Today we’d like to introduce you to Kate Jarman-gates
Hi Kate, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Our studio began in 2021 in response to my west side neighbors asking me to give their kids art lessons. When I worked with those kids, I worried that my carefully crafted lesson plans were being ignored in favor of open-ended creative time. My husband pointed out how well they responded to the simple opportunity of creating art in the presence of a professional artist, lesson plan or not.
That got me thinking – how many other neighbors don’t feel like they have permission to create what brings them joy? Could an invitation to make things alongside a kind, professional artist give them the courage to try art that they didn’t feel they were “good enough” to do on their own? So I offered an all-ages community workshop through my Buy Nothing group to test it out. The event, and the artwork we made together, was so beautiful I decided I needed to do it more often. So we bought a local home and turned the 4-car garage into a free community art studio.
We spent a lot of time, and we still do, reaching out to our west side neighbors through events at the library and community centers like Rose Park Neighborhood Center and University Neighborhood Partners. That’s brought in so many west side artists with diverse art skills to create with us. Together we run the studio as volunteers. Our own neighbors teach art workshops in their favorite art mediums. It is truly something for the community, by the community. It’s also brought in a lot of donations of art materials that we’ve put to good use.
Now we’ve accumulated enough support to get our 501c3 nonprofit tax status, and we’re changing our name from Clever Cucumber to Together Arts Community Studio. Hopefully that clears up some of the confusion about who we are and what we do. We’re also looking for more partners to help us find an ADA accessible place, and fund our programs.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Is any road every perfectly smooth? Ours hasn’t been smooth due to the learning curve of starting and funding a community-run art studio from scratch. And we’re still learning!
Being volunteer run, it can be a challenge to have our doors open as often as our neighbors want. Another challenge is our space. In order to keep everything accessible and free, we run it out of the garage in my home, which poses ADA accessibility challenges, as well the discomfort of splitting up the space with my family. We are dedicated to keeping it accessible and free, which means we perennially struggle with funding the studio. Our volunteers work so hard they deserve to be paid for their time, but we can’t afford it right now.
There are also the struggles that our artists and community face that ripple into the studio. Our neighbors are so overworked and underpaid that they can rarely attend workshops at the studio, let alone contribute financially. We try to tackle some of those hurdles with programs like our childcare and transportation grants, in addition to all of our services being free. But in spite of those aids, we don’t get the same engagement as studios that serve higher socioeconomic classes. But the engagement we do have with our neighbors has been miraculous for us all.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My college training was in Art Education, and I used to teach in the public schools in Utah. The public schools weren’t a good fit for me, but teaching is still integral to my artistic practice. I just don’t like making art alone and keeping it all to myself. Creating with others and learning together gives me life.
So my artistic practice is split evenly across helping others make their art and having others help me make mine. I’m trained to and love working in all mediums, but I have a special love for stained glass and for public art. I use mixed media and glass to explore the interconnectedness of living things. Glass is an excellent medium for discussing the illusion of separation and barriers; it’s solid, yet visually permeable. I love it for that.
Having struggled to get into shows and competitions for so long, I’m most proud of myself for producing a handful of pieces that are my first to make it into shows recently. In the last two years I’ve had my work shown in the Finch Lane Gallery, Springville Museum of Art, Salt Lake Community College, and some public artworks as well. Not to mention some commissions and gallery sales! Since I thought my work wasn’t good enough for so long, seeing it on a pedestal next to artists I admire in a gallery makes me especially delighted. Though I’m always reassuring the artists in our studio that winning competitions or being in shows isn’t the only way to be a “good” artist; what matters most of all is that you love what you create more than anyone else.
How do you think about happiness?
The moments when I can quiet my anxiety and ADHD and exist peacefully in my surroundings is what makes me the happiest. Sometimes that happens when I’m working in my water-wise garden, or enjoying company over a meal, being in nature with my husband, or watching my house pets do their things. Sometimes it comes like a bolt of lightning with an exhilirating art idea, or the relief of finishing a huge public art project. It’s because it is in those moments I’m most connected to myself and the world, and I’m being who I am meant to be.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.clevercucumber.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clevercucumber/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clevercucumbercreativeco
