborhoods, such

as favelas, that have been created and settled by people short on financial resources

who possess infinite spatial imaginations?